Glossary of Historical Terms Flashcards
Abbasid Caliphate
An Arab dynasty of caliphs (successors the Prophet) who governed much of the Islamic world from its capital in Baghdad beginning in 750 c.. After
900 c.E. chat empire increasingly fragmented until its
overthrow by the Mongols in 1258.
Abd al-Hamid II
Ottoman sultan (T. 1876- 1909) who
accepted a reform constitution but then quickly sup-
pressed it, ruling as a despotic monarch for the rest of his long reign.
Abolitionist Movement
An international movement that
condemned slavery as morally repugnant and contributed much to ending slavery in the Western world during the nineteenth century; the movement was especially promInent in Britain and the United States beginning in the late eighteenth century.
African Diaspora
The global spread of African peoples via the slave trade.
African Identity
A new way of thinking about belonging that emerged by the end of the nineteenth century among well-educated Africans: it was influenced by the common experience of colonial oppression and European racism and was an effort to revive che cultural self-confidence of their people.
Africanization of Christianity
Process that occurred in non-Muslim Africa, where many who converted to Christianity sought to incorporate older traditions, values, and practices into their understanding of Christianity; often expressed in the creation of churches and schools
that operated independently of the missionary and colonial establishment.
Age of fossil fuels
Twentieth-century shift in energy production with increased use of coal and oil, resulting in the widespread availability of electricity and the internal combustion engine: a major source of the greenhouse gases that drive climate change.
Akbar
The most famous emperor of India’s Mughal Empire
(r. 1556-1605); his policies are noted for their efforts at religious tolerance and inclusion.
American Revolution
Successful rebellion against British rule conducted by the European settlers in the thirteen colonies of British North America, starting in 1776; a conservative revolution whose success preserved property rights and class distinctions but established republican government in place of monarchy.
American Web
A term used to describe the network of trade that linked parts of the pre-Columbian Americas; although less densely woven than the Afro-Eurasian trade networks, this web nonetheless provided a means of exchange for luxury goods and ideas over large areas.
al-Andalus
Arabic name for Spain, most of which was conquered by Arab and Berber forces between 711 and 718 C.E. Muslim Spain represented a point of encounter between the Islamic world and Christian Europe.
Angkor Wat
The largest religious structure in the premodern world, this temple was built by the powerful Angkor kingdom (located in modern Cambodia) in the twelfth century cit. to express a Hindu understanding of the cosmos centered on a mythical Mount Meru, the home of the gods in Hindu tradition. It was later used by Buddhists as well.
Anthropocene era
A recently coined term denoting the
age of man in general since the Industrial Revolution and more specifically since the mid-twentieth century. It refers to the unprecedented and enduring impact of human activity on the atmosphere, the geosphere, and the biosphere.
Arabian Camel
Introduced to North Africa and the Sahara in the early centuries of the Common Era, this animal made trans-Saharan commerce possible by 300 to 400 C.E.
Asian Tigers
Nickname for the East Asian countries of South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, which experienced remarkable export-driven economic growth in the late twentieth century.
Aurangzeb
Mughal emperor (r. 1658-1707) who reversed his predecessors’ policies of religious tolerance and attempted to impose Islamic supremacy.
Aztec Empire
Major state that developed in what is now
Mexico in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; dominated by the semi-nomadic Mexica, who had migrated into the region from northern Mexico.
Benin
West African kingdom (in what is now Nigeria)
whose strong kings for a time sharply limited engagement with the save trade.
Bhakti movement
Meaning “worship,” this Hindu
movement began in south India and moved northward between 600 and 1000 c.; it involved the intense adoration of and identification with a particular deity through songs, prayers, and rituals.
Black Death
A massive pandemic that swept through Eurasia in the early fourteenth century, spreading along the trade routes within and beyond the Mongol Empire and reaching the Middle East and Western Europe by 1347. Associated with a massive loss of life.
Edward Blyden
Prominent West African scholar and political leader who argued that each civilization, including that of Africa, has its own unique contribution to make to the world.
Boxer Uprising
Antiforeign movement (1898-1901) led by
Chinese militia organizations, in which large numbers of Europeans and Chinese Christians were killed. It resulted in military intervention by Western powers and the imposition of a huge payment as punishment.
Bretton Woods systems
Name for the agreements and institutions (including the World Bank and the Interna-cional Monetary Fund) set up in 1944 to regulate commercial and financial dealings among the major capitalist countries.
British East India Company
Private trading company chartered by the English around 1600, mainly focused on India; it was given a monopoly on Indian Ocean trade, including the right to make war and to rule conquered peoples.
