Unit 1 – to 600 B.C.E.

Abraham - Founder of Judaism who, according to the Bible, led his family from Ur to Canaan in obedience to God's command.

Aryans - Indo-European speaking nomads who entered India from the Central Asian steppes between 1500 and 1000 BC and greatly affected Indian society.

Austronesians - earliest inhabitants of New Guinea and Oceania; had remarkable seafaring skills and maritime technology; used canoes; later migrated to the Pacific Islands

Bantu - a family of languages widely spoken in the southern half of the African continent

Bible - The book that contains the writings or scriptures that Christians recognize as the written word of God.

Book of Songs - The Oldest of the Five Classics, preserves 305 of the earliest Chinese poems. Poems deal with political themes, ritual, and romance.

Brahmins - Priests, at the top of the caste system which the Aryans established

Caste - a social class separated from others by distinctions of hereditary rank or profession or wealth

Catal Huyuk - One of first true cities in history, created in the Neolithic Era in 6500 to 5500 BC, from which were created agriculture, trading, temples, housing, and religions

Chavin cult - a new religion that appeared in the Andes mountains after 1000 BCE; enjoyed enormous popularity during the 900 to 800 BCE; spread in the area of modern Peru; vanished about 300 BCE; no information survives on the significance of the cults

Chichen Itza - Originally a Mayan city; conquered by Toltecs circa 1000 and ruled by Toltec dynasties; architecture featured pyramid of Feathered Serpent (Quetzacoatl).

cultural diffusion - The spread of cultural elements from one society to another

Cuneiform - an ancient wedge-shaped script used in Mesopotamia and Persia

Dharma - In Hinduism, the duties and obligations of each caste

Dravidians - one of the main groups of people in India; probably descended from the Indus River culture that flourished at the dawn of Indian civilization over 4,000 yrs. ago

ethnocentrism - Belief in the superiority of one's own ethnic group

fertile crescent - Found along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, this was the first early river civilization. The cities in this area were governed by city-states and used irrigation to produced their corps.

Ganges River - Located in India, this river is considered sacred to Hindus and is used for spiritual cleansing, funeral rites, and other Hindu rituals.

Gilgamesh - a legendary Sumerian king who was the hero of an epic collection of mythic stories

Hammurabi - Amorite ruler of Babylon (r. 1792-1750 B.C.E.). He conquered many city-states in southern and northern Mesopotamia and is best known for a code of laws, inscribed on a black stone pillar, illustrating the principles to be used in legal cases. (p. 34)

Harappan - Civilization that developed along the Indus River (Present Day Pakistan), Controlled larges areas of land on both sides of the Indus River, Largest two settlements were _______ and Mohenjo Daro, Known for City planning, sewer systems, indoor plumbing, and fortresses around their cities

Hatshepsut - Queen of Egypt (1473-1458 B.C.E.). Dispatched a naval expedition down the Red Sea to Punt (possibly Somalia), the faraway source of myrrh. There is evidence of opposition to a woman as ruler, and after her death her name was frequently expunged. (p.66)

Hebrews - the ethnic group claiming descent from Abraham and Isaac (especially from Isaac's son Jacob)

Hieroglyphs - pictures, characters, or symbols standing for words, ideas, or sounds; ancient Egyptians used instead of an alphabet like ours

Homo sapiens - the only surviving hominid

Huang He - a major river of Asia in northern China

Ice Age - Any period of time during which glaciers covered a large part of the earth's surface

Indra - chief deity of the Aryans; depicted as a colossal, hard-drinking warrior God of thunder and strength

irrigation systems - Replacement or supplementation of rainfall with water from another source in order to grow crops

Jati - sub castes; were groups of people within each caste that worked together for one economic function

Jericho - a village in Jordan near the north end of the Dead Sea

karma - (Hinduism and Buddhism) the effects of a person's actions that determine his destiny in his next incarnation

Land bridges - long ago, after the Flood, little trails of land connecting the continents together

Lucy - A forty percent complete skeleton discovery of an Australopithecus afarensis, or a species within the category of hominid. She was rediscovered on November 24, 1974 in Hadar, Ethiopia.

Mandate of Heaven - People believed that heaven gave them the authority to rule. They also believed that heaven would take it away

Maya - a member of an American Indian people of Yucatan and Belize and Guatemala who had a culture (which reached its peak between AD 300 and 900) characterized by outstanding architecture and pottery and astronomy

Menes - king of upper egypt united the two kingdoms of upper and lower egypt

Mesopotamia - first civilization located between the Tigris & Eurphrates Rivers in present day Iraq; term means "land between the rivers;" Sumerian culture

Metallurgy - the science or art of metals. It includes the study of their properties and structure, the separation and refining of metals from their ores, the production of alloys, and the shaping and treatment of metals by heat and rolling.

Mohenjo-daro - Largest city of the Indus Valley civilization. It was centrally located in the extensive floodplain of the Indus River. Little is known about the political institutions of Indus Valley communities, but the large-scale implies central planning. Not Harappa

Nebuchadnezzar - A Babylonian king who conquered Jerusalem,and built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Neolithic Revolution - the shift from hunting of animals and gathering of food to the keeping of animals and the growing of food on a regular basis around 8,000 BC

Nile River - the world's longest river (4180 miles)

nomadic - (of groups of people) tending to travel and change settlements frequently

Nubia - an ancient region of northeastern Africa (southern Egypt and northern Sudan) on the Nile

Olmecs - (1400 B.C.E. to 500 B.C.E.) earliest known Mexican civilization,lived in rainforests along the Gulf of Mexico, developed calendar and constructed public buildings and temples, carried on trade with other groups.

Oracle bones - cattle bones or tortoise shells on which Chinese priests would write questions and then interpret answers from the cracks that formed when the bones were heated

Paleolithic - second part of the Stone Age beginning about 750,00 to 500,000 years BC and lasting until the end of the last ice age about 8,500 years BC

Palestine - an ancient country is southwestern Asia on the east coast of the Mediterranean

Patriarchy - a form of social organization in which a male is the family head and title is traced through the male line

Period of the Warring State - Civil War broke out in during the Zhou Dynasty, beginning an age known in Chinese historical records as the "____________ of the ____________________ _____________________."

