AP World History; 2.5 Vocabulary

Black Death

A deadly disease that spread through Asia and Europe in the 14th century

Marco Polo

Venetian merchant traveler and trader; wrote about his travels in a journal which helped Europeans learn significantly more about Central Asia and China

Ibn Battuta

Arab Scholar, Merchant public official and traveler who discovered Arab Muslim societies in East Africa, Swahili Civilization

Margery Kempe

Medieval mystic and author of the first autobiography in English, The Book of Margery Kempe, earliest known autobiography in English

Swahili

Language spoken in East Africa

Urdu

Persian-influenced literary form of Hindi written in Arabic characters and used as a literary language

Improvements

Action taken to make something better like more efficient

Lateen sail

Triangular sail that allowed ships to sail against the wind, increasing maneuverability and making early oceanic sailing possible

Stern rudder

Used to steer the boat

Astrolabe

Developed by Chinese and diffused into Indian Ocean Basin by 11th century; navigational instrument for determining latitude

Magnetic compass

A tool that allowed sailors to identify their location

Hangzhou

Capital during the Song Dynasty; Great and luxurious place, had specialized markets , luxurious inns, prostitutes, and more — represented the prosperity of China during the Song Dynasty

Samarkand

City in east-central Uzbekistan that is one of the oldest cities of Central Asia

Kashgar

Located between China and the Mediterranean; supplying merchants with food and water and acted as a central place for Islamic teachings.

Constantinople

When the Ottoman Turks took the city, it symbolized the rise of Islam and the fall of the center of Christianity, making the Ottoman Empire the most powerful in all of South Eastern Europe and marking the end of the Eastern Roman Empire.