Abbasid (ah-BAH-sihd) · 2014. 12. 27. · Bookmarked Glossary Terms Abbasid (ah-BAH-sihd)...

Bookmarked Glossary Terms

Abbasid (ah-BAH-sihd)

Cosmopolitan Arabic dynasty (750-1258) that replaced the Umayyads; founded by Abu al-Abbas and reaching its peak under Harun al-Rashid.

Abolitionism

Antislavery movement.

Absolutism

Political philosophy that stressed the divine right theory of kingship: the French king Louis XIV was the classic example.

African National Congress

An organization, led by Nelson Mandela, that launched a campaign to protest apartheid in South Africa.

Afrikaners

Dutch farmers who settled South Africa during the seventeenth century.

Age grades

Bantu concept in which individuals of roughly the same age carried out communal tasks appropriate for that age.

Ahimsa (uh-HIM-suh)

Jain term for the principle of nonviolence to other living things or their souls.

Analects

The teachings of Confucius (551-479 B.C.E.) compiled by his disciples.

Ancestor Worship

Belief that dead ancestors can influence one's fortunes in life. Those who practice often conduct rituals and ceremonies to the memory or remains of their ancestors.

Ancien Regime (awn-syawn-ray-zheem)

The traditional political and social order in Europe before the French Revolution.

Antonianism

African syncretic religion, founded by Dona Beatriz, that taught that Jesus Christ was a black African man and that heaven was for Africans.

Appeasement

British and French policy in the 1930s that tried to maintain peace in Europe in the face of German aggression by making concessions.

Astrolabe

Navigational instrument for determining latitude.

Balfour Declaration

British declaration from 1917 that supported the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

Bandung Conference

Conference in Indonesia (1955) at which twenty-nine nonaligned nations met.

Battle of Britain

German strategy to defeat Britain through aerial bombing; causes many civilian casualties, but invasion is prevented by the Royal Air Force.

Bay of Pigs

Failed 1961 CIA-sponsored invasion of Cuba.

Bedouins (BEHD-oh-ihnz)

Nomadic Arabic tribespeople.

Berlin Airlift

American and British response to the Berlin blockade (1948-1949) in which supplies were airlifted into the city.

Berlin Conference

Meeting organized by German chancellor Otto von Bismarck in 1884-1885 that provided the justification for European colonization of Africa.

Berlin Wall

Barrier of barbed wire constructed by the Soviets between East and West Berlin (1961) intended to stop the flow of refugees from East to West Germany.

Blitzkrieg

German style of rapid attack through the use of armor and air power that was used in Poland, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, and France in 1939-1940.

Bodhisattvas (BOH-dih-SAT-vuhs)

Buddhist concept regarding individuals who had reached enlightenment but who stayed in this world to help people.

Bourgeoisie

Middle class in modern industrial society.

Boxer Rebellion

Movement (1899-1900) in which local militias attacked foreigners and Chinese Christians. Eventually put down by European and Japanese troops.

Boyar

A Russian noble.

Bubonic Plague

Epidemic that swept Eurasia, causing devastating population loss and disruption. Known as the Black Death in Europe after 1350 C.E.

Buddha (BOO-duh)

The "enlightened one," the term applied to Siddhartha Gautama after his discoveries that would form the foundation of Buddhism.

Buddhism (BOO-diz'm)

Religion, based on Four Noble Truths, associated with Siddhartha Gautama (563--483 B.C.E.), or the Buddha; its adherents desired to eliminate all distracting passion and reach nirvana.

Bushido (BOH-shee-DOH)

The "way of the warrior," the code of conduct of the Japanese samurai that was based on loyalty and honor.

Byzantine (BIHZ-ann-teen)

Long-lasting empire centered at Constantinople; it grew out of the end of the Roman empire and carried legacy of Roman greatness and was the only classical society to survive into the early modern age; it reached its early peak during the reign of Justinian (483--565).

Caesaropapism

Concept relating to the mixing of political and religious authority, as with the Roman emperors, that was central to the church versus state controversy in medieval Europe.