Pharaoh - a king of ancient Egypt, considered a god as well as a political and military leader

Phoenicians - Sailing and trading people who had many colonies on the Mediterranean coast

Sanskrit - (Hinduism) an ancient language of India (the language of the Vedas and of Hinduism)

Sargon of Akkad - an ancient Mesopotamian ruler who reigned approximately 2334-2279 BC, and was one of the earliest of the world's great empire builders, conquering all of southern Mesopotamia as well as parts of Syria, Anatolia, and Elam (western Iran). He established the region's first Semitic dynasty and was considered the founder of the Mesopotamian military tradition.

Sati - a ritual that required a woman to throw herself on her late husband's funeral pyre or burn herself. This was done gladly and if a woman didn't comply with this she would be disgraced.

Shang dynasty - Second Chinese dynasty (about 1750-1122 B.C.) which was mostly a farming society ruled by an aristocracy mostly concerned with war. They're best remembered for their art of bronze casting.

Steppe lands - -semiarid grasslands -stretch from Russia to the Great Wall of CHina

Temple of the Giant Jaguar - a stepped pyramid rising sharply to a height of 47 meters (154 feet); dominated the skyline and represented Tikal's control over the surrounding region

Teotihuacan - first major metropolis in Mesoamerica, collapsed around 800 CE. It is most remembered for the gigantic "pyramid of the sun".

Tikal - the most important Maya political center between the 4th-9th centuries. It was a city that had temples, pyramids, palaces, and public buildings.

Torah - (Judaism) the scroll of parchment on which the first five books of the Hebrew Scripture is written

Upanishads - A group of writings sacred in Hinduism concerning the relations of humans, God, and the universe.

Vedas - sacred texts in the Hindu religion, they are a set of four collections of hymns and religious ceremonies transmitted by memory through the centuries by Aryan priests

Xia dynasty - This was the earliest known dynasty. There is no written evidence of this early time period, but artifacts have been found. The people of this time were farmers and made pottery.

Zhou dynasty - the imperial dynasty of China from 1122 to 221 BC; notable for the rise of Confucianism and Taoism

ziggurat - a rectangular tiered temple or terraced mound erected by the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians

Unit 2 – 600 B.C.E. to 600 C.E.

Achaemenids - Persian dynasty which traced its lineage back to an ancestor named Achaemenes; founded by Cyrus

Ahura Mazda - Main god of Zoroastrianism who represented truth and goodness and was perceived to be in an eternal struggle with the malign spirit angra mainyu.

Alexander the Great - Successor of Philip of Macedon; 1st global empire, but no lasting bureaucracy; spread of Hellenism is greatest achievement

Analects - a collection of excerpts from a literary work

Angra Mainyu - evil spirit in zoroastrianism, the explanation for the presence of evil in the world

Antigonid Empire - The empire in Greece after the breakup of Alexander's empire.

Aristotle - Greek philosopher. A pupil of Plato, the tutor of Alexander the Great, and the author of works on logic, metaphysics, ethics, natural sciences, politics, and poetics, he profoundly influenced Western thought. In his philosophical system.

Ashoka - The grandson of Chandragupta Maurya; extended conquests of the dynasty; converted to Buddhism and sponsored its spread throughout his empire.

Augustus Caesar - The first empreror of Rome, the adopted son of Julius Caesar, help Rome come into Pax Romana, or the Age of Roman Peace

Bhagavad Gita - The most important work of Indian sacred literature, a dialogue between the great warrior Arjuna and the god Krishna on duty and the fate of the spirit.

Buddhism - a world religion or philosophy based on the teaching of the Buddha and holding that a state of enlightenment can be attained by suppressing worldly desire

Chandra Gupta - Laid the foundations for the Gupta empire, he forged alliances with powerful families in the Ganges Region and established a dynamic kingdom about the year 320 C.E. Golden Age

Chandragupta Maurya – (Much more important than the one above!) He founded India's first empire (Mauryan) in 322 BCE. He was an Indian prince who conquered a large area in the Ganges River valley soon after Alexander invaded western India.

Cicero - Rome's greatest public speaker; he argued against dictators and called for a representative government with limited powers

Confucianism - The system of ethics, education, and statesmanship taught by Confucius and his disciples, stressing love for humanity, ancestor worship, reverence for parents, and harmony in thought and conduct.

Confucius - Chinese philosopher and teacher; his belifs,known as confusoinism greatly influenced chinese life

Constantine - Emperor of Rome who adopted the Christian faith and stopped the persecution of Christians (280-337)

Council of Nicaea - (325 CE) A council called by Constantine to agree upon correct Christian doctrine and settle some disputes of the time such as the issue of the Trinity

Cyrus - Founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Between 550 and 530 B.C.E. he conquered Media, Lydia, and Babylon. He allowed the Jews to return to their homeland

Daoism - Chinese School of Thought: Daoists believe that the world is always changing and is devoid of absolute morality or meaning. They accept the world as they find it, avoid futile struggles, and deviate as little as possible from the Dao, or 'path' of nature.

Darius - Persian ruler who brought order to the Persian Empire. He also built roads; established a postal system; and standardized weights, measures, and coinage.

Delian League - An alliance headed by Athens that says that all Greek city-states will come together and help fight the Persians

Edict of Milan - Issued by Constantine in 313, ended the "great persecution" and legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire

Etruscans - Beginning in the 700s BCE,first rulers of Roman Republic and Empire; Laid the foundation for Rome and Roman civilization

Eyes and Ears of the King - Inspectors who made unannounced visits to provinces in Persia and reported back to the king to check up on the local government

Gracchi brothers - two brothers (Tiberius and Gaius); they promoted giving land and voting reforms to the poor. Both were killed because they advocated these reforms

Gupta Empire - Powerful Indian state based, like its Mauryan predecessor, in the Ganges Valley. It controlled most of the Indian subcontinent through a combination of military force and its prestige as a center of sophisticated culture. Golden Age

Han dynasty - A great and long-lasting rule, it discarded the harsh policies of the Qin dynasty and adopted Confucian principles. Han rulers chose officials on merit rather than birth. It was a time of prosperity

Han Wudi - The most important Han Emperor: expanded the Empire in all directions; created the Civil Service System based upon Confucian learning; established Imperial University; promoted the Silk Roads

Hellenistic Age - Greek culture spread across western Asia and northeastern Africa after the conquests of Alexander the Great. The period ended with the fall of the last major Hellenistic kingdom to Rome, but Greek cultural influence persisted until the spread of Islam.

