Unit 4 Terms Part 1 (AP World History)

A form of government, usually hereditary monarchy, in which the ruler has no legal limits on his or her power. The monarch has complete control over country and foreign affairs. It was present in Spain, Russia, and France. Thomas Hobbes wrote about it.

An instrument used by sailors to determine their location by observing the position of the stars and planets. It helped sailors navigate the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

Lasted from 16th century until the 19th century. Trade of African peoples from Western Africa to the Americas. One part of a three-part economical system known as the Middle Passage of the Triangular Trade. It was a European commerce that led to the enslavement of millions of people who were shipped from their African homelands to European colonies in the Americas.

Distribution of military and economic power that prevents any one nation from becoming too strong, especially in Europe. It allowed power to be balanced through Europe leading to little wars.

Animals, plants, diseases and people were transferred during the Colombian Exchange between Europeans and Amerindians. It was intentional and unintentional. Diseases ravaged America and important crops and animals were traded back and forth.

Land owning aristocracy in early Russia. They had authority and were part of the higher class in the social hierarchy.

Mayan texts, long strips of paper, many meters in length when unfolded, made of the pounded inner bark of certain trees. These texts helped analysts interpret Maya hieroglyphics on stelae.

The colonizer takes over another place, putting its own government in charge and either moving its own people into the place or bringing in indentured outsiders to gain control of the people and the land. Europe colonized the Americas.

Biological and ecological exchange that occurred after European arrival in the New World. Peoples of Europe and Africa came to the Americas. Animals, plants, and diseases moved between the Old and New Worlds and made an impact on daily life. It was an important trade system.

A natural or artificial channel through which something as a fluid is conveyed. This was used in new technologies.

Early-sixteenth-century Spanish adventurers who conquered Mexico, Central America, and Peru. Examples are Cortez, Pizarro, and Francisco. They discovered and made colonies in the Americas.

In Spanish colonial society, colonists who were born in Latin America to Spanish parents. They were a part on the social hierarchy, the colonial class system.

A system that bound laborers into slavery in order to work off a debt to the employer, condition of sharecroppers who could not pay off their debts and therefore could not leave the property they worked This system was used in colonial America.

'Selection' in Turkish. The system by which boys from Christian communities were taken by the Ottoman state to serve as Janissaries. They were the army of the Pope and had missionary work.

Literally "people of the book" applied as inclusive term to Jews and Christians in Islamic territories. It was later extended to Zoroastrians and even Hindus and Buddhists.

Belief that a rulers authority comes directly from god. It was similar to the Mandate of Heaven. Rulers riled using religion so the kings in Europe made Christianity the main belief.

A grant of authority over a population of Amerindians in the Spanish colonies. It provided the grant holder with a supply of cheap labor and periodic payments of goods by the Amerindians. It obliged the grant holder to Christianize the Amerindians.

An eighteenth century movement led by French intellectuals who advocated reason as the universal source of knowledge and truth. It was a new belief instead of supernatural beings as the reason. It provided a new why to find answers.

A large Spanish-owned estate in the Americas, often run as a farm or a cattle ranch. It had slaves and was involved in making profit from laborers.

Sacred place in the ottoman empire that housed the sultans daughters, mothers, sister, concubines and heirs of polygamous families where men are forbidden. Living quarters reserved for wives and concubines and female relatives in a Muslim household.

A person who agreed to work for a colonial employer for a specified time in exchange for passage to America. They got lottle rights and were treated similarly to slaves.

Infantry, originally of slave origin, armed with firearms and constituting the elite of the Ottoman army from the fifteenth century until the corps was abolished in 1826. they were Christian slaves.

Ancestors of the modern corporation, in which stockholders shared the risks and profits for single ventures or on a permanent basis. Some of the larger companies managed to get royal charters that entitled them to monopolies in certain areas and even governmental powers in their outposts.

The ability to read and write. Literacy increased during this time due to the printing press making books common.