Capitulation

Highly unfavorable trading agreements that the Ottoman Turks signed with the Europeans in the nineteenth century that symbolized the decline of the Ottomans.

Caste

Social class system in which distinctions and restrictions on marriage, occupation, handling of food, and other matters are transferred through generations or through class. The term usually refers to the social system of India.

Caudillos (KAW-dee-ohs)

Latin American term for nineteenth-century local military leaders.

Chinampas

Style of agriculture used by Mexica (Aztecs) in which fertile muck from lake bottoms was dredged and built up into small plots.

Clovis

Leader of the Franks whose conversion to Roman Christianity resulted in the Frankish conversion to Christianity.

Collectivization

Process beginning in the late 1920s by which Stalin forced the Russian peasants off their own land and onto huge collective farms run by the state; millions died in the process.

Columbian Exchange

Global proliferation of plants, crops, animals, human populations, and diseases following Columbus' voyage.

COMECON

The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, which offered increased trade within the Soviet Union and eastern Europe; it was the Soviet alternative to the United States' Marshall Plan.

Communist Manifesto

Karl Marx's 1848 work decrying the excesses of capitalism and predicting the rising of the proletariat to establish a just, egalitarian society.

Confucianism (kuhn-FYOO-shuhn-iz'm)

Philosophy, based on the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Kong Fuzi (551-479 B.C.E.), or Confucius, that emphasizes order, the role of the gentleman, obligation to society, and reciprocity.

Constantinople

Capital of the Byzantine empire and a cultural and economic center.

Containment

Concept associated with the United States and specifically with the Truman Doctrine during the Cold War that revolved around the notion that the United States would contain the spread of communism.

Copernican Universe

Copernicus' suggestion in 1543 that the sun, rather than the earth, was the center of the universe.

Corpus iuris civilis (KOR-puhs yoor-uhs sih-VEE-lihs)

Body of the Civil Law, the Byzantine emperor Justinian's attempt to codify all Roman law.

Cossacks

The "free warriors" of southern Russia, noted as cavalrymen.

Council of Trent

Catholic attempt (1545-1563) that sought to direct reform of the Roman Catholic Church.

Crimean War

Conflict between Russia and an Ottoman empire supported by a European coalition from 1853 to 1856. Russia lost, and the tsars were forced to reform their army and industry.

Crystal Palace

Enormous glass and iron structure built in 1851 in London for the Great Exhibition. Demonstrated British technological, economic, and military prowess.

Cuban Missile Crisis

Standoff between Soviet Union and United States in 1962 over Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. Following blockade by President Kennedy, Khrushchev agrees to remove the missiles.

Daimyo (DEYEM-yoh)

Powerful territorial lords in early modern Japan.

Dao

Key element in Chinese philosophy that means the "way of nature" or the "way of the cosmos."

Daoism (DOW-i'zm)

Chinese philosophy with origins in the Zhou dynasty; it is associated with legendary philosopher Laozi, and it called for a policy of inaction.

Dar al-Islam

The "house of Islam," a term for the Islamic world.

De-Stalinization

A brief trend following Stalin's 1953 death where many political prisoners were released and censorship was relaxed.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

France's revolutionary 1789 declaration of rights stressing liberty, equality, and fraternity.

Decolonization

Process by which former colonies achieved their independence, as with the newly emerging African nations in the 1950s and 1960s.

Deism (DEE-iz'm)

An Enlightenment view that accepted the existence of a god but denied the supernatural aspects of Christianity; in deism, the universe was an orderly realm maintained by rational and natural laws.

Delian League

The military and economic alliance between Greek poleis against the threat presented by the Persian Empire.

Devshirme

Ottoman requirement that the Christians in the Balkans provide young boys to be slaves of the sultan.

Dharma (DAHR-muh)

Hindu concept of obedience to religious and moral laws and order.

Dhow

Indian, Persian, and Arab ships, one hundred to four hundred tons, that sailed and traded throughout the Indian Ocean basin.

Diaspora

People who have settled far from their original homeland but who still share some measure of ethnic identity.

Diviners

Mediators between humanity and supernatural beings.

Dreadnoughts

A class of British battleships whose heavy armaments made all other battleships obsolete overnight.