Homer - ancient Greek epic poet who is believed to have written the Iliad and the Odyssey (circa 850 BC)

Julius Caesar - Made dictator for life in 45 BCE, after conquering Gaul, assassinated in 44 BCE by the Senate because they were afraid of his power

Kushan Empire - Ruled central Asia to Northern India, important in spreading Buddhism to Chinese, took control of the Silk Road route.

Laozi - Chinese Daoist philosopher; taught that governments were of secondary importance and recommended retreat from society into nature.

Latifundia - Large farming estates owned by wealthy families in Ancient Rome

Legalism - In China, a political philosophy that emphasized the unruliness of human nature and justified state coercion and control. The Qin ruling class invoked it to validate the authoritarian nature of their regime. (p.52)

Mauryan Empire - The first state to unify most of the Indian subcontinent. It was founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 324 B.C.E. and survived until 184 B.C.E. From its capital at Pataliputra in the Ganges Valley it grew wealthy from taxes. (184)

Mencius - (371?-289 BCE), Chinese philosopher, who studied Confucianism. He later refined many of the ideas and spread them across China. He wrote the Analects

Minoan society - Inhabited the island of Crete (major city: Knossos); around 2200 B.C.E. they acted as the center of maritime trade in the Mediterranean; used Linear A, an undecipherable syllabic alphabet; through a series of both natural disasters (1700 B.C.E.) and foreign invaders, were conquered by 1100 B.C.E.

Mithradates I - The Parthians greatest conqueror; he had consolidated his hold on Iran and had also extended Parthian rule to Mesopotamia.

Mycenaean society - Indo-European invaders descend through Balkans into Peloponnesus c. 2200 B.C.E.; influenced by Minoan society; had a major settlement in Mycenae; used a syllabic alphabet called Linear B (evolved form of Linear A); inhabited Greece, Crete, Anatolia, Sicily, and Italy; c. 1200 B.C.E., engaged in conflicts with Troy

Nestorians - Early branch of Christianity, named after the fifth-century Greek theologian Nestorius, that emphasized the human nature of Jesus Christ.

Parthians - Persian dynasty. Based in Iran and extended to Mesopotamia. Had very heavy calvary (horses and armored troops). Government followed the example of the Achaemenid administration.

Patricians - A member of one of the noble families of the ancient Roman Republic, which before the third century B.C. had exclusive rights to the Senate and the magistracies.

Pax Romana - A period of peace and prosperity throughout the Roman Empire, lasting from 27 B.C. to A.D. 180.

Peloponnesian War - a war in which Athens and its allies were defeated by the league centered on Sparta

Pericles - Athenian statesman whose leadership contributed to Athen's political and cultural supremacy in Greece

Persepolis - an ancient city that was the capital of the ancient Persian Empire

Persian - Of or relating to Iran or its people or language or culture

Persian War - King Darius of Persia wanted to conquer all of the Greek city-states but Athens and Sparta resisted. Greek city-states vs. Persia - Greek city-states won. Athens emerged as most powerful city state in Greece.

Persian Wars - Conflicts between Greek city-states and the Persian Empire, ranging from the Ionian Revolt (499-494 B.C.E.) through Darius's punitive expedition that failed at Marathon. Chronicled by Herodotus. (131)

Plato - Student of Socrates, wrote The Republic about the perfectly governed society

Plebeians - Members of the lower class of Ancient Rome including farmers, merchants, artisans and traders

polis - Greek word for city-state

Ptolemaic Empire - The Hellenistic empire in Egypt area after Alexander's death; created by Ptolemy, one of Alexander's generals.

Punic War - one of the three wars between Carthage and Rome that resulted in the destruction of Carthage and its annexation by Rome

Qin Dynasty - The dynasty that replaced the Zhou dynasty and employed Legalist ideas in order to control warring states and unify the country.

Qin Shihuangdi - Ruler of China who united China for the first time. He built road and canals and began the Great Wall of China. He also imposed a standard system of laws, money, weights, and writing.

Royal Road - A road for the government use built by the ancient Persian ruler Darius which helped unite the empire

Sasanids - Last powerful Persian dynasty of the classical period that would reach its peak under Shapur I and later fall to Islamic/Arabic expansion.

Satraps - under Darius's rule these were known as governors who ruled the provinces. They collected taxes, served as judges, and put down rebellions

Seleucid Empire - The empire in Syria, Persia, and Bactria after the breakup of Alexander's empire.

Seleucids - One of the regional dynasties that followed the death of Alexander the Great; founded in Mesopotamia

Siddhartha Gautama - founder of Buddism; born a prince; left his father's wealth to find the cause of human suffering; also know as Buddha

Silk roads - Trade routes stretching from China to the Mediterranean, which allowed for the exchange of goods and ideas from China to the Roman Empire

Socrates - Greek philosopher; socratic method--questioning; sentenced to death for corrupting Athens youth

Sparta - Greek city-state that was ruled by an oligarchy, focused on military, used slaves for agriculture, discouraged the arts

Trojan War - A war, fought around 1200 B.C., in which an army led by Mycenaean kings attacked the independent trading city of Troy in Anatolia

Twelve tables - the earliest written collection of Roman laws, drawn up by patricians about 450B.C., that became the foundation of Roman law

White Huns - Nomadic invaders from central Asia; invaded India; disrupted Gupta administration

Xerxes - son of Darius; became Persian king. He vowed revenge on the Athenians. He invaded Greece with 180,000 troops in 480 B.C and was eventually defeated

Yellow Turban Uprising - Large revolt throughout China during the Han dynasty led by desperate peasants wearing yellow turbans. This uprising tested the resilience of the Han state during the late second century CE. It weakened the Han state during the second and third centuries CE. Leads to fall of Han Dynasty

Zarathustra - Chief prophet of the Ancient Persian religion known as Zoroastrianism, which influenced Jewish and later Christian belief

Unit 3 – 600 to 1450 C.E.

Abbasid Caliphate - Descendants of the Prophet Muhammad's uncle, al-Abbas, the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate and ruled an Islamic empire from their capital in Baghdad (founded 762) from 750 to 1258.

Aden - Port city in the modern South Arabian country of Yemen. It has been a major trading center in the Indian Ocean since ancient times.

Alexander Nevskii - Prince of Novgorod (r. 1236-1263). He submitted to the invading Mongols in 1240 and received recognition as the leader of the Russian princes under the Golden Horde.

Anasazi - Important culture of what is now the southwest (1000-1300 C.E.). Centered on Chaco Canyon in New Mexico and Mesa Verde in Colorado, the Anasazi culture built multistory residences and worshipped in subterranean buildings called kivas.

