Glossary of Historical Terms Flashcards
(241 cards)
1
Q
Abbasid Caliphate
A
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.
2
Q
Abd al-Hamid II
A
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.
3
Q
Abolitionist Movement
A
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.
4
Q
African Diaspora
A
The global spread of African peoples via the slave trade.
5
Q
African Identity
A
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.
6
Q
Africanization of Christianity
A
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.
7
Q
Age of fossil fuels
A
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.
8
Q
Akbar
A
The most famous emperor of India’s Mughal Empire
(r. 1556-1605); his policies are noted for their efforts at religious tolerance and inclusion.
9
Q
American Revolution
A
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.
10
Q
American Web
A
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.
11
Q
al-Andalus
A
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.
12
Q
Angkor Wat
A
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.
13
Q
Anthropocene era
A
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.
14
Q
Arabian Camel
A
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.
15
Q
Asian Tigers
A
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.
16
Q
Aurangzeb
A
Mughal emperor (r. 1658-1707) who reversed his predecessors’ policies of religious tolerance and attempted to impose Islamic supremacy.
17
Q
Aztec Empire
A
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.
18
Q
Benin
A
West African kingdom (in what is now Nigeria)
whose strong kings for a time sharply limited engagement with the save trade.
19
Q
Bhakti movement
A
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.
20
Q
Black Death
A
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.
21
Q
Edward Blyden
A
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.
22
Q
Boxer Uprising
A
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.
23
Q
Bretton Woods systems
A
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.
24
Q
British East India Company
A
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.
25
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.
26
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.
27
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.
28
Caesaropapism
A political-religious system in which the secular ruler is also head of the religious establishment, as in the Byzantine Empire.
29
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.
30
Caudillos
Military strongmen who seized control of a government nineteenth-century Latin America, and were frequently replaced.
31
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.
32
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.
33
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.
34
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.
35
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.
36
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.
37
Chu Nom
A variation of Chinese writing developed in Vietnam that became the basis for an independent national literature; "southern script."
38
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.
39
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.
40
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.
41
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.
42
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.
43
Communication Revolution
Modern transformation of communication technology, from the nineteenth-century telegraph to the present-day smart phone.
44
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.
45
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.
46
Confucianism
The Chinese philosophy first enunciated by Confucius, advocating the moral example of superiors as the key element of social order.
47
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.
48
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.
49
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.
50
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.
51
Hernán Cortés
Spanish conquistador who led the expedition that conquered the Aztec Empire in modern Mexico.
52
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.
53
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.
54
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.
55
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.
56
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.
57
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.
58
Dahomey
West African kingdom in which the slave trade became a major state-controlled industry.
59
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.
60
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.
61
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.
62
Deng Xiaoping
Leader of China from 1976 to 1997 whose reforms dismantled many of the distinctly communist elements of the Chinese economy.
63
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.
64
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.
65
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.
66
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.
67
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.
68
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.
69
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.
70
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.
71
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.
72
Export-Processing Zones (EPZs)
Areas where international companies can operate with taz and other benefits, offered as an incentive to attract manufacturers.
73
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.
74
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.
75
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.
76
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.
77
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).
78
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.
79
Galileo
An Italian scientist who developed an improved telescope in 1609, with which he made many observations that undermined established understandings of the cosmos.
80
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.
81
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.
82
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.
83
Globalization of Democracy
Late twentieth-century political shift that brought popular movements, multiparty elections, and new constitutions to countries around the world.
84
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.
85
Mikhail Gorbachev
Leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991 whose efforts to reform the USSR led to its collapse.
86
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.
87
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.
88
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.
89
Great Leap Forward
Communist push for collectivization that created "people's communes" and aimed to mobilize China's population for rapid development.
90
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.
91
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.
92
Guomindang
The Chinese Nationalist Party led by Chiang Kai-shek that governed from 1928 until its overthrow by the communists in 1949.
93
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.
94
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.
95
Hangul
A phonetic alphabet developed in Korea in the fifteenth century in a move toward greater cultural independence from China.
96
Hangzhou
China’s capital during the Song dynasty, with a population at its height of more than a million people.
97
Hidalgo-Morelos rebellion
Socially radical peasant rebellion in Mexico (1810) led by priests Miguel Hidalgo and José Morelos.
98
Hinduism
A religion based on the many belief, practices, sects, rituals, and philosophies in India; in the thinking of nineteenth-century Indian reformers, it was expressed a distinctive tradition, an Indian religion wholly equivalent to Christianity.