People rebelled locally due to a small food supply, political problems, disagreements with the social hierarchy, and religious disagreements. These were common during this period and led to many revolts.

Heavily armed, fast ships that brought luxury goods from China to Mexico and carried silver from Mexico to China. It was a new ship able to sail the Atlantic.

A slave who ran away from his or her master. Often a member of a community of runaway slaves in the West Indies and South America. Slaves were common in the Americas.

Colonies support the mother country with raw materials to Europe to get manufactured, tariffs on imported goods, and the idea of a self-sufficient economy. It was a common practice in European countries and their colonies.

A new racial concept that develops in Latin America following the intermixing that occurred between European colonists and the native American population. A person of mixed Spanish and Native American ancestry was part of the social hierarchy in the colonial class system. They were denied basic rights due to their heritage.

A person of mixed African and European ancestry. In colonial Latin America, Spanish/African who were denied basic political, economic, and social rights due to their mixed heritage.They were part of the colonial class system.

A voyage that brought enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to North America and the West Indies. This was a part of the slave trade that was prominent in the Atlantic trade.

Having pure Spanish blood. A Spanish born government and church officials who made up the upper class in the Spanish-controlled Americas. In colonial Latin America, Spanish official sent to govern Latin American colonies. They controlled government completely.

Huge farms that required a large labor force to grow crops because cash crops needed the right kind of climate and techniques to be cultivated. It was a large commercial estate where many laborers lived on the land and cultivated the crops for the landowner. It used slavery and produced sugar, a large luxury good.

The state, condition, or quality of having ascendancy, power, authority, or influence over others. They were the ruler or top of the social hierarchy pyramid.

A religious movement of the 16th century that began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church. It resulted in the creation of Protestant churches.

This social device required adult Indian males to annually devote a certain number of days of work to Spanish economic enterprises. This service was often harsh and some Indians did not survive their work period. The men would usually work in mines or on the fields. It was a system that the Spanish let colonists employ Indians in forced labor.

A monopoly given to a company by the government. Companies such as the East India Company of the Dutch VOC that were given a monopoly on a trade by their governments. Usually used in Indian ocean or African trade. Designed for maximum profit.

A major change in European thought, starting in the mid-1500s, in which the study of the natural world began to be characterized by careful observation and the questioning of accepted beliefs. It influenced the thought process of people today and produced major innovations.

A belief system which blends Hindu traditions with Islamic monotheistic traditions. Based in India and Pakistan. It is a monotheistic religion founded in northern India in the 16th century by the guru Nanak.

A voluntary agreement among individuals to secure their rights and welfare by creating a government and abiding by its rules. It is how the government of america was created. It influenced and created governments of today.

A blending of two or more religious traditions. In acculturation, the creative blending of indigenous and foreign beliefs and practices into new cultural forms. It creates new religions and cultures.

The transatlantic trading network along which slaves and other goods were carried between Africa, England, Europe, the West Indies, and the colonies in the Americas. New things introduced to these regions from this trade changed the way their societies functioned.

Royal governors sent by Spain to rule in the King's name. An official chosen by the king to rule over large areas of the colonies owned by the king. They were the rulers of Spanish colonies.

A New World syncretic faith that combines the animist faiths of West Africa with Christianity. It was a new religion created from slaves in the new world.

An adoption of the social, political, or economic institutions of Western—especially European or American—countries. The process of reforming political, military, economic, social, and cultural traditions in imitation of the early success of Western societies, often with regard for accommodating local traditions in non-Western societies.

A denomination of Buddhism that stresses exacting spiritual and physical discipline as the path to enlightenment. The highest point or the peak. The point in the sky directly above the observer.

Forced movement into slavery. Persuading by threats or otherwise to become a slave. It was a part of the slave trade.

Semi-forced movement into slavery. It was a part of the slave trade, and the people were the labor source for plantations.

The factors that influence a person's decision on where to locate themselves, hardship vs. opportunity, economic, political, cultural. The push factor involves a force which acts to drive people away from a place and the pull factor is what draws them to a new location. It was the reason why people colonized America.