Ashikaga Shogunate - The second of Japan's military governments headed by a shogun (a military ruler). Sometimes called the Muromachi Shogunate.

Ayllu - Andean lineage group or kin-based community.

Aztecs - Also known as Mexica, they created a powerful empire in central Mexico (1325-1521 C.E.). They forced defeated peoples to provide goods and labor as a tax.

Beijing - China's northern capital, first used as an imperial capital in 906 and now the capital of the People's Republic of China.

Bubonic Plague - A bacterial disease of fleas that can be transmitted by flea bites to rodents and humans; humans in late stages of the illness can spread the bacteria by coughing. Because of its very high mortality rate and the difficulty of preventing its spread, major outbreaks have created crises in many parts of the world.

Byzantine Empire - Historians' name for the eastern portion of the Roman Empire from the fourth century onward, taken from 'Byzantion,' an early name for Constantinople, the Byzantine capital city. The empire fell to the Ottomans in 1453.

Caliphate - Office established in succession to the Prophet Muhammad, to rule the Islamic empire; also the name of that empire.

Champa Rice - Quick-maturing rice that can allow two harvests in one growing season. Originally introduced into Champa from India, it was later sent to China as a tribute gift by the Champa state.

Charlemagne - King of the Franks (r. 768-814); emperor (r. 800-814). Through a series of military conquests he established the Carolingian Empire, which encompassed all of Gaul and parts of Germany and Italy. Illiterate, though started an intellectual revival.

Chiefdom - Form of political organization with rule by a hereditary leader who held power over a collection of villages and towns. Less powerful than kingdoms and empires, they were based on gift giving and commercial links.

Chinampas - Raised fields constructed along lake shores in Mesoamerica to increase agricultural yields.

Crusades - Armed pilgrimages to the Holy Land by Christians determined to recover Jerusalem from Muslim rule. The Crusades brought an end to western Europe's centuries of intellectual and cultural isolation.

Delhi Sultanate - Centralized Indian empire of varying extent, created by Muslim invaders.

Dhow - Ship of small to moderate size used in the western Indian Ocean, traditionally with a triangular sail and a sewn timber hull.

Fief - In medieval Europe, land granted in return for a sworn oath to provide specified military service.

Fujiwara - Aristocratic family that dominated the Japanese imperial court between the ninth and twelfth centuries.

Genghis Khan - The title of Temüjin when he ruled the Mongols (1206 - 1227). It means the "oceanic" or "universal leader". The founder of the Mongol Empire

Ghana - First known kingdom in sub-Saharan West Africa between the sixth and thirteenth centuries C.E. Also the modern West African country once known as the Gold Coast.

Golden Horde - Mongol khanate founded by Genghis Khan's. It was based in southern Russia and quickly adopted both the Turkic language and Islam. Also known as the Kipchak Horde.

Grand Canal - The 1,100-mile (1,700-kilometer) waterway linking the Yellow and the Yangzi Rivers. It was begun in the Han period and completed during the Sui Empire.

Great Zimbabwe - City, now in ruins (in the modern African country of Zimbabwe), whose many stone structures were built between about 1250 and 1450, when it was a trading center and the capital of a large state.

Gujarat - Region of western India famous for trade and manufacturing; the inhabitants are called Gujarati.

Gunpowder - A mixture of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal, in various proportions. The formula, brought to China in the 400s or 500s, was first used to make fumigators to keep away insect pests and evil spirits. In later centuries it was used to make explosives and grenades and to propel cannonballs, shot, and bullets.

Hadith - A tradition relating the words or deeds of the Prophet Muhammad; next to the Quran, the most important basis for Islamic law.

Holy Roman Empire - Loose federation of mostly German states and principalities, headed by an emperor elected by the princes. It lasted from 962 to 1806.

Horse Collar - Harnessing method that increased the efficiency of horses by shifting the point of traction from the animal's neck to the shoulders; its adoption favors the spread of horse-drawn plows and vehicles.

Ibn Battuta - Moroccan Muslim scholar, the most widely traveled individual of his time. He wrote a detailed account of his visits to Islamic lands from China to Spain and the western Sudan.

Il-Khan - A "secondary" or "peripheral" khan based in Persia. The Il-Khans' khanate was founded by Hülegü, a grandson of Genghis Khan, and was based at Tabriz in modern Azerbaijan. It controlled much of Iran and Iraq.

Inca - Largest and most powerful Andean empire. Controlled the Pacific coast of South America from Ecuador to Chile from its capital of Cuzco.

Investiture Controversy - Dispute between the popes and the Holy Roman Emperors over who held ultimate authority over bishops in imperial lands.

Islam - Religion expounded by the Prophet Muhammad (570-632 C.E.) on the basis of his reception of divine revelations, which were collected after his death into the Quran. In the tradition of Judaism and Christianity, and sharing much of their lore, Islam calls on all people to recognize one creator god--Allah--who rewards or punishes believers after death according to how they led their lives.

Junk - A very large flatbottom sailing ship produced in the Tang, Ming, and Song Empires, specially designed for long-distance commercial travel.

Kamakura Shogunate - The first of Japan's decentralized military governments. (1185-1333).

Kamikaze - The 'divine wind,' which the Japanese credited with blowing Mongol invaders away from their shores in 1281.

Khipu - System of knotted colored cords used by preliterate Andean peoples to transmit information.

Khubilai Khan - Last of the Mongol Great Khans (r. 1260-1294) and founder of the Yuan Empire.

Kievan Russia - State established at Kiev in Ukraine ca. 879 by Scandinavian adventurers asserting authority over a mostly Slavic farming population.

Koryo - Korean kingdom founded in 918 and destroyed by a Mongol invasion in 1259.

Lama - In Tibetan Buddhism, a teacher.

Li Shimin - One of the founders of the Tang Empire and its second emperor (r. 626-649). He led the expansion of the empire into Central Asia.

Malacca - Port city in the modern Southeast Asian country of Malaysia, founded about 1400 as a trading center on the Strait of Malacca. Also spelled Melaka.

Mali - Empire created by indigenous Muslims in western Sudan of West Africa from the thirteenth to fifteenth century. It was famous for its role in the trans-Saharan gold trade.

Mamluks - Under the Islamic system of military slavery, Turkic military slaves who formed an important part of the armed forces of the Abbasid Caliphate of the ninth and tenth centuries. Mamluks eventually founded their own state, ruling Egypt and Syria (1250-1517)

Manor - In medieval Europe, a large, self-sufficient landholding consisting of the lord's residence (manor house), outbuildings, peasant village, and surrounding land.