British Textile Industry
The site of the initial technological breakthroughs of the Industrial Revolution in eighteenth-century Britain, where multiple innovations transformed cotton textile production, resulting in an enormous increase in output.
Bushido
The “way of the warrior,” referring to the martial values of the Japanese samurai, including bravery, loyalty, and an emphasis on death over surrender.
Byzantine Empire
The surviving eastern Roman Empire and one of the centers of Christendom during the medieval centuries. The Byzantine Empire was founded at the end of the third century, when the Roman Empire was divided into eastern and western halves, and survived until its conquest by Muslim forces in 1453.
Caesaropapism
A political-religious system in which the secular ruler is also head of the religious establishment, as in the Byzantine Empire.
Cash-crop production
Agricultural production of crops for sale in the market rather than for consumption by the farmers themselves; operated at the level of both individual farmers and large-scale plantations.
Caudillos
Military strongmen who seized control of a government nineteenth-century Latin America, and were frequently replaced.
Chaco Phenomenon
Name given to a major process of settlement and societal organization that occurred in the period 860-1130 c.e. among the peoples of Chaco canyon, in what is now northwestern New Mexico: the society formed is notable for its settlement in large pueblos and for the building of hundreds of miles of roads, the purpose of which is not known.
Chiefdom
A societal grouping governed by a chief who typically relies on generosity, racial status, or charisma rather than force to win obedience from the people.
China’s Economic Revolution
A major rise in prosperity that took place in China under the Song dynasty (960-1279). which was marked by rapid population growth, urbanization, economic specialization, the development of an immense network of internal waterways, and a great increase in industrial production and technological innovation.
Chinese Buddhism
Buddhism was China’s only large-scale cultural borrowing before the twentieth century; it entered China from India in the first and second centuries c.e. but only became popular in 300 to 800 C.E through a series of cultural accommodations. At first supported by the state, Buddhism suffered persecution during the ninth century but continued to play a role in Chinese society alongside Confucianism and Daoism.
Chinese Revolution of 1911-1912
The collapse of China’s imperial order, officially at the hands of organized revolutionaries but for the most part under the weight of the troubles that had overwhelmed the imperial government for the previous century.
Chinese Revolution of 1949
An event that marks the
coming to power of the Chinese Communist Party under the leadership of Mao Zedong, following a decades-long struggle against both domestic opponents and Japanese imperialism.
Chu Nom
A variation of Chinese writing developed in Vietnam that became the basis for an independent national literature; “southern script.”
Civilizing Mission
A European understanding of empire that emphasized Europeans’ duty to “civilize inferior races” by bringing Christianity, good government, education, work discipline, and production for the market to colonized peoples, while suppressing “native customs,” such as polygamy, that ran counter to Western ways of living.
Climate Change
The warming of the planet largely caused by higher concentrations of “greenhouse gases” generated by the burning of fossil fuels. It has become the most pressing environmental issue of the early twenty-first century.
Cold War
Geopolitical and ideological conflict between communist regimes and capitalist powers after World War II, spreading from Eastern Europe through Asia; characterized by the avoidance of direct military conflict between the USSR and the United States and an arms race in nuclear weapons.
Collectivization of Agriculture
Communist policies that ended private ownership of land by incorporating peasants from small family farms into large-scale collective farms. Implemented forcibly in the Soviet Union
(1928-1933), it led to a terrible famine and 5 million deaths; a similar process occurred much more peacefully in China during the 1950s.
Columbian Exchange
The enormous network of transatlantic communication, migration, trade, and the transfer of diseases, plants, and animals that began in the period of European exploration and colonization of the Americas.
Communication Revolution
Modern transformation of communication technology, from the nineteenth-century telegraph to the present-day smart phone.
Communism in Eastern Europe
Expansion of post-World War II communism to Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria,
imposed with Soviet pressure rather than growing out of domestic revolution.
Condorcet
The Marquis de Condorcet (1743-1794) was a French philosopher who argued that society was moving into an era of near-infinite improvability and could be perfected of human reason.
Confucianism
The Chinese philosophy first enunciated by Confucius, advocating the moral example of superiors as the key element of social order.
Congo Free State
A private colony ruled personally by Leopold II, king of Belgium; it was the site of widespread forced labor and killing to ensure the collection of wild rubber; by 1908 these abuses led to reforms that transferred control to the Belgian government.
Constantinople
New capital for the eastern half of the Roman Empire; Constantinople’s highly defensible and economically important site helped ensure the city’s cultural and strategic importance for many centuries.
Consumerism
A culture of leisure and consumption that developed during the past century or so in tandem with global economic growth and an enlarged middle class; emerged first in the Western world and later elsewhere.
