1450-1750: “Must Know” Vocabulary
Directions:
I have written out the definition of the important terms of the Early Modern Period for you. The only
thing you need to do with this is know the terms. I could put a few terms from below on any test, so you
should know them well. Regardless, the terms will be helpful to know for the wording of multiple choice
and essay questions, and would be helpful in writing certain essays.
Due Date:
You need to have the terms learned by the next test, which will likely occur in the beginning of February.
This gives you about a month to learn them. The most efficient way to do this is to chunk it. Learn one or
two of the terms each night and add it on to the previous day’s terms. This will commit it to memory and
make it a very easy task to complete.
Critical Terms for Period 4 (Early Modern Period)
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Absolutism
o The political doctrine and practice of unlimited, centralized authority and absolute
sovereignty. Power is invested in a single monarch. The monarch has absolute power
and authority and cannot be challenged. This was seen in most maritime and land based
empires for this time period.
Astrolabe
o An instrument used to find the latitude of a ship at sea. Europeans adopted it from
Islam.
Biological diffusion
o In AP World, this refers to the spread of disease. The AP World exam likes to use this
term for the spread of disease. I do not know why this is preferred over “spread of
disease” (I suppose they view this as more “college like”). Do not confuse it with the
diffusion taught in the biology (science) classroom.
Boyars
o The name of the nobility in Russia.
Colonization
o The process by which a nation establishes a colony. The “mother country” often
established things like plantations and heavy trade in areas colonized. This included the
subjugation of indigenous populations usually.
Columbian Exchange
o The widespread transfer of animals, plants (especially crops like the potato), culture,
technology, and humans between the American and Afro-Eurasian areas.
Conduits
o Someone or something that is used as a way of sending something from one place or
person to another.
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Creoles
o A person born in the West Indies or Spanish America but of European, usually Spanish,
ancestry.
Devshirme
o The system by which boys from Christian communities were taken by the Ottoman
Empire to serve in the military.
Dhimmi
o A status given to Christians and Jews in early Islamic empires. Also referred to as
“people of the book”.
Divine Right
o The theory that a monarch has the right to rule directly from the will of God. This was
commonly seen in European states during this time as well as other empires.
Encomienda
o A grant of land by the Spanish Crown to a colonist in America conferring the right to
demand tribute and forced labor from the indigenous inhabitants of the area.
Enlightenment
o A European intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries emphasizing
reason and individualism. It heavily challenged traditional authorities and sources of
knowledge.
Hacienda
o A plantation estate controlled by a Spanish colonist. This system replaced the
encomienda system. Laborers who worked for the haciendados (landowners) were
theoretically free wage earners, but their employers would often bind them to the land.
This led to forced debt labor.
Indentured Servitude
o A labor system where people paid for their passage to a new country or region by
working for an employer for a certain number of years.
Janissaries
o The elite infantry unit of the Ottoman Empire. The Janissaries were well versed in
gunpowder warfare.
Joint-Stock Company
o A business entity where different shares can be bought and owned by shareholders.
Joint-stock companies were often used to finance overseas voyages and control trade
during this time. Famous examples include the Virginia Company and the British East
India Company.
Manila galleons
o Spanish trading ships that made round-trip voyages once or twice per year across the
Pacific Ocean from Mexico to Manila in the Philippines. These ships were heavily
involved in the silver trade as well as trade in various Chinese goods. This term is also
used sometimes to simply refer to the trade route between Mexico and Manila.
Maroon
o A community of escaped slaves. These were generally found in the Americas.
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Mercantilism
o The main economic system used during the 16th to 18th centuries. The main goal of
mercantilism was to increase the nation’s wealth by regulating all commercial interests.
It was believed wealth could be maximized by hoarding specie (gold and silver currency),
having a favorable balance of trade (exporting more than you import), having
protectionist policies (increasing tariffs or taxes on imports to encourage native
industries and limit foreign products coming into the country), and establishing colonies
to provide trade partners and resources. Colonies are always viewed as the inferior in
the relationship with the mother country. This was especially practiced by major
European powers and was heavily associated with colonization and the Triangular
Trade. It is VERY important to know (this will be an important term and theory in any
history class you take in high school except for civics perhaps. It appears in world
history, European history, and American history classes, and is an important part of ALL
of the AP history courses. I have seen a couple questions related to mercantilism on
every single released AP exam.)
Mestizo
o A term used in Spanish America to mean a person of combined European and
Amerindian descent.
Mulattoes
o A term originally used to refer to a person born from one white parent and one black
parent. Creole, Mestizo, Mulatto, and Peninsulares are all important terms used for the
new social order in Spanish America. You must know each (as specified in the AP World
curriculum requirements).
Middle Passage
o The stage of the triangular trade in which millions of Africans were shipped to the New
World as part of the Atlantic slave trade. The Middle Passage is well known for atrocious
conditions and actions that took place on the forced journey to the Americas.
Peninsulares
o An individual originally born in Spain that resided in the New World or Spanish America.
Reformation
o A movement that led to a split in Christianity and the formation of various Protestant
groups (Lutherans, Calvinists, Anglicans, Anabaptists, Methodists, Presbyterians,
Anglicans, etc.). The movement was started to reform perceived abuses and
immoralities in the Catholic Church.
Repartimiento
o A forced labor system imposed upon the indigenous populations of Spanish controlled
territories. In the system, an individual was required to give a certain amount of labor in
a year. This was also known as the mita system for mines in South America.
Scientific Revolution
o The emergence of modern science and scientific thought during the early modern
period. Ideas developed such as the heliocentric theory, calculus, the theory of gravity,
etc.
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Sikhism
o An Indian religion founded in the late 15th century. The main beliefs include faith in one
God (who is the same for all of humankind regardless of one’s religion), equality of all
(which includes gender equality), selflessness, and honest conduct. Sikhism is viewed as
a key example of a syncretic belief system (blending together Hinduism and Islam)
during the early modern period by the AP World course (Sikhs view their religion as
distinctive and not as a syncretic system though).
Social contract theory
o A political theory that the people enter into a “contract’ with their rulers, defining rights
and duties.
Syncretism
o The unification or blending of opposing people, ideas, or practices, frequently in the
realm of religion.
Triangular trade
o A system of trade between Europe, West Africa, and the Americas during the 18th and
19th centuries. This involved the trade of items such as sugar, rum, manufactured goods,
and slaves. Raw materials would be produced in colonies and shipped to the mother
country in Europe (usually Britain) and produced into manufactured goods. These goods
would then be shipped to Africa and exchanged for slaves. Slaves would be shipped to
the Americas and used to produce raw materials.
Viceroys
o A ruler exercising authority in a colony on behalf of a monarch. Viceroys were
commonly seen in the various Spanish colonies.
Vodun (voodoo)
o Another example of a syncretic belief system. A religious belief system combining
elements of Roman Catholicism with traditional African cultural and religious beliefs.
Westernization
o A process by which societies come under or adopt Western European culture, economic
practices, political practices, and traditions.