Mansa Kankan Musa - Ruler of Mali (r. 1312-1337). His pilgrimage through Egypt to Mecca in 1324-1325 established the empire's reputation for wealth in the Mediterranean world.

Maya - Mesoamerican civilization concentrated in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and in Guatemala and Honduras but never unified into a single empire. Major contributions were in mathematics, astronomy, and development of the calendar.

Mecca - City in western Arabia; birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, and ritual center of the Islamic religion.

Medieval - Literally 'middle age,' a term that historians of Europe use for the period ca. 500 to ca. 1500, signifying its intermediate point between Greco-Roman antiquity and the Renaissance.

Medina - City in western Arabia to which the Prophet Muhammad and his followers emigrated in 622 to escape persecution in Mecca.

Ming Empire - Empire based in China that Zhu Yuanzhang established after the overthrow of the Yuan Empire. The Ming emperor Yongle sponsored the building of the Forbidden City and the

voyages of Zheng He. The later years of the Ming saw a slowdown in technological development and economic decline.

Mit'a - Andean labor system based on shared obligations to help kinsmen and work on behalf of the ruler and religious organizations.

Moche - Civilization of north coast of Peru (200-700 C.E.). An important Andean civilization that built extensive irrigation networks as well as impressive urban centers dominated by brick temples.

Monasticism - Living in a religious community apart from secular society and adhering to a rule stipulating chastity, obedience, and poverty. It was a prominent element of medieval Christianity and Buddhism. Monasteries were the primary centers of learning and literacy in medieval Europe.

Mongols - A people of this name is mentioned as early as the records of the Tang Empire, living as nomads in northern Eurasia. After 1206 they established an enormous empire under Genghis Khan, linking western and eastern Eurasia.

Monsoon - Seasonal winds in the Indian Ocean caused by the differences in temperature between the rapidly heating and cooling landmasses of Africa and Asia and the slowly changing ocean waters. These strong and predictable winds have long been ridden across the open sea by sailors, and the large amounts of rainfall that they deposit on parts of India, Southeast Asia, and China allow for the cultivation of several crops a year.

Movable Type - Type in which each individual character is cast on a separate piece of metal. It replaced woodblock printing, allowing for the arrangement of individual letters and other characters on a page. Invented in Korea 13th Century.

Muhammad - Arab prophet; founder of religion of Islam.

Muslim - An adherent of the Islamic religion; a person who 'submits' (in Arabic, Islam means 'submission') to the will of God.

Neo-Confucianism - Term used to describe new approaches to understanding classic Confucian texts that became the basic ruling philosophy of China from the Song period to the twentieth century.

Nomadism - A way of life, forced by a scarcity of resources, in which groups of people continually migrate to find pastures and water.

Ottoman Empire - Islamic state founded by Osman in northwestern Anatolia ca. 1300. After the fall of the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire was based at Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) from 1453 to 1922. It encompassed lands in the Middle East, North Africa, the Caucasus, and eastern Europe.

Papacy - The central administration of the Roman Catholic Church, of which the pope is the head.

Pilgrimage - Journey to a sacred shrine by Christians seeking to show their piety, fulfill vows, or gain absolution for sins. Other religions also have pilgrimage traditions, such as the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca and the pilgrimages made by early Chinese Buddhists to India in search of sacred Buddhist writings.

Quran - Book composed of divine revelations made to the Prophet Muhammad between ca. 610 and his death in 632; the sacred text of the religion of Islam.

Rashid al-Din - Adviser to the Il-khan ruler Ghazan, who converted to Islam on Rashid's advice.

Schism - a formal split within a religious organization

Serf - In medieval Europe, an agricultural laborer legally bound to a lord's property and obligated to perform set services for the lord. In Russia some of them worked as artisans and in factories; in Russia it was not abolished until 1861.

Shi'ites - Muslims belonging to the branch of Islam believing that God vests leadership of the community in a descendant of Muhammad's son-in-law Ali. Shi'ism is the state religion of Iran.

Song Empire - Empire in central and southern China (960-1126) while the Liao people controlled the north. Empire in southern China (1127-1279; the "Southern Song") while the Jin people controlled the north. Distinguished for its advances in technology, medicine, astronomy, and mathematics.

Sunnis - Muslims belonging to branch of Islam believing that the community should select its own leadership. The majority religion in most Islamic countries.

Swahili Coast - East African shores of the Indian Ocean between the Horn of Africa and the Zambezi River; from the Arabic sawahil, meaning 'shores.'

Tang Empire - Empire unifying China and part of Central Asia, founded 618 and ended 907. The Tang emperors presided over a magnificent court at their capital, Chang'an.

Tenochtitlan - Capital of the Aztec Empire, located on an island in Lake Texcoco. Its population was about 150,000 on the eve of Spanish conquest. Mexico City was constructed on its ruins.

Teotihuacan - A powerful city-state in central Mexico (100-75 C.E.). Its population was about 150,000 at its peak in 600.

Tibet - Country centered on the high, mountain-bounded plateau north of India. Tibetan political power occasionally extended farther to the north and west between the seventh and thirteen centuries.

Timbuktu - City on the Niger River in the modern country of Mali. It was founded by the Tuareg as a seasonal camp sometime after 1000. As part of the Mali empire, Timbuktu became a major major terminus of the trans-Saharan trade and a center of Islamic learning.

Timur - Member of a prominent family of the Mongols' Jagadai Khanate, Timur through conquest gained control over much of Central Asia and Iran. He consolidated the status of Sunni Islam as orthodox, and his descendants, the Timurids, maintained his empire for nearly a century and founded the Mughal Empire in India.

Toltecs - Powerful postclassic empire in central Mexico (900-1168 C.E.). It influenced much of Mesoamerica. Aztecs claimed ties to this earlier civilization.

Tributary System - A system in which, from the time of the Han Empire, countries in East and Southeast Asia not under the direct control of empires based in China nevertheless enrolled as tributary states, acknowledging the superiority of the emperors in China in exchange for trading rights or strategic alliances.

Tribute System - A system in which defeated peoples were forced to pay a tax in the form of goods and labor. This forced transfer of food, cloth, and other goods subsidized the development of large cities. An important component of the Aztec and Inca economies.