Duma

Russian parliament, established after the Revolution of 1905.

Dutch learning

European knowledge that reached Tokugawa Japan.

Détente

A reduction in Cold War tension between the United States and the Soviet Union from 1969 to 1973.

Eastern Orthodox Christianity

Eastern branch of Christianity that evolved following the division of the Roman Empire and the subsequent development of the Byzantine Empire in the east and the medieval European society in the west. The church recognized the primacy of the patriarch of Constantinople.

Edict of Milan

Emperor Constantine's 313 C.E. that Christianity was a legitimate religion.

Encomienda (ehn-KOH-mee-ehn-dah)

System that gave the Spanish settlers (encomenderos) the right to compel the indigenous peoples of the Americas to work in the mines or fields.

Engenho

Brazilian sugar mill; the term also came to symbolize the entire complex world relating to the production of sugar.

Enlightenment

Eighteenth-century philosophical movement that began in France; its emphasis was on the preeminence of reason rather than faith or tradition; it spread concepts from the Scientific Revolution.

Eunuchs (YOO-nihks)

Castrated males, originally in charge of the harem, who grew to play major roles in government; eunuchs were common in China and other societies.

European Community (EC)

Organization of European states established in 1957; it was originally called the European Economic Community and was renamed the EC in 1967; it promoted economic growth and integration as the basis for a politically united Europe.

Fascism

Political ideology and mass movement that was prominent in many parts of Europe between 1919 and 1945; it sought to regenerate the social, political, and cultural life of societies, especially in contrast to liberal democracy and socialism; fascism began with Mussolini in Italy, and it reached its peak with Hitler in Germany.

Five Pillars

The foundation of Islam; (1) profession of faith, (2) prayer, (3) fasting during Ramadan, (4) alms, and (5) pilgrimage, or hajj.

Five-year plans

First implemented by Stalin in the Soviet Union in 1928; five-year plans were a staple of communist regimes in which every aspect of production was determined in advance for a five-year period; five-year plans were opposite of the free market concept.

Floating Worlds

Term for centers of urban culture in Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate.

Fulani (foo-LAH-nee)

Sub-Saharan African people who, beginning in the seventeenth century, began a series

of wars designed to impose their own strict interpretation of Islam.

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)

Free trade agreement first signed in 1947; by 1994 it had grown to 123 members and formed the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Ghazi (GAH-zee)

Islamic religious warrior.

Gilgamesh

Legendary king of the Mesopotamian city-state of Uruk (ca. 3000 B.C.E.), subject of the Epic of Gilgamesh, world's oldest complete epic literary masterpiece.

Globalization

The breaking down of traditional boundaries in the face of increasingly global financial and cultural trends.

Great Game

Nineteenth-century competition between Great Britain and Russia for the control of central Asia.

Great Leap Forward

Mao Zedong's effort to catch up with industrial nations.

Great Purge

Stalin's policy of collectivization and his sending of eight million people to labor camps.

Hacienda (HAH-see-ehn-dah)

Large Latin American estates.

Hagia Sophia (HAH-yah SOH-fee-uh)

Greek orthodox temple constructed by the Byzantine emperor Justinian and later converted into a mosque.

Hajj (HAHJ)

Pilgrimage to Mecca.

Hammurabi's Code (hahm-uh-RAH-beez cohd)

Sophisticated law code associated with the Babylonian king Hammurabi (r. 1792-1750 B.C.E.).

Hanseatic League

Association of trading cities in northern Europe linked by major rivers to the Mediterranean.

Heavy Plow

Device of the sixth century permitting the turning of heavy northern soils, rotating crops, and increased agricultural production.

Hellenistic Era

Second phase in Greek history (328-146 B.C.E.), from the conquest of Greece by Philip of Macedon until Greece's fall to the Romans; this era was a more cosmopolitan age facilitated by the conquests of Alexander the Great.

Hieroglyphics (heye-ruh-GLIPH-iks)

Ancient Egyptian written language.

Holocaust

German attempt in World War II to exterminate the Jews of Europe.

