AP World History: Unit 2.2 Academic Vocabulary - The Mongol Empire

Vocabulary flashcards covering the key political terms, leaders, territories, technologies, and cultural impacts of the Mongol Empire as described in AP World History 2.2 notes.

Mongols

A group from Central Asia who marched across Eurasia during the 13th century, leaving destruction in their wake while sparking a period of interregional connection and exchange.

Khan

The Mongol word for king.

Kuriltai

A meeting between Mongol chieftains.

Genghis Khan

The Mongol leader originally named Temujin (born 1162), elected 'ruler of all' at a kuriltai, who was intensely focused on building power and brutally killed anyone who resisted him.

Khanates

The Mongol word for kingdoms.

Pax Mongolica

The period of Mongolian peace throughout Eurasian history during the 13th and 14th centuries.

Batu

The son of Khan's oldest son who led a 100,000-soldier army into Russia in 1236, conquering small Russian kingdoms and looting and destroying Kiev in 1240.

Golden Horde

The army led by Batu into Russia that forced Russian kingdoms and city-states to pay tributes.

Moscow

A Russian city-state whose rulers began collecting additional tribute to set aside to build an army to resist the Mongols.

Hulegu

Grandson of Genghis Khan who led southwest conquests into Abbasid territories, destroyed Baghdad in 1258, and established the Il-khanate before being defeated in 1260 by Mamluks and Crusaders.

Il-khanate

Hulegu's kingdom in Central Asia stretching from Byzantium to the Oxus River (Amu Darya), which employed Persians as ministers and local officials for maximum tax collection.

Kublai Khan

Mongol leader who conquered the Song Dynasty, established the Yuan Dynasty, strengthened the Silk Road, made infrastructure improvements to the Grand Canal, and used gold-backed paper money.

Yuan Dynasty

The dynasty in China established and ruled by Kublai Khan.

Zhu Yuanzhang

A Buddhist monk from a poor peasant family who led a revolt that overthrew the Yuan Dynasty and founded the Ming Dynasty.

Ming Dynasty

The Chinese dynasty founded by Zhu Yuanzhang after the overthrow of the Yuan Dynasty.

Gobi Desert

A desert located in East Asia.

Siege weapons

Military technologies used by the Mongols during battles, such as portable towers.

Cannon

A weapon considered by some to be a Mongol invention, created by combining Chinese gunpowder, Muslim flamethrowers, and European bell casting techniques.

Uyghur alphabet

A writing system adapted by a scribe in 1204 under Genghis Khan's orders to represent the Mongol language, which is still used in Mongolia today.

White Lotus Society

A secret Chinese society formed in 1350 that quietly organized to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty.

Bubonic plague

A disease (also termed Black Death) carried by fleas that was transmitted along trade routes and military paths during Mongol conquests from southern China across Asia and Europe.