APWorld Unit 4 Vocabulary

African Diaspora: Africans living outside of Africa (usually as slaves) who retained some aspects of their cultures 

Akbar the Great: 1556-1605 remembered for his military successes and administrative achievements in the Mughal Empire 

Amur River: this river valley was a contested frontier between northern China and eastern Russia until the settlement was arranged in Treaty of Nerchinsk

Ana Nzinga: ruler of Ndongo in south-central Africa that became an ally to Portugal to stop Portuguese slave raids and attacks from other Africans 

Asante Empire: African kingdom on the Gold Coast that expanded rapidly after 1680 

Ashkenazi Jews: Jews from central and eastern Europe 

Astronomical Chart: a map of stars that improved navigation

Atlantic Circuit: the network of trade routes connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas that underlay the Atlantic system

Aztec Empire: an empire in Mexico that was overthrown by Cortes in 1521 

Barbary Pirates: those who plied the seas near North Africa along the Barbary Coast and captured other European slaves in the Mediterranean and then sold them to the sultan or other high-ranking officials 

Bartolomé de Las Casas: (1474-1566) First bishop of Chiapas in southern Mexico who devoted most of his life to protecting Amerindian peoples from exploitation. His major achievement was the New Laws of 1542, which limited the ability of Spanish settlers to compel Amerindians to labor for them

Bartholomew Diaz: sailed around the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 into unknown waters then returned home for fear of a mutiny 

Bight of Biafra: the slave trade expanded into this area in the 18th century. Slaves and tradable goods were collected at fairs in large numbers

Boyars: Russian landholding aristocrats; possessed less political power than their western European counterparts

Capitalism: the economic system of large financial institutions —banks, stock exchanges, investment companies—that first developed in early modern Europe. Commercial capitalism, the trading system of the early modern economy, is often distinguished from industrial capitalism, the system based on machine production

Carolina Fur Trade: (1600's) English fur traders pushed into the interior to compete with French trading networks based in New Orleans and Mobile

Cartography: the art of mapmaking 

Cash Crop: sellable crop that is grown and gathered for the market such as sugar and tobacco

Charter Companies: groups of private investors who paid an annual fee to France and England in exchange for a monopoly over trade to the West Indies colonies

Chattel Slavery: a system where individuals were considered property to be bought and sold 

Christopher Columbus: navigator who explored the Americas under the flag of Spain 

City of Potosi: located in Bolivia it was one of the richest silver mining centers and most populous cities in colonial Spanish America

Columbian Exchange: the exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world following Columbus's voyages 

Commercial Revolution: transformation to a trade-based economy using gold and silver 

Conquistadors: Spanish soldiers who conquered parts of the Americas in the 16th century 

Cossack: peoples of the Russian Empire who lived outside the farming villages, often as herders, mercenaries, or outlaws.They led the conquest of Siberia in the 16th and 17th centuries

Creole: West African languages mixed with European languages 

Criollos: those of European ancestry who were born in the Americas 

Dahomey: West African kingdom that became strong through its rulers' exploitation of the slave trade and acquisition of firearms 

Dutch East India Company: (1602) A mercantile company chartered by the Dutch to conduct trade missions throughout the East Indies 

Dutch West India Company: (1621-1794) Trading company chartered by the Dutch government to conduct its merchants' trade in the Americas and Africa

Engenhos: Portuguese sugar plantations called “engines” because of the amount of sugar they processed. The working conditions were horrible and the labor force suffered greatly 

Encomienda: a grant of authority over a population of Amerindians in the Spanish colonies that provided the grant holder with a supply of cheap labor and periodic payments of goods by the Amerindians. It obliged the grant holder to Christianize the Amerindians 

Ferdinand Magellan: Portuguese navigator who led the Spanish expedition of 1519-1522 that was the first to sail around the world 

Francisco Pizarro: Spanish explorer who conquered the Incas in what is now Peru and founded the city of Lima 

Galleons: Spanish trading ships that made round-trip sailing voyages once or twice per year across the Pacific Ocean 

Glorious Revolution: also called the Revolution of 1688, was the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau 

Gloucester County Rebellion: first recorded slave revolt in what is now the United States took place in Virginia in 1663 

The Great Northern War (1700-1721): war between the Russians and the Swedish. It was long and costly for both sides, but the Russians ended up gaining control of the Baltic Sea

Henry Hudson: Dutch explorer that sailed up the Hudson River in search of a northwest passage in 1609 

Henry the Navigator: (1394-1460) Prince of Portugal who established an observatory and school of navigation at Sagres and directed voyages that spurred the growth of Portugal's colonial empire. 

Hidalgos: lesser Spanish nobles of the New World 

Hispaniola: name Columbus gave to the island that is now Haiti and the Dominican Republic

Indentured Servant: a migrant to British colonies in the Americas who paid for passage by agreeing to work for a set term ranging from four to seven years 

Iroquois Confederacy: an alliance of five northeastern Amerindian peoples that made decisions on military and diplomatic issues through a council of representatives. Allied first with the Dutch and later with the English, the Confederacy dominated the area from western New England to the Great Lakes

Jacques Cartier: French explorer who sailed from the Atlantic Ocean into the St. Lawrence River and claimed part of Canada for France in 1535 

Jamestown: English colony in Virginia that was England’s first successful colony in the Americas

Japanese Trade Decrees: (1633-1639) series of decrees that were designed to keep Christianity from resurfacing, and it sharply curtailed trade with Europe. Europeans entering illegally faced the death penalty and Japanese were required to produce certificates from the Buddhist temples attesting to their loyalty and religious orthodoxy