99
Hinduvta
A Hindu nationalist movement that became politically important in India in the 1980s; advocated a distinct Hindu identity and decried government efforts to accommodate other faith communities, particularly Islamic.
100
Adolf Hitler
Leader of the German Nazi Party and Germany’s head of state from 1933 until his death.
101
HIV/AIDS
A pathogen that spreads primarily through sexual contact, contaminated blood products, or the sharing of needles; after sparking a global pandemic in the 1980s, it spread rapidly across the globe and caused tens of millions of deaths.
102
Ho Chi Minh
Leader of the Vietnamese communist movement that established control first in the north and then the whole of Vietnam after 1975.
103
Holocaust
Name commonly used for the Nazi genocide of Jews and other “undesirables” in German society.
104
Holocene Era
A warmer and often a wetter period that began approximately 12,000 years ago following the end of the last ice age. These environmental conditions were uniquely favorable for human thriving and enabled the development of agriculture, significant population growth, and the creation of complex civilizations.
105
House of Wisdom
An academic center for research and translation of foreign texts that was established in Baghdad in 830 C.E. by the Abbasid caliph al-Mamun.
106
Hulegu
Grandson of Chinggis Khan who became the first il-khan of Persia.
107
Idea of “Tribe”
A new sense of clearly defined ethnic identities that emerged in twentieth-century Africa, often initiated by Europeans intent on showing the primitive nature of their colonial subjects, but widely adopted by Africans themselves as a way of responding to the upheavals of modern life.
108
Ideology of Domesticity
A set of ideas and values that defined the ideal role of middle-class women in nineteenth-century Europe, focusing their activity on homemaking, child rearing, charitable endeavors, and "refined" activities as the proper sphere for women.
109
Inca Empire
Hemisphere's largest imperial state in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Built by a relatively small community of Quechua-speaking people (the Incas), the empire stretched some 2.500 miles along the Andes Mountains, which run nearly the entire length of the west coast of South America, and contained perhaps 10 million subjects.
110
Indian National Congress
The political party led by Mahatma Gandhi that succeeded in bringing about pIndian independence from Britain in 1947.
111
Indian Ocean Commercial Network
The massive, interconnected web of commerce in premodern times between the lands that bordered the Indian Ocean (including East Africa India, and Southeast Asia); the network was transformed as
Europeans entered it in the centuries following 1500.
112
Indian Rebellion of 1857-1858
Massive uprising of much of India against British rule caused by the introduction to the colony's military forces of a new cartridge smeared with animal fat from piss and cows, which caused strife among Muslims, who regarded pies as unclean, and Hin-dus, who venerated cows. It came to express a variety of grievances against the colonial order.
113
Influenza Pandemic
The worst pandemic in human history, caused by three waves of influenza that swept across the globe in 1918 and 1919, carried by demobilized soldiers, refugees, and other dislocated people returning home from World War I; between 50 million and 100 million people died in the pandemic.
114
Informal Economy
Also known as the “shadow” economy; refers to unofficial, unregulated, and untaxed economic activity.
115
Informal Empires
Term commonly used to describe areas that were dominated by Western powers in the nineteenth century but retained their own governments and a measure of independence
116
Iranian Revolution
Establishment of a radically Islamist government in Iran in 1979; helped trigger a war with Iraq in the 1980s.
117
Islamic Radicalism
Movements that promote strict adherence to the Quran and the sharia, often in opposition to key elements of Western culture. Particularly prominent since the 1970s, such movements often present themselves as returning to an earlier expression of Islam. Examples include the Iranian revolution, Taliban, al-Qaeda, and Islamic State.
118
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Struggle between the Jewish sate of Israel and the adjacent Palestinian Muslim territories that has generated periodic wars and upheavals
since 1948.
119
Jesuits in China
Series of Jesuit missionaries from 1550 to 800 who, inspired by the work of Matteo Ricci, sought to understand and become integrated into Chinese culture as part of their efforts to convert the Chinese elite, although with limited success.
120
Jesus of Nazareth
A peasant/artisan "wisdom teacher" and Jewish mystic (Ca. 4 B.C.E.-2 C.E) whose life, teachings, death, and alleged resurrection gave rise to the new religion of Christianity.
121
Judaism
The monotheistic religion developed in the Middle East by the Hebrews, emphasizing a sole personal god (Yahweh) with concerns for social justice.
