World History 2: Sophomore Year 2026
Unit 1: The Worlds of the Fifteenth Century
Q: What was the Igbo society known for?
A: Being largely agricultural, stateless, and rejecting kingship.
Q: Where were the Iroquois located?
A: North America.
Q: What was the purpose of the Iroquois League Five Nations?
A: To reduce violence and unify tribes.
Q: Who was Timur?
A: A Central Asian Turkish warrior who restored pastoral traditions through conquest.
Q: Who were the Fulbe?
A: A major West African pastoral society.
Q: Who was Zheng He?
A: A Ming admiral who led voyages across the Indian Ocean.
Q: What was the Aztec Empire known for?
A: Human sacrifice, military power, and large cities.
Q: What was Tenochtitlán?
A: The capital of the Aztec Empire.
Q: What was the Triple Alliance?
A: An alliance that unified the Aztec peoples politically.
Q: What happened in the Ottoman seizure of Constantinople in 1453?
A: The Ottomans conquered Constantinople under Mehmed II.
Q: What does Paleolithic mean?
A: “Old Stone Age.”
Q: What is a stateless society?
A: A society without a central government.
Q: What is a confederation?
A: A union of groups for a common purpose.
Q: What did Confucian teachings emphasize?
A: Morality, respect, and compassion.
Q: Who was Christopher Columbus?
A: The explorer who reached the Americas in 1492.
Q: Who wrote The Prince?
A: Niccolò Machiavelli.
Q: Who were the pochteca?
A: Professional Aztec merchants.
Q: What was a quipu?
A: Incan knotted cords used for record keeping.
Q: What is tribute?
A: Payment made as a sign of loyalty or respect.
Q: Who was Mehmed II?
A: The Ottoman ruler who conquered Constantinople.
Q: Who was the Sapa Inca?
A: The emperor of the Inca Empire.
Q: What made the Safavid Empire significant?
A: It made Shia Islam the official religion.
Q: Why was the Songhay Empire important?
A: It controlled trans-Saharan trade.
Q: What was the Ming Dynasty known for?
A: Recovery after Mongol rule and naval expansion.
Q: What was the Mughal Empire?
A: A major Islamic empire in India.
Q: What was the European Renaissance?
A: A revival of Greco-Roman culture and learning.
Q: What was the Inca Empire known for?
A: Bureaucracy, labor systems, and road networks.
Q: Why was Timbuktu important?
A: It was a center of trade and Islamic learning.
Q: What was firestick farming?
A: Controlled burning used by Indigenous Australians.
Q: What is bureaucracy?
A: Government run by appointed officials.
Unit 2: Early Modern Era
Q: What was mercantilism?
A: An economic system focused on exports and accumulating wealth.
Q: What was the encomienda system?
A: Forced Indigenous labor under Spanish colonists.
Q: What was a hacienda?
A: A large estate using peon labor.
Q: What was the Columbian Exchange?
A: The transfer of goods, people, diseases, and animals between hemispheres.
Q: What was the Little Ice Age?
A: A period of global cooling from the 1300s–1800s.
Q: What was the Great Dying?
A: Massive Native American deaths from disease.
Q: What were casta paintings?
A: Paintings showing racial hierarchy in colonial Latin America.
Q: Who was Akbar?
A: A Mughal ruler known for religious tolerance.
Q: What was the jizya?
A: A tax on non-Muslims.
Q: Who were the Janissaries?
A: Elite Ottoman soldiers.
Q: What was the devshirme system?
A: Recruiting Christian boys for Ottoman service.
Q: What was colonialism?
A: Establishing control over foreign territories.
Q: What were joint-stock companies?
A: Businesses funded by multiple investors.
Q: What was the British East India Company?
A: A company dominating British trade in India.
Q: What was the Dutch East India Company?
A: A Dutch company controlling spice trade routes.
Q: What were the “Three Gs” of exploration?
A: God, Gold, and Glory.
Q: What was the transatlantic slave trade?
A: Forced transportation of enslaved Africans to the Americas.
Q: What was a caravel?
A: A maneuverable Portuguese sailing ship.
Q: What was the Tokugawa Shogunate?
A: Japan’s isolated feudal government.
Q: What is crop rotation?
A: Rotating crops to maintain soil fertility.
Unit 3: French & Haitian Revolutions
Q: What event began the French Revolution?
A: The Storming of the Bastille.
Q: What was the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen?
A: A document declaring equality and rights.
Q: Who were the Jacobins?
A: Radical French revolutionaries.
Q: What was the Reign of Terror?
A: A period of mass executions during the French Revolution.
Q: Who was Toussaint Louverture?
A: Leader of the Haitian Revolution.
Q: What did the 1801 Constitution do?
A: Abolished slavery and made Louverture governor for life.
Q: Who was Jean-Jacques Dessalines?
A: Haiti’s first ruler after independence.
Q: What was the Haitian Declaration of Independence?
A: Haiti’s declaration of freedom from France in 1804.
Q: What was the Battle of Vertières?
A: The final major battle securing Haitian independence.
Q: Why did France invade Saint-Domingue?
A: To restore slavery and regain control.
Unit 4: Industrial Revolution
Q: Who were the Luddites?
A: Workers who destroyed machines threatening jobs.
Q: What was the Sphere of Domesticity?
A: The belief women belonged in the home.
Q: What were the Enclosure Acts?
A: Privatization of common farmland.
Q: What is capitalism?
A: An economic system based on private ownership and profit.
Q: What is socialism?
A: A system favoring collective ownership and equality.
Q: Who wrote The Communist Manifesto?
A: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
Q: What is the proletariat?
A: The working class.
Q: What is the bourgeoisie?
A: The capitalist class that owns production.
Q: What did James Watt improve?
A: The steam engine.
Q: What was the seed drill?
A: A machine that planted seeds efficiently.
Q: What was selective breeding?
A: Breeding plants and animals for desired traits.
Q: What was Romanticism?
A: A movement emphasizing emotion and nature.
Q: What was liberalism?
A: A philosophy supporting freedoms and limited government.
Unit 5: Imperialism
Q: What was scientific racism?
A: Using science to justify racial superiority.
Q: What was the civilizing mission?
A: The belief Europeans should “civilize” others.
Q: What was the Scramble for Africa?
A: European division and colonization of Africa.
Q: What was the Congo Free State?
A: King Leopold II’s brutally exploited African territory.
Q: Who was King Leopold II?
A: The ruler responsible for abuses in the Congo.
Q: What is Pan-Africanism?
A: A movement to unite Africans and end colonialism.
Q: What was indirect rule?
A: Governing colonies through local leaders.
Q: What was direct rule?
A: Colonies governed directly by Europeans.
Q: What was paternalism in imperialism?
A: Controlling colonies while treating natives as inferior.
China & Japan
Q: What were the Opium Wars?
A: Wars fought after China tried stopping Britain’s opium trade.
Q: What was the Treaty of Nanking?
A: The first unequal treaty between Britain and China.
Q: What was the Boxer Uprising?
A: An anti-foreign rebellion in China.
Q: What was the Meiji Restoration?
A: Japan’s modernization beginning in 1868.
Q: What was the Russo-Japanese War?
A: A war Japan won against Russia in 1905.
Q: What was the Taiping Uprising?
A: A massive rebellion against the Qing Dynasty.
Q: What was the Canton System?
A: China’s restriction of foreign trade to Canton.
Q: What was self-strengthening in China?
A: Attempts to modernize after foreign defeats.