The Global Tapestry Study Guide Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering premodern civilizations in Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas based on 'The Global Tapestry' study guide.

Song Dynasty

The dynasty (960–1279) that ruled large parts of ancient Chinese civilization, established long-lasting patterns of Chinese life, and was regarded as a golden age of arts and literature.

Censorate

A major agency in Song Dynasty China created for surveillance over the government.

Hangzhou

The capital city of Song Dynasty China, home to over a million people, which helped make China the most urbanized region in the world.

Foot Binding

A patriarchal practice in Song Dynasty China that began in the tenth or eleventh century C.E., associated with images of female beauty and eroticism, which kept women restricted to the house.

Hangul

A phonetic alphabet developed by Korea in the 1400s.

Chu Nom

A variation of Chinese writing ("southern script") developed in Vietnam.

Samurai

The military forces developed by local authorities in Japan's decentralized political system.

Bushido

The distinctive set of values followed by the samurai in Japan.

Shinto

The native belief system of Japan based on the way of the kami (sacred spirits).

Seljuk Turkic Empire

An eleventh- and twelfth-century empire led by Turkic-speaking sultans who claimed the title "caliph" and served as major sustainers and expanders of Islam.

Sultanate of Delhi

A Muslim regime in India founded in 1206 that systematically established Muslim rule across parts of the region.

Vijayanagar Empire

A Hindu state (1336–1646) that controlled much of southern India and maintained sustained, peaceful encounters with Muslims.

al-Andalus

A prosperous Islamic region in Spain in the far west of the Islamic world, known for high levels of interaction among Muslims, Christians, and Jews.

Caesaropapism

A political-religious system in the Byzantine Empire where the Eastern Orthodox Church was closely tied to the state, and the emperor served as head of both state and church.

Kievan Rus

A modest ninth-century Eastern European state with a stratified society that adopted Eastern Orthodox Christianity following the conversion of Prince Vladimir in 988.

Feudalism

A highly fragmented and decentralized society that emerged in Western Europe, featuring great local variation and military power exercised by landowning elites.

Manorialism

A system in Western Europe in which a landowning warrior elite exercised power over their estates and local labor forces.

Serfdom

A social status that displaced slavery in Western Europe, where peasant laborers were bound in service to the lord of the manor.

Indulgence

A papal authorization offered to Crusaders that granted release from penalties for confessed sins.

Natural Philosophy

The scientific study of nature that developed in Western Europe as scholars applied human reason to law, medicine, and the physical world.

Triple Alliance (1428)

An alliance formed in 1428 between the Mexica and two other city-states that launched a program of military conquest to build the Aztec Empire.

Tenochtitlán

The capital city of the Aztec Empire, built on an island in Lake Texcoco by the Mexica, housing 150,000 to 200,000 people.

Tlacaelel

An Aztec official (1398–1480) credited with crystallizing the ideology of the state and placing prominent importance on human sacrifice.

Quipus

Knotted cords used by the Inca state to record population data.

Mita

Mandatory labor service required by the Inca state for tasks such as state farming, herding, mining, military service, and construction.

Gender Parallelism

A social system practiced in both the Inca and Aztec civilizations where women and men operated in separate but equivalent spheres.