Terms : Hide Images
| 6624538780 | Absolute Monarch | A system of government in which the head of state is a hereditary position and the king or queen has almost complete power. To a 17th and 18th century ruler complete sovereignty meant that a ruler could make law, dispense justice, create and direct a bureaucracy, declare war and levy taxation without needing the approval of any other authorities. James I in England was a known advocate of the Divine Right of Kings, which argued for this system. His son, Charles I of England, was executed after Charles had dismissed Parliament, an act justified with the Divine Right of Kings political theory. | 0 | |
| 6624538782 | Capitalism | An economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, esp. as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth. | 1 | |
| 6624538783 | Continuity | Something that continues unchanged across a period of history. Can be contrasted with a "Change", in which a turning point occurs. Students are required to identify what a political, economic or cultural situation was, then identify the turning point, then the new situation after the change, which begins a new continuity through time. | 2 | |
| 6624538784 | Deists | Influenced by the spirit of rationalism in the Age of Enlightenment, this group believed that God, like a celestial clockmaker, had created a perfect universe and then had stepped back to let it operate according to natural laws. | 3 | |
| 6624538785 | Demography | The scientific study of population characteristics. Such as birth rate and infant mortality rate. | 4 | |
| 6624538786 | Divine Right | Belief that a rulers authority comes directly from a divine deity. God established kings and through them reigned over all the peoples of the world. Since kings received their authority from God that authority was absolute. Similar to the Mandate of Heaven in East Asian political culture. | 5 | |
| 6624538787 | Mercantilism | An economic policy under which nations sought to increase their wealth and power by obtaining large amounts of gold and silver and by selling more goods (exports) than they bought (imports). They also implemented protectionist trade policies such as putting tariffs on other countries' goods (imports) and outlawed trading between their colonies and other countries. Colonies were valued as sources of raw materials and markets for finished goods. | 6 | |
| 6624538788 | Monastic | A way of life in which men and women withdraw from the rest of the world in order to devote themselves to their faith | 7 | |
| 6624538789 | Monopoly | A market in which there is only one seller for a product or service. This enables the seller to raises prices since there is no competition with other sellers. When European countries gained colonies the monarchies would sometimes grant sellers from only their countries licenses to sell products in the colonies, often with no legal competition. This would often create a black market for goods from other countries. | 8 | |
| 6624538790 | Parliament | A body of government that makes laws for a nation. In England, it started as an advisory council that had certain control over tax decisions. | 9 | |
| 6624538791 | Utopia | An ideal society with perfect qualities. The word was used by Sir Thomas More in a famous book. | 10 | |
| 6624538792 | Akbar the Great (Mughal India) | (1542 - 1605) was the third Mughal Emperor. He became emperor at age 13. He is considered to be one of the greatest rulers of India. He was known as much for his inclusive leadership style as for his war mongering. He began a time of religious tolerance and appreciation for the arts. | 11 | |
| 6624538793 | Calvinism | Protestant sect that emphasized a strong moral code and believed in predestination (the idea that God decided whether or not a person would be saved as soon as they were born). This type of Protestantism agreed with Luther's ideas but made far more of the idea of predestination, and as a severe critic of human nature it felt that the number of the saved (called them "the elect") were few. The founder wrote Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1536, which was written in the international language of Latin and addressed to the all the world. Institutes expressed a coherent set of protestant ideas that people could apply to their own local circumstances. As a result his version of Protestantism spread widely and was the dominant form in the 16th century. Whereas Luther was an emotionally volatile personality who responded to theological problems as they arose, he was an analytical legalist that set forth the principles of Protestantism comprehensively, logically, and systematically. | 12 | |
| 6624538794 | Columbian Exchange | An exchange of goods, ideas and skills from the Old World (Europe, Asia and Africa) to the New World (North and South America) and vice versa. To the colonial American societies Europeans and Africans brought their germs, which caused the Great Dying and their people as well as wheat, rice, sugarcane, grapes, and many garden vegetables. Also horses, pigs, cattle goats, and sheep, which made possible ranching and cowboy culture. From the Americas went corn, potatoes, and cassava, which facilitated immense population growth. | 13 | |
| 6624538795 | Dutch East India Company | A company founded by the Dutch in the early 17th century to establish and direct trade throughout Asia. Richer and more powerful than England's company, they drove out the English and Established dominance over the region. It ended up going bankrupt and being bought out by the British | 14 | |
| 6624538797 | Elizabeth I of England | Tudor Queen of England. Succeeded Mary I in 1558 and ruled until 1603. In addition to leading the defeat of the Spanish Armada and developing England into a world power, she strengthened Protestantism. Daughter of Henry VIII. | 15 | |
| 6624538798 | English Bill of Rights | King William and Queen Mary accepted this document in 1689. It guaranteed certain rights to English citizens and declared that elections for Parliament would happen frequently. By accepting this document, they supported a limited monarchy, a system in which they shared their power with Parliament and the people. | 16 | |
| 6624538799 | Gutenberg's Printing Press | Developed during the Renaissance, the printing press helped ideas spread faster to different places and was one of the reasons Martin Luther was so successful during the Reformation. Developed by Johannes Gutenberg. | 17 | |
| 6624538800 | Henry Tudor | Abolished private English armies to end the War of the Roses; strengthened English royal government; got support by lightening taxes (1457-1509) | 18 | |