A statement offered as an explanation or justification for something. The reason people colonized America was for money or freedom.

The organization of sensory information into scientific data by processes of abstraction, interpretation, and replication, the direct observation of that which is being studied in order to understand it., based on systematic collection and analysis of data. New thought from the Scientific Revolution.

Introducing a new product into the market. New products, like potatoes were introduced to Europe from the new World and vice versa.

Someone who started their own business in order to make a profit by selling goods. One who undertakes an enterprise, especially a contractor, acting as intermediary between capital and labor. Individuals or corporations that pursue entrepreneurial opportunities for the purposes of generating sales and profits.

Services that shipped goods across the maritime trade systems. They were able to get goods from one side of the world to the other where it was demanded.

The act of boarding any vessel with the intent to commit theft or other crime and with the capability to use force in furtherance of the act. It was common in the Indian Ocean and Caribbeans. They stole from merchant ships.

Interlocking trading relations with each region contributing to the whole with the West at its center. It contributed to the Western hegemony. A view of the global economic system as divided between nations that control wealth and those that provide natural resources and labor.

A medieval organization of crafts workers or trades people. They were the organization for hiring people of trades. They had a slight influence.

Ownership of human beings. A system of bondage in which a slave has the legal status of property and so can be bought as sold like property. A form of slavery in which humans are owned as goods, the slave has no legal standing as a person and few, if any, rights. This was seen on plantations in the Americas

The ownership of some people by others and is often occurs in societies where economic productions is directly linked to the need for manual labor. This was seen in this time as people started needing labor o sugar farms.

Policy that government should interfere as little as possible in the nation's economy. An economic system in which prices and wages are determined by unrestricted competition between businesses, without government regulation or fear of monopolies.

Raised agricultural fields created by the Aztecs. Called "floating gardens", piled soil on top of rafts anchored to reeds in the water to create more farmland. It was a large part in Aztec agriculture.

Classic culture emerging in southern Mexico and Central America contemporary with Teotihuacan, extended over broad region, featured monumental architecture, written language, calender and mathematical systems, highly developed religion. They were the culture before the Aztecs and had many achievements.

Ancient civilization of Mexico.Nomadic peoples from beyond the northern frontier of sedentary agriculture in Mesoamerica; established capital at Tula after migration into central Mesoamerican plateau; strongly militaristic ethic, including cult of human sacrifice., A group that predated the Aztecs, the Toltecs feuded with other groups, often making them pay tribute.

Capital of the Aztec Empire, located on an island in Lake Texcoco. Its population was about 150,000 on the eve of Spanish conquest. Mexico City was constructed on its ruins.

They settled in the valley of Mexico. Grew corn. Engaged in frequent warfare to conquer others of the region. Worshiped many gods (polytheistic). Believed the sun god needed human blood to continue his journeys across the sky. Practiced human sacrifices and those sacrificed were captured warriors from other tribes and those who volunteered for the honor. They had a great agricultural system and fell to the Spanish conquests.

A system in which defeated peoples were forced to pay a tax in the form of goods and labor. This forced transfer of food, cloth, and other goods subsidized the development of large cities. An important component of the Aztec and Inca economies.

A regional polity in which two or more local groups are organized under a single chief, who is at the head of a ranked hierarchy of people. This was seen in many of the tribal and local cultures.

Andean labor system based on shared obligations to help kinsmen and work on behalf of the ruler and religious organizations. Mit'a was effectively a form of tribute to the Inca government, in the form of labor. In the Inca Empire, public service was required in community-driven projects such as the building of their extensive road network. Military service was also mandatory.

Civilization of north coast of Peru in 200-700 C.E.. An important Andean civilization that built extensive irrigation networks as well as impressive urban centers dominated by brick temples.

A Native American people who built a notable civilization in western South America in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The center of their empire was in present-day Peru. Francisco Pizarro of Spain conquered the empire.

