World History AP Review

World History AP Review 1450 to 1750

The Great Wall Construction on the feature began in the 4th-century B.C.E. under the rule of Shi Huangdi but it was not completed until the Ming period. The original structure was thought to be built to keep out invaders from the north as the Ming were certainly committed to in their dealings with the Mongols. It was effective to some degree but the wall was too large and long to maintain adequately.

Holy Roman Empire Centered on the areas of Austria and Hungary, it was controlled by the Hapsburg family and through a series of alliances and marriages, including the territories of Germany, Switzerland and northern Italy. It began to decline with the growth and invasions of the Ottomans. The Turks took Hungary in 1526 and by the onset of the 19th-century, it no longer represented any power or authority.

Ottoman Empire (late 1200s-1918) The rise of the empire was the result of the fall of the Byzantine at the hands of nomadic Turks from central Asia called the Ottomans. Upon capturing Constantinople, the renamed it Istanbul and the city was at the center of its empire until its collapse in the early 20th-century. Using gunpowder diffused from the Chinese, the empire enjoyed great military success. The empire quickly spread to include much of the modern-day Middle East, the Balkan peninsula and the Crimean Peninsula. The empire was at its height by the mid-1500s.

Kongo Kingdom (1300s-1600s) The kingdom was located in central Africa, along the Congo River. It became a strong state by the 1400s. When the Portuguese showed up towards the end of the 15th-century, the Kongo took on Christianity while the Europeans bought up gold, ivory and slaves. While the Kongo tried to get the Portuguese to end the slave trade, the Europeans, held down by the sugar plantations in the Americas, refused. The Portuguese, in the subsequent war, took out Kongo easily.

Nzinga Mbemba (Afonso I) Also known as Afonso I (not to be confused by the Portuguese monarch of the same name), he ruled the Kingdom of Kongo during the first half of the 1500s. Prior to his ascension to the throne, he converted to Christianity and was known as a scholarly convert to the faith. As a ruler, recent histories suggest he was, much as Catherine and Peter the Great in Russia, pretty selective on the modernizations he took on, preferring to forego much of Portugal’s legal codes. His most known achievement as ruler was the conversation of Kongo to Christianity. while some recent historians doubt his conversion story, he was also known to pour over his books well into the night. He also worked to gain greater control of the slave trade out of his country and region.

Janissaries (1300s-1600s) They were soldiers within the Ottoman Empire, created to protect and serve the sultan. Many of them were Christian boys from the Balkan region and forced into service. As part of their service, they had to accept Islam and pledge loyalty to the sultan. As it might be imagined, working so close to the sultan earned them great power and eventually, attempted to rule.

Renaissance (1300s-1500s) It was a cultural movement that stood as a re-creation of the Greek and Roman cultures from the 1300s to the 1500s. The movement touched on several artistic endeavors; humanism (a focus on earthly matters), individualism (a move away from church doctrine and the embrace of secularism), art (more natural and life like work that focused on the human body and nature as it is) and architecture that was characterized by classical Greek and Roman styles with the introduction of domes.

Songhay Empire (c.1340 – 1591) It was a West African empire that was also Islamic and established in the 15th-century after the fall of the Mali. Its capital was Gao and it reached its apex under the rule of Sunni Ali. One of the more important cities was that of Timbuktu, a center for learning. Its strength and power rested in its control of the trans-Saharan trade as well as control of gold and salt. Muslim leaders sponsored the construction of mosques and Islamic schools to teach the faith. It met its end to the Moroccan military who had the benefit of guns.

Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) The Ming Dynasty was a period of stable, native rule nestled between two periods of foreign rule; the Mongols and the Manchus. It is best known for its economic expansion and various social and cultural changes. On the latter account, the Ming restored the civil service system as well as Confucian ideals and their prominence in Chinese society, the practice of footbinding and the proliferation of poetry, fiction writing and philosophy. Economically, the Ming greatly expanded as its population did. New crops were brought in from the Americas, overseas trading increased with the efforts of Zheng He and because of that, the merchant class grew in wealth and political power.

Johannes Gutenberg The German inventor who revolutionized and altered Western civilization. The fact that his invention emerged on the scene along with the Protestant Reformation and its call for people to develop a personal relationship with God (through having their own Bible) helped cement his importance in world history. Though there is a nice picture to the right, what he looked like is a bit of a mystery, complete with various ideas. He was born in Mainz and in all likelihood, died there, spending the last years of his life in the ancient city of nearby Eltville.

