Key Terms (Units 1-6)
Unit 1
Islam - Major world religion based on the belief that Allah (God) transmitted his words to the
faithful through the prophet Muhammad
2. Shiite - Sect of Islam that believes Muhammad’s son-in-law, Ali, was the rightful heir to the
Ummayad empire; does not believe in drawing the leader from the people
3. Sunni - Sect of Islam that believes the leaders of the Ummayad empire should be drawn from a
broad base of people
4. Qu’ran (Koran) - The Holy Book revered by Muslims to be the exact words of Allah (God)
5. Five Pillars of Islam - Five commands that Muslims must follow: confession of faith, prayer five
times a day, charity to the needy, fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, pilgrimage to Mecca
at least once during one’s lifetime (if financially able)
6. Caliphate - An Islamic theocracy that is ruled by a central authoritative figure called a caliph
7. Orthodox Christianity - Separate branch of Christianity influenced by Eastern culture and
originating from the Byzantine Empire
8. Feudalism - The strict, hierarchical European social, economic, and political system of the
Middle Ages
9. Serfs (peasants) - The people belonging to the lowest level of the feudal hierarchy who had to
work on and were usually “tied” to the land
10. Code of chivalry - An honor system that strongly condemned betrayal and promoted mutual
respect
11. Bubonic plague - A deadly epidemic transmitted through new forms of commerce and trade;
destroyed traditional social structures, facilitating the shift toward a commercial economy
12. Magna Carta - A document that reinstated feudal rights of the nobles, but also extended the rule
of law to other people in the country, namely the growing class of Burghers (middle-class
merchants); laid the foundation for the Parliament
13. Tribute system - A system utilized by the T’ang dynasty in which independent countries
acknowledged the supremacy of the Chinese emperor and sent ambassadors to the city with gifts
14. Bureaucracy - A system of government where the decisions are made by state officials rather
than elected representatives; utilized by Chinese dynasties through civil service examinations
15. Civil service - The administrative system founded by the Han dynasty in which government
officials (bureaucrats) were selected through competitive examination
16. Foot binding - A practice born out of Confucianism that forced women to bind their feet in order
to make them seem more beautiful; first used as subordination of women in elite families, but
eventually to many poor families as well
17. Code of Bushido - A strict code of conduct in Feudal Japan that stressed loyalty, courage, and
honor
18. Delhi Sultanate - The kingdom established in northern India by Islamic invaders under a central
leader, the sultan.
19. Jizya tax - A tax paid by non-Muslims who refuse to convert to Islam while living in a State
governed by Islamic law
Sikhism - A monotheistic religion originating in the Punjab region that is comprised of values
from both Islam and Hinduism, but disavows the caste system
21. Chinampas - A type of agriculture utilized by the Aztecs that consisted of small rectangular areas
of fertile land cut into the hills to grow crops; essential to the Aztecs given the hilly landscape
surrounding the civilization not ideal for agriculture
22. Quipu - An ancient Inca device for recording information, consisting of variously colored threads
knotted in different ways
23. Animism - The idea that all things—animate and inanimate—possess a spirit or an essence;
prevalent in ancient indigenous tribal cultures that emphasized human spiritual development
24. Daoism - A 6th century Chinese philosophy based on the writings of Lao-tzu, who taught that
humans must follow the Cosmic Dao, an all-encompassing guide to life that emphasized harmony
People, Places, and Events
25. Muhammad - The central prophet of Islam, who Muslims believe transmitted the words of
Allah (God)
26. Mecca - The city where Muhammad grew up; gave Muhammad exposure to many different
beliefs due to its position on the trade routes between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean
27. Baghdad - Capital city of the Abbasid Dynasty, an Islamic empire that oversaw a Golden Age for
the arts and sciences; became one of the great cultural centers of the world
28. Sufis - Islamic mystics that were very effective missionaries due to their emphasis on Islam begin
a personal relationship with Allah rather than a form of ritual; framed Islam as highly adaptable to
different backgrounds and beliefs
29. Hagia Sophia - An enormous cathedral built by in the Christian empire of Constantinople;
evidence of the flourishing of the arts and sciences in Constantinople