Humanists

Renaissance scholars interested in moral philosophy, history, and literature, drawing

inspiration from classical texts.

Ibn Battuta

An Islamic Scholar (1304-1369) who served as qadi to the sultan of Delhi and offered counsel to Muslim rulers in west Africa.

Iconoclasts (eye-KAHN-oh-klasts)

Supporters of the movement, begun by the Byzantine Emperor Leo III (r. 717-741), to destroy religious icons because their veneration was considered sinful.

Imperialism

Term associated with the expansion of European powers and their conquest and colonization of African and Asian societies, mainly from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries.

Indian National Congress

Forum established in 1885 where educated Indians convened to discuss public affairs such as colonial misrule and aims for self-rule.

Indulgences

Remissions of the punishment of a Christian's sins that could be purchased from the Roman Catholic Church.

Intelligentsia

Term referring to the new social class of Russian intellectuals.

Investiture

One aspect of the medieval European church versus state controversy, the granting of church offices by a lay leader.

Islam

Monotheistic religion of the prophet Muhammad (570-632); influenced by Judaism and

Christianity, Muhammad was considered the final prophet because the earlier religions had not seen the entire picture; the Qu'ran is the holy book of Islam.

Islamism

Revival of Muslim traditions through the reassertion of Islamic values into Muslim politics and the resentment of European and American societies.

Istanbul

The new name of Constantinople after it is sacked by Sultan Mehmed II in 1453.

Janissaries

Slave troops serving the Ottoman Empire.

Jesuits

Group founded by Ignatius Loyola in 1540 that maintained high educational standards and served worldwide as missionaries.

Jihad

Concept of the duty of Muslims to defend Islam, often used to justify acts of terrorism.

Jizya (JIHZ-yuh)

Tax in Islamic empires that was imposed on non-Muslims.

Joint-stock companies

Early forerunner of the modern corporation; individuals who invested in a trading or exploring venture could make huge profits while limiting their risk.

Kamikaze (KAH-mih-kah-zee)

A Japanese term meaning "divine wind" that is related to the storms that destroyed Mongol invasion fleets; the term is symbolic of Japanese isolation and was later taken by suicide pilots in World War II.

Karma (KAHR-mah)

Hindu concept that the sum of good and bad in a person's life will determine his or her status in the next life.

Kingdom of Kongo

Kingdom dominating small states along the Congo River that maintained effective, centralized government and a royal currency until the seventeenth century.

Kristallnacht

Official attacks in 1938 on synagogues and Jewish businesses in Germany.

La Reforma

Political reform movement of Mexican president Benito Juárez (1806-1872) that called for limiting the power of the military and the Catholic church in Mexican society.

Latifundia (LAT-ih-FOON-dee-uh)

Huge state-run and slave-worked farms in ancient Rome.

League of Nations

Forerunner of the United Nations, the dream of American president Woodrow Wilson, although its potential was severely limited by the refusal of the United States to join.

Lebensraum (LAY-behnz-rowm)

German term meaning "living space"; the term is associated with Hitler and his goal of carving out territory in the east for an expanding Germany.

Legalism

Chinese philosophy from the Zhou dynasty that called for harsh suppression of the common people.

Lex talionis (lehks tah-lee-oh-nihs)

"Law of retaliation," laws in which offenders suffered punishments similar to their crimes; the most famous example is Hammurabi's Laws.

Luddites

Early-nineteenth-century artisans who were opposed to new machinery and industrialization.

Luisitania

British passenger liner sunk in 1915 that helped sway American opinion of the war.

Mandate of Heaven

Chinese belief that the emperors ruled through the mandate, or approval, of heaven contingent on their ability to look after the welfare of the population.

Manifest Destiny

Belief that the United States' destiny was to expand from coast-to-coast.

Mansa Musa

The grandnephew of Sundiata who made a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324. Upon his return, he built mosques and Islamic schools in Mali.

Marshall Plan

U.S. plan, officially called the European Recovery Program, that offered financial and other economic aid to all European states that had suffered from World War II, including Soviet bloc states.

Mecca

City conquered by Muhammed in 630. He destroyed pagan shrines and erected mosques.

