Akbar
The most famous emperor of the Mughal India. He created tolerance for religion, women, blended elite culture. He made a system & tradition of acceptance. Overall, created unity among the wide variety of people, cultures, & religious traditions.
Osman
The founder of the Ottoman empire who was the leader of a band of semi-nomadic Turks who migrated to north west Anatolia during the 13th century.
Suleiman
Under his rule (r. 1520-1566), the Ottoman Empire reached its height of power. He commanded the greatest Ottoman assault against Europe in 1521.
Janissaries
A new Ottoman elite military group who instituted "Devshirme"
Devshirme
A system where local Christians had to give young boys to be slaves of the sultan. They trained, learned Turkish, converted to Islam, and served the sultan as bureaucrats or infantrymen in the army which helped continue military success.
Vizier
The aid to the sultan who was the head of the imperial administration and took care of everyday work of the empire.
Imam
The belief that the true heirs of Islam were the descendants of Ali. These heirs continued until the 9th century. It wasn't a united political base.
Hidden Imam
The 12th descendant of Ali who disappeared as a child.
Ismail
The ruler of the Safavid Empire in the early 16th century. He united a large area south of the Caspian Sea& west of the Ottoman Empire. He formed an army & declared Twelver Shi'ism to be the new official religion of his new Safavid realm.
Twelver Shi'ism
Ismail's new religion based on Hidden Imam legacy.
Qizibash
Ismail's best cavalry which he sent against the Ottomans at the battle in north west Persia in 1514. They fought using swords and knives against the Ottoman Janissaries who had muskets and cannons. The Ottomans won that round.
Shah Abbas I
The Safavids reached their peak under his rule (r. 1588-1629). He had Russian boys captured and educated as soldiers like devshirme. Abbas understood the importance of European technological knowledge & brought European advisors to assist him in his wars with the Ottomans.
Babur
A descendant of Timer and Genghis Khan who founded the Mughal Empire in 1526.
Sati
The Hindu practice where widowers commit suicide by jumping into their husband's funeral pyres. Was outlawed by Akbar and Shah Jahan.
Purdah
Seclusion for women in a patriarchal society. Was more strict for upper class women.
Divine Faith
An invention of Akbar combining Muslim, Hindu, Zoroastrain, Christian, & Sikh beliefs.
Nanuk
(1469-1539) He stressed meditation as a means of seeking enlightenment & drew upon Islamic and Hindu beliefs in his teachings. He was the 1st guru.
Guru
A religious leader of a new religion called Sikhism.
Sikhism
A new religion created by Nanuk which adopted beliefs from Islam & Hinduism.
Army of the Pure
An army led by the 10th guru. It was created to avenge his father who was executed by Mughal Shah Aurangzeb, a Muslim. As a result, Sikh beliefs became more aggressive
Fatehpur Sikri
Akbur's new capital city which illustrated the Mughal love for architecture.
Ivan III
Known as "Ivan the Great". He refused to pay Mongolian tribute and called himself "tsar" with the claim he was establishing the 3rd Rome.
Cossacks
Peasants recruited to settle in new territories in exchange for freedom from serfdom. This was one of the ways Ivan III "consolidated his hold."
Ivan IV
Ivan the Great's grandson who was known as "Ivan the Terrible". Centralization of power continued under rule. His nickname represents the problems the tsars faced as their power increased.
Boyars
A title of nobility that Russia's economic system was based on along with feudalism. They had military responsibilities to overlords.
Romanov Family
The family that ruled Russia until the early 20th century. Boyars selected a member of the family, Mikhail, to be the heir to the throne.
Window to the West
Another name for St. Petersburg, the Russian capital on the Baltic Sea. It served as a port for the navy Peter the Great built & allowed closer access to western countries.
Peter the Great
(r. 1682- 1724) He observed the West to improve Russia. He built an army by drafting peasants, encouraged use of western technology, built roads & bridges, ordered boyars to dress like Europeans & shave, reorganized bureaucracy to more efficiently gather taxes, replaced boyars with Table of Ranks & encouraged industrial production
Table of Ranks
It allowed officials to attain government positions based on merit rather than aristocracy. In Russia
The Forbidden City
A.K.A. Beijing, where 20,000 people served the emperor & his family.
Matteo Ricci
An Italian Jesuit missionary who hoped to convert Emperor Wanli.
Queue
The type of braid Chinese men were forced to have under Qing dynasty which showed their submission.
Kowtow
A bow that consisted of 3 different kneelings.