30. Vikings - Raiders from Scandinavia who used highly maneuverable, multi-oared boats to raid far
beyond their borders; economy also depended on merchants and commercial fisheries
31. Hundred Years’ War - The war between England and France that lasted from 1337-1453;
liberated France from England, who prior to the war had claimed the entire French territory
32. Mansa Musa - One of the greatest rulers of the Islamic Mali empire; made a pilgrimage to Mecca
complete with an entourage of hundreds of gold-carrying servants and camels
33. Tenochtitlan - The capital city of the Aztecs, also known as the Mexica, who were known for
their expansionism and professional army that established a tribute system with other conquered
civilizations
34. Maya - A civilization comprised of several city-states ruled by a single king but were often at
odds with one another; known for their architecture, mathematics, and fully developed written
language
35. Teotihuacán - A powerful city-state that operated as a religious hub and a wealthy trade
metropolis; became powerful by 400 A.D., but eventually collapsed and was found later by the
Aztecs
36. Jesus Christ - The religious leader and teacher who Christians believe is the Son of God and
whose teachings form the basis of Christianity
37. The Buddha - The title given to Siddhartha Gautama, the religious leader and teacher who
eventually founded Buddhism after attaining Enlightenment
Unit 2
Indian Ocean trade - Relatively safe routes connecting ports in western India to ports in the
Persian Gulf and eastern Africa; dominated by the Persians and the Arabs and required
technology resilient to the region's monsoon seasons
2. Silk Road - An ancient network of trade routes that connected the East and the West; utilized
under the reign of the Mongols to trade important goods such as silk and porcelain, and acted as a
hub for cultural and religious exchange
3. Bubonic Plague - A deadly epidemic transmitted through new forms of commerce and trade;
destroyed traditional social structures in Europe, facilitating the shift toward a commercial
economy
4. Pax Mongolica - the period of economic and social stabilization throughout Eurasia during the
13th and 14th century that was ushered in by the Mongol Empire’s widespread conquest; spurred
an increase in trade along the Silk Road due to the Mongols’ dedication to keeping the route safe
for trade
5. Oasis towns - Bustling towns that served as “hand-off” points for passing commodities from
person to person; used by merchants as rest stops during their grueling trips
6. Monsoon season - A seasonal and consistent change that brought dependable winds used by
merchants on the Indian Ocean trade to sail their boats to and from their destinations
7. Lateen sail - A very maneuverable and reliable triangle-shaped sail that allowed merchants on
the Indian Ocean trade routes to harness the seasonal monsoon winds
8. Qanat system - a Persian system of irrigation that utilized gravity through gently-sloped tunnels
to divert groundwater across long distances to needed fields
9. Diaspora - a large group of people with a similar heritage who have been scattered around the
world away from their homeland
10. Dhow - a sailing vessel rigged with lateen sails used by merchants on the Indian Ocean trade
routes to carry their goods to and from their destination
11. Camel caravan - large groups of people that used camels and caravans to travel across the
African desert; utilized for the trading of goods and also carried religion
12. Caravanserai - Inns located across the desert routes that provided accommodation for traveling
caravans so they could rest
13. Silk - A valuable and lucrative good originating from China and traded along the Silk Road
People, Places, Events
14. Mongols - Militaristic nomads originating from Northern Eurasia who formed a massive empire
through conquest under Genghis Khan, thus linking Western and Eastern Eurasia; often
assimilated into the cultures of the people they defeated
15. Genghis Khan - A military and organizational genius who unified the quarreling Mongol tribes,
thus setting them on a path of expansion to form the largest empire in the history of the world
16. Mongol Empire - The empire of the Mongols under Genghis Khan that spanned from the Pacific
Ocean to Eastern Europe
Khanate - Different hordes of Mongols that split from the central leadership of Genghis Khan
following his death
18. Golden Horde - a Turkic Khanate that conquered and ruled a large chunk of Russia for over two
centuries, largely leaving the Russian Orthodoxy and aristocracy intact; comprised of a group of
people named Tatars
