Studied by 15 people
magnetic compass
Definition: Chinese invention that aided navigation by showing which direction was north
Significance: In the Song Dynasty and more, allowed for safer and more efficient travel. Increasing amount of trade.
junk
Definition: A very large flatbottom sailing ship produced in the Tang and Song Empires, specially designed for long-distance commercial travel.
Significance: First ships to have rudders, allowing them to be steered easily. They were also bigger than any other ships at the time. this allowed for increased trade along Indian Ocean trade.
Mongol Empire
Definition: Largest land empire in the history of the world, spanning from Eastern Europe across Asia. Originated from a group of nomads being united under Genghis Khan.
Significance:
-unified many parts of Eurasia.
-destroyed a lot of surrounding nations.
-increased trade and trade importance
-religious diffusion / decline
caravanserai
Definition: inn or rest station for caravans where merchants and travlers could store their goods.
Significance: led to the spread of ideas / culture as people from many different places would interact. Also increased trade because there was a stronger sense of safety for the people traveling along the Silk Road.
money economy
Definition: economic system in which goods or services are paid for through the exchange of a token (coins, cash, etc) of an agreed value.
Significance: set the foundations of the current financial system of the world. Encouraged the exchange of goods over large distances.
banking houses
Definition: These European banks developed during the Middle Ages to aid trade. Along with innovations such as bills of exchange, bank drafts, and credit, the rise of banking houses supported the development of interregional trade in luxury goods.
Significance: encouraged trade in farther places and the exchange of luxury goods.
bill of exchange
Definition: used in trade, stated that a certain amount of money must be paid to a specified person / entity at a specific time.
Significance: facilitated the exchange of goods and services in different countries, led to a money economy and the financial system we have today.
Hanseatic League
Definition: an organization of north German and Scandinavian cities for the purpose of establishing a commercial alliance.
Significance: it controlled much trade in the Baltic Sea and protected towns and cities in the league with an army. The league dominated commercial activity in northern Europe from the 13th to the 15th century.
Mongols
Definition: Nomadic people and pastoralists from Central Asia when united ended up creating the largest single land empire in history.
Significance: spread ideas, technologies, and cultural practices through trade and conquest.
Genghis Khan
Definition: A Mongolian general and emperor of the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, known for his military leadership and great cruelty. He conquered vast portions of northern China and southwestern Asia.
Significance: He created one of the largest empires to exist and continued to launch successful military campaigns that spread the Mongol empire's ideas, technologies, and religions.
Khanates
Definition: the territory that Khans (similar to kings) governed
Significance: provided social structure, leaders gained power based on the support and loyalty of their warrior subjects gaining tribute from subordinates.
Pax Mongolica
Definition: The period of approximately 150 years of relative peace and stability created by the Mongol Empire.
Significance: opened up trade between China and Europe. -- many other things like culture, technology, and trade flourished at this time.
Golden Horde
Definition: Mongol and Turk Khanate established in the 13th century, northeastern part of the Mongol Empire.
Significance: conquered Russia and much of Central Asia and parts of Eastern Europe -- played a role in the expansion of Islam.
Il-khanate
Definition: Mongol empire that ruled over Iran (Persia) & the Middle East (southwestern sector of Mongol Empire)
Significance: The Ilkhanate and Yuan dynasties communicate. Eased trade and commerce across Asia.
Kublai Khan
Definition: Grandson of Genghis Khan and founder of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty in China.
Significance: inherited Genghis' land and conquered and unified the rest of China, creating the Yuan Dynasty.
Yuan Dynasty
Definition: The dynasty with Mongol rule in China; centralized with bureaucracy but structure is different: Mongols on top->Persian bureaucrats->Chinese bureaucrats.
Significance: Chinese culture reinvigorated Buddhism and Daoism, painting increased and was used as self-expression; became calligraphic.
Ming Dynasty
Definition: Succeeded Mongol Yuan dynasty in China in 1368; lasted until 1644.
Significance:
-trade expansion, established cultural ties with the west.
-culture spread, drama, literature, and porcelain.
-time of economic and cultural expansion, the population doubled.
bubonic plague
Definition: highly fatal disease brought to Europe from the Mongols during the Middle Ages transmitted by rats and fleas.
