Unit 1: The Global Tapestry (1200-1450)

Practice flashcards covering key vocabulary, empires, and technologies of the Global Tapestry period ($$1200-1450$$).

Mandate of Heaven

The Chinese belief that the Emperor is the "son of heaven" and holds the right to rule as long as they are just, a concept used to justify the dynastic cycle.

Civil Service Examination

A series of exams based on Chinese classics like The Analects by Confucius used to select candidates for the state bureaucracy, creating a meritocracy.

Scholar Gentry

A Chinese social class of landowning civil servants who passed civil service exams and functioned as the bureaucracy.

Grand Canal

A massive engineering project connecting the Yellow River in the north to the Yangtze River in the south, facilitating the transport of rice and internal trade.

Neo-Confucianism

A revival of Confucian thinking during the Song Dynasty that emphasized filial piety and social hierarchy while incorporating elements of Buddhism and Taoism.

Champa Rice

A fast-ripening, drought-resistant grain from Vietnam that could be harvested $2-3$ times a year, leading to a population explosion in China.

Tributary System

A set of practices where neighboring states acknowledged Chinese superiority by sending goods or money (kowtow rituals) to gain access to Chinese markets.

Dar al-Islam

Literally meaning "house of Islam," it refers to the regions of the world where Islam is the dominant faith and political system.

Abbasid Caliphate

An Islamic empire ($750-1258$) that moved the capital to Baghdad and oversaw a "Golden Age" of trade, technology, and learning.

House of Wisdom

An academic center and library established in Baghdad where scholars of various backgrounds translated Greek, Latin, and Persian texts into Arabic.

Jizya

A per capita tax levied on non-Muslim subjects (known as "People of the Book") within Islamic states, which exempts them from military service.

Delhi Sultanate

A Turkic Islamic empire in northern India ($1206-1526$) that resisted Mongol expansion and saw the rise of syncretic movements like Sikhism.

Sufis

Muslim mystics who focused on introspection rather than scripture and played a key role in spreading Islam into Asia and Africa through their adaptability.

Bhakti Movement

A popular Hindu movement that emphasized a strong emotional attachment to a specific deity and challenged the rigid caste system by being inclusive of women and lower classes.

Khmer Empire

A powerful state in modern-day Cambodia known for its capital at Angkor Wat and its transition from Hinduism to Buddhism.

Srivijaya Empire

A Hindu maritime empire based on Sumatra that dominated the Strait of Malacca and grew wealthy by taxing trade routes between China and India.

Cahokia

The largest and most significant city of the Mississippian culture, located in modern-day Illinois, famous for its monumental earthen mounds.

Chinampas

Artificial islands or "floating gardens" built by the Aztecs in Lake Texcoco to increase agricultural surface area for food production.

Mit'a System

A mandatory public service labor tax in the Inca Empire where citizens ($15-50$ years old) contributed to construction, farming, and mining projects.

Quipu

A system of knotted strings used by the Inca for numerical record-keeping and data storage for taxes, engineering, and population counts.

Trans-Saharan Trade

A major trade network across the Sahara Desert that relied on camel caravans and the exchange of North African salt for West African gold.

Mansa Musa

A famous ruler of the Mali Empire whose hajj to Mecca showcased his immense wealth in gold and turned Timbuktu into a center of Islamic scholarship.

Griots

West African storytellers and oral historians who preserved family lineages and community deeds and often served as advisors to kings.

Feudalism

A decentralized social and political system in Medieval Europe based on a hierarchy of land grants (fiefs) in exchange for military service and loyalty.

Manorial System

An economic system based on self-sufficient estates where serfs worked the land for a lord in exchange for protection and housing.

Great Schism

The formal break in $1054$ between the Roman Catholic Church in the West and the Eastern Orthodox Church in the East.

Hundred Years' War

A long conflict ($1337-1453$) between England and France over land that led to the rise of nationalism and the decline of feudalism.

Investiture Controversy

An $11\text{th}-12\text{th}$ century dispute between the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor over who had the authority to appoint church officials.