19. Kublai Khan - The successor to Genghis Khan who formed and ruled over the Yuan dynasty in
China after conquering the Song dynasty
20. Tamerlane - Founder of late 14th century Timurid Empire who conquered Western and Central
Asia with the intent of reviving the Mongol Empire
21. Mansa Musa - One of the greatest Malian rulers who expanded his kingdom greatly; made a
internationally famous pilgrimage to Mecca as a Muslim that had extravagant entourages of gold,
camels, and servants
22. Marco Polo - A Venetian merchant who recorded his travels in China at the height of the Mongol
Empire; enabled cultural diffusion between Europe and Asia and stimulated interest in Asian
trade
23. Ibn Battuta - A Muslim legal scholar who wrote accounts of his travels across Islamic world in
order to reveal its wide scope
24. Mali Empire - Islamic Empire that played an influential role in the gold and salt trade within
Africa
25. Swahili City-States - Economically powerful Islamic urban trade centers that were connected to
lucrative Eurasian trade routes; were very interconnected due to relations between merchants in
different city-states
26. Tang/Song China - Known as the Golden Ages of China due to involvement in lucrative trade
routes, such as the Silk Road, and technological innovations, including the compass, paper
money, and gunpowder
27. Yuan Dynasty - First foreign-led dynasty of China; established and ruled by Kublai Khan
28. The Crusades - Military expeditions sanctioned by the Latin Church and organized by Western
European Christians in response to Muslim expansion; aimed to reclaim the Holy Land in the
eastern Mediterranean, check the spread of Islam, and to capture pagan and formerly Christian
land
29. Timbuktu - City in the Mali Empire that acted as a trading post on the Trans-Saharan trade
routes
Unit 3
Indulgences - A piece of paper sold by the Catholic Church that Christians could purchase to
reduce time in purgatory -- the place where Catholics believed they would go after death
2. Jesuits - An order of Roman Catholic priests who aimed to support the Church and counter the
growth of the Protestant Reformation through involved missionary work.
3. Sultan - Term describing the Sunni Muslim leader of the Ottoman Empire
4. Shah - Term describing the Shi’a Muslim leader of the Safavid Empire; borrowed from the
original Persian empire that existed two millennia prior in the same area
5. Mughal Empire - A religiously tolerant Islamic empire that ruled over the Indian subcontinent,
which had a majority Hindu population
6. Manchus - A group of people living in Northern China who took control of the Chinese
government following the fall of the Ming dynasty; were considered foreigners within China
before their rise to power and were not allowed to intermarry with the Chinese during the Qing
dynasty’s rule
7. Qing Dynasty - The last imperial dynasty of China that conquered the previous Ming empire and
was ruled by the Manchu people
8. Safavid Empire - A Shi’a Muslim empire and one of the Gunpoder Empires that conquered the
Persian region and oversaw the Golden Era of modern-day Iran; used its strong military to partake
in religious and political conflicts with foreign powers, the largest of which was the Ottoman
Empire
9. Ottoman Empire - A mostly religiously tolerant Sunni Muslim empire and one of the
Gunpowder Empires that conquered the Christian Byzantine Empire; used the Janissaries, an elite
military class composed mainly of Forced Christian converts from the Devshirme system, to
bolster its military strength
10. Devshirme - A system utilized by the Ottoman Empire in which conquered Christians were
required to give up twenty percent of their children to the government, who would them be
converted to Islam and either served as slaves or trained for government and military service
11. Gunpowder Empire - A term used to describe the Mughal Empire, the Safavid Empire, and the
Ottoman Empire due to their monopolization of the manufacture of guns and artillery in their
areas
People, Places, and Events
12. Protestant Reformation - A theological movement based on critiques to Church practices and
challenges to the Pope’s authority; facilitated the translation of Bibles from Latin to local
languages and reduced the influence of the Catholic Church over many Christians’ religious lives
13. Martin Luther - A German Christian monk who publicly outlined his frustrations with current
Church practice, one of which was the sale of indulgences, through his 95 Theses; led the
Protestant Reformation
14. Counter-Reformation - Reformations made by the Catholic Church that included setting stricter
standards for piety among priests, educating Church officials more, and restricting heretics.
