Review Notes - Kaplan AP World History: Period 1 Notes (1200-1450)

Astrolabe

Introduced to the Islamic world in the 700s, where it was perfected by mathematicians; used by astronomers and navigators to determine latitude through inclination.

Mongol Conquests

The _____ led to a massive death toll from Korea to Russia to the Middle East, weakening many regions for centuries to come as European powers expanded outward.

Chinampa

A form of Mesoamerican agriculture in which farmers cultivated crops in rectangular plots of land on lake beds; hosted corns, beans, chilis, squash, tomatoes, and more; provided up to seven harvests per year.

Christianity

____ and the Catholic Church served as unifying forces in Europe.

political upheaval

War, disease, and famine caused massive social and _____ throughout Eurasia.

Ibn Battuta

Islamic traveler who, in the fourteenth century, visited the kingdom of Mansa Musa in the Mali Empire; his writings stimulated an interest in African trade.

Ottomans

Group of Anatolian Turks who, in their dedication to Islam, attacked the weakening Byzantine Empire and captured Constantinople in 1453; expanded to create an empire in the Middle East and Southeast Europe; collapsed after World War I.

Sunni

One of the two main branches of Islam; commonly described as orthodox and differs from Shia in its understanding of the Sunnah and in its acceptance of the first three caliphs; is by far the most common branch of Islam worldwide.

Champa rice

Introduced to China from Vietnam; allowed the Chinese to have two harvests per year, dramatically improving output; combined with an improved infrastructure, led to a significant growth of the Chinese population.

Marco Polo

Venetian merchant who spent over 20 years traveling the Silk Road through the Mongol Empire, where he actually served on the court of its ruler, Kublai Khan; his efforts stimulated interest in trade with China.

Shia

One of the two main branches of Islam; rejects the first three Sunni caliphs and regards Ali, the fourth caliph, as Muhammads first true successor; most commonly found in Iran, but otherwise constitutes 10 to 15 percent of Muslims worldwide.

Melaka

Located in modern-day Malaysia; port city that became a waystation for sea traders from China and India in the fourteenth century.

Al-Andalus

Islamic state located in modern-day Spain; led by the Berbers; renowned for its achievements in science, mathematics, and trade.

Feudalism

Political and economic system that developed as a result of the decentralization and collapse of the Western Roman Empire; lords, usually noblemen, protected vassals in exchange for mandatory labor or military service; vassals received a fief, or grant of land.

Renaissance

A period of artistic and scientific self-discovery and relearning of Classical wisdom, particularly from the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries; stimulated by the Crusades and soldiers exposure to Muslim advances in math, science, and the arts; also led to questioning of the nature of religion and natural phenomena.

Mansa Musa

Ruling from 1312 to 1337, he was the most famous of the Mali emperors; capital city, Timbuktu, was a center of trade, culture, and education; most famous for going on pilgrimage to Mecca (a practice that few Muslims in his time actually did) carrying a large caravan with satchels of gold, which he used to fund schools and mosques across North Africa.

Neo-Confucianism

Popular during the Tang Dynasty; fused elements of Buddhism and Confucianism.

Crusades

Holy wars launched by Pope Urban II in 1095 that called for Christians to reclaim the Holy Land of Israel from Muslims; its four campaigns, lasting over 100 years, were unsuccessful; stimulated European- Muslim trade and reintroduced Europeans to wisdom that had been last taught during the Classical period.

Mit’a

A mandatory public service system in the Inca Empire requiring all people below the age of 50 to serve for two months out of the year; not to be confused with the mita, a forced labor system practiced by conquistadors in the former Inca Empire.

Islam

created a new cultural world known as Dar al- Islam, which transcended political and linguistic boundaries in Asia and Africa.

Grand Canal

Worlds longest canal, connecting the fertile Huang He River to the highly populated cities in the north; allowed grain to be shipped easily.

Catholic Church

The largest of the three main branches of Christianity; centered in Rome and led by the pope; found most often in Europe, the Americas, sub- Saharan Africa, and parts of East Asia.

Bubonic plague/Black Death

Disease that spread from China to Europe through rats and decimated Europes population; ended the feudal system and led many people to question religion; also known as the Black Plague or the Black Death. Killed over a third of the European population, and the resulting labor shortfall increased the bargaining power of peasants, diminishing the system of feudalism.

Swahili City-States

Cities in East Africa (present- day Somalia, Kenya, and Tanzania) that became bustling ports due to interchanges between Bantu and Arab mariners; in an effort to facilitate trade, the Bantus created a hybrid language, Swahili, that allowed them to communicate with the Arabs (a language that is still spoken by over 80 million East Africans)