Ottomans
This city became the Ottoman capital in 1453 after its capture, marking the end of the Byzantine Empire.
Istanbul
This Mughal emperor is best known for promoting religious tolerance, abolishing the jizya tax, and incorporating Hindus into his administration.
Akbar
This group of semi-autonomous frontier warriors helped expand Russian territory eastward and southward.
Cossacks
This cultural movement began in Italy around 1400 and emphasized humanism, classical learning, and individual achievement.
Renaissance
This Chinese dynasty expelled the Mongols, restored Confucian civil service exams, and sponsored major maritime voyages in the early 1400s.
Ming Dynasty
This elite Ottoman infantry force was originally recruited through the devshirme system and trained to serve the sultan directly.
Janissaries
Built by Shah Jahan, this architectural masterpiece symbolized Mughal wealth, centralized power, and Islamic-influenced imperial culture.
Taj Mahal
This Russian ruler attempted to modernize Russia by adopting Western military technology, reorganizing the government, and founding St. Petersburg.
Peter the Great
This form of government, practiced by rulers such as Louis XIV of France, concentrated political power in the hands of a single monarch.
Absolutism
This Southeast Asian maritime empire controlled key choke points of Indian Ocean trade rather than large inland territories.
Srivijaya
This Ottoman ruler, known as “the Lawgiver” in the empire and “the Magnificent” in Europe, presided over the empire at its height in the 16th century.
Suleiman the Magnificent
This Mughal ruler founded the empire in 1526 after defeating the Delhi Sultanate at the Battle of Panipat.
Babur
This Russian ruler ruled briefly in 1762, admired Prussia, withdrew Russia from the Seven Years’ War, and was overthrown by his own wife.
Peter III
This Italian city-state is often considered the birthplace of the Renaissance due to its wealth and patronage of the arts.
Florence
This West African empire replaced Mali as the dominant regional power in the 1400s by controlling key cities like Timbuktu and Gao.
Songhai
This administrative and legal system allowed the Ottomans to rule a religiously diverse empire by granting limited autonomy to non-Muslim communities.
Millet system
This Safavid ruler strengthened central authority by reducing the power of tribal leaders and expanding gunpowder-based military forces.
Shah Abbas I
This ruler of Moscow helped end Mongol influence over Russia after a standoff with the Golden Horde in 1480.
Ivan III
This political thinker wrote The Prince, arguing that rulers should prioritize stability and power over morality if necessary.
Niccolò Machiavelli
Unlike most regions in Afro-Eurasia during this period, societies in this Pacific island chain developed highly stratified chiefdoms without written law codes or metallurgy.
Hawaii
This title referred to the Ottoman sultan’s claim as political and religious leader of the Muslim world after the conquest of the Mamluk Empire in 1517.
Caliph
This ruler established the Safavid Empire in 1501 and declared Twelver Shi’a Islam the state religion.
Shah Ismail
This Enlightenment thinker corresponded extensively with Catherine the Great, praising her rule while remaining physically distant from Russia and its system of serfdom.
Voltaire
This 1648 agreement ended the Thirty Years’ War and reinforced the idea of state sovereignty in Europe.
Peace of Westphalia
This 1260 battle halted Mongol expansion into the eastern Mediterranean.
Battle of Ain Jalut