CHAPTER 16

Empires and Other Political Systems

IN THIS CHAPTER

Summary: About 1450, a major global transition took place with the withdrawal of the Chinese from
global interactions and the rise of European dominance. The Byzantine Empire fell to the power of
the Ottoman Turks, an empire that by 1750 was in decline. Russia emerged from Mongol control to
forge an empire under the rule of the Romanovs. New patterns of world interactions formed as
societies of the Eastern and Western hemispheres exchanged cultural traditions across the Atlantic
Ocean.

Key Terms

An asterisk ( *) denotes items listed in the glossary .

absolute monarchy
boyars
Cossacks
criollos (creoles)
devshirme
divine right
Dutch learning
encomienda
Enlightenment
Estates-General
Glorious Revolution
Hagia Sophia
Janissaries
Jesuits
Manchus