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AP World History Key Terms

Empires, trade networks, revolutions and global change from 1200 to today.

99 cardsGrades 9–12, College#ap#world-history

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  • Silk RoadsTerm
    Overland and sea trade routes linking Asia, Africa and Europe
  • Dar al-IslamTerm
    The Islamic world, a zone of shared religion and trade
  • Abbasid CaliphateTerm
    Islamic empire (750-1258) centered at Baghdad, known for learning
  • House of WisdomTerm
    Baghdad center for translating and advancing knowledge
  • Mongol EmpireTerm
    Largest land empire; linked Eurasia under Genghis Khan and successors
  • Pax MongolicaTerm
    Relative safety for trade across Mongol lands
  • Bubonic plagueTerm
    Black Death spread along trade routes in the 1300s
  • Song dynastyTerm
    Chinese dynasty with advances in printing, gunpowder and paper money
  • Neo-ConfucianismTerm
    Revival of Confucian thought blended with Buddhist and Daoist ideas
  • Ming dynastyTerm
    Chinese dynasty (1368-1644) that sent Zheng He's voyages
  • Zheng HeTerm
    Ming admiral who led large treasure fleets across the Indian Ocean
  • Tang dynastyTerm
    Chinese dynasty known for prosperity and Buddhism
  • Grand CanalTerm
    Waterway linking northern and southern China
  • FeudalismTerm
    System of land held in exchange for loyalty and service
  • ManorialismTerm
    Medieval economic system built on self-sufficient estates
  • Byzantine EmpireTerm
    Eastern Roman Empire centered on Constantinople
  • CrusadesTerm
    Religious wars between European Christians and Muslims over the Holy Land
  • RenaissanceTerm
    European revival of classical learning and art from the 1300s
  • Printing pressTerm
    Mid-1400s invention that spread ideas faster
  • Protestant ReformationTerm
    1500s movement challenging Catholic authority
  • Martin LutherTerm
    German monk whose Ninety-five Theses began the Reformation
  • Mali EmpireTerm
    West African empire rich from gold and salt trade
  • Mansa MusaTerm
    Mali emperor famed for his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324
  • TimbuktuTerm
    Trading and learning center in West Africa
  • Swahili CoastTerm
    East African trading cities linking Africa to the Indian Ocean
  • Great ZimbabweTerm
    Southern African stone city and trading center
  • Aztec EmpireTerm
    Mesoamerican empire centered at Tenochtitlan
  • Inca EmpireTerm
    Andean empire known for roads and terrace farming
  • Mit'a systemTerm
    Inca labor obligation to the state
  • Ottoman EmpireTerm
    Islamic empire that took Constantinople in 1453
  • Safavid EmpireTerm
    Persian empire that made Shia Islam its state religion
  • Mughal EmpireTerm
    Muslim-ruled empire in South Asia from 1526
  • AkbarTerm
    Mughal ruler noted for religious tolerance
  • Tokugawa shogunateTerm
    Japanese military rule (1603-1868) with limited foreign contact
  • Atlantic slave tradeTerm
    Forced transport of millions of Africans to the Americas
  • Triangular tradeTerm
    Trade linking Europe, Africa and the Americas
  • Joint-stock companyTerm
    Business owned by investors who share risk, like the Dutch East India Company
  • MercantilismTerm
    Policy of building national wealth through exports and colonies
  • Scientific RevolutionTerm
    16th-17th century shift to evidence-based study of nature
  • EnlightenmentTerm
    18th-century movement stressing reason and individual rights
  • AbsolutismTerm
    A monarch holds total authority
  • Louis XIVTerm
    French king who embodied absolutism
  • Peter the GreatTerm
    Russian tsar who Westernized his country
  • American RevolutionTerm
    Colonial independence movement of 1775-1783
  • French RevolutionTerm
    1789 upheaval that ended the old order in France
  • Haitian RevolutionTerm
    Successful enslaved people's revolt that created Haiti in 1804
  • Simon BolivarTerm
    Leader of independence movements in northern South America
  • Napoleon BonaparteTerm
