Set 2: Dar al-Islam, Trans-Saharan Trade, South Asia

Arabs

The largest ethnic group in the Middle East

Desertification

Degradation of land, especially in semiarid areas, primarily because of human actions like excessive crop planting, animal grazing, and tree cutting.

Camel Saddle

An invention which gives camel riders more stability on the animal and its invention and basic idea traveled along the Trans-Saharan Caravan Trade Route.

Mecca

City in western Arabia; birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, and ritual center of the Islamic religion.

Mohammad

Founder of Islam

Five Pillars of Islam

Declaration of faith, prayer, alms, fasting, and pilgrimage

Hajj

Pilgrimage to Mecca

Islamic Conquests

636-732; Muslims conquered the Arabian Peninsula, established the Islamic Empire; Expanded into North Africa, Spain, & Middle East

Kaaba

The most sacred temple of Islam, located at Mecca

Jizya

Poll tax that non-Muslims had to pay when living within a Muslim empire

Women in Islam

As believers they were equal to men, however, in the social context, they are supposed to submit to their male counterparts. Economically they have more rights than other women during that time period. Slowly their rights are eroded over time.

Dar al-Islam

an Arabic term that means the "house of Islam" and that refers to lands under Islamic rule

Islamic Golden Age

period of 750 years when islam contributed greatly to med., science, philosophy, and architecture

Abbasid Caliphate

(750-1258 CE) The caliphate, after the Umayyads, who focused more on administration than conquering. Had a bureaucracy that any Muslim could be a part of.

House of Wisdom

a center of learning established in Baghdad in the 800s

Baghdad

Capital of Abbasid dynasty located in Iraq

Caliph/Caliphate

A caliph is a successor to the prophet Muhammad and leader.

A caliphate is the area which the caliph rules.

Sultan/Sultanate

"holder of power"; a title commonly used by Muslim rulers in the Ottoman Empire, Egypt, and elsewhere

Al-Khwarizmi

Muslim mathematician who pioneered the study of algebra

A'isha al-Ba'uniyyah

Islamic (Sufi) poet who recorded her own views in writing, composing perhaps the most of any Arabic woman prior to the 20th century

Ibn Khaldun

A Muslim historian; developed concept that dynasties of nomadic conquerors had a cycle of three generations - strong, weak, dissolute.

Avicenna (Ibn Sinna)

Arabian philosopher and physician

Nasir-Din al-Tusi

celebrated Islamic scholar who made advances in math and laid the groundwork for trigonometry

Ibn Battuta

Moroccan Muslim scholar, the most widely traveled individual of his time. He wrote a detailed account of his visits to Islamic lands from China to Spain and the western Sudan.

Alhambra

a palace and fortress built in Granada by the Muslims in the Middle Ages

Dome of the Rock

Muslim shrine containing the rock from which Mohammad is believed to have risen to heaven; Jews believe Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac on the rock

Sharia Law

the system of Islamic law, based on varying degrees of interpretation of the Qu'ran

Sunni-Shia Split

Muhammad left no successor/Sunni = rightly guided person/Shi'a = blood relative of Muhammad / Still split today!

Great Schism

the official split between the Roman Catholic and Byzantine churches that occurred in 1054

Turks

A member of the Turkish-speaking ethnic group in Turkey, or, formerly, in the Ottoman Empire

Mamluks

Under the Islamic system of military slavery, Turkic military slaves who formed an important part of the armed forces of the Abbasid Caliphate of the ninth and tenth centuries. Mamluks eventually founded their own state, ruling Egypt and Syria (1250-1517)

Seljuks

a Turkish group who migrated into the Abbasid Empire in the 10th century and established their own empire in the 11th century

Islamic Merchants

Explored the Indian Ocean and had dominated the Asian Spice Trade for centuries before European exploration.

Sufism/Sufis

Islamic mystics who often placed more emphasis on inspirational and emotional qualities of faith than strictly following the rules. Their devotion helped to spread Islam among many non-Arab peoples.

Asceticism

severe self-discipline and avoidance of all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons.

Jihad

A holy struggle or striving by a Muslim for a moral or spiritual or political goal

Trans-Saharan Trade

route across the sahara desert. 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

Salt trade

exchange between West Africans selling gold and Arab traders selling salt, beginning around A.D. 750

Caravanserai

an inn with a central courtyard for travelers in the desert regions of Asia or North Africa.

Syncretism

a blending of beliefs and practices from different religions into one faith

Mali

Empire created by indigenous Muslims in western Sudan of West Africa from the thirteenth to fifteenth century. It was famous for its role in the trans-Saharan gold trade.

Mansa Musa

Emperor of the kingdom of Mali in Africa. He made a famous pilgrimage to Mecca and established trade routes to the Middle East.

Timbuktu

Mali trading city that became a center of wealth and learning

Great Mosque of Djenne

Mali. Founded c. 1200 C.E.; rebuilt 1906-1907. Adobe.

Trans-Saharan Slave Trade

A fairly small-scale commerce in enslaved people that flourished especially from 1100 to 1400, exporting West African slaves across the Sahara for sale in Islamic North Africa.

Reincarnation

In Hinduism and Buddhism, the process by which a soul is reborn continuously until it achieves perfect understanding

Hinduism

A religion and philosophy developed in ancient India, characterized by a belief in reincarnation and a supreme being who takes many forms

Caste System

A Hindu social class system that controlled every aspect of daily life

Untouchables (Dalit)

in traditional Hindu society, those 'below' the caste system, and thus not members of any of the four castes

Buddhism

A religion based on the teachings of the Buddha.

Vedic Religions

Jaimism, Hinduism, Buddhism

Vedas

Ancient Sanskrit writings that are the earliest sacred texts of Hinduism.

Gurus

Originally referred to as Brahmans who served as teachers for the princes of the imperial court of the Guptas

Mahayana and Theravada

both sects of classic Buddhism. In Mahayana Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama was developed to be seen as a god, and already enlightened beings (bodhisattvas) often stayed on earth to help others become enlightened as well. In Theravada Buddhism, enlightenment was easier to achieve, and a further emphasis was put on the monks instead of bodhisattvas.

Dunhuang

Chinese city located on silk road that transmitted Mahayana Buddhism to China.

Tibetan Buddhism

a Buddhist doctrine that includes elements from India that are not Buddhist and elements of preexisting shamanism, a tradition of Buddhism that teaches that people can use special techniques to harness spiritual energy and can achieve nirvana in a single lifetime

Jerusalem

A city in the Holy Land, regarded as sacred by Christians, Muslims, and Jews.

Temple Mount

the jewish name for the hill in the center of Old Jerusalem and a hill where the Muslims built a Mosque in Old Jerusalem and also a place where the Jewish Temple once stood

Vatican

the palace in Rome in which the Pope lives; the control center of the Roman Catholic Church

Pope

Head of the Roman Catholic Church

Eastern Orthodox Christianity

A branch of Christianity that developed in the Byzantine Empire and that did not recognize the Pope as its supreme leader

Constantinople

Capital of the Byzantine Empire

Hagia Sophia

the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom in Constantinople, built by order of the Byzantine emperor Justinian

Shia Islam

minority branch of Islam; belief that only a descendant of Ali can be caliph.

Ayatollah

a religious leader among Shiite Muslims