122
Kaozheng
Literally, "research based on evidence"; Chinese intellectual movement whose practitioners were critical of conventional Confucian philosophy and instead emphasized the importance of evidence and analysis, applied especially to historical documents.
123
Khanate of the Golden Horde
The Russian name for the incorporation of Russia into the Mongol Empire in the mid-thirteenth century; known to Mongols as the Kipchak Khanate.
124
Khubilai Khan
Grandson of Chinggis Khan who ruled China from 1271 to 1294.
125
Kievan Rus
A culturally diverse civilization that emerged
around the city of Kiev in the ninth century ce. and adopted Christianity in the tenth, thus linking this emerging Russian state to the world of Eastern Orthodoxy.
126
Laboring Classes
The majority of Britain's nineteenth-century population, which included manual workers in the mines, ports, factories, construction sites, workshops, and farms of Britains industrializing and urbanizing society; this class suffered the most and at least initially gained the east from the transformations of the Industrial Revolution.
127
Labor Migration
The movement of people, often illegally, into another country to escape poverty or violence and to seek opportunities for work that are less available in their own countries.
128
Labour Party
British working-class political party established in the 1890s and dedicated to reforms and a peaceful transition to socialism, in time providing a viable alternative to the revolutionary emphasis of Marxism.
129
Latin American Export Boom
Large-scale increase in Latin American exports (mostly raw materials and food-stuffs) to industrializing countries in the second half of the nineteenth century, made possible by major improvements in shipping; the boom mostly benefited the upper and middle classes.
130
Latin American Revolutions
Series of risings in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies of Latin America (1808-1825) that established the independence of new states from European rule but that for the most part retained the privileges of the elites despite efforts at more radical social change by the lower classes.
131
Lenin
Born Vladmir Ilyich Ulyanov, leader of the Russian Bolshevik (later Communist) Party in 1917, when it seized power.
132
Commander Lin Zexu
Royal official charged with ending the opium trade in China; his concerted efforts to seize and destroy opium imports provoked the Opium Wars.
133
Little Ice Age
A period of unusually cool temperatures from the thirteenth to nineteenth centuries, most prominently in the Northern Hemisphere.
134
Lower Middle Class
Social stratum that developed in Britain in the nineteenth century and that consisted of people employed in the service sector as clerks, salespeople, secretaries, police officers, and the like; by 1900, this group comprised about 20 percent of Britain's population.
135
Martin Luther
German priest who issued the Ninety-Five Theses and began the Protestant Reformation with his public criticism of the Catholic Church's theology and practice.
136
Mahayana Buddhism
"Great Vehicle," the popular development of Buddhism in the early centuries of the Common Era, which gives a much greater role to supernatural beings and to compassion and proved to be more popular than original (Theravada) Buddhism.
137
Mali
A prominent state within West African civilization; it was established in 1235 c.E. and flourished for several centuries. Mali monopolized the import of horses and metals as part of the trans-Saharan trade; it was a large-scale producer of gold; and its most famous ruler, Mansa Musa, led a large group of Muslims on the pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324-1325.
138
Manila
The capital of the colonial Philippines, which by 1600 had become a flourishing and culturally diverse city; the site of violent clashes between the Spanish and Chinese.
139
Mao Zedong
Chairman of China’s Communist Party and de facto ruler of China from 1949 until his death in 1976.
140
Maroon Societies / Palmares
Free communities of for-mer slaves in remote regions of South America and the Caribbean; the largest such settlement was Palmares in Brazil, which housed 10,000 or more people for most of the seventeenth century.
141
Marshall Plan
Huge U.S. government initiative to aid in the post-World War II recovery of Western Europe that was put into effect in 1948.
142
Karl Marx
The most influential proponent of socialism, Marx was a German expatriate in England who advocated working-class revolution as the key to creating an ideal communist future.
143
Maternal Feminism
Movement that claimed that women have value in society not because of an abstract notion of
equality but because women have a distinctive and vital role as mothers; its exponents argued that women have the right to intervene in civil and political life because of their duty to watch over the future of their children.
144
Maya Civilization
A major civilization of Mesoamerica known for the most elaborate writing system in the Americas and other intellectual and artistic achievements;
flourished from 250 to 900 C.E.
145
Megacities
Very large urban centers with populations of
over 10 million; by 2017, there were thirty-seven such cities on five continents.