King Henry VIII - King of England who renounced the Roman Catholic Church because the
Pope did not annul his marriage, thereby declaring himself head of religious affairs in England
and creating the Anglican Church
16. Ignatius Loyola - Founder of the society of Jesuits, a Catholic group that aimed to restore faith in
the Church by exemplifying Jesus’ teachings through prayer and good works; the Jesuits’ helped
set a higher moral standard for clergy in the Church, and were thereby appointed to high palace
positions
17. Akbar the Great - Mughal Emperor who was considered the greatest in Mughal history;
reformed the Mughal Empire’s tax system, expanded the empire, and used religious tolerance to
support and gain favor from the Hindu population
18. Suleiman the Great - Ottoman Emperor who was considered the greatest in Ottoman history;
helped usher in a Golden Age, expanded the empire, and conquered the powerful Christian
Byzantine Empire
19. Peter the Great - A late 17th Century Russian tsar who helped replace the traditional, medieval
social and political systems with one’s that were modern, scientific, based in the Enlightenment,
and Westernized; helped lay the foundation for a powerful Russian navy by gaining control of the
Black Sea and starting to build a large navy
Unit 4
Printing Press - A mechanical device for transferring text or graphics from a woodblock or type
to paper using ink; movable type first appeared in Europe in about 1450; used to print the German
Bible during the Protestant Reformation
2. Divine Right - The belief that a ruler's authority comes directly from God.
3. Indulgences - The selling of forgiveness by the Catholic Church which was commonly used to
raise money; was a large flaw that Martin Luther and other Reformationists used as evidence of
the Church’s corruption.
4. Encomienda System - The system that gave settlers the right to tax local Native Americans or to
make them labor; in exchange, these settlers were supposed to protect the Native American
people and convert them to Christianity.
5. Middle Passage - The voyage that brought enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to North
America and the West Indies; was plagued with sickness and terrible conditions.
6. Tokugawa Shogunate - The semi-feudal government of Japan in which one of the shoguns
unified the country under his family's rule; abolished during the Meiji Reformation.
7. Joint Stock Company - An international trade company made up of a group of shareholders,
each of which would contribute some money to the company and receives some share of the
company's profits and debts.
8. Dutch East India Company - Government-chartered joint-stock company that controlled the
spice trade in the East Indies.
9. British East India Company - A joint stock company that controlled most of the political,
social, and economic life in India during more than 200 years of imperialism.
10. Mercantilism - An economic policy under which nations sought to increase their wealth and
power by obtaining large amounts of gold and silver and by selling more goods than they bought;
very centrally planned economy that extracted raw resources from colonized countries to produce
goods in homeland.
11. Viceroys - Representatives of the Spanish monarch in Spain's colonial empire.
12. Peninsulares - Spanish-born people who came to Latin America and ruled other people;
considered highest social class.
13. Haiku - A japanese form of poetry, consisting of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five
syllables.
14. Humanism - A Renaissance intellectual movement in which thinkers studied classical texts and
focused on human potential and achievements.
People, Places, and Events
15. Enlightenment - A movement in the 17th and 18th century that advocated the use of reason in
the reappraisal of accepted ideas and social institutions.
16. Elizabethan Era - The period of the rule of Queen Elizabeth I in Renaissance England from
1558 to 1603.
Spanish Inquisition - An organization of priests in Spain that looked for and punished anyone
suspected of secretly practicing their old religion instead of Roman Catholicism.
18. Thirty Years’ War - A Central European war that started as a result of the Catholic Holy Roman
Empire imposing Catholicism on Protestant European countries, but ended up becoming secular;
marked the overall end of violence resulting from the Protestant Reformation
19. Leonardo Da Vinci - An artist, scientist, inventor, and visionary during the Renaissance Era;
mastered the art of realistic paintings and attempted to capture the art of humans.
20. Johannes Gutenberg - A 15th Century German printer who was the first in Europe to print using
movable type and the first to use a press.
21. Machiavelli - A former politician during the Renaissance Era who wrote The Prince: a work on
ethics and government that argued politicians should engage in evil when politically necessary
and outlined how rulers could maintain power.