European Expansion(1400s-1700s) Europeans took advantage of the absence of the Chinese and Arabs on the world's waves to begin their own economic and political expansion. Their moves were due in part to the desire to find a more efficient water route to the Asian markets so as to avoid the Arab-controlled overland routes. Other lands also held the promise of providing cash crops, something desperately needed because of a booming population. They wanted to spread Christianity. Additionally, they saw the acquisition of territories as a symbol of power and prestige. To make these explorations, new technologies were required. Items like sails, astrolabes, magnetic compasses, more accurate maps and faster, more durable ships allowed the expansion to take place.

European Explorers Major explorers included Bartholomeu Dias from Portugal (he rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1488), Vasco da Gama from Portugal (he continued Dias' route and continued along the eastern coast of Africa to India), Christopher Columbus from Portugal (the Americas) and Ferdinand Magellan from...you guessed it...Portugal who was the first European to cross the Pacific. The Monument to the Discoveries in Lisbon, Portugal

Columbian Exchange (1400s-1600s)

Joint-stock Companies (1400s-1800s) This was a company that represented a collection of investors who grouped together who shared the costs of the creation of colonies and companies as well as the risks associated with such ventures. While privately controlled, such companies received support from their governments. The most profitable and consequently the most known were the Dutch East India Company and the English East India Company.

Hacienda This represents the large plantations in Latin America while it was under Spanish rule. It was responsible for the production of cash crops as well as some livestock. The peasants that worked the land were known as peons. A hacienda in El Salvador

African Diaspora (1400s-1800s) Africans in servitude were scattered throughout the world from the Americas, Europe and the Middle East. Wherever Africans went, they brought their culture with them. The focus of the slave trade differed based on the region; the Atlantic slave trade was based on finding men to work fields and mines where the slave trade out of east Africa sought women for domestic duties.

Mercantilism (1400s-1900s) The business of colonies is business – the view from a very busy port as ships bring in goods from the empire hinterlands It was the economic theory held to by colonizing Europeans who sought to create a favorable trade balance by exporting more than they imported. Colonies represented a source of raw materials the country could produce into manufactured products and then sell again in the colonial markets. Adam Smith, in his book, Wealth of Nations, rejected this theory as unsustainable.

Trading Post Empire These were empires based on commercial centers that came about with the control of trading routes. Portugal led the way with Calicut in India and continued its work along the eastern coast of Africa. Trailing behind after a general decline of the Portuguese and Spanish, the English set up the same in India while the Dutch worked out of South Africa and modern-day Indonesia.

Millet System (1400s-1600s) It was legally protected non-Muslim religious communities allowed to maintain their own beliefs. Some of the major millets included those comprised of Jews and Armenian Christians. In exchange for this toleration, the religious groups promised allegiance to the sultan. The Ottoman Empire’s Coat of Arms

Forbidden City (1420) It served as the capital of both the Ming and Qing dynasties in the city of Beijing. It was the residence of the court. The size and ornateness was representative to visitors of the wealth and power of the courts. The Forbidden City in Beijing – at night and looking pretty cool.

Moctezuma II He was the 9th emperor of the Aztecs, taking over for his uncle an empire of over 6 million people. His approach to Hernán Cortés was based on him thinking that the conquistador was the reincarnation of the god Quelzalcóatl. That approach allowed Cortes to more quickly take over the empire. Moctezuma was jailed and died while in custody.

Babur He was the founder of the Mughal Dynasty in India. A descendant of Chinggis and Timur, he grew in power by grabbing Kabul (in modern-day Afghanistan) in 1504 and Delhi (modern-day India) in 1525. Surrounded by enemies, he was able to convince his military to stand against the onslaught and for four years, they defeated all comers. He often tried to conquer his homeland, Ferghana in southern Uzbekistan, but met with one defeat after another. He was a poet and a surrounded himself with gardens. His work also led to the creation of magnificent and artful mosques. His grandson, Akbar, would pull the empire together.