146
Meiji Restoration
The political takeover of Japan in 1868 by a group of young samurai from southern Japan. The samurai eliminated the shogun and claimed they were restoring to power the young emperor, Meiji. The new government was committed to saving Japan from foreign domination by drawing upon what the modern West had to offer to transform Japanese society.
147
Mercantilism
The economic theory that governments
served their countries economic interests best by encouraging exports and accumulating bullion (precious metals such as silver and gold); helped fuel European colonialism.
148
Mestizo
A term used to describe the mixed-race population of Spanish colonial societies in the Americas, most prominently the product of unions between Spanish men and Native American women.
149
Mexican Revolution
Long and bloody war (1910-1920)
in which Mexican reformers from the middle class joined with workers and peasants to overthrow the dictator Porfirio Díaz and create a new; much more democratic political order.
150
Patriarchy
A social system in which women have been
made subordinate to men in the family and in society; often linked to the development of plow-based agriculture intensive warfare and private property.
151
Saint Paul
An carly convert and missionary (ca. 6-67 C.E.)
and the first great popularizer of Christianity, especially to Gentile (non-Jewish communities).
152
Philippines (Spanish)
An archipelago of Pacific islands colonized by Spain in a relatively bloodless process that extended for the century or so after 1565, a process accompanied by a major effort at evangelization; the
Spanish named them the Philippine Islands in honor of King Philip II of Spain.
153
Piece of Eight
The standard Spanish silver coin used by merchants in North America, Europe, India, Russia, West Africa, and China.
154
Pochteca
Protessional merchants among the Aztecs who
undertook large-scale trading expeditions in the fifteenth century c.E.
155
Population Explosion
An extraordinarily rapid growth in human population during the twentieth century that quadrupled human numbers in little more than a century. Experienced primarily in the Global South.
156
Potosí
City that developed high in the Andes (in present-day Bolivia) at the site of the world's largest silver mine and that became the largest city in the Americas, with a population of some 160,000 in the 1570s.
157
Progressives
Followers of an American political movement (progressivism) in the period round 1900 that advocated reform measures such as wages-and-hours legislation to correct the ills of industrialization.
158
Protestant Reformation
Massive schism within Christianity that had its formal beginning in 1517 with the German
priest Martin Luther; the movement was radically innovative in its challenge to church authority and its endorsement of salvation by faith alone, and also came to express a variety of political, economic, and social tensions.
159
Qing Expansion
The growth of Qing dynasty China during
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries into a central Asian empire that added a small but important minority of non-Chinese people to the empire's population and essentially created the borders of contemporary China.
160
Quran
Also transliterated as Qur’an and Koran, this is the
most holy text of Islam, which records the words of God through revelations given to the Prophet Muhammad.
161
Religious Fundamentalism
Occurring within all the major world religions, fundamentalism is a self-proclaimed return to the alleged "fundamental'" of a religion and is marked by a militant piety, exclusivism, and a sense of threat from the modern secular world.
162
Revolutionary Right (Japan)
Also known as Radical
Nationalism, this was a movement in Japanese political
Iife during the Great Depression that was marked by extreme nationalism, a commitment to elite leadership focused around the emperor, and dedication to foreign expansion.
163
Maximilien Robespierre
Leader of the French Revolution during the Terror; his Committee
of Public Safety executed tens of thousands of enemies of the revolution until he was arrested and guillotined.
164
Roman Catholic Church
Western European branch of Christianity that gradually defined itself as separate from Eastern Orthodoxy, with a major break occurring in 1054 c.e. that still has not been overcome. By the eleventh century. Western Christendom was centered on
the pope as the ultimate authority in matters of doctrine. The Church struggled to remain independent of established political authorities.
165
Russian Empire
A Christian state centered on Moscow that emerged from centuries of Mongol rule in 1480; by 1800, it had expanded into northern Asia and westward into the Baltics and Bastern Europe.
166
Russian Revolution
Massive revolutionary upheaval in 1917 that overthrew the Romanov dynasty in Russia and
ended with the seizure of power by communists under the leadership of Lenin.
167
Russian Revolution of 1905
Spontaneous rebellion that erupted in Russia after the country’s defeat at the hands of Japan in 1905; the revolution was suppressed, but it forced the government to make substantial reforms.
168
Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)
Fought over rival ambitions in Korea and Manchuria, this conflict ended in a Japanese victory, establishing Japan as a formidable military competitor in East Asia. The war marked the first time that an Asian country defeated a European power in battle, and it precipitated the Russian Revolution of 1905.