Tropics - Equatorial region between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. It is characterized by generally warm or hot temperatures year-round, though much variation exists due

to altitude and other factors. Temperate zones north and south of the tropics generally have a winter season.

tsar - From Latin caesar, this Russian title for a monarch was first used in reference to a Russian ruler by Ivan III (r. 1462-1505).

Uighurs - A group of Turkic-speakers who controlled their own centralized empire from 744 to 840 in Mongolia and Central Asia.

Ulama - Muslim religious scholars. From the ninth century onward, the primary interpreters of Islamic law and the social core of Muslim urban societies.

Umayyad Caliphate - First hereditary dynasty of Muslim caliphs (661 to 750). From their capital at Damascus, the Umayyads ruled one of the largest empires in history that extended from Spain to India. Overthrown by the Abbasid Caliphate.

Umma - The community of all Muslims. A major innovation against the background of seventh-century Arabia, where traditionally kinship rather than faith had determined membership in a community.

Urdu - A Persian-influenced literary form of Hindi written in Arabic characters and used as a literary language since the 1300s.

Vassal - In medieval Europe, a sworn supporter of a king or lord committed to rendering specified military service to that king or lord.

Wari - Andean civilization culturally linked to Tiwanaku, perhaps beginning as colony of Tiwanaku.

Yi - The Yi dynasty ruled Korea from the fall of the Koryo kingdom to the colonialization of Korea by Japan.

Yongle - Reign period of Zhu Di (1360-1424), the third emperor of the Ming Empire (r. 1403-1424).Sponsored the building of the Forbidden City, a huge encyclopedia project, the expeditions of Zheng He, and the reopening of China's borders to trade and travel

Yuan Empire - Empire created in China and Siberia by Khubilai Khan.

Zen - The Japanese word for a branch of Mahayana Buddhism based on highly disciplined meditation. It is known in Sanskrit as dhyana, in Chinese as chan, and in Korean as son.

Zheng He - An imperial eunuch and Muslim, entrusted by the Ming emperor Yongle with a series of state voyages that took his gigantic ships through the Indian Ocean, from Southeast Asia to Africa.

Unit 4 – 1450 to 1750

Absolute Monarchies vs. limited monarchies - absolute monarchies held complete control over their kingdom vs. the limited power.

Adam Smith - He analyzed the natural law of supply and demand that governed economies in his classic book, "The Wealth of Nations"

African Diaspora - The spreading of Africans to many other parts of the world, especially the Americas. This is one of the most important demographic changes during 1450 - 1750

Akbar - the grandson of Babur, who brought the height of the Mughal empire. Also expanded his empire to control much of the subcontinent.

Alternate attendance - Required Daimyos to spend every other year at the Tokugawa court, keeping their power in check. Weakened in two ways: their wealth was affected by having two households, and their ability to establish separate power bases was impaired

Anglican Church - A form of Christianity established by Henry VIII that was not decided on the grounds of religious belief, but because the pope would not allow him to divorce his wife.

Army of the Pure - an army led to challenge the Mughal army and to assert Sikh beliefs aggressively; combined with other upheavel of the 18th century to seriously weaken the Mughal empire

Asante - Produced insignificant amounts of gold and Kola nuts, they rose in West Africa on the Gold Coast.

Atahualpa - the leader of the Incas, who was seized by Pizzaro and gave gold to him, first baptized as a Christian, than strangled

Atlantic Circuit - a clockwise network of sea routs in the Atlantic Ocean

Babur - founded the Mughal empire, claimed to be a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan (1526)

Balance of Power - states forming a temporary alliance to prevent the state form being too powerful. (Russia emerged as a major power in Europe after its mediterranean armies got Sweden in the GNW)

Banraku - a pupper theater with a team of 3 that told a story through puppets in Japan

Bartholomew Dias - set out to find the tip of Africa and connect beyond it to the Indian Ocean, as well as discovering the fastest and safest ways back to Portugal

Battle at Lepanto - a famous sea battle with the Ottomans vs Philip II. Ottomans and their Muslim allies lost control of many ports in this war.

Benin - Not really a significant player in the slave trade - relied on traditional products, such as ivory, textiles, and their unique bronze castings

Bourgeoise - middle class; factory owners who put long hours and much of their profits into their businesses

Boyars - The nobility of the Russia feudal based economic system. They also had military responsibilities to overlords, including the tsar

Cape Colony - one of the two beachland colonies established by the Europeans in the 16th century, functioned as a major coastal for travelers.

Capitalism - an economic system based on private ownership of property and business that provide goods to be bough and sold in a free manner

Caravel - a new ship developed by the portuguese, which was much smaller than the junk, but size allowed for exploration of shallower coastal areas

Castas - a middle-level status between Europeans at the top; and Amerindians and blacks at the bottom

Catholic Reformation - the church's actions to revive their reputation and membership roles in 1545 (regained control of most of southern Europe, Austria, Poland, and much of Hungary)

Christopher Columbus - A Genoese mariner who convinced Isabella and Ferdinand to sponsor a voyage across the Atlantic after he was turned down by the Genoese and Portugal. He believed he could reach east Asia by sailing West.

Columbian exchange - the global diffusion of crops, other plants, human beings, animals, and distance that took place after the European exploring voyages of the New World

Conquistadors - went to search for gold and convert the natives to Christianity in the interior of Mexico

Constitutional Monarchy - States where rulers shared power with a parliament, a body of representatives selected by the nobility and urban citizens

Cortes - sought to find the Aztec capital, and took over the Aztec land - with help of Amerindians, disease, and technology

Cossacks - Peasants, who Ivan III consolidated land hold by recruiting them

Council of Indies - supervised all government and commercial activity in the Spanish colonies

Creoles - composed of those born in the new world; a quickly growing class

Dahomey - a kingdom that used firearms to create its powerbase, in Contrast to the Asante, the Dahomey leaders were authoritarian, and often brutal in forcing compliance to the royal court

Daimyo - power territorial lords, who held local control of areas. Some Daimyos had more influence than others, but each maintained his own governments and had his own samurai

De La Casas - a conquistador priest who dedicated himself to protecting Amerindian rights

Deism - God built the universe and let it run. Clockmaker theory.

