Absolute Monarchy
Rule by a king or queen whose power is not limited by a constitution
Boyars
Russian nobility
Cossacks
Russians who conquered and settled Siberia in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
Criollos
A term used in colonial Spanish America to describe a person born in the Americas of European parents
Devshirme
A practice of the Ottoman empire to take Christian boys from their home communities to serve as janissaries
Divine Right
The belief of absolute rulers that their right to govern is granted by God
Dutch Learning
Western learning embraced by some Japanese in the eighteenth century
Encomienda
A practice in the Spanish colonies that granted land and the labor of Native Americans on that land to European colonists
Enlightenment
A philosophical movement in eighteenth-century Europe that was based on reason and the concept that education and training could improve humankind and society
Estates-General
The traditional legislative body of France
Glorious Revolution
The bloodless overthrow of English King James I and the placement of William and Mary on the English throne
Hagia Sophia
(the Church of) Holy Wisdom, now known as the Ayasofya Museum, was an early Christian Church and later an Eastern Orthodox church which was transformed into a mosque in 1453 by the Turks, and converted into a museum in 1935. It is located in Istanbul, Turkey.
Janissaries
Members of the Ottoman army, often slaves, who were taken from Christian lands. Their control of artillery and firearms gave them prominence over the aristocratic Turkish cavalry.

Their extreme conservatism frustrated reform of the Ottoman Empire

Jesuits
Members of the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic missionary and educational order founded by Ignatius of Loyola in 1534
Manchus
Peoples from northeastern Asia who founded China's Qing dynasty
Mercantilism
A European economic policy of the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries that held that there was a limited amount of wealth available, and that each country must adopt policies to obtain as much wealth as possible for itself; key to the attainment of wealth was the acquisition of colonies
Mestizos
In the Spanish colonies, persons of mixed European and Indian descent
Middle Passage
The portion of the trans-Atlantic trade that involved the passage of Africans from Africa to the Americas
Mughal Dynasty
Rulers who controlled most of India in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
Mulatto
In the Spanish and Portuguese colonies, a person of mixed African and European descent
Nation-State
A sovereign state whose people share a common culture and national identity
Parliamentary Monarchy
A government with a king or queen whose power is limited by the power of a parliament
Peninsulares
In the Spanish colonies, those who were born in Europe
Reconquista
The recapture of Muslim-held lands in Spain by Christian forces; it was completed in 1492
Repartamiento
In the Spanish colonies, a replacement for the encomienda system that limited the number of working hours for laborers and provided for fair wages
Sovereignty
Self-rule
Taj Mahal
A mausoleum located in Agra, India. The Mughal Emperor Shah Jah?n commissioned it as a mausoleum for his favorite wife. The is generally considered the finest example of Mughal architecture, a style that combines elements of Persian and Indian.
Tokugawa Shogunate
or Edo bakufu, was a feudal military dictatorship of Japan established by Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the family.

This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city of Edo, now Tokyo. The shogunate ruled from Edo castle until the Meiji Restoration.

Treaty of Tordesillas
A 1494 treaty in which the pope divided unexplored territories between Spain and Portugal
Triangular Trade
The eighteenth-century trade network between Europe, Africa, and the Americas
Viceroyalty
A political unit ruled by a viceroy that was the basis of organization of the Spanish colonies
Hanseatic League
organization founded by north German towns and German merchant communities abroad to protect their mutual trading interests. The league dominated commercial activity in northern Europe from the 13th to the 15th century
Purdah
The Hindu custom of secluding women
Qing Dynasty
Also known as the Manchu Dynasty, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1644 to 1912. The dynasty was founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro.