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APWH Unit 3 & 4 Vocabulary

Terms in this set (40)

Atlantic System
The network of trading links after 1500 that moved goods, wealth, people, and
cultures around the Atlantic Basin.
Bartolome de Las Casas
Bishop in southern Mexico that 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 for them.
Bartolomeu Dias
Portuguese explorer who in 1488 led the first expedition to sail around the southern
tip of Africa from the Atlantic and sight the Indian Ocean.
Caravel
A small, highly maneuverable three-masted ship used by the Portuguese and Spanish in the
exploration of the Atlantic.
Catholic Reformation
Religious reform movement within the Latin Christian Church, begun in
response to the Protestant Reformation. It clarified Catholic theology and reformed clerical training and
discipline.
Columbian Exchange
The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the
Americas and the rest of the world following Columbus's voyages.
Creoles
In colonial Spanish America, term used to describe someone of European descent born in the
New World.
Delhi Sultanate
Centralized Indian empire of varying extent, created by Muslim invaders.
Encomienda
A grant of authority over a population of Amerindians in the Spanish colonies. It obliged
the grant holder to Christianize the Amerindians while using them as cheap labor.
Enlightenment
A philosophical movement in 18th century Europe that fostered the belief that one
could reform society by discovering rational laws that governed social behavior and were just as
scientific as the laws of physics.
Ferdinand Magellan
Portuguese navigator who led the Spanish expedition of 1519-1522 that was the
first to sail around the world.
Gold Coast
Region of the Atlantic coast of West Africa; named for its gold exports to Europe from the
1470s onward.
Golden Horde
Mongol khanate founded by Genghis Khan's grandson, Batu. It was based in southern
Russia and quickly adopted both the Turkic language and Islam.
Great Zimbabwe
City, now in ruins, whose many stone structures were built between about 1250 and
1450, when it was a trading center and the capital of a large state.
Humanists
European scholars, writers, and teachers associated with the study of the humanities,
influential in the 15th century and later.
Janissaries
Infantry, originally of slave origin, armed with firearms and constituting the elite of the
Ottoman army from the 15th century until the corps was abolished in 1826.
Latin West
Historians' name for the territories of Europe that adhered to the Latin rite of Christianity
and used the Latin language for intellectual exchange in the period ca. 1000-1500.
Mali
Empire created by indigenous Muslims in western Sudan of West Africa from the 13th - 15th
century. It was famous for its role in the trans-Saharan gold trade.
Mercantilism
European government policies designed to promote overseas trade between a country
and its colonies and accumulate precious metals by requiring colonies to trade only with their mother
country.
Mestizo
The term used by Spanish authorities to describe someone of mixed Amerindian and
European descent.
Middle Passage
The part of the Atlantic Circuit involving the transportation of enslaved Africans
across the Atlantic to the Americas.
Ming Empire
Empire based in China after the overthrow of the Yuan Empire. The later years saw a
slowdown in technological development and economic decline.
Mongols
Nomads of northern Eurasia, they established an enormous empire under Genghis Khan,
linking western and eastern Eurasia.
Mughal Empire
Muslim state (1526-1857) exercising dominion over most of India in the 16th and 17th
centuries.
Mulatto
The term used in Spanish and Portuguese colonies to describe someone of mixed African and
European descent.
New Monarchies
Historians' term for the rulers in France, England, and Spain from 1450-1600. The
centralization of royal power was increasing within more or less fixed territorial limits.
Ottoman Empire
Islamic state founded by Osman in northwestern Anatolia. After the fall of the
Byzantine Empire, it was based at Istanbul and encompassed lands in the Middle East, North Africa, the
Caucasus, and eastern Europe.
Peter the Great
Russian czar who enthusiastically introduced Western languages and technologies to
the Russian elite, moving the capital from Moscow to the new city of St. Petersburg.
Plantocracy
In the West Indian colonies, the rich men who owned most of the slaves and most of the
land, especially in the 18th century.
Protestant Reformation
Religious reform movement within the Latin Christian Church beginning in
1519. It resulted in the forming of several new Christian denominations.
Qing Empire
Empire established in China by Manchus in 1644. The last emperor was overthrown in
1911.
Rashid al-Din
Advisor to the Il-khan ruler Ghazan and a historian, he wrote the most important single
source of history on the Il-khans and the Mongol Empire.
Renaissance
A period of intense artistic and intellectual activity, said to be a rebirth of Greco-Roman
culture, usually divided into an Italian and a Northern Renaissance, from roughly the early 15th to early
17th century.
Safavid Empire
Iranian kingdom (1502-1722) established by Ismail Safavi, who declared Iran a Shi'ite
state.
Scientific Revolution
The intellectual movement in Europe, initially associated with planetary motion
and other aspects of physics, that by the 17th century had laid the groundwork for modern science.
Timbuktu
City within the Mali Empire that became a major terminus of the trans-Saharan trade and a
center of Islamic learning.
Tokugawa Shogunate
The last of the three shogunates of Japan.
Vasco de Gama
Portuguese explorer. In 1497-1498 he led the first naval expedition from Europe to
sail to India, opening an important commercial sea route.
Yuan Empire
Empire created in China and Siberia by Khubilai Khan.
Zheng He
An imperial eunuch and Muslim, entrusted by the Ming emperor Yongle with a series of
state voyages that took his gigantic ships through the Indian Ocean, from Southeast Asia to Africa.
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