AP World History Terms
volta do mar
"Returning through the sea," a fifteenth-century Portuguese sea route that took advantage of the prevailing winds and currents.
Yongle
(1403-1424) Chinese Emperor who launched a series of naval expeditions that sailed throughout the Indian Ocean. He compiled the Encyclopedia -- a collection of Chinese philosophical, literary, and historical texts. Significance - He expanded China's maritime trade and made China known in the Indian Ocean and around the world, though his descendants ended his naval expeditions.
Ignatius Loyola
(1491-1556) Spanish churchman and founder of the Jesuits (1534); this order of Roman Catholic priests proved an effective force for reviving Catholicism during the Catholic Reformation.
Thirty Years War
(1618-48) A series of European wars that were partially a Catholic-Protestant religious conflict. It was primarily a batlte between France and their rivals the Hapsburg's, rulers of the Holy Roman Empire.
Kangxi
(1661-1722) Chinese Emperor who was both a scholar and a conqueror. He studied Confucian teachings and sought to apply them through his policies. He organized flood-control and irrigation projects. Taiwan was one of the new territories added to the Qing Empire during his reign. Significance - He was one of the two most effective emperors of Qing China. He looked after the welfare of his subjects by promoting agriculture and establishing Confucian schools.
Dahomey
(ca. 1650- 1894) African kingdom in present day southern Benin, reaching its height of influence in the eighteenth century. Its leaders sought regional power by raiding for slaves in other kingdoms and then selling the, for firearms and other European goods
Tokugawa Ieyasu
(reigned 1600-1616) United Japan under his leadership as shogun. He established a military government known as the Tokugawa bakufu ("tent government") Significance - He was able to bring peace and stability to Japan after a century of civil war. His descendents ruled Japan until 1868.
Francis Xavier
A Jesuit who traveled to Japan in 1549 to open a Catholic mission. His efforts and those of other Jesuits were successful in convincing many Japanese to become Christians. However the popularity of Christianity in Japan declined dramatically in the early 1600s. Significance - The popularity of Christianity generated a backlash from Japanese government officials and moralists seeking to preserve Japanese religious and cultural traditions. Many Japanese Christians were persecuted for their beliefs.
absolutism
A form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.)
Encomienda
A grant of land made by Spain to a settler in the Americas, including the right to use Native Americans as laborers on it.
smallpox
A highly contagious viral disease characterized by fever and weakness and skin eruption with pustules that form scabs that slough off leaving scars
Melaka
A thriving spice trade port on the Malay Peninsula controlled by the Portuguese
northwest passage
A water route from the Atlantic to the Pacific through northern Canada and along the northern coast of Alaska. Sought by navigators since the 16th century.
African slave trade
African peoples captured and taken as slaves to South America (sugar cane plantations) and North America (cotton plantations)
joint-stock company
An association of individuals in a business enterprise with transferable shares of stock, much like a corporation except that stockholders are liable for the debts of the business
witch-hunting
An investigation carried on with much publicity, supposedly to uncover dangerous activity but actually intended to weaken the political opposition.
Dona Marina
Aztec woman who became an interpreter for Hernando Cortes during his conquest of the Aztec empire
Creoles
Born in the Americas with Iberian parents
Issac Newton
British scientist who defined the laws of motion, discovered gravity, experimented with optics, invented differential calculus and wrote "Principia"
Francis Drake
British sea captain who raided Spanish ships and ports as privateer and scouted the west coast of North America in conjunction with his attacks on Spanish interests in Latin America
eunuchs
Castrated males who served the Chinese state. Some were allowed to live inside the Forbidden City in Beijing to serve the Emperor and his family. Since they could have no family of their own, it was assumed that they would serve the emperor with greater devotion. The admiral Zheng He is probably the best known example of this group. Significance - The Chinese emperors put too much trust into the eunuchs, unintentionally giving them power. The power of the eunuchs contributed to the cause for the decline of the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Cristoforo Colombo
Christopher Colombus, began the Colombian exchange.
Great Zimbabwe
City, now in ruins (in the modern African country of Zimbabwe), whose many stone structures were built between about 1250 and 1450, when it was a trading center and the capital of a large state. (p. 385)
Pero Alvares Cabral
Claimed Brazil for the Portuguese in 1500
Afonso d'Alboquerque
Commander of Portuguese forces in the Indian Ocean (16th century). Seized several strategic islands (Hormuz, Goa, and Melaka) and forced passing ships to have a pass from Portugal or have their cargo confiscated. Violators were executed or de-handed. Portugal eventually lost its tight hold on the Indian Ocean basin. (even when it was strong, it didn't have enough vessels to strictly enforce its laws—other civilizations were still prominent in trade)
Audiencias
Courts appointed by the king who reviewed the administration of viceroys serving Spanish colonies in America.
