AQA GCSE History key terms

Non-religious: for example, secular courts exercised ordinary legal authority rather than Church authority.

The separation of people according to race, for example in schools or public facilities.

The right of a people to decide their own political future, including who governs them.

The belief that believers should leave the established Church and form independent congregations rather than try to reform it from within.

Protestants who believed the Church of England could not be sufficiently reformed and wanted independent congregations outside it.

An Indian soldier serving in an army organised by a European power, including the East India Company.

The establishment of a community in a place where people intend to live.

A unit of ownership in a company which can be bought and sold on a stock market.

A farmer who works land owned by someone else and pays the landowner with a share of the crop.

A farming arrangement in which a tenant works another person's land and gives the landowner an agreed share of the harvest.

A body of Islamic religious law. The Taliban enforced a particularly restrictive interpretation; its policies should not be treated as representing all Muslims.

The king’s local representative in a shire, responsible for duties including collecting taxes and maintaining law and order; the office developed from the Anglo-Saxon shire-reeve.

Followers of one of the two main branches of Islam. Shia Muslims formed the majority of Iraq’s population but were excluded from power under Saddam.

A defensive formation in which soldiers stand close together with overlapping shields, creating a barrier against enemy attacks.

A tax traditionally raised from coastal areas for naval defence, which Charles I extended inland during peacetime without parliamentary approval.

A large warship carrying many heavy guns, built to fight in the main battle line during naval battles.

A public trial with a predetermined outcome, used to portray the accused as guilty and justify the regime’s actions.

An attempt to force a defended place to surrender by surrounding it and cutting off supplies.

A country that has signed an agreement or treaty.

The historical importance of an individual, event or development, judged through its effects and lasting influence.

Nixon’s term for Americans who did not join public protests and whom he appealed to for support for his Vietnam policy.

The buying or selling of positions in the Church.

Relations between China and the United States of America.

The growing division between Communist China and the Soviet Union, which became an armed border conflict in 1969.

A protest in which people occupy a place, such as a segregated lunch counter, and remain there peacefully.

Moving healthy skin from one part of the body to cover a damaged area elsewhere.

A system in which people are treated as property, deprived of freedom and forced to work for others.