Unit 1 Global Tapestry: Power and Society in Europe, Africa, and the Americas (1200–1450)

State building

The ways societies create and maintain organized political power over a territory and population (e.g., collecting resources, keeping order, expanding influence, and justifying authority).

Tribute empire

An empire in which subordinate communities keep local rulers but must regularly deliver goods (and sometimes people) to the imperial center, often enforced by military pressure.

Mexica (Aztec) Empire

A Mesoamerican empire centered on Tenochtitlán that expanded rapidly in the 1400s using conquest, alliance-building, and extraction of tribute from subject cities.

Tenochtitlán

The Mexica capital city in the Valley of Mexico, founded in 1325; it became a major urban hub supported by tribute and imperial power.

Triple Alliance

The political-military alliance of Tenochtitlán, Texcoco, and Tlacopan that pooled strength and helped organize Mexica expansion and tribute collection.

Indirect rule

A governing strategy in which conquered regions retain local leaders and institutions as long as they remain loyal and meet obligations (such as tribute).

Tribute system (Mexica)

Regular extraction of goods from conquered/subordinate cities (e.g., textiles, maize, cacao, obsidian tools, luxury feathers), backed by the threat of force.

Tawantinsuyu (Inca Empire)

The Inca Empire in the Andes; a highly organized state that expanded through conquest and diplomacy and relied heavily on mobilizing labor and managing resources.

Mita

The Inca system of required rotating public service labor (used to build roads, farm state lands, serve in the army, and complete state projects) functioning as a form of taxation.

Inca road network

A system of roads (supported by relay messengers) that helped the Inca move information, armies, and goods across difficult Andean terrain to integrate the empire.

State storehouses (Inca redistribution)

Inca warehouses used to collect and store goods, then redistribute supplies to armies, workers, and regions facing shortages, reinforcing state authority and stability.

Legitimacy

Acceptance of authority as rightful; in these states it was strengthened through religion/sacred geography, public works, and social hierarchy, lowering the cost of ruling.

Trans-Saharan trade

Trade routes crossing the Sahara that helped build West African power, especially the exchange of gold moving north and salt (and other goods) moving south.

Mali Empire

A major West African empire (1200s–1400s) that gained wealth and strength by controlling and taxing trans-Saharan trade and using that wealth to support rule and prestige.

Islamization (trade and elite patronage)

The spread of Islam through commercial connections and ruling-class support (e.g., encouraging Islamic learning and attracting scholars), often without fully replacing local beliefs.

Syncretism

The blending of religious traditions; in many regions, Islam spread while indigenous beliefs and practices persisted and mixed rather than disappearing completely.

Swahili city-states

Independent urban trading centers along the East African coast; not a single empire, but a network of port cities where merchant elites held significant power.

Indian Ocean trade

The maritime trade system linking East Africa to the Middle East and Asia; it enriched Swahili port cities through exchange of inland African goods for imported luxuries.

Swahili culture

A coastal East African culture shaped by African foundations and extensive interaction with Arab and Persian influences; Islam became a major part of many urban identities.

Great Zimbabwe

A powerful southern African city and political center known for monumental stone architecture, supported by resources (such as cattle) and participation in regional trade.

Ethiopian Empire

A Horn of Africa monarchy that drew strong state legitimacy from Christianity and long-standing dynastic and religious institutions.

Feudalism

A decentralized political-military system in medieval Europe where landholding elites exchanged land access and protection for service and loyalty (e.g., military obligations).

Manorialism

The economic and social system of the manor (estate) in which peasants worked land controlled by a lord in return for protection and the right to farm.

Catholic Church

A major transregional institution in Western Europe that shaped religious life, education, culture, and politics through networks like parishes and monasteries, even amid fragmented states.

Black Death

A mid-1300s pandemic that sharply reduced Europe’s population, increasing labor’s value, shifting bargaining power in some places, and generating social and economic tensions.