Henry VIII of England As head of England, he is likely best known for having many wives as being the head of the Church of England or the Anglican Church. He created the church in response to the pope, who would not allow an annulment of his marriage. He creating his own church, he nullified the authority of the Catholic Church in his country. He was also a trained musician. Hans The Younger Holbein’s famous portrait of the robust English monarch

Süleyman the Magnificent Rising to prominence in the early 1500s with the military defeats of Hungary and a failed attempt at Vienna, he became the sultan of the Ottoman Empire and, along with his military exploits, was responsible for the building of mosques and an increased infrastructure. His achievements in restructuring the legal system earned him the title, "the law-giver" but he is equally known for his cultural pursuits and patronage. Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent during the siege of Rhodes

Demak (1475-1548) The city was a major trading center along the northern coast of the island of Java and arguably, the most powerful. It was from this port that Islam spread to other Javanese ports. It would further spread from Demak to the Celebes and the eastern part of the Indonesian archipelago and the Philippines.

Northern Renaissance (1500s) The Northern Renaissance occurred a good century after the Italian Renaissance, emerging in the 16th-century. It focused on the northern European countries as well as Poland and Hungary. The humanism movement in the north did not distance from Christianity to the extent seen in the southern part of the continent. Additionally, the northern variety saw a great deal more political change as a result than what was seen in Italy, with northern leaders gaining more state powers. However, like in Italy, the extent to which the Renaissance influenced the region was limited to social class with most people unaffected by the movement. Northern Renaissance art, like Peasant Dance by Pieter Breughel (above), placed an emphasis on showing ordinary life.

Protestant Reformation (1500s) Started by the German monk Martin Luther, the Reformation was an attempt to break away from the Catholic Church when attempts to reform it failed. The Reformation, began in Germany, soon spread to England where King Henry VIII created his own church, the Anglican Church (though not based on purely religious reasons) and Switzerland where John Calvin expanded Luther's idea to include the notion of pre-determination. The Catholic Church responded to the movement with the Counter-Reformation where it attempted to reform itself. Martin Luther’s posting of his 95 Theses upon the church doors in Wittenberg.

Martin Luther He was a German monk who, through a lifetime of study, felt the Catholic Church had certain practices wrong. His ninety-five theses were a collection of these arguments, including his problem with the selling of indulgences, the exclusive printing of the Bible in Latin rather than the vernacular and the notion that salvation was only possible through works rather than through faith, as professed by Paul. His ideas led to his excommunication by the Church but also created a movement that the led to the development of the Protestant sect of Christianity. Lucas Cranach’s (German painter – 1472-1553) portrait of Martin Luther

Spanish Conquest The largest concentration of Spanish conquest was in the Americas with the arrival of conquistadors who sought gold, converts and glory. Some of the first, most known conquistadors were Hernán Cortes (who took out the Aztecs in modern-day Mexico) and Francisco Pizarro (who conquered the Incas in modern-day Peru). Their conquests were aided by the fact that natives possessed no immunity to the diseases carried by the Europeans, most notably smallpox. The Spanish also took the Philippines in Southeast Asia, looking for economic and spiritual opportunities. By taking over Manila, the Spanish ensured themselves control of trade with the Chinese and other nearby civilizations. The arrival of the conquistadors to the Americas

Spain’s American Empire Spain maintained an empire of the entirety of central and south America with two major centers of authority in Mexico and Peru. These areas were overseen by a viceroy, answerable only to the king and they set out to enforce imperial rule. Society was broken down by one's connection to Spain. Peninsulares were the highest class and represented those born in Spain. They were followed by creoles, those born in the Americas to people born in Spain. The mestizos were people of mixed Spanish and native parentage. At the bottom of the social ladder were the natives and people of African descent. Missionaries represented the king as well as God and were tasked with converting the native masses (those still alive after disease killed many). Many natives took Christianity and blended it with their indigenous beliefs. Today, the majority of people in Latin America are Roman Catholic - a direct result of missionary work. The economy of the region rested on two major products: sugar and natural resources (gold and silver). Sugar was more prevalent in Portuguese Brazil but was also common in many Caribbean islands. Many slaves taken out of Africa were destined for sugar plantations. Silver was mainly mined in Mexico and Peru. Spanish silver would make its way into every major commercial center in the world. While it temporarily made Spain rich, the flood of silver on the world market devalued it and Spain suffered as a result.

