Gaining Power
This Ottoman ruler captured Constantinople in 1453 and established Istanbul as a major imperial capital
Mehmed II (Mehmed the Conqueror)
The state practice used by the Ottoman Empire to recruit Christian boys for the Janissary corps and government service.
Devshirme System
The religious movement launched by Martin Luther challenging Church abuses; he posted the 95 Theses in 1517.
The Protestant Reformation
Term for absolute rule justified by the idea that monarchs are God’s representatives on Earth.
divine right
The city captured by Mehmed II that became the Ottoman imperial capital and major trade nexus
Istanbul/ Constantinople
The Mughal ruler who promoted religious tolerance, gave Hindus government roles, and created land grant systems (zamindars).
Akbar the Great
The Mughal system of local tax collectors and land grants used to collect revenue from peasants.
Zamindar system (zamindars)
This empire made Shi’a Islam the state religion under Ismail I, creating major tensions with Ottoman Sunni neighbors.
The Safavid Dynasty
Name of the elite Ottoman infantry force, originally recruited through devshirme.
Janissary
The region that became the Safavid capital
Isfahan
A Chinese invention, created by accident by inventors looking for an elixir of immortality
gunpowder
The Russian ruler who created a secret police-like force called the oprichnina to control the nobility.
Ivan IV
The reform movement within the Catholic Church that included the Council of Trent, Jesuits, and the use of the Inquisition.
The Catholic Reformation
The Japanese system in which daimyo spent alternating years at the capital to keep them under central control.
Sankin-kotai
The Mughal city where a famous mausoleum (Taj Mahal) stands, built by Shah Jahan
Agra
The English king who split from the Catholic Church and established a national church largely to secure a male heir.
Henry VIII
A designated port for foreign trade, closely monitored by a Chinese bureaucrat
A Canton (the Canton System)
A symbol of the Ottoman take-over of Constantinople and Ottoman strength, formerly known as the Hagia Sophia
Suleimani Mosque
the buying and selling of church offices
simony
The sea route/strait controlled by Istanbul that links the Black Sea to the Aegean and is strategically important for trade
Bosporus Strait
The 14th-century conqueror from Samarkand whose campaigns set the stage for later Turkic gunpowder empires.
Tamerlane (Timur)
The Ottoman revenue method where individuals paid a fixed sum to collect taxes for a region (often incentivizing over-collection).
tax farming
The 1598 French decree that granted limited toleration to French Protestants (Huguenots).
Edict of Nantes
This agreement recognized Calvinism as a legally permissible faith
Peace of Westphalia
The area where the Qing confined most foreign trade to a single port (also called Canton)
Gurangzhou