Manioc
Crop that came to Africa as a result of the Colombian Exchange
Hottentots
Dutch term for native South African people
Henry VIII
English king who created the Church of England after the Pope refused to annul his marriage (divorce with Church approval)
James Cook
English navigator who claimed the east coast of Australia for Britain and discovered several Pacific islands (1728-1779)
Benardino de Sahagun
Franciscan missionary in Mexico who preserved Native culture before Spanish arrived
Saint-Domingue
French colony in modern day Haiti, site of slave rebellion
Voltaire
French, perhaps greatest Enlightenment thinker. Deist. Mixed glorification and reason with an appeal for better individuals and institutions. Wrote Candide. Believed enlightened despot best form of government.
Martin Beaim
German cartographer who is believed to have created the earliest surviving globe in 1492.
Martin Luther
German theologian who led the Reformation
Zheng He
He was the admiral who led seven massive maritime expeditions under the Ming emperor Yongle. His journeys took place from 1405 to 1433 and included visits to Southeast Asia, India, Sri Lanka, Arabia, and east Africa. His fleets included as many as 317 vessels and 28,000 men. Some historians contend that he also led journeys to Australia and the Americas but there is little evidence to support their theories. Significance - He established a Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean. His expeditions indicate the wealth and power of Ming China. They also serve as a contrast to later Chinese policies regarding travel and foreign trade.
Charles V
Holy Roman Emperor and Carlos I of Spain, tried to keep Europe religiously united, inherited Spain, the Netherlands, Southern Italy, Austria, and much of the Holy Roman Emperor from his grandparents, he sought to stop Protestantism and increase the power of Catholicism. He allied with the pope to stamp out heresy and maintain religous unity in Europe. He was preocuppied with struggles with Turkey and France and could not soley focus on the rise of Protestantism in Germany.
Peninsulares
Immigrants to Latin America born in Spain or Portugal
Middle Passage
Journey of slaves from Africa to Americas
Charles I
King of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1625-1649). His power struggles with Parliament resulted in the English Civil War (1642-1648) in which Charles was defeated. He was tried for treason and beheaded in 1649
Louis XIV
King of France from 1643 to 1715; his long reign was marked by the expansion of French influence in Europe and by the magnificence of his court and the Palace of Versailles (1638-1715)
Seven Years War
Known in America as French and Indian war. It was the war between the French and their Indian allies and the English that proved the English to be the more dominant force of what was to be the United States both commercially and in terms of controlled regions.
King Afonso I
Kongolese ruler (r. 1506 - 1542) who converted to Christianity and tried, unsuccessfully, to save his realm from the depredations of Portuguese slave raiders and merchants
Gullah
Language spoken by slaves in South Carolina
Francisco Pizzaro
Led conquest of Inca Empire of Peru beginning in 1535; by 1540, most of Inca possessions fell to the Spanish
Sao Jorge de Mina
Location of fortified Portuguese trading posts in modern Ghana. Exchanged horses, leather, textiles, and metal wares for gold and slaves
Prince Henry "The Navigator"
Member of the royal family of Portugal in the 15th century who sponsored a series of voyages along the west coast of Africa. These journeys eventually led to the success of Bartholomeu Dias and Vasco de Gama who rounded the southern tip of Africa in the late 1400's
Zambos
Mixed African and Native American heritage. Usually slaves
Mulattoes
Mixed Spanish and African heritage. Many were slaves
Mestizos
Mixed Spanish and Native American ancestry
Tainos (Arawaks)
Most prominent Native American people in the Caribbean region in the 1400's. First to interact with Spanish explorers.
Chamorro
Natives of Guam and Mariana Islands who were taken over by the Spanish
astrolabe
Navigational instrument that helped to determine latitude by using the position of the sun
"Dream of the Red Chamber"
One of the most popular novels published in China during the Qing Dynasty. It tells the story of cousins deeply in love who could not marry because of their families' wishes. Scholars use this work to shed light on the dynamics of wealthy scholar-gentry families. Significance - The popularity of this novel and others like it illustrated the desire for entertainment felt by literate merchants. The development of printing technology made it possible to produce books cheaply and in mass quantities so that such novels flooded Chinese cities during the Ming and Qing eras.
Versailles
Palace constructed by Louis XIV outside of Paris to glorify his rule and subdue the nobility.
Engenho
Plantation in Brazil dedicated to sugar production
Nicolaus Copernicus
Polish astronomer who produced a workable model of the solar system with the sun in the center (1473-1543)
Treaty of Tordesillas
Pope sponsored agreement between Spain and Portugal to divide the world so that Africa and Asia would come under Portuguese control and the Americas would come under Spanish. (1494)
Ferdinand Magellan
Portuguese (Sailed for Spain on the trip around the world). Died in the Philippines but his crew made it all the way around the world.
Goa
Portuguese base on the west coast of India from which they aided Hindus and trade with the interior.
Bartolomeu Dias
Portuguese explorer who rounded the southern tip of Africa in 1488. Never made it to the Indian Ocean
Vasco de Gama
Portuguese explorer who sailed around Africa and made his way to India where he traded for spices. Began the Portuguese dominance of the spice trade.
