Unit 2

ch 7&11

Silk Roads

Silk Roads

Land-based trade routes that linked Eurasia. Named after its characteristic product, silk from China. "Relay trade." Supplied mostly luxury goods.

Black Death

The major disease that spread across Asia, North Africa, and Europe in the mid-fourteenth century through the Silk Roads. Killed off around 1/2 of people in Europe and 1/3 of people in the Middle East.

Sea Roads

The world's largest sea based system before 1500. Took place on the Indian Ocean and was made possible by the push from the predictable monsoons. Sea roads were not only limited to luxury goods like the silk roads, and could carry more bulk.

Srivijaya

A Malay kingdom that dominated the Straits of Malacca in the Indian Ocean. Centers of commerce in the Sea Roads.

Angkor Wat

A temple complex built in the Khmer Empire and dedicated to the Hindu God, Vishnu. shows how trade led to the spread of religion in Eurasia

Swahili civilization

A collection of city-states on the East African coast. Acted as intermediaries between the Sea Roads and the interior of Sub-Saharan Africa, which supplied gold.

Great Zimbabwe

A powerful state in the African interior that emerged from the growing trade in gold to the East African coast; flourished between 1250 and 1350 C.E.

Spice Islands

Modern day Malaysia and Indonesia, known for its spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom

Zheng He

A Chinese eunuch and Muslim, went on a series of state voyages that took his gigantic ships through the Indian Ocean, from Southeast Asia to Africa.

flying cash

a paper currency of the Tang dynasty in China and can be considered the first banknote

Sand Roads

A term used to describe the routes of the trans-Saharan trade in Africa.

Caravanserai

inn or rest station for caravans

Arabian Camel

An important way of transportation on the Sand and Silk roads for thousands of years, as camels go go long times/distances without water.

Ghana, Mali, Songhay

states that developed in western and central Sudan in the in response to the trans-Saharan trade (especially control of gold production). Mali's city of Timbuktu was a center of Islam.

American Commerce Network

A loosely interactive web stretching from the North American Great Lakes and upper Mississippi south to the Andes. Environmental obstacles and the absence of domesticated animals made it hard for this route to expand very far.

Pochteca

Professional Aztec merchants. Worked independently or for the state.

Ghengis Khan

The leader of the Mongols, the largest contiguous empire in human history. Led their conquest and is renowned for his ruthlessness. (aka Chinggis Khan)

Khanates

Four regional Mongol kingdoms that arose following the death of Chinggis Khan. Each was led by a different one of his grandsons.

Beijing

the capital of the Mongolian Empire after Karakorum. At the time was named Zhongdu.

Kublai Khan

Mongolian emperor of China's Yuan dynasty and grandson of Genghis Khan who completed his grandfather's conquest of China

Marco Polo

Venetian merchant and traveler. Interacted much with Kublai Khan, and his accounts of his travels to China offered Europeans a firsthand view of Asian lands and stimulated interest in Asian trade.

Pax Mongolia

"Mongol Peace." A time when global trade expanded due to the political stability provided by mongol rulers.

Yuan Dynasty

(1279-1368) Dynasty in China set up by the Mongols under the leadership of Kublai Khan, replaced the Song and eventually ended by the White Lotus' revolt.

Golden Horde

aka the Kipchak Khanate. The Mongols in Russia/Kievan Rus, who exploited the people for wealth yet did not live among them.

Khan

Title given to Mongol leaders, meaning "supreme ruler"

White Lotus Society

Secret Buddhist society created in the 1350's dedicated to overthrowing the Yuan dynasty in China. Succeeded in 1368, while being led by Zhu Yuanzhang, who created the Ming dynasty.

Bubonic Plague

the Black Death; spread throughout Eurasia via the Silk Roads during the time of Mongol rule and killed about 1/2 of people in Western Europe and about 1/3 of people in the Middle East. Led to the collapse of the Mongol Empire.

Ming Dynasty

Succeeded Mongol Yuan dynasty in China in 1368 after the White Lotus overthrew the Mongols. Established by Zhu Yuanzhang.