APWH Unit 1 - Section 5 & 6

West African Kingdoms

- include Ghana, Mali, and Songhai
- connected to Trans-Saharan trading networks that traveled across Africa
- abundant in gold and exchanged this for iodine-rich salt

Timbuktu

- remote town in West African Kingdom of Mali
- expanded due to connections with Islamic traders in North Africa that were connected to Mediterranean world

The Rus (Russians)

- Slavic people of the Kievan Rus
- Culturally shaped by the adoption of Orthodox Christianity, which was by Prince Vladimir in 988 (led them to have allies in the Byzantine Empire but put them against the growing Islamic presence along the southern borders of Eurasia)
- Novgorod was one of their key trading posts
- Traded with the Vikings and brought riches and technology to cities like Kiev and Novgorod

Prince Vladimir

- led the Rus
- adopted Orthodox Christianity for them in 988

Kiev

- political and spiritual capital for the Rus before Moscow rose
- utilized tech and riches brought by Rus from trade with Vikings

Monetization

- The adoption of a standard that allows for smooth commerce
- Took the place of less professional bartering/negotiating
- The currency was usually some type of gold

Hanseatic League

- Trade organization that fostered commercial trade and the use of standardized currency
- Connected the major cities of Northern Europe along the North and Baltic Seas

sinification

- Transmission of Chinese culture to other parts of Asia
- Started in the 7th century in Japan when China’s cultural and political ideas influenced those of Japan
- Introduced the Chinese language into their empire, absorbed the bureaucratic government ideas of China
- Many reforms were initiated that were inspired by the movements in China that pushed for an Imperial leader
- Confucianism was incorporated into Japan’s culture

Taika Era

- began in 645
- the time of China's sinification of japan

Bantu civilization

- Originated from the Congo
- migrated southward in 1000 BCE which allowed new agricultural tech, culture, and social norms to travel into the rural areas of Africa
- New empires were formed as they traveled to the more untouched areas of Africa
- expansion led to agricultural advancements that helped cultivate crops and shifts in social and cultural life due to the mix of different cultures (later led to wars, resulted in shifted language and religion dynamics)
- Bantu language + Arabic from East African trading ports were the originations of Swahili
- Weaponry, crops, and political systems came about in the indigenous cultures after interaction with the Bantu
- Many cultural exchanges occurred because of the Bantu migrations

Eastern Roman Empire

- Created when the earlier Roman Empire split in two after existing for about 1200 years
- Became too big to be controlled as it grew, fell in 1453 to the Ottoman Turks
- Stronger power base than Western Rome due to the strategic location of its capital, Constantinople
- Protected by the Theodosian walls and survived as the greatest city in between Europe and Asia

Byzantine Empire

- utilized Greek fire for waterborn fights
- Mainly a Greek-speaking empire
- Gold currency called Nomisma boosted agricultural productivity
- Christianity was a cornerstone of social and political life
- “priest-king” - emperor who overlooked religious and nonreligious matters
- Rise of Islam and Arab-Islamic seizure of Byzantine South led to the shrinking of the Empire in the 7th century (countries like Syria and Palestine fell under Islamic rule)
- 1054: mutual excommunication between the two led to two separate Chrstian churches and increased political and religious hostility between the Christian Kingdoms of Western Europe and Byzantium (these churches were the Eastern Orthodox Church in Constantinople and Roman Catholic Church led by Bishop of Rome/Pope)
- spread Orthodox Christianity to the Slavic people
- incorporated the Balkan Peninsula of Europe into the organization the Byzantine Commonwealth
- Slavic people (Russians, Bulgarians, Serbs, Macedonians) adopted the Byzantine Christianity
- in the next two centuries, Byzantium struggled as a new Islamic tribe as the Ottoman Turks continued to raid the empire’s borders
More territory was lost along with inflation, peasant revolts, and more threats from the Venetians
- 1453: the Ottomans surrounded Constantinople under Mehmed II and Byzantium fell under its last emperor, Constantine X

iconoclasm

destroying of holy icons, went against Bible and was controversial in Byzantium

Emperor Justinian

- ruler of Byzantine from 527-565 CE
- worked to boost naval forces and reclaim lands in Italian peninsula
- his laws included the Corpus Juris Civilis (earlier Roman laws) that were later updated by Byzantine rulers
- Hatched a plot to bring silk production into his own empire to avoid paying for Chinese-made silk
- Sent royal emissaries disguised a monks to China, who then smuggled silkworms back into the Byzantine empire

Constantine X

- Byzantium's last emperor
- died in the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman's

Battle of Manzikert

- 1071
- Armenian Christians of eastern Byzantium fought against Seljuks
- victory of Alp Arslan for the Seljuk but embarrassing loss for Byzantines