Devshirme - a system that required Christian's of the area to contribute young boys to be the sultans slaves

Divine Faith - a combination religion consisting of Muslim, Zorastriam, Christian, Sikh beliefs, with the catch being cementing loyalty to the empreror

Divine Right - with God's blessing of the king's authority, the legitimacy of royalty across Europe was enhanced, and occurred under the reign of Louis XIV during the 17th and 18th centuries

Dutch East India Company - a joint stock company that specialized in the spice and luxury trade of the East Indies and quickly gained control of Dutch Trading in the Pacific

Early Modern Period - the time period of 1450 - 1750(it is called this because events occurring in this time directly shape regional/political units of todays world)

Edict of Nantes - The granting of tolerance to Protestants through this, which was later revoked by King Louis XIV

Encomenderos - Spanish settlers who were in charge of the natives working on the encomiendas

Encomienda - the system in which conquistadors had forced natives to do work for them

English Civil War - This was the revolution as a result of whether the sovereignty would remain with the king or with the Parliament. Eventually, the kingship was abolished.

Enlightenment - the emphasis on human abilities and accomplishments and the importance of independent and rational thought

Erasmus - a humanist Dutch priest that published the first edition of the New Testament in Greek in 1516

Ethnocentrism - the term that describes the tendency of human beings to view their own culture as superior

Forbidden City - was the home of the emperor and his family, which expanded service people to 20,000; as the government returned to Beijing from Manjing

Franciscans - peoples who converted new world people to christianity, and took care of the poor.

Francisco Pizzaro - led a group of soldiers to the Andes to find the Inca. The Incas were weak; Pizzaro conquered and got gold.

Galileo - used the first telescope during the Renaissance in 1609, where he made many large discoveries in the solar system, until he was put under house arrest for spreading conflicting ideas

Gentry - the most powerful members of a society, and landowners that affected the style of the old aristocracy

Great Northern War - War that was long and costly which came from Peter's modernized armies breaking Swedish control of the Baltic Sea, forcing Europe to see Russia as a major power

Gunpowder Empires - an age of time where almost all powerful states used guns to build control/attack (included Russia, Ming and Qing, Japan, the Ottoman Empire, the Safavid and the Mughal empire)

Hapsburg - A powerful family with land claims all over Europe from Spain to Italy to the Netherlands to Hungary, as all the Holy Roman Emperor's had been Hapsburg since 1273

Henry the Navigator - the third son of the portuguese king; devoted his life to navigation, creating a navigation school, which became a magnet for the cartographers of the world

Hidden Imam - the 12th descendant of Muhammad, who in the end disappeared as a child

Holy Roman Empire - a place/time where religion remained very important, and religious issues continued to fragment, and strong kings emerged in the 16th century

House of Burgesses - the elected assembly in the colonies that initiated a form of democratic representation

Humanism - interest in the capabilities and accomplishments of individuals

Imams - heirs of Muhammad according to Shi'ite muslims

Indentured Servitude - a system which was usually ethnically the same as a free settler, but he or she was bound by an "indenture" (contract) to work for a person for four to seven years, in exchange for payment of the new world voyage

Indulgences - The Catholic Church's grants of salvation for money in the 1500s, and was part of the growing corruption of the church.

Iroquois Confederacy - Dutch merchants established trading relationships with these guys

Isaac Newton - discovered the basic principles of motion + gravity, where he captured the vision of a entire universe in simple laws

Isfahan vs. Istanbul - These two places differed in the sense the first was far from cosmopolitan, Shi'ite, and have international trade, while the latter had more numerous, and guilds organized merchants

Ismail - a person who united a large area south of the caspian sea and of the Ottoman empire. An army emerged under him, as well as declared Twelver shi'ism for his new Safavid realm

Ivan III - declared himself as "tsar" (means Caesar) with the claim he was establishing the "Third Rome"

Ivan IV - Ivan the Terrible (his nickname) reflected problems that tsars faced as power increased

Janissaries - Checked the military power of the sultan, being an elite military group

Jesuits - a religious order converting people to return to the church (went to Asia + Americas in 1500's)

Johan Gutenberg - a German goldsmith and printer, who created the printing press, in 1454

John Calvin - A protestant who established a variation of his beliefs on a stern and vengeful God.

John Locke - sought to understand the impact of the "laws of nature" on human liberties

Joint-stock Companies - these companies organized commercial ventures on a large scale by allowing investors to buy and sell shares. The new capitalist system largely replaced the old guild system of the middle ages.

Kabuki - a form of drama that consisted of several acts and separate skits with singing, dancing, and elaborate staging. (Actors became well known starts)

Kangxi - one of the rulers of the Manchu dynasty, helped to create a prosperous, powerful, and culturally rich empire. A sophisticated confucian scholar as well. His reign brought an empire that grew dramatically.

Kongo - Christian missionaries went to this kingdom just south of the Congo River, where Christian Missionaries converted its inhabitants to Christianity

Kowtow - a special, often deep bow to the Chinese emperor. In the Qing dynasty, those who came to see the emperor had to do a special bow consisting of 3 separate kneeling

Land-based Powers - A shift in land based powers where governments controlled lands by building armies, bureaucracies, road, canals, and walls that unified and protected

Lost Colony - The colony of Walter Raleigh, as well as the first venture to North America by the British on the Carolina Coast.

Louis XIV - Understood the importance of a "theatre state", by building a magnificent palace at Versailles, and the apex of absolutism occurred under him

Macartney Mission - the dispatch of Lord Macartney with other people to China, showing Britain's great interest in the Qing empire, as well the d Macartney esire to reuse the trade system

Magellan - had a ship that was first to circumnavigate the glove, even though Magellan himself died in the phillipines

Manila Galleons - ships that traveled across the pacific ocean picking up and trading goods, like Asian luxury goods, and silver

Mansabs - certain ranks in government by Akbar, which entitled their holder to revenue assignments

Manumission - legal grant of freedom to an individual slave

Maroons - runaway slaves in the Carribean

Martin Luther - a German monk who wrote the 95 theses in 1517, which were 95 propositions that criticized the Catholic Church

Matteo Ricci - A Jesuit missionary who helped to try and convert emperor Wudi. Though failed at primary goal, they did open the country to European influence, primarily through their gadgets and technology

Medici - was a powerful family of Florence in the mid to late 1400s that sponsored artists as a rich merchant family

Mercantilism - a system in which the government is constantly intervened in the market, with the understanding the goal of economic gain and to benefit the mother country

Mercantilism - the responsibility of government to promote the states economy to improve the revenues and limit imports to prevent profits from going to outsiders (allows industry to develop their own business)

Mestizos - composed of European and Amerindian children, part of the castas

Middle Passage - the first leg of the atlantic circuit, where ships took slaves to the new world

Moctezuma - the Aztec emperor, who welcome the Spaniards at Tenochtitlan, seeing them as god-like. This was a mistake, as this allowed everyone to conquer him.