169
Safavid Empire
Major Turkic empire established in Persia in the early sixteenth century and notable for its efforts to
convert its people to Shia Islam.
170
Sand Roads
A term used to describe the routes of the trans-Saharan trade, which linked interior West Africa to the Mediterranean and North African world.
171
Scientific Racism
A new kind of racist that emerged in the nineteenth century that increasingly used the prestige and apparatus of science to support European racial preiudices and preferences.
172
Scientific Revolution
The intellectual and cultural transformation that shaped a new conception of the material world between the mid-sixteenth and early eighteenth centuries in Europe; instead of relying on the authority of religion or tradition, its leading figures believed that knowledge was acquired through rational inquiry based on evidence, the product of human minds alone.
173
Scramble for Africa
The process by which European countries partitioned the continent of Africa among themselves in the period 1875-1900.
174
Sea Roads
The world's largest sea-based system of communication and exchange before 1500 c.e. Centered on India, it stretched from southern China to eastern Africa.
175
Second-Wave Environmentalism
A movement that began in the 1960s and triggered environmental movements in Europe and North America. It was characterized by widespread grassroots involvement focused on issues such as pollution, resource depletion, protection of wildlife habitats, and nuclear power.
176
Second-Wave Feminism
Women's rights movement that revived in the 1960s with a different agenda from earlier women's suffrage movements; second-wave feminists demanded equal rights for women in employment and education, women's right to control their own bodies, and the end of patriarchal domination.
177
Self-Strengthening
China's program of internal reform in the 1860s and 1870s, based on vigorous application of traditional principles and limited borrowing from the West.
178
Seljuk Turkic Empire
An empire of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, centered in Persia and present-day Iraq.
Seljuk rulers adopted the Muslim title of sultan (ruler) as part of their conversion to Islam.
179
Service Sector
Industries like government, medicine, education, finance, and communication that have grown due to increasing consumerism, population, and communication technologies.
180
Settler Colonies
Imperial territories in which Europeans settled permanently in substantial numbers. Used in reference to the European empires in the Americas generally and particularly to the British colonies of North America.
181
“The Sick Man of Europe”
Western Europe's description
of the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth and early
twentieth centures, based on the empire's economic and
military weakness and its apparent inability to prevent the
shrinking of its territory.
182
Siddartha Gautama (the Buddha)
The Indian prince whose exposure to human suffering led him to develop a path to Enlightenment, which became the basis for the emerging religious tradition of Buddhism; lived ca. 566-ca. 486 B.C.E.
183
Signares
The small number of African women who were able to exercise power and accumulate wealth through marriage to European traders.
184
Sikhism
Religious tradition of northern India founded by Guru Nanak (1469-1539); combines elements of Hinduism and Islam and proclaims the brotherhood of all humans and the equality of men and women.
185
Silk Roads
Land-based trade routes that linked many regions of Eurasia. They were named after the most
famous product traded along these routes.
186
“Silver Drain”
Term often used to describe the siphoning of money from Europe to pay for the luxury products of the East, a process exacerbated by the fact that Europe had few trade goods that were desirable in Eastern markets; eventually, the bulk of the world's silver supply made its way to China.
187
Social Darwinism
An outlook that suggested that
European dominance inevitably led to the displacement or destruction of backward peoples or "unfit" races; this
view made imperialism, war, and aggression seem both natural and progressive.
188
Socialism in the United States
Fairly minor political movement in the United States; at its height in 1912, it gained 6 percent of the vote for its presidential candidate.
189
“Soft Gold”
Nickname used in the early modern period for animal furs, highly valued for their warmth and as symbols of elite status.
190
Song Dynasty
The Chinese dynasty (960-1279) that rose to power after the Tang dynasty. During the Song dynasty, an explosion of scholarship gave rise to Neo-Confucianism, and a revolution in agricultural and industrial production made China the richest and most populated country on the planet.
191
Srivijaya
A Malay kingdom that dominated the critical choke point in Indian Ocean trade at the Straits of Malacca between 670 and 1025 c.E. Like other places in Southeast Asia, Srivijaya absorbed various cultural influences from India.
192
Joseph Stalin
Leader of the Soviet Union from the late 1920s until his death.
193
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Leading figure of the early women's rights movement in the United States. At the first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848, she drafted a statement paraphrasing the Declaration of Independence, stating that men and women were created equal.