Significance: killed 1/3 of the population. caused a slump in trade and the reduction of cultivated land as many laborers died.
-social instability - peasant revolts.
-drop in population, widespread chaos.
Malacca
Definition: Port city in the modern Southeast Asian country of Malaysia, founded about 1400 as a trading center on the Strait of Malacca. Also spelled Melaka.
Significance: greatly contributed to spreading Islam throughout the region. People would stop at the city when passing through for trade -- became wealthy by building a navy and imposing fees on ships that passed through the Strait of Malacca.
Swahili city-states
Definition: Several city states that actively participated in the Indian Ocean trade along the East coast of the African continent.
Significance: was a site of cultural and commercial exchange between Africa, Asia, and Europe.
-spread Islam.
-participated in Indian Ocean Trade; traded enslaved people, ivory, and gold.
monsoon winds
Definition: alternating wind currents that blew east in the Indian Ocean during summer and west in the winter.
Significance: were essential knowledge for trade. winds that came in from the northeast in the winter, and southwest in the spring and summer.
-merchants timed their voyages carefully, and often ended up remaining in port cities for months at a time.
lateen sails
Definition: A triangular sail attached to a short mast.
Significance: Increased maneurvability and made ocean sailing easier; increasing Indian Ocean Trade.
Indian Ocean slave trade
Definition: long-running slave trade in eastern part of continent. slaves were forced to do labor in seaports, households, as sailors, and as soldiers.
Significance: Increased slavery, brought and popularized slaves in America, leading to all the human rights problems, wars, and segregation in the future.
-African words, musical styles, and customs found in Oman, India, etc as a result.
diaspora
Definition: A dispersion of people from their homeland.
Significance: Settlers introduce own cultural traditions into indigenous cultures, arising through trade around the world. Many merchants stayed in port cities because of marriage -- spread of Islam in South Asia as a result of intermarriage.
Zheng He
Definition: Chinese naval explorer who sailed along most of the coast of Asia, Japan, and halfway down the east coast of Africa before his death.
Significance: commanded the largest and most advanced fleet of ships at the time, displaying China's power, culture, and bringing foreign treasures back.
Mali
Definition: The kingdom in West Africa that followed the Kingdom of Ghana.
Significance: known for its wealth and is also based on trans-Saharan trade; this kingdom encouraged the spread of Islam.
Mansa Musa
Definition: Ruler of the Mali Empire was said to be the richest person to ever be in the world.
Significance: developed cities important to trade. turned the kingdom of Mali into a center of learning in the Islamic world.
-made pilgrimage to Mecca, spread news about the Mali Empire to the world.
Timbuktu
Definition: Mali trading city that became a center of wealth and learning in West Africa.
Significance: was a center of Islamic scholarship, spread Islam throughout Africa.
-an important post on the Trans-Saharan trade route, hosted gold and salt trade.
Mecca
Definition: the holiest city of Islam located in modern-day Saudi Arabia.
Significance: Muhammad's birthplace and the city Islam is based off of.
trans-Saharan trade
Definition: route across the Sahara desert in Africa.
Significance: Major trade route that traded for gold and salt, created caravan routes, economic benefit for controlling dessert, camels played a huge role in the trading
Black Death
Definition: the epidemic form of bubonic plague experienced during the Middle Ages when it killed nearly half the people of western Europe
Significance: One of the reasons feudalism ended, was because the population decreased so drastically. There was a shortage of laborers.
camel saddle
Definition: An invention that gives camel riders more stability on the animal and its invention and carries heavier loads.
Significance: increased and improved trade. More comfortable and camels could carry heavier loads, more supplies, and equipment in the Trans-Saharan trade.
Ibn Battua
Definition: a Muslim Moroccan scholar, and explorer who widely traveled the medieval world.
Significance: wrote one of the world's most famous travel logs, the Rihlah. It detailed many social, cultural, and political aspects of much of the Islamic world during the 14th century.
Constantinople
Definition: A large and wealthy city that was the imperial capital of the Byzantine Empire and later the Ottoman Empire, now known as Istanbul
Significance: spread Christianity and was the center of trade and culture for the Byzantine Empire. It was incredibly diverse, many different types of people gathered there = lots of ideas being shared.
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