Islamic and Asian Empires #3 Flashcards
Janissaries
Elite guard that gave the Ottoman Empire a strong military. They were recruited from the Christian community and converted to Islam. Then, they served as foot soldiers and administrators and helped the Turks conquer land.
Trade Routes
European trade routes intentionally went the longer route to avoid the Ottoman Empire’s land because they were so powerful and also controlled the spice trade.
Battle of Lepanto 1571
The Ottoman Turks were expanding into the western Mediterranean Sea until the Spanish destroyed a large Ottoman fleet at Lepanto in 1571, halting the Ottoman’s expansion.
Caliph
Chief Islamic religious ruler. Sultans were also Caliphs - they had both chief political and religious authority over the citizens.
George III
Sent Lord George McCartney to empress the Emperor with English products that he hoped would make China end their isolation period and open up trading exclusively with Britain. He also sent McCartney to ask for more liberal trade policies.
Porcelain, Silk
Britain traded ever-increasing amounts of silver and Indian cotton for Chinese silk and porcelain.
Favorable balance of trade
When a country exports more goods than they import.
Daimyo
Heads of noble Japanese families who ran their provinces due to their extensive amounts of land.
Oda Nobunaga
Oda Nobunaga was the first of the three political figures that united Japan. He seized the imperial capital of Kyoto and placed the remaining shogunate under his control.
Kyoto
Imperial capital seized by Oda Nobunaga.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi
The second uniting Japanese leader was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was a military commander born as a farmer’s son. He made the capital Osaka and by 1590 had persuaded most of the daimyo to accept his authority. Jesuits destroyed local shrines during his rule, and Hideyoshi issued an edict that prohibited any Christian activities under his rule, but he never truly enforced it.
Osaka
Hideyoshi’s capital, and trade and industry flourished here during the Tokugawa Era.
Tokugawa Ieyasu
The final of the three unifying Japanese emperors. He was the originally the powerful daimyo of Edo (now Tokyo) and he took control of Japan as soon as Hideyoshi died. He took the title of shogun in 1603. He also expelled all the Jesuits.
Tokugawa Era
The Hostage System began during the Tokugawa Era, and there were 250 separate domains ruled by the daimyo during this time. The daimyo collected taxes, and peasant rebellions drastically increased due to rising taxes. Literature, pottery, and trade flourished. Japan had an isolation policy, but still traded with the Chinese and the Dutch.
Feudal System
Political power is separated from a central monarch and instead divided between wealthy landowners and warlords (the daimyo and the samurai).
Hostage System
The system the shogunate uses to control the daimyo. In this system, the daimyo were required to maintain two residences, one on their land and one in Edo, where the shogunate had his court. When the daimyo was absent from his Edo residence, his family was forced to stay home to ensure the daimyo stayed loyal to the shogun.
“Great Peace”
The long period of peace brought by the Tokugawa rule. During the Great Peace, the samurai who used to serve the daimyo stopped being a warrior class due to the complete lack of war. Instead, many became managers of the daimyo’s lands.
Shogun
The Emperor was only considered a descendant of the gods, but had no political power. The real power lay with the shogun, who held all political power. They stayed in power until the end of the Tokugawa Era.
Samurai
The warriors of Japan who highly priced Confucian values. They served the Shogun, and during the “Great Peace” they stopped being a warrior class and became the managers of the daimyo’s land.
Dutch East India Company
By the early 1600s, the Dutch was in complete control of the Indian Ocean’s spice trade. They established a fort at Batavia at the island of Java, and this fort became the Dutch East India Company’s headquarters, which brought giant profit to investors. The Dutch was one of two people the Japanese traded with during their isolation era.