Repartimiento System (1500s-1700s) This was a labor system that required natives to work for a specified amount of time, normally several months a year. They would work on haciendas, mines or other projects dictated by the king. They typically were paid for their time but the work was brutal. In Peru, the system was known as the mita system. Silver mines in Central America

Absolutism (1500s-1600s) It was the idea that the power of monarchs was complete and blessed by God. The monarch made the laws as well as directed domestic and foreign policies. These developments solidified the notion of the modern-day nation-state. It was most prevalent during the 16th and 17th centuries. French King Louis XIV is the personification of the philosophy as he overturned the Edict of Nantes and spent much of the French treasury on palaces, such as Versailles. It was England that began to challenge the notion during the 17th-century. A very jaunty and kinda creepy painting of Louis XIV of France

Encomienda System (1500s-1700s) This was a decree of the Spanish king that Spanish landowners could use native populations for labor as long as they were looked after. Being so far from the king, landowners were more keen to work the natives to death than to look after them. The result was an increasingly shrinking labor force which precipitated using African labor. Christian missionaries were one group who fought against the decree, horrified at the treatment of the natives. Illustration of how the first part of the law was observed but not so much the second part

Safavid Empire (1502-1736) A family that, after a fight with the Ottomans in the early 1500s, consolidated power over modern-day Iran and they ruled until the early 1700s. The official religion of the empire was the Shi'ite sect of Islam. Shah Abbas the Great, who ruled from the late 1500s to the early 1600s, moved the capital to Isfahan, modernized his army and established trade links that flourished and expanded. However, the Safavid were the victims of geography, with the Ottomans to the west, the Russians to the north and the Moghuls to the south. As these empires continued to get stronger, the Safavid suffered towards decline.

battle of Chaldiran (1514) The battle was the first one between the Ottoman and the Safavid Empires. The Ottomans, with numerical, experience and artillery advantage, easily defeated their Persian rivals. The major result of the battle was that the Persians were convinced to remain within their borders, indeed, it established the borders between the two. It is also the border between modern-day Turkey and Iran today. The use of the artillery, the first time by a Muslim empire, radically changed the relationship in the Middle East and convinced the Safavids to do the same over the rule of Shah Ismail.

Single Whip Tax System (1525-1582) This was a tax system created by the Ming in the latter half of the 1500s. It was a flat tax paid by everyone in silver. Because of the policy, China represented a huge buyer of silver, mainly from Japan and the Americas. As a result of that, Japan and Spain, who controlled most of the silver-producing areas of the Americas, grew ridiculously rich. Chief Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng; the inventor of the tax

Mogul (Mughal) Empire (1526-1857) Started as a Muslim empire but heavily influenced by Persians, the Moguls ruled India from the 1500s to the 1600s. Their empire was the result of the defeat of the Delhi Sultanate. Akbar unified much of the subcontinent under a strong centralized government. The empire's golden age represented a high point for Islamic art and architecture, epitomized by the Taj Mahal. The empire began to decline as it departed from its religious toleration origins and the arrival of the Europeans.

Akbar the Great Considered one of the greatest of the Mughal rulers, Akbar descendent from Timur and Chinggis Khan. Even though he was a Muslim, he included Hindus in the highest levels of his government and worked to reduce discrimination against other non-Muslims. As he conquered more territory, he strengthened the central government, took a hand in appointing top military officials and was a serious and regular patron of the arts. His government was a hallmark and example of future governments, displaying benevolence, tolerance, strength and an enlightened attitude. “Although he (Akbar) seems to have been no more than five feet seven inches tall, he impressed observers as a dominating personality. Clearly, although he was illiterate, he had a powerful and original mind.” A painting showing the great Mughal leader

Ivan the Terrible He was the Grand Prince of Moscow and the first Russian ruler to take the title czar. He also began his rule in contrast to his eventual, historical name. He was known for the centralization of the government, an organization and bureaucratic reform of the Orthodox Church, established the first parliament-like assembly and limited the power of the nobles (boyars). However, the latter half of his reign was characterized by a growing suspicion of those around him and he soon detached from day-to-day affairs. He also began a Russian version of a "reign of terror" by having killed thousands of boyars, the destruction of Novgorod and personally killing his son, who he feared was conspiring against him. Victor Vasnetsov’s portrait of Ivan IV