Repartimiento
Replaced encomienda system, supposed to provide shorter work periods and fairer pay
Potosi
Richest silver mine in the Andes Mountains
Maroons
Runaway slaves who started their own communities
Galileo Galilei
Scientist who built the first telescope and proved that planets and moons move. Persecuted for supporting Copernicus' ideas
Adam Smith
Scottish economist who advocated private enterprise and free trade (1723-1790)
St. Teresa of Avila
Set up own convent of Carmelite Nuns and was asked to reorganize and reform convents and monasteries in Spain
Botany Bay
Site in Australia where James Cook dropped anchor in 1770, penal colony established in 1788
Mindanao
Southern island in the Philippines which resisted Portuguese control and stayed Muslim.
Hernan Cortes
Spanish explorer and conquistador who led the conquest of Aztec Mexico in 1519-1521 for Spain.
Quinto
Spanish gov't claimed 1/5 of silver produced in their colonies
Manila Galleons
Spanish ships that traded in between Manila, Asia and Mexico, stirring their cultures.
John Calvin
Swiss theologian (born in France) whose tenets (predestination and the irresistibility of grace and justification by faith) defined Presbyterianism (1509-1564)
Jan Pieterszoon Coen
The Dutch merchant Jan Pieterszoon Coen (ca. 1586-1629) founded Batavia as governor general of the Dutch East India Company. Possessed of great administrative and military ability, he contributed greatly to the expansion of Dutch influence in the East Indies.
Spanish Armada
The Spanish fleet that attempted to invade England, ending in disaster, due to the raging storm in the English Channel as well as the smaller and better English navy led by Francis Drake. This is viewed as the decline of Spains Golden Age, and the rise of England as a world naval power.
Council of Trent
The congress of learned Roman Catholic authorities that met intermittently from 1545 to 1563 to reform abusive church practices and reconcile with the Protestants.
Columbian Exchange
The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world following Columbus's voyages.
putting-out system
The merchant loans raw materials to several cottage workers, who processed the raw materials in their own homes and returned the finished product to the merchant.
urbanization
The movement of people from rural areas to cities
balance of power
The policy in international relations by which, beginning in the eighteenth century, the major European states acted together to prevent any one of them from becoming too powerful.
Deism
The religion of the Enlightenment (1700s). Followers believed that God existed and had created the world, but that afterwards He left it to run by its own natural laws. Denied that God communicated to man or in any way influenced his life.
bushido
This was a code that the samurai lived by in Japan from the twelfth to the nineteenth century. It was also known as "the way of the warrior." It emphasized unquestioning loyalty to one's daimyo. It also called for bravery and devotion to the development of military skills. Significance - The devotion of the samurai to their lords provided the basis for prolonged conflict between daimyos when there was no shogun. It also served as the basis for the authority of the shoguns after the daimyos was subjugated.
Spanish Inquisition
This was the harsh and violent conversion of Spain back into Catholicism. They used several versions of torture and fear tactics to convert people back to Catholicism
Lopez de Legazpi
Took over the Philippeans with little bloodshed because other Asian areas resisted; only the Muslims in this country resisted
Cape Town
Trading post in South Africa started by the Dutch in 1652
Peace of Westphalia
Treaty that ended the Thirty Years' War (1648) and readjusted the religious and political affairs of Europe.
lateen sail
Triangular sail developed by Arab or Indian merchants which was eventually adopted by Euroop, a triangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction. Adopted in the Late Middle Ages, and Europeans were able to sail out of the Mediterranean
Fulani
West African group who obeyed strict Islamic laws
Olaudah Equiano
Wrote about the harshness of slavery in an attempt to abolish it
Rum
Yum ;) very important commodity in European-American trade
Matteo Ricci
an Italian Jesuit priest, and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China Mission, as it existed in the 17th-18th centuries.
Gao
capital of Songhay empire
Sao Tome
controlled by portuguese, had perfect soil for growing sugar, producted much in demand in europe, used african american slaves to harvest sugar establishing the first modern colony dependant on slave labor
Queen Nzinga
led spirited resistance against portuguese forces (conquest of angola), thought of as a king rather than a queen, mobilized central african peoples against her portuguese adversaries and allied with Dutch mariners who traded on african coast. Her aim= drive portuguese from her land, then expel dutch, and finally create a vast African empire embracing the entire lower Congo basin
Dona Beatriz
proclaimed to be possessed by St. Anthony to communicate messages from God, taught her followers that Jesus was a black man, later burned at stake
Thomas Peters
spokesman for 200 black families, he went to london to petition for better treatment, he escaped to Nova Scotia with his family and many others, had escaped two times before
filial piety
the duties of children toward their fathers and the loyalty of subjects toward the emperor. This practice was encouraged by the government to promote peace and stability in Chinese society. Significance - It was the cornerstone of family values. Children had the obligation to look after their parents' happiness and well-being. A crucial obligation was for children to support their parents in their old age.
Sunni Ali
the leader of the Songhai, who in 1468, stormed into Timbuktu and drove out the Berbers beginning a campaign of conquest of the Sahara; by the time of his death in 1492 he had built the largest empire in west Africa
kowtow
traditional bow made in the presence of the Chinese emperor. It required three kneelings and nine head knockings. significance - This practice illustrated the supreme status of the emperor in China as the "Son of Heaven." European diplomats were sometimes reluctant to perform this ritual.