Nicolaus Copernicus
Polish mathematician and astronomer who was the first to argue in 1543 for the existence of a sun-centered, helping to spark the Scientific Revolution.
Hernán Cortés
Spanish conquistador who led the expedition that conquered the Aztec Empire in modern Mexico.
Counter-Reformation
An internal reform of the Catholic Church in the sixteenth century stimulated in part by the Protestant Reformation; at the Council of Trent
(1545-1563), Catholic leaders clarified doctrine, corrected abuses and corruption, and put a new emphasis on education and accountability.
Crusades
A term used to describe the “holy wars” waged by Western Christendom, especially against the forces of Islam in the eastern Mediterranean from 1095 to 1291 and on the Iberian Peninsula into the fifteenth century.
Further Crusades were also conducted in non-Christian regions of Eastern Europe from about 1150 on. Crusades could be declared only by the pope; participants swore a vow and received in return an indulgence removing the penalty for confessed sins.
Cuban Missile Crisis
Major standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1962 over Soviet development of nuclear missiles in Cuba; the confrontation ended in compromise, with the USSR removing its missiles in exchange for the United States agreeing not to invade Cuba.
Cultivation System
System of forced labor used in the Netherlands East Indies in the nineteenth century; peasants were required to cultivate at least 20 percent of their land in cash crops, such as sugar or coffee, for sale at low and fixed prices to government contractors, who then earned enormous profits from resale of the crops.
Cultural Globalization
The global spread of elements of popular culture such as film, language, and music from various places of origin, especially the spread of Western cultural forms to the rest of the world; has come to symbolize modernity, inclusion in global culture, and liberation or rebellion. It has prompted pushback from those who feel that established cultural traditions have been threatened.
Cultural Revolution
China’s Great Proletarian Cultural
Revolution was a massive campaign launched by Mao
Zedong in the mid-1960s to combat the capitalist tendencies that he believed reached into even the highest
ranks of the Communist Party; the campaign threw
China into chaos.
Dahomey
West African kingdom in which the slave trade became a major state-controlled industry.
Daoism
A Chinese philosophy / popular religion that
advocates a simple and unpretentious way of living and
alignment with the natural world, founded by the legendary figure Laozi.
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
Charter of political liberties, drawn up by the French National
Assembly in 1789, that proclaimed the equal rights of
all male citizens; the declaration gave expression to the
essential outlook of the French Revolution and became the preamble to the French constitution completed
in 1791.
Decolonization
Process in which many African and Asian states won their independence from Western colonial rule, in most cases by negotiated settlement and in some cases through violent military confrontations.
Deng Xiaoping
Leader of China from 1976 to 1997 whose reforms dismantled many of the distinctly communist elements of the Chinese economy.
Dependent Development
Term used to describe Latin
America’s economic growth in the nineteenth century, which was largely financed by foreign capital and dependent on European and North American prosperity and decisions; also viewed as a new form of colonialism.
Devshirme
A term that means “collection or gathering;” it
refers to the Ottoman Empire’s practice of removing
young boys from their Christian subjects and training them for service in the civil administration or in the elite Janissary infantry corps.
The Dream of the Red Chamber
Book written by Cao
Xuegin that explores the life of an elite family with connections to the court; it was the most famous popular novel of mid-eighteenth-century China.
Dutch East India Company
Private trading company
chartered by the Netherlands around 1600, mainly focused on Indonesia; it was given a monopoly on Indian
Ocean trade, including the right to make war and to rule conquered peoples.
Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Branch of Christianity that developed in the eastern part of the Roman Empire and gradually separated, mostly on matters of practice, from the branch of Christianity dominant in Western Europe; noted for the subordination of the Church to political authorities, a married clergy, the use of leavened bread in the Eucharist, and a sharp rejection of the authority of Roman popes.
Economic Globalization
The deepening economic entanglement of the world’s peoples, especially since
1950; accompanied by the spread of industrialization in the Global South and extraordinary economic growth following World War II; the process has also generated various forms of inequality and resistance as well as increasing living standards for many.
European Economic Community
An alliance formed in 1957 by six West European countries dedicated to developing common trade policies and reduced tariffs; it gradually developed into the larger European Union.
European Enlightenment
European intellectual movement of the eighteenth century that applied the principles of the Scientific Revolution to human affairs and was noted for its commitment to openmindedness and inquiry and the belief that knowledge could transform human society.
European Renaissance
A “rebirth” of classical learning that is most often associated with the cultural blossoming of Italy in the period 1350-1500 and that included not just a rediscovery of Greek and Roman learning but also major developments in art, as well as growing secularism in society. It spread to Northern Europe after 1400.