22. William Shakespeare - English poet and playwright during the Renaissance (1564 - 1616) who
was considered one of the greatest writers of the English language; works include Julius Caesar,
Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet.
23. Sir Isaac Newton - A leading figure in the Scientific Revolution who defined the laws of motion
and universal gravitation and used them to predict the motion of stars and planets around the sun.
24. Prince Henry the Navigator - Prince of Portugal who established an observatory and school of
navigation and directed voyages
that spurred the growth of Portugal's colonial empire.
25. John Locke - A 17th century English Enlightenment philosopher who opposed the Divine Right
of Kings; asserted that people have a natural right to life, liberty, and property.
26. Voltaire - An 18th century French philosopher during the Enlightenment who believed that
freedom of speech was the best weapon against bad government; spoke out against the corruption
of the French government and the intolerance of the Catholic Church.
27. Christopher Columbus - A Spanish explorer who mistakenly discovered the Americas in 1492
while searching for a faster trade route to India.
28. Hernan Cortes - A Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztecs and conquered Mexico during
the late 15th century.
29. Francisco Pizarro - A Spanish conquistador who conquered the Incas during the late 15th
century.
30. Kongo and Angola - African kingdoms that were converted to Christianity and participated in
the lucrative trans-Atlantic slave trade with Portugal.
Unit 5
Estates-General - France's traditional national assembly with representatives of the three estates,
or classes, in French society: the clergy, nobility, and commoners; third estate was most populous
yet had the least power
2. National Assembly - Comprised of the third estate that declared themselves as the legitimate
governing body of France
3. Declaration of the Rights of Man - Statement of fundamental political rights adopted by the
French National Assembly at the beginning of the French Revolution
4. Jacobins - Radical and violent advocates of a Republic during the French Revolution who were
led by Maximilien Robespierre
5. Enclosure - The division of communal fields, meadows, and lands in Western Europe into
individually managed farm plots
6. Urbanization - The significant growth of cities; happened due to innovations that increased the
efficiency of agriculture, thereby requiring less farmers and allowing populations to shift to cities
7. Domestic system - An economic process in which merchant-employers would send materials to
rural producers who worked in their homes to make goods
8. Flying shuttle - A machine that industrialized the weaving process and greatly sped up the
previous hand-weaving system
9. Spinning jenny - A machine that made it much easier to spin cloth and thereby increased the
supplies available to weavers; helped start the factory system of cotton manufacturing
10. Cotton gin - A machine that quickly separates cotton fibers from their seeds and helped speed up
textile production
11. Steam engine - An engine that used steam power to propel the object it is built into;
revolutionized the transportation of goods through steamboats
12. Interchangeable parts - Machines and parts that were produced uniformly so that they can be
easily replaced when something broke down
13. Assembly line - A system of production where each factory worker adds only one part to a
finished product rather than making the whole product themselves
14. Free-market system (capitalism) - An economic system where the means of production are
privately owned and demand for goods and services would determine prices
15. Laissez-faire capitalism - A system of capitalism where the government completely removes
itself from regulating the economy
16. Socialism - An economic system where the production and distribution of goods are mainly
controlled by the government rather than private enterprise; espouses the principle that goods
should be distributed by the government based on need rather than allowing free markets to
decide
17. Communism - A political, social, and economic ideology whose main goal was the establishment
of a society where everything is commonly owned and there are no social classes, money, or
governments
Labor unions - An organization of employees that represent the workers in dealings with
employers; mainly used to collectively bargain for higher wages, improved worker conditions,
and better working hours
19. Social mobility - The ability of a person to work their way up from one social class to the next
20. Communist Manifesto - A book written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that layer out the
basis of the modern communist movement; argued that capitalism would inevitably self-destruct
and would be replaced by socialism and eventually communism
21. Proletariat - The wage-earning class in a capitalist society that only had control of their own
labor; Marx argued that this class was going to revolt against the bourgeoisie due to exploitation
