HIST 102 FINAL EXAM VOCABULARY

conquistador

Spanish for "conqueror," a new livelihood in the Americas after Columbus

khipu

Knotted cotton or alpaca fiber strings used by the Incas and other Andeans to record tributes, troop numbers and possibly narratives of events

caste

a hereditary social class separated from others in Hindu societies

absolutism

a political theory holding that all power should e vested in one ruler; also such a system of government

kabuki

a popular Japanese theater known for bawdy humor and female impersonation

oba

a priest-king or queen of the Yoruba culture

geisha

a professional female entertainer in Tokugawa Japan

daimyo

a regional lord in feudal and early modern Japan

caravanserai

a roadside inn for merchants on the Silk Road and other overland trade routes

vertical archipelago

Andean system of planting crops and grazing animals at different altitudes

autosacrifice

the Mesoamerican practice of personal bloodletting as a means of paying debts to the gods

audience

the high appeals court in Spanish America

yangban

the noble class in early modern Korea

shamanism

widespread system of religious belief and healing originating in Central Asia

kitomi

deities attended by Kongo priests prior to the arrival of Christian Europeans

bourgeoisie

in early modern Europe, a new class of burghers, or urban-dwelling merchants

capitalism

in early modern Europe, a new way of conducting business by pooling money, goods, and labor to make a profit

indulgence

in early modern Europe, a note sold by the Catholic Church to speed a soul's exit from Purgatory

maroon

in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a runaway slave and his or her descendants

peca

Portuguese for "piece," used to describe enslaved Africans as units of labor

mestizaje

Spanish for "mixture," referring to racial blending of any type

manikongo

a "blacksmith" kinf of Kongo

buccaneer

a Caribbean-based pirate of the seventeenth century

creole

a European born in the Americas and his or her descendants

sumo

a Japanese professional wrestler known for his heft

nanban

a Japanese term for "southern barbarians," or Europeans; also applies to hybrid European-Japanese artistic style

feitoria

a Portuguese overseas trading post, usually fortified

mita

a Spanish revival of the Inca draft labor system

Inquisition

a branch of the Catholic Church established to enforce orthodoxy

serf

a dependent agricultural laborer attached to a property and treated much like a slave

fetishism

a derogatory term used by Europeans to describe western African use of religious objects

encomienda

a feudal-style grant of a native American village to a conquistador or other Spaniard

armada

a fleet of warships; usually used in reference to the Spanish naval fleet defeated by England in 1588

kisaeng

a geisha-like female entertainer in early modern Korea

indenture

a labor system in which Europeans contracted for several years of unpaid labor in exchange for free passage across the Atlantic and housing

timar

a land grant given in compensation for military service by the Ottoman sultan to a soldier

Brahman

a member of the priestly caste in Hindu societies

Kshatriya

a member of the warrior caste in Hindu societies

trade diaspora

a network of merchants from the same city or country who live permanently in foreign lands and cooperate with one another to pursue trading opportunities

Renaissance

a period of intense intellectual and artistic creativity in Europe, beginning in Italy in the fourteenth century as a revival of the classical civilization of ancient Greece and Rome

mestizo

a person of mixed European and native American ancestry

waka

a sacred place or thing in Andean culture

genie

a sacred site or feature in the West African landscape

pombeiro

a slave-trade middleman in the West Central African interior

dhow

a small sailing vessel with triangular rigs used in monsoon trade to East Africa

theocracy

a state ruled by religious authorities

merchantilism

a system of economic regulations aimed at increasing the power of the state

chinampa

a terrace for farming and house building constructed in the shallows of Mexico's Lake Texcoco by the Aztecs and their neighbors

Sufism

a tradition within Islam that emphasizes mystical knowledge and personal experience of the divine

monsoon

a wind system that influences large climatic regions such as the Indian Ocean basin and reverses direction seasonally

longhouse

a wooden communal dwelling typical of Eastern Woodlands peoples

repartimiento

an allotment of indigenous laborers in colonial Mexico, similar to the Andean mita

constitutionalism

an early modern system of government based on a written charter defining a power-sharing arrangement between a monarch and representative bodies, or parliaments

pandemic

an outbreak of epidemic disease that spreads across an entire region

wampum

beads made of seashells; used in eastern North America as currency and to secure alliances

Columbian Exchange

Historian Alfred Crosby's term for the movement of American plants, animals, and germs to the rest of the world and vice versa

African diaspora

the global dispersal, mostly through the Atlantic slave trade, of African peoples

shogun

the military commander who effectively exercised supreme political and military authority over Japan during the Kamakura, Ashikaga, and Tokugawa shogunates

Neo-Confucianism

the reformulation of Confucian doctrines to reassert a commitment to moral perfection and the betterment of society; dominated Chinese intellectual life and social thought from the twelfth to the twentieth centuries

humanism

the study of the humanities (rhetoric, poetry, history, and moral philosophy), based on the works of ancient Greek and Roman writers, that provided the intellectual foundations for the Renaissance

Little Ice Age

name applied by environmental historians to periods of prolonged cool weather in the temperate zones of the earth

mulatto

offspring of Europeans and Africans

trading companies

private corporations licensed by early modern European states to monopolize Asian and other overseas trades

oligarchy

rule by a small group of individuals or families

northwest passage

searched-for sea route to Asia via North America

janissary corps

slave soldiers who served as the principal armed forces of the Ottoman Empire beginning in the fifteenth century; also staffed much of the Ottoman state bureaucracy

tribute

taxes paid to a state or empire, usually in the form of farm produce or artisan manufactures but sometimes also human labor or even human bodies

Middle Passage

the Atlantic crossing made by slaves taken from Africa to the Americas

devshirme

the Ottomans' conscription of Christian male youths from eastern Europe to serve in the military or administration

sati

the ancient Indian practice of ritual suicide by widows

geocentrism

the ancient belief that the earth is the center of the universe

Black Death

the catastrophic outbreak of plague that spread from the Black Sea to Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa in 1347-1350, killing a third or more of the population in afflicted areas.

heliocentrism

the early modern discovery that the sun is the center of our solar system

paramount chief

a chief who presided over several headmen and controlled a large area

joint-stock company

a colonial commercial venture with a royal charter and private shareholders

fatwa

a decree issued by Islamic religious officials

samurai

"those who serve"; the hereditary warriors who dominated Japanese society and culture from the twelfth to the nineteenth centuries

metis

French for "mixed," or offspring of Europeans and native Americans

husbandry

human intervention in the breeding of animals