| 6624538801 | Heliocentric Theory | Is the idea that the Earth and other planets revolve around the Sun, which is the center of the solar system. Nicolaus Copernicus was the first to think of good reasons why it is true. This was the beginning of modern astronomy. | 19 | |
| 6624538802 | Martin Luther | 16th century German monk and professor who is considered to be the person who started the Protestant Reformation; he began by criticizing Church practices (mainly indulgences) and ultimately broke with the Catholic Church to form his own new religious faith | 20 | |
| 6624538803 | Louis XIV (France) | This French monarch, called the sun king, epitomized royal absolutism, he even declared that he is the State, "l'etat, c'est moi." He centralized power like his father, constructed the lavish palace "Versailles," which was the largest building in Europe with 1400 fountains. He gained power over the nobility in France by inviting them to live in the palace, offering them luxury in exchange for absolute power. He started many wars of expansion and left France bankrupt. He did not rely on "Estates General" which was basically France's Parliament. He had foreign colonies for benefits, mercantilism by Colbert. | 21 | |
| 6624538804 | Qing Dynasty | (1644-1911 CE), meant "pure." The last imperial dynasty of China which was overthrown by revolutionaries; was ruled by the Manchu people, which had been a mostly pastoral people from the north of Korea (although many had turned to agriculture by 1644.) An ambitious chieftain named Nurhaci unified the Manchu tribes into a centralized state, enforced a law code, and organized a powerful military. They took Beijing in 1644 due to Manchu military strength and to the fact that many Ming dynasty generals deserted the Mings because of their corruption at the Forbidden Palace. Manchu ruling elites were schooled in Confucian thought, and they earned the respect of the scholar-bureaucrats more so than the Ming emperor at that time. These Manchu leaders kept their ethnic and cultural identity distinct from the Chinese, and they forced Chinese men to shave the front of their heads, a sign of submission to the dynasty. Manchu Emperors organized flood-control and irrigation projects in keeping with the Confucian idea that a leader should look after the welfare of their subjects. They also generously funded Confucian schools. This Dynasty also was known for military expansion, conquering Taiwan, Mongolia, and parts of central Asia. Also they imposed a Chinese protectorate over Tibet, and made Vietnam, Burma, and Nepal vassal states. As it was in the Ming dynasty, these emperors were called "sons of heaven" who lived in the Forbidden City with hundreds of concubines and thousands of eunuchs to look after the emperors every desire. The day to day governance fell to scholar-bureaucrats who passed rigorous civil service exams and appointed by the emperor. | 22 | |
| 6624538805 | Peter the Great | (1672-1725) Russian tsar (r. 1689-1725). He enthusiastically introduced Western languages and technologies to the Russian elite, moving the capital from Moscow to the new city of St. Petersburg. | 23 | |
| 6624538806 | Potosi Silver Mine | The largest silver mine in Peru, located in the city of Potosi in upper Peru (modern day Bolivia). Provided 80% of all Peruvian silver. Spanish had started to mine silver in Peru and Mexico between 1545 and 1565. Potosi became a mining center with a luxurious way of life and opulent churches, but the work was done by American Indian slaves and encomienda workers. After 1580, mercury was used to extract the silver. This silver was the same silver used in China during the Silver or Single Whip System. | 24 | |
| 6624538807 | 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. | 25 | |
| 6624538808 | Renaissance | "Rebirth"; following the Middle Ages, a movement that centered on the revival of interest in the classical learning of Greece and Rome. | 26 | |
| 6624538809 | Scientific Revolution | A major change in European thought, starting in the mid-1500s, in which the study of the natural world began to be characterized by careful observation and the questioning of accepted beliefs. | 27 | |
| 6624538811 | Thirty Years War (1618-1648) | This was the last major war of religion; the conflict was over religion (Catholic vs. Protestant), territory, and power. Eventually France won; the war ended with the Peace of Westphalia. Destroyed mostly German land. | 28 | |
| 6624538812 | Tokugawa Shogunate | (1603-1867) Feudal Warlord rulers of Japan. Responsible for closing Japan off from the rest of the world. Overthrown during the Meiji Restoration. | 29 | |
| 6624538813 | Treaty of Westphalia (1648) | Ended the thirty years war. It gave Calvinists legal recognition, allowed German Princes to determine the official religion of their kingdoms, and it led to French dominance of Europe. It was also a turning point in European history because after this there would be no more wars of religion, instead wars were fought for territory and political power. | 30 | |
| 6624538814 | Zheng He | (1405 - 1433) He undertook the largest maritime expeditions the world had ever seen. Ming Emperor Yongle commissioned this fleet of 300 ships with 27,000 crew members, which went on 7 expeditions to establish China's contacts through various parts of the world. Goals include to enroll distant peoples in the Chinese Tribute system whereby rulers where brought back to China to present tribute, perform rituals of submission and in return receive trading opportunities. Also, these expeditions established Chinese control over Indian Ocean trade, but they did not seek to conquer or set up colonies. When Yongle died this captain is fired and the navy is disbanded and his log books are destroyed due to the Mandarins who had long believed that it was too expensive and as the self-sufficient "middle kingdom, China had everything it needed. | 31 | |
| 6670155552 | Ming Dynasty | Meant "brilliant." The ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644. It was the last ethnic Han-led dynasty in China - vast navy and army were built. Over 100,000 tons of iron per year were produced in North China (roughly 1 kg per inhabitant), and many books were printed using movable type. Emperor Yongle sponsored the navel Expeditions by Zheng He. They made an effort to eliminate all cultural signs of foreign and especially mongol rule, discouraging mongol names and dress, while promoting Confucian learning. Emperor Yongle sponsored an Encyclopedia of some 11,000 volumes, and brought back the civil service exam. They also brought new land under cultivation and planted a billion trees to reforest China. Yongle also moved the capital to Beijing and build the Forbidden City. | 32 |