Export-Processing Zones (EPZs)
Areas where international companies can operate with taz and other benefits, offered as an incentive to attract manufacturers.
Facism
Political ideology that considered the conflict of nations to be the driving force of history; marked by intense nationalism and an appeal to post-World War I
discontent. Fascists praised violence against enemies as a renewing force in society, celebrated action rather than refection, and placed their faith in a charismatic leader. Fascists also bitterly condemned individualism, liberalism feminism, parliamentary democracy, and communism.
Female Circumcision
The excision of a pubescent girl’s clitoris and adjacent genital tissue as part of initiation rites marking her coming-of-age; missionary efforts to end the practice sparked a widespread exodus from mission churches in colonial Kenya.
Feminism in the Global South
Mobilization of women across Asia, Africa, and Latin America; distinct from Western feminism because of its focus on issues such as colonialism, racism, and party, rather than those exclusively related to gender.
Foot Binding
The Chinese practice of tightly wrapping girls’ feet to keep them small, prevalent in the Song Dynasty and later; an emphasis on small size and delicacy was central to view of female beauty.
French Revolution
Massive upheaval of French society (1789-1815) that overthrew the monarchy, ended the legal privileges of the nobility, and for a time outlawed the Catholic Church. The French Revolution proceeded in stages, becoming increasingly radical and violent until the period known as the Terror in 1793-1794 after which it became more conservative, especially under
Napoleon Bonaparte (r. 1799-1815).
Fur Trade
A global industry in which French, British, and Dutch traders exported fur from North America to Europe, using Native American labor and with great environmental cost to the Americas. A parallel commerce in furs operated under Russian control in Siberia.
Galileo
An Italian scientist who developed an improved telescope in 1609, with which he made many observations that undermined established understandings of the cosmos.
Mohandas Gandhi
Often known as
“Mahatma” or “Great Soul, the political leader of the Indian drive for independence from Great Britain; rejected the goal of modern industrialization and advocated nonviolence.
General Crisis
The near-record cold winters experienced in much of China, Europe, and North America in the mid-seventeenth century, sparked by the Little Ice Age; extreme weather conditions led to famines, uprisings, and wars.
Ghana
An early and prominent state within West African
civilization. With a reputation for great riches, Ghana flourished between 750 and 1076 and was later absorbed into the larger Kingdom of Mali.
Globalization of Democracy
Late twentieth-century political shift that brought popular movements, multiparty elections, and new constitutions to countries around the world.
Global Urbanization
The explosive growth of cities after 1900, caused by the reduced need for rural labor and more opportunities for employment in manufacturing. commerce, government, and the service industry.
Mikhail Gorbachev
Leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991 whose efforts to reform the USSR led to its collapse.
Great Depression
Worldwide economic contraction that began in 1929 with a stock market crash in the United States and conanned in many areas until the outbreak ot
World War II.
Great Dying
Term used to describe the devastating demographic impact of European-borne epidemic discases of the Americas; in many cases, up to 90 percent of the pre-Columbian population die.
Great Jamaica Revolt
Slave rebellion in the British West
Indies (1831-1832) inspired by the Haitian Revolution in which around 60,000 slaves attacked several hundred
plantations; the discontent of the slaves and the brutality of the British response helped sway the British public to support the abolition of slavery.
Great Leap Forward
Communist push for collectivization that created “people’s communes” and aimed to mobilize China’s population for rapid development.
Great Zimbabwe
A powerful state in the southern African interior that apparently emerged from the growing trade
in gold to the East African coast; flourished between
1250 and 1350 c.e.
Green Revolution
Innovations in agriculture during
the twentieth century, such as mechanical harvesters, chemical fertilizers, and the development of high-yielding crops, that enabled global food production to keep up with, and even exceed, growing human numbers.
Guomindang
The Chinese Nationalist Party led by Chiang Kai-shek that governed from 1928 until its overthrow by the communists in 1949.
Haitian Revolution
The only fully successful slave rebellion in world history; the uprising in the French Caribbean colony of Saint Domingue (later renamed Haiti, which means
“mountainous” or “rugged” in the native Taino language) was sparked by the French Revolution and led to the establishment of an independent state after a long and bloody war (1791-1804). Its first leader was Toussaint Louverture, a former slave.
Han Dynsaty
The Chinese dynasty (206 B.C.E.-220 c.E.) that emerged after the Qin dynasty collapsed, establishing political and cultural patterns that lasted into the twentieth century.
Hangul
A phonetic alphabet developed in Korea in the fifteenth century in a move toward greater cultural independence from China.
Hangzhou
China’s capital during the Song dynasty, with a population at its height of more than a million people.