    French emperor who spread revolutionary ideas by conquest
  • NationalismTerm
    Loyalty to one's nation and its self-rule
  • Industrial RevolutionTerm
    Shift to machine and factory production beginning in Britain
  • CapitalismTerm
    Economic system of private ownership and markets
  • SocialismTerm
    System favoring shared or state ownership of production
  • Karl MarxTerm
    Thinker who wrote The Communist Manifesto, criticizing capitalism
  • UrbanizationTerm
    Growth of cities
  • ImperialismTerm
    Building empires by conquering or dominating other lands
  • Berlin Conference (1884-85)Term
    Meeting where European powers set rules for dividing Africa
  • Opium WarsTerm
    19th-century conflicts forcing China to open to trade
  • Taiping RebellionTerm
    Massive 1850-64 uprising against Qing rule
  • Meiji RestorationTerm
    1868 modernization of Japan under the emperor
  • Sepoy Rebellion (1857)Term
    Uprising against British East India Company rule in India
  • Suez CanalTerm
    1869 waterway linking the Mediterranean and Red Seas
  • AbolitionTerm
    Ending slavery; widespread across empires in the 1800s
  • Boxer RebellionTerm
    Chinese uprising against foreign influence around 1900
  • World War ITerm
    1914-18 global conflict that ended four empires
  • Russian Revolution (1917)Term
    Overthrow of the tsar, leading to Soviet rule
  • Great DepressionTerm
    1930s worldwide economic collapse
  • FascismTerm
    Authoritarian ultranationalist political movement
  • World War IITerm
    1939-45 global war
  • HolocaustTerm
    Nazi genocide of six million Jews and others
  • United NationsTerm
    International body founded 1945
  • Cold WarTerm
    Rivalry between the US and USSR after 1945
  • Chinese Revolution (1949)Term
    Communist victory led by Mao Zedong
  • DecolonizationTerm
    Colonies gaining independence after 1945
  • Indian independence (1947)Term
    End of British rule and partition into India and Pakistan
  • Mahatma GandhiTerm
    Leader of nonviolent resistance in India
  • Non-Aligned MovementTerm
    Nations avoiding alliance with either Cold War bloc
  • Green RevolutionTerm
    Mid-20th century agricultural advances raising crop yields
  • ApartheidTerm
    South Africa's system of legal racial segregation
  • Nelson MandelaTerm
    Anti-apartheid leader who became South Africa's president in 1994
  • GlobalizationTerm
    Growing worldwide connection of economies and cultures
  • MigrationTerm
    Movement of people across regions, a major theme in world history
  • Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)Term
    Spain-Portugal agreement dividing newly found lands
  • Columbian ExchangeTerm
    Trade of crops, animals and diseases across the Atlantic
  • HajjTerm
    Pilgrimage to Mecca
  • SufismTerm
    Mystical tradition in Islam that helped spread the faith
  • Bhakti movementTerm
    Devotional Hindu movement stressing personal love of god
  • CaravelTerm
    Light, maneuverable ship used by Portuguese explorers
  • Gunpowder empiresTerm
    Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal states that used cannons
  • DevshirmeTerm
    Ottoman practice of recruiting boys for the army and government
  • Millet systemTerm
    Ottoman system giving religious communities self-government
  • Qing dynastyTerm
    Last Chinese imperial dynasty (1644-1912)
  • Sati and reformTerm
    Reformers in 19th-century India campaigned against the custom of widow burning
  • TanzimatTerm
    Ottoman reforms of the 1800s to modernize the state
  • ZionismTerm
    Movement for a Jewish homeland, emerging in the late 1800s
  • Pan-AfricanismTerm
    Movement for unity among people of African descent
  • GenocideTerm
    Deliberate destruction of a national or ethnic group
  • Non-state actorsTerm
    Groups like corporations or movements that act across borders without being governments
  • European UnionTerm
    Economic and political union of European countries
  • OPECTerm
    Organization of oil-exporting countries formed 1960

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