22. Bourgeoisie - The ruling class in a capitalist society that had control of the means of production;
Marx believed that this class exploited the proletariat class of workers through capitalism
23. Natural rights - Rights that are often viewed as inalienable and innate; championed by Locke to
be the right to “life, liberty, and property” and used to justify many revolutions
24. Suffrage - The right to vote in public elections; usually referring to the struggle of women’s
groups during this time to gain the right to vote
25. Abolition - The campaign to eliminate slavery and the slave trade
26. Social Contract Theory - A model of society where the people would cede authority to a
government in exchange for the government’s protection of human liberties; argues that the
people have a right to dissolve the government if it fails to uphold the Contract and does not
adequately protect the people
27. Declaration of Independence - The document signed by leaders of the American colonists that
declared independence of the colonies from the British monarch
French and Indian War (Seven Years’ War) - A global war fought mainly between France and
England that arose due to a regional conflict over land in North America; led to the American
colonist fighting on behalf of the British and the British monarch’s increased taxation
29. Thomas Paine - An American colonist who was one of the most outspoken proponents of
declaring independence from England; wrote a famous pamphlet called Common Sense that urged
the American colonists to revolt against the encroachments made by the British monarchy and
form a better government
30. Maximilien Robespierre - A leader of the French Revolution who led the most radical and
violent phases of the conflict
31. Napoleon Bonaparte - A brilliant 19th century French military leader and emperor who
conquered much of Europe; led France’s revolutionary government in their various conflicts with
other European nations
32. Reign of Terror - The period during the French Revolution where Robespierre ruled and used
revolutionary terror to solidify control; resulted in countless executions and violence
33. Congress of Vienna - An assembly that met as Napoleon’s rule came to an end that attempted to
reorganize Europe in order to preserve the balance of power and prevent another leader similar to
Napoleon; restored the monarchs of many countries and ignored many rights established by
French revolutionaries
Toussaint L’Ouverture - Led a slave rebellion that successfully took control of Haiti from
France; resulted in Napoleon's belief that New World colonies were more trouble than they were
worth
35. Simon Bolivar - A Venezuelan statesman who led the revolt of South American colonies against
Spanish rule
36. Miguel Hidalgo - Mexican priest and revolutionary who initiated an unsuccessful revolt against
Spanish rule; regarded as a national hero in Mexico’s struggle for independence from Spain
37. Eli Whitney - The innovator during the Industrial Revolution who invented the cotton gin and
interchangeable parts
38. Adam Smith - Formulated the foundations of capitalism in his book The Wealth of Nations
(1776); argued that private ownership is the best way to achieve economic growth and fairness
39. Karl Marx - Established the basis for Marxism in his book The Communist Manifesto (1848),
which inspired socialism and communism; argued that capitalism exploits workers and predicted
a revolt by the working class to seize the means of production
40. Luddites - Workers who destroyed equipment in factories during the night to protest abysmal
working conditions and low wages; led to harsh backlash from the government, who sided with
the business owners and punished the workers
41. John Locke - A prominent Enlightenment thinker who promoted the idea of a representative
government that is obligated to protect man’s natural right to “life, liberty, and property;” heavily
influenced the founding fathers and Thomas Jefferson’s work in the Declaration of Independence
42. Voltaire - An Enlightenment philosopher who was famous for his advocacy of religious,
political, and social liberties, including the freedom of religion and the separation between
Church and State
43. Jean-Jacques Rousseau - An Enlightenment thinker who formulated the social contract theory
of government; advocated for the power of the people and laid the intellectual foundations for the
American and French Revolution
Unit 6
Imperialism: movement to create and establish overseas empires; led in part by the need for resources to
fuel industrialization and to create new markets to sell the surplus of goods from industrialization
2. Social Darwinism: reason for Imperialism which was an adaptation to the theory of biological evolution,
and it argued that the spread of European and U.S. power proved the biological superiority of whites
3. Queen Victoria: monarch of Great Britain during the high point of British imperialism
4. White Man’s Burden: reason for Imperialism which stated that it was the responsibility of Europe and the
U.S. to give indigenous people their education, culture, and religion