Meiji Restoration

Restoration of imperial rule under Emperor Meiji in 1868 by a coalition led by Fukuzawa Yukichi and Ito Hirobumi; the restoration enacted western reforms to strengthen Japan.

Mestizo

Latin American term for children of Spanish and native parentage.

Missi dominici (mihs-see doh-mee-nee-chee)

"Envoys of the lord ruler," the noble and church emissaries sent out by Charlemagne.

Monroe Doctrine

American doctrine issued in 1823 during the presidency of James Monroe that warned Europeans to keep their hands off Latin America; the doctrine also expressed growing American strength and growing American imperialistic views regarding Latin America.

Mulattoes

Brazilians of mixed ancestry.

Munich Conference

Meeting in 1938 in which France and Britain sought to appease German aggression and avert war.

Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)

Term signifying the ability of the Soviet Union and the United States to destroy each other in a nuclear war.

NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which was established by the United States in 1949 as a regional military alliance against Soviet expansionism.

Negritude (NEH-grih-tood)

"Blackness," a term coined by early African nationalists as a means of celebrating the heritage of black peoples around the world.

New Deal

President Roosevelt's Keynsian policies of massive government investment in the economy.

NGO

A nongovernmental organization such as the Red Cross or Greenpeace.

Nirvana (nuhr-VAH-nuh)

Buddhist concept of a state of spiritual perfection and enlightenment in which distracting passions are eliminated.

Noble Eightfold Path

Final truth of the Buddhist Four Noble Truths that called for leading a life of balance and constant contemplation.

Operation Barbarossa

German surprise invasion of the Soviet Union in June of 1941.

Opium War

Conflict lasting from 1839 to 1842 in which the Chinese efforts to stop the opium trade were rejected and crushed by the British.

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

An organization begun in 1960 by oil-producing states originally for purely economic reasons but that later had more political influence.

Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)

Organization created in 1964 under the leadership of Yasser Arafat to champion Palestinian rights.

Pater familias (PAH-tur fuh_MEE-lee-ahs)

Roman term for the "father of the family," a theoretical implication that gave the male head of the family almost unlimited authority.

Patricians

Roman aristocrats and wealthy classes.

Pax Romana

Roman Peace, a term that relates to the period of political stability, cultural brilliance, and economic prosperity beginning with unification under Augustus and lasting through the first two centuries C.E.

Peloponnesian War

A war between camps led by Athens and Sparta the ended in 404 B.C.E. with the unconditional surrender of Athens.

Peninsulares (pehn-IHN-soo-LAH-rayz)

Latin American officials from Spain or Portugal.

Perestroika (payr-eh-STROY-kuh)

Restructuring, a Russian term associated with Gorbachev's effort to reorganize the Soviet state.

Planned Scarcity

Depression-era economic policy of decreasing the supply of goods in order to increase demand and boost the economy.

Plebians (plih-BEE-uhns)

Roman common people.

Polis (POH-lihs)

Greek term for the city-state.

Proletariat

Urban working class in a modern industrial society.

Protestant Reformation

Sixteenth-century European movement during which Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and others broke away from the Catholic church.

Ptolemaic Universe

The theory that the earth is motionless and surrounded by nine spheres. Could not account for observable planetary movements, but was consistent with Christian theory of creation.

Quinto (KEEN-toh)

The one-fifth of Mexican and Peruvian silver production that was reserved for the Spanish monarchy.

Rape of Nanjing

Japanese conquest and destruction of the Chinese city of Nanjing in the 1930s.

Repartimiento (reh-PAHR-tih-mehn-toh)

Spanish labor system in Latin America, supposed to replace the encomienda system, in which native communities were compelled to provide laborers for the farms or mines and the Spanish employers were expected to pay fair wages.

Romanov (ROH-mah-nahv)

Russian dynasty (1610-1917) founded by Mikhail Romanov and ending with Nicholas II.

Samurai (SAM-uhr-eye)

A Japanese warrior who lived by the code of bushido.

Sati (suh-TEE)

Also known as suttee, Indian practice of a widow throwing herself on the funeral pyre of her husband.