Jesuit Missionaries: missionaries from the Society of Jesus, they tried and failed to bring Christianity to Japan, but were successful in reaching the elite and scholars in China

John Cabot: sailed for England in hopes of finding a northwest passage in 1497 

Joint-Stock Companies: businesses that sold shares to individuals to raise money for its trading enterprises and to spread the risks and profits among many investors 

Li Chengdong: during the Qing Dynasty he orchestrated three massacres in the city of Jaiding against Han who refused to assimilate to Qing practices

Manchus: Federation of Northeast Asian peoples who founded the Qing Empire 

Manila: Spanish commercial center of the Philippines that attracted merchants 

Manumission: A grant of legal freedom to an individual slave; more common in Brazil, Spanish, and French than in English colonies

Maratha Empire: Indian power that existed from 1674 to 1818 and ruled over a large area of the Indian subcontinent; credited with ending Mughal rule in India 

Maritime Empires: empires such as Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, France, and Holland that were based upon sea travel 

Maroon Wars: slaves in the Caribbean and former Spanish territories in the Americas fought to gain freedom

Matteo Ricci: a Jesuit missionary who was an expert in the Chinese language and an accomplished scholar of the Confucian classics. 

McCartney Missions: (1792-1793) the unsuccessful attempt by the British Empire to establish diplomatic relations with the Qing Empire.

Mercantilism: European government policies of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries designed to promote overseas trade between a country and its colonies and accumulate precious metals by requiring colonies to trade only with their motherland country 

Mestizos: the term used by Spanish authorities to describe someone of mixed Amerindian and European descent 

Metacom’s War: also called King Philip’s war, English colonists used underhanded tactics to control Native American lands 

Middle Passage: the part of the Atlantic Circuit involving the transportation of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic to the Americas 

Ming Dynasty: (1368-1644) Empire based in China that Zhu Yuanzhang established after the overthrow of the Yuan Empire. The Ming emperor Yongle sponsored the building of the Forbidden City and the voyages of Zheng He. The later years of the Ming saw a slowdown in technological development and economic decline 

Mit’a System:  labor obligation in Peru that required a percentage of the adult male Amerindians to work for two to four months each year in mines, farms, or textile factories

Monopolies: granted certain merchants or the government itself the exclusive right to trade 

Mulatto: the term used in Spanish and Portuguese colonies to describe someone of mixed African and European descent 

New Amsterdam: Dutch settlement in the Hudson River Valley that is present day New York city

New France: French colony in North America along the St. Lawrence River

New Spain: colony established by Cortes after overthrowing the Aztecs in Mexico 

Northwest Passage: a route through or around North America that would lead to East Asia and the trade there 

Omani-European Rivalry: a trade rivalry between traders from Oman and European traders over the Indian Ocean Trade Route that fueled Columbus’s search for a new route to India 

Oyo: African empire that became rich by selling its captives to Europeans 

Peninsulares: those who were born on the Iberian peninsula and stood at the top of the social pyramid in Latin America 

Plantations: the labor intensive agricultural centers of the new world which were implemented by Spain, Britain, and Portugal

Plantocracy: in the West Indian colonies, the rich men who owned most of the slaves and most of the land, especially in the 18th century

Port of Luanda: founded by the Portuguese in 1575, became the center of the slave trade in Brazil

Price Revolution: the high rate of inflation in the 16th and 17th centuries 

Primogeniture Laws: law in Europe that required estates to be passed down to the eldest son 

Pueblo Revolt: revolt in 1860 of the Pueblo and Apache against the Spanish which temporarily drove the Spanish out of the area that is now New Mexico 

Puritans: English Protestant dissenters who believed that God predestined souls to heaven or hell before birth. They founded Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629

Quebec: French trading post established in 1608 

Royal African Company: a trading company chartered by the English government in 1672 to conduct its merchants' trade on the Atlantic coast of Africa.

Russian Serfdom: in Russia they worked has artisans and laborers in factories they were essentially slaves. Its practice was not abolished until 1861

Samuel de Champlain: French navigator known as “The Father of New France” who founded New France and Quebec City 

Sea Beggars: Dutch pirates that used gunpowder in their endeavors 

Sephardic Jews: Jews who trace their heritage back to Spain

Smallpox: disease brought to the Americas by way of Europeans that was deadly to the native populations 

Syncretism: the combining of different religious practices and beliefs 

Time of Troubles: the time in the early 17th century when Swedish and Polish forces occupied Moscow; it marked the end of the Muscovite Rulers

Trading Post Empire: empire based on small outposts rather than control of large territories 

Transatlantic Slave Trade: Africans captured and sold in the Americas as slaves 

Treaty of Nerchinsk: treaty made in 1689 that fixed the border along the Amur River and regulated trade across 

Treaty of Tordesillas: 1494 treaty in which Spain and Portugal divided the Americas between them 

Triangular Trade: Atlantic trading system that had three segments which enslaved Africans were part of 

Vasco Da Gama: landed in India in 1498 and claimed territory for Portugal’s empire

Viceroyalty: the highest ranking Spanish officials in the colonies who enjoyed broad power, but also faced obstacles to their authority in the vast territories they sought to control 

Yemelyan Pugachev: Cossack who began a peasant rebellion against Catherine the Great in 1774 for giving the nobility power over the serfs on their lands in exchange for political loyalty; Pugachev Rebellion 

Zambos: those of mixed indigenous and African ancestry in the Americas