5. Sino-Japanese War: East Asian conflict over Korea, as China resented the influence of Japan in the region
6. Phrenologists: people who studied skull sizes and shapes, who believed that a smaller skull size proved the
mental feebleness of indigenous people
7. British East India Company: it was granted a monopoly on trade in India, eventually it became the
British government’s managing agency in India
8. The Suez Canal: waterway built to dramatically decrease the time it took to get to Asia, the project was
managed by the French, but the labor was done by Egyptian corvee laborers who were forced to work as a
form of taxation
9. Settler Colonies: colonies which attracted large groups of Europeans who eventually lived there. An
example is Algerians
10. The Berlin Conference: a meeting of European powers to provide for the orderly colonization of Africa,
hosted by Otto von Bismarck and designed to keep peace
11. The Boer Wars: conflict between the British and Dutch settlers in southern Africa, finally won by the
British. Led to “concentration camps” where Afrikaner and African refugees were treated horribly
12. King Leopold II: personally owned the colony of the Congo and used a ruthless system of economic
exploitation to reap a profit of about $1.1 billion in today’s dollars
13. Congo Free State: ruled by Belgium, where workers were forced to harvest ivory and rubber. Severed the
natives’ hands in order to reach rubber quotas. 8 million people died as a result of Imperialism here
14. Spheres of Influence: regions in China where Europeans had exclusive trading rights and access to natural
resources
15. The Taiping Rebellion: uprising of Chinese lower class people who tried to overthrow the Qing
government because of starvation and the Qing’s foreign rule and weakness. Responsible for the deaths of
more than 20 million people
16. The Boxer Rebellion: uprising against foreign influence in China, led by young nationalists who wanted to
purify the country
17. The Trail of Tears: forced removal of the Cherokee and other Native American groups from southeastern
United States to Oklahoma reservations.
18. The Spanish-American War: fighting between Spain and the United States over Spanish colonies in the
Caribbean and the Philippines
19. The Ghost Dance: a form of resistance by Native American groups that was thought to conjure up spirits
who would remove the white man from the continent
20. Tupac Amaru II: Spanish educated ancestor of Incan leaders who attempted to start an uprising against
Spanish rule. Was crushed by the Spanish and forced to watch his wife and sons be executed
21. The Indian Rebellion of 1857: turning point in the British Raj where Indian sepoys attempted to
overthrow Company rule. Led to the British government taking control from the East India Company
22. Indian National Congress: group of well-to-do, educated Indian Nationalists who attempted to change the
ills of British rule in India
23. Xhosa Cattle Killing Movement: form of African resistance to Imperialism where they believed the
destruction of cattle and of crops would bring up spirits which would drive Europeans out of the continent
24. Anglo-Zulu War: battles between Europeans and a strong African state over land in southern Africa,
eventually the Europeans won, in large part because of technology like the Maxim Gun
Cecil Rhodes: British man who was sent to South Africa who eventually formed the De Beers Mining
Company and who also had a large stake in the world’s largest gold fields. Had a dream of building a
railroad from Cape Town to Cairo, Egypt
26. Guano: bird and bat excrement which was mined in South America and was used as a highly-valued
fertilizer
27. De Beers Mining Company: Britain-based business in South Africa that accounted for 90 percent of the
world’s diamond production
28. The Opium Wars: battles between the British and the Chinese in the mid-19th century about the right to
sell drugs in China. The British victory led to spheres of influence being established around a lot of the
Chinese eastern coast
29. Banana Republics: term used to describe small Central American countries under the economic power of
foreign-based corporations like the United Fruit Company
30. Indentured Servitude: a form of labor where laborers would sign a contract to work for an employer for a
certain number of years, and after the requirement was up, they would be free. Many Indian and Chinese
laborers participated in this form of labor
31. Penal Colonies: areas of land set aside for criminals, because the prisons in Great Britain were
overcrowded. Convicts from England, Scotland, Ireland, and India were sent to Australia as an example
32. Ethnic Enclaves: clusters of neighborhoods of people from the same foreign country, formed in many
cities around the world. They influenced the culture of their new homes which absorbed some of the
migrants’ cultural traditions. “Chinatowns” are an example of this
33. Chinese Exclusion Act: United States policy banning further migration of Chinese people into America
from 1882-1943
34. White Australia Policy: law to prevent further non-British immigration to Australia from the early-1900s
until the mid-1970s