Satraps (SAY-traps)

Persian administrators, usually members of the royal family, who governed a satrapy.

Scholasticism

Medieval attempt of thinkers like St. Thomas Aquinas to merge the beliefs of Christianity with the logical rigor of Greek philosophy.

SEATO

Southeast Asian counterpart of NATO.

Self-strengthening movement

Chinese attempt (1860-1895) to blend Chinese cultural traditions with European industrial technology.

Seppuku

A Japanese term for ritual suicide committed by the samurai when he had been dishonored.

Serfs

Peasants who, while not chattel slaves, were tied to the land and who owed obligation to the lords on whose land they worked.

Silk roads

Ancient trade routes that extended from the Roman empire in the west to China in the east.

Smoot-Hawley Tariff

Example of economic nationalism that promoted retaliatory restrictions from other nations and ended up drastically reducing international trade between 1929 and 1932.

Spanish Inquisition

Institution organized in 1478 by Fernando and Isabel of Spain to hunt out heretical or contrary opinions; subjects of persecution included Protestants, Jews, Muslims, and witches.

Stateless societies

Term relating to societies such as those of sub-Saharan Africa after the Bantu migrations that featured decentralized rule through family and kinship groups instead of strongly centralized hierarchies.

Sufis (SOO-fees)

Islamic mystics who placed more emphasis on emotion and devotion than on strict adherence to rules.

Süleyman (SOO-lee-mahn)

Ottoman Turkish ruler Süleyman the Magnificent (r. 1520-1566), who was the most powerful and wealthy ruler of the sixteenth century.

Table of Ranks

Bureaucratic reform enacted by Peter the Great allowing social mobility for civil servants by merit and service.

Theme

Byzantine province under the control of generals.

Third Rome

Concept that a new power would rise up to carry the legacy of Roman greatness after the decline of the Second Rome, Constantinople; Moscow was referred to as the Third Rome during the fifteenth century.

Tiananmen Square

Site of pro-democracy student demonstrations in Beijing that were crushed by the communist government.

Treaty of Nanjing

British treaty with China in which they gain rights to the opium trade, most-favored-nation status, Hong Kong, and exemption from Chinese laws.

Triangular trade

Trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas that featured finished products from Europe, slaves from Africa, and American products bound for Europe.

Truman Doctrine

Interventionist policy of the United States to contain communism and support "free peoples resisting subjugation."

Tsar

Old Russian term for king that is derived from the term caesar.

Unequal Treaties

Series of treaties that forced trade concessions from the Qing dynasty of China.

Upanishads (oo-PAHN-ee-shahds)

Indian reflections and dialogues (800-400 B.C.E.) that reflected basic Hindu concepts.

Velvet revolution

A term that describes the nonviolent transfer of power in Czechoslovakia during the collapse of Soviet rule.

Volta do mar (VOHL-tah doh MAHR)

"Return through the sea," a fifteenth-century Portuguese sea route that took advantage of the prevailing winds and currents.

Warsaw Pact

Warsaw Treaty Organization, a military alliance formed by Soviet bloc nations in 1955 in response to rearmament of West Germany and its inclusion in NATO.

Weimar Republic

Democratic interwar government of Germany that was eventually taken over by the Nazis.

Witte, Sergei (VIHT-tee, SAYR-gay)

Late-nineteenth-century Russian minister of finance who pushed for industrialization.

World Trade Organization (WTO)

An organization that was established in 1995 with more than 120 nations and whose goal is to loosen barriers to free trade.

Zaibatsu (zeye-BAHT-soo)

Japanese term for "wealthy cliques," which are similar to American trusts and cartels but usually organized around one family.

Zen Buddhism

Japanese version of Chinese Chan Buddhism, with an emphasis on intuition and sudden flashes of insight instead of textual study.

Ziggurats

Mesopotamian temples.

Zionism

Jewish nationalism in response to European anti-Semitism.

Accessed on: 4/29/2008 at 19:11:05

Abbasid (ah-BAH-sihd) · 2014. 12. 27. · Bookmarked Glossary Terms Abbasid (ah-BAH-sihd)...

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