Montesquieu - admired the British Parliament that had successfully gained power at the expense of the king, who also advocated a three-branch government with three branches that shared political power

Mughal Empire - an empire that that was a mixture of Mongol and Turkish peoples from Central Asia, which dominated India until the early 1700s

Mulattoes - composed of European and African children, also part of the castas

New Monarchies - Monarchies that emerged that differed from their medieval predecessors in having greater centralization of power, more regional boundaries, and stronger representative institutions

Nicholas Copernicus - a Polish monk who based tables on those by Nasir Al-Din, an Islamic scholar, to correct inaccurate calendars.

Nicolo Machiavelli - a Renaissance writer who wrote, "The Prince" which was a famous philosophical view of the ideal political leader in the 16th century, in Italian city states

Ottoman Lake - the Mediterranean Sea controlled by the empire with this name

Patrons - supporters of the arts, with payment and such, they found talented artists, often when they were young

Peninsularies - a fading social class in the new world, composed of the people born in the old world

Peter the Great - The tsar of Russia in 1682 to 1724, who was most responsible for transforming Russia into a great world power. He understood how things worked globally, and expanded water ports

Phillip II - ruled Spain at the height of its power in the 15th century

Pilgrims - settled first in New England, and wanted to break away completely from the Church of England, sought to pursue spiritual ends in new lands

Plantocracy - a small number of rich men owns most of the slaves and land, as well as had all the power

Protestant Reformation - a religious movement of the 16th century that began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the creation of Protestant churches

Protestant work ethic - a work ethic of the protestants that encouraged individual endeavors towards gaining wealth

Purdah - a woman's seclusion from society in India, which was more enforced for upper class women, who did not leave home unescorted

Puritans - wanted to purify Church of England, not break with it

Putting out system - the concept of producing goods in the countryside outside the guilds control by delivering raw materials to their homes, where they are transformed into finished products to be used up later

Qianlong - a ruler of the Manchu dynasty who helped to create a prosperous, powerful, and culturally rich empire. He brought much prosperity that he cancelled taxes 4 times

Qing Dynasty - The name of the empire after the Ming; seized China from the emperors who could no longer defend their borders from the Manchu

Qizilbash - fought against Janissaries in a great religious conflict. (Chaldiran)

Queue - a Manchu style patch of hair gathered long and uncut in the back, showing submission to the Qing dynasty

Rajputs - Hindu warriors from the north, who made up 15 percent of Mansabars

Reconquest - the retaking of land in Iberia by Spain and Portugal in a religious crusade to expand. This conquest advanced in waves over several centuries.

Renaissance - A heightened intellectual and artistic advance from about 1450s, that changed Europe forever

Renaissance Man - Title of a person who was smart and genius in the Renaissance Era.

Rosseau - the most radical of the common philosophers, he proclaimed in his social context that "Man is born free: and everywhere he is in chains". Since society had "Corrupted" human nature, he advocated a return to nature in a small, co-op community

Safavid Empire - an empire that grew from a turkish nomadic group, that were Shi'ite muslims

Sati - the ritual suicide of widows by jumping into their husbands pyres, representing the low status of women

Scholasticism - Scholars based their inquiry on the principles established by the church, which sometimes resulted in clases between science and religion

Scientific Revolution - a new vision of science developed during the renaissance in the 17th + 18th century

Sea-based Powers - Sea people built their power by controlling water routes, developing technology to cross the seas, and gaining wealth from trade and land claims.

Seasoning - a period of adjustment to a new environment, like with the slaves

Shah Abbas I - brought the Safavids to the peak of the power, slave infantrymen

Sikhism - started by Nanuk, who became the first Guru of Sikhism. Sikhism was a following of people who formed a community free of caste divisions

St. Petersburg - The "Window to the West" established by Peter the Great, which was a capital built on the shoes of the newly accessed Baltic Sea (a port for the new navy + allowed closer access to western countries)

Suleiman the Magnificent - ruled the Ottomans as the empire reached the height of its power. The Ottomans controlled much of the water traffic between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean sea

Table of Ranks - A system by Peter the Great that allowed officials to attain gov't posistions based on merit, not on aristocracy status (reorganization of Bureaucracy)

Taj Mahal - a building of beauty built as a tomb for Mumtaz Mahal's wife.

Thirty Years War - War within the Holy Roman Empire between German Protestants and their allies (Sweden, Denmark, France) and the emperor and his ally, Spain; ended in 1648 after great destruction with Treaty of Westphalia

Thomas Hobbes - English materialist and political philosopher who advocated absolute sovereignty as the only kind of government that could resolve problems caused by the selfishness of human beings (1588-1679)

Time of Trouble - The time of following Ivan's rule. Ivan executed his oldest son, touching off competition among Boyars for the throne.

Tokugawa leyasu - led the meetings of Daimyos after Hideyoshi's death, by the Togugawa shogunate

Tokugawa Shogunate - a centralized government established in 1603 in present day Tokyo. Also called "Ba***u", was a tent government, which was temporary

Toyotomi Hideyoshi - a competent, Daimyo general who broke the power of warring daimyos and eventually unified Japan under his own authority. His ambitions stretched far, and he sparked the Unification of Japan

Treaty of Tordesillas "Tortillas" - a treaty making Spain and Portugal land claim boundary. Portugal pushes its explorations to India and beyond.

Treaty of Westphalia - Ended the 30 years war, allowing principalities and cities to choose their own religion, creating a patchwork of religious affiliations through England.

Tsar - a derivative of "Caesar", establishing a "3rd rome". This was a major propaganda for Russia

Vasco da Gama - set out to find the tip of Africa and connect it to the Indian Ocean, and discovered the fastest and safest ways to travel to Portugal

Versailles - a place where Louis' palace was built symbolizing the French's triumph over the traditional rights of the nobility and clergy. This kept nobles away from plotting rebellions, and 'distracted europe'.

Vizier - head of the imperial administration in the Ottoman empire who took care of the day to day work of the empire, aiding the Sultan

Voltaire - wrote witty criticisms of the French monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church. He believed both institutions to be despotic and intolerant, limiting freedoms

Yongle - something of a renegade who supported a series of seven maritime expeditions. Chinese vessels started to take tribute from those they encountered.