194
Steam Engine
The great breakthrough of the Industrial Revolution, the coal fired steam engine provided an almost limitless source of power and could be used to drive any number of machines as well as locomotives and ships; the introduction of the steam engine allowed a hitherto unimagined increase in productivity and made the Industrial Revolution possible.
195
Sufism
An understanding of the Islamic faith that saw the worldly success of Islamic civilization as a distraction and deviation from the purer spirituality of Muhammad's time. By renouncing the material world, meditating on the words of the Quran, chanting the names of God, using music and dance, and venerating Muhammad and various "saints," Sufis pursued an interior life, seeking to tame the ego and achieve spiritual union with Allah.
196
Swahili Civilization
An East African civilization that
emerged in the eighth century C.E. as a set of commercial cit-states linked into the Indian Ocean trading network.
Combining African Bantu and Islamic cultural patterns, these competing city-states accumulated goods from the interior and exchanged them for the products of distant civilizations.
197
Syrian Civil War
Conflict beginning in 2011 that generated over 12 million refugees and asylum seekers by mid-2016 and engaged both regional and world powers on various sides of the confict.
198
Taiping Uprising
Massive Chinese rebellion against the ruling Qing dynasty that devastated much of the country between 1850 and 1864; it was based on the millenarian teachings of Hong Xiuquan
199
Taki Onqoy
Literally, "dancing sickness"; a religious revival movement in central Peru in the 1560s whose members preached the imminent destruction of Christianity and of the Europeans and the restoration of an imagined Andean golden age.
200
Tanzimat
Important reform measures undertaken in the Ottoman Empire beginning in 1839; the term "Tanzimat" means "reorganization."
201
Temujin (Chinggis Khan)
Birth name of the Mongol leader better known as Chinggis Khan (1162-1227), or "universal ruler," a name he acquired after unifying the Mongols.
202
Theravada Buddhism
"Teaching of the Elders," the early form of Buddhism according to which the Buddha was a wise teacher but not divine; emphasizes practices rather than beliefs.
203
Thirty Years’ War
Catholic-Protestant struggle (1618-1648) that was the culmination of European religious conflict, brought to an end by the Peace of Westphalia and an agreement that each state was sovereign, authorized to control religious affairs within its own territory.
204
Timbuktu
A major commercial city of West African civilization and a noted center of Islamic scholarship and education by the sixteenth century.
205
Tokugawa Japan
A period of internal peace in Japan (1600-1850) that prevented civil war but did not fully unify the country; led by military rulers, or shoguns, from the Tokugawa family, who established a "closed door" policy toward European encroachments.
206
Total War
War that requires each country involved to mobilize its entire population in the effort to defeat the enemy.
207
Trading Post Empire
Form of imperial dominance based on control of trade through military power rather than on control of peoples or territories.
208
Transatlantic Slave System
Between 1500 and 1866, this trade in human beings took an estimated 12.5 million people from African societies, shipped them across the Atlantic in the Middle Passage, and deposited some 10.7 million of them in the Americas as slaves; approxmately 1.8 million died during the transatlantic crossing.
209
Transatlantic Slave System
Between 1500 and 1866, this trade in human beings took an estimated 12.5 million people from African societies, shipped them across the Atlantic in the Middle Passage, and deposited some 10.7 million of them in the Americas as slaves; approx-mately 1.8 million died during the transatlantic crossing.
210
Transnational Corporations
Global businesses that produce goods or deliver services simultaneously in many countries; growing in number since the 1960s, some have more assets and power than many countries.
211
Trans-Saharan Slave Trade
A fairly small-scale commerce in enslaved people that flourished especially from 1100 to 1400, exporting West African slaves across the Sahara for sale in Islamic North Africa.
212
Treaty of Versailles
The 1919 treaty that officially ended World War I; the immense penalties it placed on Germany are regarded as one of the causes of World War II.
213
Tupac Amaru
Leader of a Native American rebellion in Peru in the early 1780s, claiming the last Inca emperor as an ancestor.
214
Ulama
Islamic religious scholars, both Sunni and Shia, who shaped and transmitted the core teachings of Islamic civilization.
215
Umma
The community of all believers in Islam, bound by common belief rather than territory, language, or tribe.
216
Unequal Treaties
Series of nineteenth-century treaties in which China made major concessions to Western powers.
217
Upanishads
Indian mystical and philosophical works written between 800 and 400 B.C.E.