Kangxi
A strong emperor who strengthened the Manchu Dynasty. He was a Confucian scholar who was a talented military leader and expanded the empire dramatically. (r. 1661-1722)
Qianlong
A strong emperor who strengthened the Manchu Dynasty. He was a Confucian scholar whose reign brought prosperity. (r.1736-1795)
Daimyos
Powerful territorial lords in Japan who had a great deal of local control. As a result, political power was fragmented.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi
A competent general who broke the power of the warring daimyos & unified Japan under his authority by 1590.
Tokugawa Shogunate
A centralized government in 1603 established by daimyos & Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Bakufu
A.K.A. "tent government". A temporary replacement for real power of the emperor.
Alternate Attendance
In order to keep the daimyos in check, they were required to spend every other Year at the Tokugawa Court.
Kabuki
A new from of drama that consisted of several acts which was one of the most common forms of urban literature.
Floating World
An urban jumble of tea houses, public baths & brothels used as the settings for plays that allowed people to escape from the rigid public decorum required in the outside society.
Shogun
The military dictator of Japan, a hereditary title held by 3 families between 1192 & 1867. Although they were legally subservient to the emperor, their military power gave them effective control of the country.
Samuri
A member of the warrior class of feudal Japan, who became vassals of the daimyo. Characterized by their military skills & pride, they valued personal loyalty, bravery, & honor more than life. During the peaceful years of the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1867), they became scholars, bureaucrats, & merchants. The class was officially abolished in 1871.
Catherine the Great
She assumed the Russian throne in 1762 & won victories over the Turks & Poles expanding empire to the Black Sea. She suppressed a revolt of hundreds of serfs.
Gazi
A warrior or war leader in Islam, sometimes used as a military title among the Turks.
Conurbation
An enormous, complex city, made up of many parts, each of which is a small town or city by itself - a megalopolis.
Mehmed II
He captured Constantinople and made it his own capital in 1453.
Qing Dynasty
Expanded China's borders, conquered & controlled Tibet Xinjing, Outer Mongolia, & the heartland of the Silk Road. Russia was an important European contact(Treaty of Nerchinsk). 1644-1912
Yuan Dynasty
Founded by the descendants of Chinggis Khan (r. 1271-1368) and driven out by the Ming.
Factories
Established forts & trading posts along the way to the Cape of Good Hope around 1487 made by the Portuguese who were sponsored by Prince Henry the Navigator to explore Africa's west coast. They traded with local African merchants.
Kongo
A kingdom south of the Congo River influenced by the Portuguese.
African Diaspora
The spread of Africans to many other parts of the world. Was an important demographic change during 1450-1750.
Asante
On the Gold Coast, in west Africa. The leader, Osei Tutu, united many clans and controlled gold and slave trade around the 17th century. Was the most powerful state in Sudan until the 19th century. It used firearms to create its power base.
Benin
A kingdom east of Asante that developed around the 15th century when the Portuguese arrived. It focused more on traditional goods.
Dahomey
In between Benin & Asante. It united the "Fon People" & like Asante, it used firearms to create its power base. The leaders were authoritarian & brutal towards forced compliance.
Cape Colony
A stopping point for ships during their long trips from Europe and Asia. Was set up by the Dutch at the Cape of Good Hope.
Olaudah Equiano
An African who was kidnapped and put into slavery. He wrote about the life and treatment of slaves.
The Middle Passage
The trip from Africa to the Americas. The voyages took 4 to 10 weeks. Most slaves didn't survive the trip.
Indentured Labor
Labor performed under signed indenture, or contract, which binds the laborer to work for a specific employer, for a specified time, usually years, often in a distant place, in exchange for transportation and maintenance.
The Council of Trent
A result of the Catholic reformation. It was the Church's attempt to intensify its efforts to internally.
Capitalism
An economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of the means of production & by private control over decisions on prices, production & distribution of goods in a free competitive market of supply & demand.
Laissez-faire
An economic policy of noninterference by government in the working of the market & the economic affairs of individuals.
Monopoly
The exclusive control over the production or supply of a particular commodity or service for which there's no substitute.
Huguenot
Any protestants in France in the 16th & 17th century. Their legal status changed according to the wishes of monarch on the throne at the time.
Hacienda
A large rural estate in Spanish America, originating with Spanish colonization in 16th century.
Repartimiento
A system by which the Spanish crown allowed colonists to employ Indians for forced labor.
Phillip II
Charles V's son and king of Spain who continued his dad's policies of warfare & suffered much the same fate. His military victories were financial defeats.
Spanish Armada
A Spanish fleet of 130 ships that sailed from A Coruna in 1588 under command of Medina Sidonia with purpose of escorting army from Flanders to invade England.
Napoleon Wars
a series of conflicts pitting French Empire led by Napoleon I, against European powers.
Nation-state
a form of political organization in which a group of people who share same history, traditions or language live in area under government
Louis XIV
the king of France from 1643 until his death.