Times of Troubles (1500s-1600s) With the death of Ivan IV (“the Terrible”), the boyars of Russian society attempted to grab power originally held by the czar. That as well as the attacks by the Swedes and Poles brought about a period of chaos in Russia. However, by 1613, the boyars finally decided on a new royal family – choosing the Romanov family, who would rule over Russia until the revolution of 1917. Pavel Ryzhenko’s “The Time of Troubles” 2003

Slave Trade (Atlantic) The European usage of Africans slaves stemmed from a lack of labor in the Americas and the need for workers in the sugar plantations in the Caribbean, the silver mines in South America and cash crop plantations in North America. It absorbed some 11 million Africans before most European countries outlawed the practice by the 19th-century. Slaves transported to the New World

Slavery (Africa) Africans took and sold their fellow Africans in the interior of the continent to Europeans who hung out on the coast in heavily fortified “slave” forts – the largest and most prominent being El Mina. Since most captives were men, the trade destroyed families though it did not diminish the continent's population. Defeated tribesmen and their families being taken to slave traders on the coast by victorious warriors

Scientific Revolution (1550-1700) The movement was borne out of the wave of questioning brought about by the Renaissance and the Reformation. The movement would eventually lead to a greater secularization in Europe. One of the first ideas challenged was the notion of universe being centered around the earth (geocentric theory); an idea supported by the church and first conceived by the Greeks and the Romans. Nicolaus Copernicus argued that the universe was heliocentric, meaning centered around the sun. Not surprisingly, the church and other orthodox figures rejected these notions but it did inspire more questioning. Galileo Galilee was a mathematician and astronomer who constructed a telescope to consider Copernicus' ideas. Isaac Newton, yet another mathematician, used his skills to formulate the universal gravitation theory. Rene Descartes championed the use of reason to discover truth. The idea of truth being discovered through a combination of reason, observation and experimentation became known as the Scientific Method.

Matteo Ricci He was a leading Christian missionary of the Jesuit order who traveled to the Chinese Ming court of the 1500s. He brought many of the technological advances from Europe with him in hopes of currying favor. While the Ming court loved the various new items, efforts to win over Christian converts was largely unsuccessful. A portrait of Matteo Ricci by someone unknown, at least to me.

Counter-Reformation (1560-1648) A reaction to the Protestant Reformation and an attempt at self-policing, the Catholic Church sought to slow the Protestant momentum as well as win back those who left the Church. At the Council of Trent, church officials sought to clearly define the doctrine of the Church, created new religious orders to proselytize and defend the new doctrine and reform the Church from within. Some of the new orders included the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). The Council of Trent and the search for reform

battle of Lepanto (1571) This was a naval battle pitting the Christian forces of Venice and Spain against the Ottomans off the coast of Lepanto, Greece. While, in a practical sense, it did not prove impactful (the Venetians would give up Cyprus to the Turks a couple of years later), it worked to build the morale of Europeans. The Ottoman navy was utterly destroyed but the Ottoman land forces were intact and the navy was quickly rebuilt and their supremacy restored though their reputation of being invincible was destroyed.

Azuchi-Momoyama (1573-1603) This is the period of unification following the civil war period of Japanese history. It revolves around the leadership of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Nobunaga fought to unify the country, battling the militant Tendai Buddhist monks among other rival daimyos. Both rulers made economic reforms to break the hold guilds and temples had on trade and such. The two also brought in Christian missionaries to offset the power of Buddhists. However, the latter ruler would eventually limit their activities.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi Hideyoshi was one of three leaders responsible uniting Japan, along with Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu after the Japanese warring period. Following the death of Nobunaga, he set up a structure of society with the warriors and the rest, following the Chinese model. His worst maneuvers involved twice attempting to invade Korea. Domestically, he revised the tax codes and encouraged foreign trade. He also invited the first Christian missionaries into the country to check the power and influence of the Buddhists, then, suspicious of the Christians’ influence, he began limiting their activities and persecuting others. Upon his death, power shifted to Ieyasu.

Edict of Nantes (1598) Coming out of the Wars of Religion and signed by Henry IV of France, the document granted religious and civil rights for the Protestant Huguenots. Protestant ministers would be paid by the state, allowed to conduct services throughout the country but not in Paris. The Catholic Church reacted strongly. Cardinal de Richelieu nullified some of the edict’s political components and Louis XIV nullified the entire document in 1685.

World History AP Review