AP World History: Modern flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Song Dynasty

Chinese dynasty (960–1279) that used Confucian civil service exams, paper money, gunpowder, and movable-type printing; its prosperity made China the largest economy of the medieval world.

Delhi Sultanate

Islamic state in northern India from 1206 to 1526; Turkic rulers introduced Persian culture, centralized taxation, and Islam while often clashing with Hindu kingdoms and later facing Mongol raids.

Mansa Musa

Mali's emperor (r. 1312–1337) whose 1324 pilgrimage to Mecca distributed so much gold that it depressed prices in Cairo; he promoted Islam and Timbuktu's scholarship and trade.

Inca quipu

Knotted-cord recording system used by the Inca state to track censuses, taxes, and labor obligations; specialists called quipucamayocs interpreted the cords, which encoded numerical and possibly narrative information.

Silk Roads

Overland trade routes linking China, Central Asia, and the Mediterranean; silk, horses, and ideas moved, and caravanserai supported merchants while Buddhism and later Islam spread along the routes.

Indian Ocean trade

Maritime network using monsoon winds to connect East Africa, Arabia, India, and Southeast Asia; bulk goods like textiles and spices circulated, and port cities such as Calicut and Malacca became multicultural hubs.

Pax Mongolica

Period of relative stability across Mongol-ruled Eurasia in the 13th–14th centuries; safe roads boosted Silk Road trade and diplomatic travel, though plague later spread along the same routes.

Trans-Saharan trade

Caravan routes crossing the Sahara that exchanged West African gold and slaves for North African salt, textiles, and horses; Islam spread southward and cities like Timbuktu and Gao flourished.

Devshirme

Ottoman practice of recruiting Christian boys from the Balkans, converting them to Islam, and training them for the Janissary corps or state administration; it created loyal servants of the sultan.

Millet system

Ottoman policy allowing religious communities (Muslim, Orthodox, Jewish, Armenian) to govern personal-status law and collect taxes under their own leaders, while remaining loyal to the sultan.

Zamindars

Mughal-era local officials and landowners who collected revenue from peasants and remitted it to the state; they often kept a share and later became powerful under British colonial rule.

Columbian Exchange

Transfer of plants, animals, people, and diseases between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia after 1492; it brought smallpox and horses to the Americas and maize, potatoes, and silver to Eurasia.

Encomienda

Spanish colonial system granting colonists the right to Native American labor in exchange for Christian instruction; abusive conditions and disease decimated indigenous populations, prompting the later repartimiento.

Treaty of Tordesillas

1494 agreement between Spain and Portugal, mediated by the pope, dividing newly claimed non-European lands along a meridian; Portugal received Brazil and African routes, Spain most of the Americas.

Joint-stock company

Business form in which investors pooled capital and shared risk through tradable shares; English and Dutch East India Companies used it to finance long-distance trade and colonial ventures.

Enlightenment

18th-century European intellectual movement emphasizing reason, natural rights, and limited government; thinkers like Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau inspired revolutions in America, France, and Haiti.

Haitian Revolution

1791–1804 uprising of enslaved people in Saint-Domingue, led by Toussaint Louverture and others, that abolished slavery and created Haiti, the first independent Black republic.

Industrial Revolution

Late 18th-century shift to machine production centered in Britain, driven by coal, steam power, and textile factories; it transformed labor, urban life, and global economic power.

Berlin Conference

1884–1885 meeting of European powers that set rules for claiming African territory, requiring effective occupation; it accelerated the Scramble for Africa without African representation.

Opium Wars

Mid-19th-century conflicts between Britain and Qing China over the opium trade; China's defeat forced unequal treaties, opened ports, and ceded Hong Kong, beginning a century of foreign intrusion.

Social Darwinism

Pseudo-scientific application of 'survival of the fittest' to societies; it justified imperial conquest and racial hierarchies by claiming European dominance reflected natural superiority.

Indentured servitude

Labor contract in which workers, often South Asian or Chinese, agreed to years of service in exchange for passage; used after slavery's abolition on plantations in the Caribbean, Mauritius, and elsewhere.

Treaty of Versailles

1919 settlement ending World War I; it imposed reparations and territorial losses on Germany and created the League of Nations, stoking German resentment and instability.

Total war

Strategy mobilizing a nation's entire economy, population, and resources for conflict; World Wars I and II saw rationing, propaganda, and civilian targeting as states directed industrial production.

Fascism

Authoritarian ultranationalist ideology glorifying the state and a strong leader; Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany suppressed opposition, used propaganda, and pursued aggressive expansion.

Containment

U.S. Cold War policy of limiting Soviet expansion through military alliances, economic aid, and proxy conflicts; it shaped the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, and interventions in Korea and Vietnam.

Non-Aligned Movement

Group of states, mostly newly independent in Asia and Africa, that refused to join NATO or the Warsaw Pact; it promoted anti-colonialism, development, and neutrality during the Cold War.

Marshall Plan

U.S. program (1948–1952) providing economic aid to rebuild Western Europe; it aimed to prevent communist influence and stimulate markets, deepening the Cold War divide.

Berlin Wall

Barrier erected in 1961 by East Germany to stop emigration to West Berlin; it became a symbol of Cold War division until its fall in 1989 preceded German reunification.

Green Revolution

Mid-20th-century spread of high-yield seeds, fertilizers, and irrigation, especially in Asia and Latin America; it raised food output but increased chemical use and inequality among farmers.

Multinational corporation

Company operating production or sales in multiple countries; firms like Nike and Toyota spread factories and brands globally, influencing labor markets and local economies.

Globalization

Intensifying worldwide integration of economies, cultures, and communication since the late 20th century, driven by trade liberalization, container shipping, and the internet.