218
Vindication of the Rights of Women
Written by Mary Wollstonecraft, this tract was one of the earliest expressions of feminist conciousness.
219
Vivekananda
Leading religious figure of nineteenth-century India; advocate of revived Hinduism and it mission to reach out to the spiritually impoverished West.
220
Voltaire
The pen name of François-Marie Arouet (1694-1778); a French writer whose work is often taken as a model of the Enlightenment’s outlook; noted for his deism and his criticism of traditional religion.
221
Wahabi Islam
Major Islamic movement led by the Muslim theologian Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1792) that advocated an austere lifestyle and strict adherence to the Islamic law; became an expansive state in centeral Arabia.
222
Want Yangming
Influential Ming thinker (1472-1529) who argued that anyone could achieve a virtuous life by introspection and contemplation, without the extended education and study of traditional Confucianism.
223
Warsaw Pact
A military alliance between the Soviet Union and communist states in Eastern Europe, created in 1955 as a counterweight to NATO; expressed the tensions of the Cold War in Europe.
224
West African Civilization
A series of important states that developed in the region stretching from the Atlantic coast to Lake Chad in the period 500 to 1600 c.e. Developed in response to the economic opportunities of trans-Saharan trade (especially control of gold production), it included the states of Ghana, Mali, Songhay; and Kanem.
as well as numerous towns and cities.
225
Western Christendom
Western European branch of
Christianity, also known as Roman Catholicism, that gradually defined itself as separate from Eastern Orthodoxy, with a major break occurring in 1054 C.E.; characterized by its relative independence from the state and its recognition of the authority of the pope.
226
Women’s Department
A distinctive organization, known as Zhenotdel, within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union that worked to promote equality for women in the 1920 with conterences, publications, and education.
227
World Trade Organization
An international body representing 149 nations and charged with negotiating the rules for global commerce and promoting free trade; its meetings have been the site of major antiglobalization protests since 1990.
228
World War I
The "Great War" (1914-1918), in essence a European civil war with a global reach that was marked by massive casualties, trench warfare, and mobilization of entire populations. It triggered the Russian Revolution, led to widespread disillusionment among intellectuals, and rearranged the political map of Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
229
World War II in Asia
A struggle to halt Japanese imperial expansion in Asia, fought by the Japanese against primarily Chinese and American foes.
230
World War II in Europe
A struggle to halt German imperial expansion in Europe, fought by a coalition of allies that included Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States.
231
Yasak
Tribute that Russian rulers demanded from the native peoples of Siberia, most often in form of furs.
232
Young Ottomans
Group of would-be reformers in the mid-nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire that included lower-level officials, military officers, and writers; they urged the extension of westernizing reforms to the political system.
233
Young Turks
Movement of Turkish military and civilian elites that advocated a militantly secular public life and a Turkish national identity; came to power through a coup in 1908.
234
Yuan Dynasty (China)
Mongol dynasty initiated by Khubilai Khan that ruled China from 1271 to 1368.
235
Zheng He
Great Chinese admiral who commanded a huge fleet of ships in a series of voyages in the Indian Ocean that began in 1405. Intended to enroll distant peoples and states in the Chinese tribute system, those voyages ended abruptly in 1433 and led to no lasting Chinese imperial presence in the region.
236
Middle-Class Society
British social stratum developed in the nineteenth century, composed of small businessmen, doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, and other professionals required in an industrial society; politically liberal, they favored constitutional government, private property, free trade, and social reform within limits; had ideas of thrift, hard work, rigid morality, “respectability,” and cleanliness.
237
Ming Dynasty
Chinese Dynasty (1368-1644) that succeeded the Yuan dynasty of the Mongols; noted for its return to traditional Chinese ways and restoration of the land after the destructiveness of the Monglos.
238
Mirabai
One of India’s most beloved bhakti poets, she transgressed the barriers of caste and tradtion.
239
Mongol World War
Term used to describe half a century of military campaigns, massive killing, and empire building pursued by Chinggis Khan and his successors in Euroasia after 1209.
240
Mughal Empire
A successful state founded by Muslim Turkic-speaking peoples who invaded India and provided a rare period of relative political unity (1526-1707); their rule was noted for efforts to create partnerships between Hindus and Muslims.
241
Muhammad
The Prophet and founder of Islam whose religious relegations became the Quran, bringing a radically monotheistic religion to Arabia and the world.
