Chapter 14: Cultures of Splendor and Power, 1500-1780 CE Vocab

Question 1

ulama

Answer 1

Arabic word that means “learned ones” or “scholars”; used for those who devoted themselves to knowledge of Islamic sciences.

Question 2

Sufi

Answer 2

Islamic mystics who stressed contemplation and ecstasy through poetry, music, and dance.

Question 3

Taj Mahal

Answer 3

Royal palace of the Mughal Empire, built by Shah Jahan in the seventeenth century in homage to his wife, Mumtaz.

Question 4

Forbidden City of Beijing

Answer 4

Palace city of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Question 5

Topkapi Palace

Answer 5

Palace complex located in Istanbul that served as both the residence of the sultan, along with his harem and larger household, and the political headquarters of the Ottoman Empire.

Question 6

Palace of Versailles

Answer 6

The palace complex, 11 miles away from the French capital of Paris, built by Louis XIV in the 1670s and 1680s to house and entertain his leading clergymen and nobles, with the hopes of diverting them from plotting against him.

Question 7

great plaza at Isfahan

Answer 7

The center of Safavid power in the seventeenth century created by Shah Abbas (r. 1587–1629) to represent the unification of trade, government, and religion under one supreme political authority.

Question 8

Enlightenment

Answer 8

Intellectual movement in eighteenth-century Europe, which extended the methods of the natural sciences, especially physics, to society, stressing natural laws and reason as the basis of authority.

Question 9

scientific method

Answer 9

Method of inquiry based on experimentation in nature. Many of its principles were first laid out by the philosopher Sir Francis Bacon (1561–1626), who claimed that real science entailed the formulation of hypotheses that could be tested in carefully controlled experiments.

Question 10

bioprospecting

Answer 10

Transferring knowledge about biological, chemical, and botanical resources from one location on the planet to another with commercial aims, especially in agriculture and pharmaceuticals. Often, this involves the exploitation of indigenous forms of knowledge. In the modern age, it frequently leads to patents, which reward the owner of the patent and not necessarily the discoverer of the knowledge.

Question 11

philosophes

Answer 11

Enlightenment thinkers who applied scientific reasoning to human interaction and society as opposed to nature.

Question 12

creoles

Answer 12

Persons of mixed European and African (or other) descent who were born in the Americas.

Question 13

peninsulares

Answer 13

Men and women born in Spain or Portugal who resided in the Americas. They regarded themselves as superior to Spaniards or Portuguese born in the colonies (creoles).

Question 14

Oceania

Answer 14

Collective name for Australia, New Zealand, and the islands of the southwestern Pacific Ocean.