An explorer for the Ming emperor that launched a series of voyages that took his ships through the Indian Ocean, from Southeast Asia to Africa. He made wide spread trade possible but was stopped after the nobles disagreed with his voyages' relevance.

Amerindian peoples who inhabited the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean at the time of Columbus. The were forced to do labor for the Spaniards eventually.

Portuguese prince who promoted the study of navigation and directed voyages of exploration down the western coast of Africa., This Portuguese prince who lead an extensive effort to promote seafaring expertise in the 14th century. Sent many expedition to the coast of West Africa in the 15th century, leading Portugal to discover a route around Africa, ultimately to India.

A small, highly maneuverable three-masted ship used by the Portuguese and Spanish in the exploration of the Atlantic. It was a sturdy ship that allowed exploration over large distances.

Region of the Atlantic coast of West Africa occupied by modern Ghana. It was named for its gold exports to Europe from the 1470s onward. It was the main source of gold in the world trade system.

Portuguese explorer who in 1488 was the first European to get round the Cape of Good Hope. He established a sea route from the Atlantic to Asia.

Portuguese explorer. In 1497-1498 he led the first naval expedition from Europe to sail to India, opening an important commercial sea route.

Italian navigator who discovered the New World in the service of Spain while looking for a route to China. he discovered America and was the start of exploration, conquest, and colonization.

Portuguese mariner in the service of Spain, set sail in pursuit of Columbus's goal of reaching the Spice Islands by sailing westward. He commanded an expedition that was the first to circumnavigate the world

Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztecs and conquered Mexico. He led soldiers to Tenochtitlan, placed it under siege with help of natives, defeated Aztec empire and began Spanish empire in Mesoamerica.

Aztec ruler from 1502 to 1520. He was the emperor of the Aztecs when Cortés and his army conquered the empire. He was taken prisoner and killed during battle with the Spanish army.

During the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, the Spaniard Francisco Pizarro captured him and used him to control the Inca empire. Eventually, the Spanish executed him, ending the Inca Empire.

A conquistador like Cortes, who conquered the Incas in Peru and help to begin more advances in South America. Besides miners, farmers, priests, friars and missionaries went to South America after it was conquered by the conquistadors.

A period of intense artistic and intellectual activity, said to be a 'rebirth' of Greco-Roman culture. Usually divided into an Italian Renaissance, from roughly the mid-fourteenth to mid-fifteenth century, and a Northern trans-Alpine Renaissance.

The central administration of the Roman Catholic Church, of which the pope is the head. It is the authority of the Catholic world.

A pardon given by the Roman Catholic Church in return for repentance for sins. It was church corruption and one of the reasons Martin Luther led the protestant reformation.

A religious movement of the 16th century that began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the creation of Protestant churches. Sixteenth century series of religious actions which led to establishment of the Protestant churches led by Martin Luther.

Partly in response to the Protestant Reformation, Roman Catholic authorities undertook an enormous reform effort within their own church. To some extent their efforts represented a reaction to Protestant success. Roman Catholic authorities sought to define points of doctrine so as to clarify the differences between the Roman and Protestant churches. They also attempted to persuade the Protestants to return to the Catholic church.

The pursuit of people suspected of witchcraft, especially in northern Europe in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They led to superstitions and millions of killings.

A social class that derives social and economic power from employment, education, and wealth, as opposed to the inherited power of aristocratic family of titled land owners or feudal privileges. It was the middle class that ought estates and rose in power.

In China, the class of prosperous families, next in wealth below the rural aristocrats, from which the emperors drew their administrative personnel. In colonial America, men and women wealthy enough to hire others to work for them. A class of powerful well-to-do people who enjoyed a high social status.

Cutting of trees, Is the removal of forests, where the land is left bare or prepared for another use. It is the removal of forests from an area. It was prominent after the Industrial revolution and when people started doing bulk trades.

A century-long period of cool climate that began in the 1590s. Its ill effects on agriculture in northern Europe were notable. It caused death and starvation in Europe because of decrease in crops.

