History 122 Midterm Study Guide
Devshirme
'Selection' in Turkish. The system by which boys from Christian communities were taken by the Ottoman state to serve as Janissaries.
Robespierre
A French political leader of the eighteenth century. A Jacobin, he was one of the most radical leaders of the French Revolution. He was in charge of the government during the Reign of Terror when thousands of persons were executed without trial. After a public reaction against his extreme policies, he was executed without trial.
Taj Majal
A beautiful tomb in Agra, India, built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for his wife Mumtaz Mahal.
Parliament
A body of representatives that makes laws for a nation
Absolute Monarchy
A system of government in which the head of state is a hereditary position and the king or queen has almost complete power
Canton System
A system to control foreign trade which confined all trading to the port of Canton
1842 Treaty of Nanjing
A treaty between China and Britain following the Opium War; called for indemnities, the opening of new ports, and the cession of Hong Kong to the British.
Consequence of the Little Ice Age for Eurasian economies
Agrarian uprisings swept Eurasia because starving peasants were not able to pay high taxes
English Navigation Act of 1651/ mercantilism
Aimed primarily at the Dutch, required all trade between England and the colonies to be carried in English or colonial vessels
Jesuits
Also known as the Society of Jesus; founded by Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) as a teaching and missionary order to resist the spread of Protestantism.
Thomas Paine
American Revolutionary leader and pamphleteer (born in England) who supported the American colonist's fight for independence and supported the French Revolution (1737-1809)
China/demand for silver
China had a high demand for silver due to its shift from paper money to coins in the early period of the Ming dynasty
Francis Bacon's method of scientific inquiry
Conducting experiments was the only way that humans could begin to understand the workings of nature
Describe labor on Caribbean sugar plantations
Enslaved people would sometimes drop dead from exhaustion, working up to sixteen hours a day
How did the industrial revolution affect Europe's relationships with other parts of the world?
Europe became more powerful economically by exporting more goods than it was importing
Why were the Taino people initially repulsed by the Europeans?
Europeans' hairiness and bad manners
Seven Years' War combatants in the colonies and its global effect
France, Austria, Saxony, Sweden, Russia, Prussia, Hanover, and Great Britain. Britain becoming the main colonial power, Prussia confirming its position as a military, economic, and political European power, and Austria and Russia proving their growing military potential, France lost its influence in Europe. The war also ended the old system of alliances in Europe.
Napoleon Bonaparte
French general who became emperor of the French (1769-1821)
Joan of Arc
French hero and military leader inspired by religious visions to organize French resistance to the English and to have Charles VII crowned king
Why did the Portuguese explore the coast of Africa in the mid-sixteenth century?
Gold's value rose dramatically during and after the Black Death, and the Portuguese believed that Africa was a source of precious metals.
Most popular books published in Ming China
Guidebooks for patrons of the arts, travelers, or merchants; handbooks for performing rituals, choosing dates for ceremonies, or proper letter writing; almanacs; encyclopedias; books on morality; medical manuals; and study guides for the CSE
Which of the following actions was undertaken by Muhammad Ali to attempt to create the most powerful state in the eastern Mediterranean?
He deepened irrigation canals and constructed a series of dams across the Nile
Which of the following methods was used by Tsar Nicholas I to maintain absolute rule in Russia?
He expanded the secret police and enforced censorship
Why the continued demand for African slaves in sugar plantations?
Increased European access to the trans-Atlantic slave trade in the seventeenth century made enslaved Africans more cost-effective than indentured servants
How did the British change their approach to ruling India after 1857?
India came under the British crown's direct rule.
How did "all men are created equal" affect revolutionary American society
It encouraged people to overturn social anarchy and stop deferring to those who claimed higher rank
What was one of the reasons for the collapse of the Taiping Rebellion?
It failed to attract strong support from the landed gentry and other elite groups.
Caste War of Yucatan
Long revolutionary struggle (1847-1901) of the Maya people of Mexico against European and mestizo intruders.
Consequence of the Opium Wars on peasants
Lost labor capacity in peasants
Sultan
Military and political leader with absolute authority over a Muslim country
What did the Ottomans see as evidence that the Islamic world had a monopoly on truth, enlightenment, and culture?
Military successes proved God's favor for their culture
Capt. Cook
One of the greatest navigators and explorers of all time was celebrated as a British national hero and icon. Cook mapped the east coast of Australia in the late 1700s
1842 Mines Act
Passed in Britain, which stops women, and children from working underground
What invention transformed sugar refining, pottery making, and textile making
Steam-powered engines
Linnaeus
Swedish botanist who proposed the modern system of biological nomenclature (1707-1778)
Explain the Columbian Exchange and the significance of maize/corn in China and Africa
The Columbian Exchange refers to the exchange of diseases, ideas, and food. Crops, and populations between the New World and the Old World following the voyage to the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492. Maize appeared in China in the 16th century and eventually supplied about one-tenth of the grain supply there. In the 19th century, it became an important crop in India. Maize probably played its greatest role, however, in southern Africa. There maize arrived in the 16th century in the context of the slave trade.
Wahhabi Islam was a direct threat to the political power of which of the following?
The Ottoman Empire
Tsar
The Russian term for ruler or king; taken from the Roman word caesar.
Why did the slave trade decline over the first half of the nineteenth century?
The anti-slavery movement effectively lobbied for the ban on the slave trade
Why did King Louis XVI summon the Estates-General into session in 1788
The political and financial situation in France had grown bleak
According to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, history consisted of...
The struggles between societal classes
What do coffee, tea, and cocoa have in common?
They are all stimulants, containing alkaloid caffeine, and they are addictive
How did Captain Cook's voyages to Australia reflect Enlightenment ideas?
They included scientists to describe and clarify Australia's fauna, flora, people, and natural features
What ideas did European Enlightenment thinkers hold in common?
They wanted to improve their societies and search for universal, objective knowledge.
Oyo Empire and Benin artwork
They were famous for their bas-relief sculptures, particularly plaques, and life-size head sculptures
Philosophes
Writers during the Enlightenment and who popularized the new ideas of the time.
Spanish crown/ encomienda
a grant by the crown to a conquistador, a soldier, an official, or others of a specified number of "Indios" (Native Americans) living in a particular area.
Newton's Principia Mathematica
laid down 3 laws of motion using a set of mathematical laws that explain motion and mechanics significance: very complex laws of dynamics took scientists and engineers 200 years to work out the implications