A Germanic empire located chiefly in central Europe that began with the coronation of Charlemagne as Roman emperor in a.d. 800 and ended with the renunciation of the Roman imperial title by Francis II in 1806, and was regarded theoretically as the continuation of the Western Empire and as the temporal form of a universal dominion whose spiritual head was the pope. It was an influential empire in this time.

A powerful European family that provided many Holy Roman Emperors, founded the Austrian Empire, and ruled sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain. They were very influential in this time.

A war between the English Parliament and Charles I, which established Parliament's supremacy over the monarchy. It made England into a constitutional monarchy.

Palace constructed by Louis XIV outside of Paris to glorify his rule and subdue the nobility. It was a palace that the sun king used to control nobles and be in power.

First bishop of Chiapas, in southern Mexico. He devoted most of his life to protecting Amerindian peoples from exploitation. His major achievement was the New Laws of 1542, which limited the ability of Spanish settlers to compel Amerindians to labor. He was a Dominican friar who sympathized with Indians and protested cruel Spanish policies in the New World.

Colonists who received free passage to North America in exchange for working without pay for a certain number of years. Immigrants who received passage to America in exchange for a fixed term of labor. A laborer bound to unpaid service to a master for a fixed term, in exchange for benefits such as transportation, tools, and clothes.

The first elected legislative assembly in the New World established in the Colony of Virginia in 1619, representative colony set up by England to make laws and levy taxes but England could veto its legislative acts.

A member of a Puritan Separatist sect that left England in the early 1600s to settle in the Americas. A separatist group that left England in the early 1600's to escape persecution. Created a culture in America.

A religious group who wanted to purify the Church of England. They came to America for religious freedom and settled Massachusetts Bay. The Protestant sect in England hoping to "purify" the Anglican church of Roman Catholic traces in practice and organization.

An alliance of five northeastern Amerindian peoples that made decisions on military and diplomatic issues through a council of representatives. Allied first with the Dutch and later with the English, it dominated West New England.

French colony in North America, with a capital in Quebec, founded 1608. New France fell to the British in 1763. It was a French colony.

New system of trade and expansion that linked Europe, Africa, and the Americas. It emerged in the wake of European voyages across the Atlantic Ocean. The network of trading links after 1500 that moved goods, wealth, people, and cultures around the Atlantic Basin.

Groups of private investors who paid an annual fee to France and England in exchange for a monopoly over trade to the West Indies colony. Groups of private investors who paid for an annual fee to France and England in exchange for a monopoly over trade to the West Indies colonies. The Dutch West India Company was founded by Dutch government in the year 1621 to carry the conflict to Spain's overseas professions.

The joint-stock company that ran the colonies in Fort Orange and in New Amsterdam which later became New York, carried on a profitable fur trade with the Native American Iroquois, instituted the patroon system in which large estates were given to wealthy men who transported at least fifty families to New Netherland to tend the land. A Trading company chartered by the Dutch government to conduct its merchants' trade in the Americas and Africa.

A privileged male slave whose job was to ensure that a slave gang did its work on a plantation. They were a part of the slave system.

An economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, especially as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth. It was an economic system used in this time.

A trading company chartered by the English government in 1672 to conduct its merchants' trade on the Atlantic coast of Africa. Chartered in 1660s to establish a monopoly over the slave trade among British merchants, it supplied African slaves to colonies in Barbados, Jamaica, and Virginia.

The network of trade routes connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas that underlay the Atlantic system. From Europe south to Africa, the west to the Americas, the back to Europe. Traded European products to Africa in exchange for slaves, then slaves for plantation goods, and then sold plantation goods in Europe; goal was to make a profit on each leg of the trip

A West African empire that conquered Mali and controlled trade from the 1400s to 1591. A people, language, kingdom, and empire in western Sudan in West Africa. At its height in the sixteenth century, the Muslim Songhai Empire stretched from the Atlantic to the land of the Hausa and was a major player in the trans-Saharan trade.