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Ibn Battuta

Moroccan scholar who traveled extensively in the Islamic world and is known for his first-person accounts of travels in the 14th century.

Single-Humped Camel

Transformed transportation in the Trans-Saharan trade. Camels were specially adapted to deserts and could carry cargo.

Sahel

A transitional area of Africa between the Saharan desert and tropical grasslands. It was used in the Trans-Saharan trade.

Bantu

A group of Niger-Congo languages and speakers in sub-Saharan Africa.

Oral Histories

Historical accounts passed down generations. Was especially important for societies without a literary tradition (writing system).

Griot/Griotte

Royal storytellers who also served as advisors with extensive knowledge of the past.

Lineage

Ancestral family lines that, in Africa, dictate professions, and in India, dictate castes.

Ghana

The first western Sudan empire and the first to tax goods and travelers. Diverse with both Islamic and Polytheistic cities.

Jenne-Jeno

One of the oldest and largest urban cities in Mali just outside of Ghana. A significant trading hub without a political center.

Middle Niger Valley

A complex society well-established by the 700s with urban settlements but without distinct political or agricultural centers.

Mali

Kingdom founded in West Africa that traded gold and slaves. Also exploited the Trans-Saharan Trade by taxing travellers.

Sultan

The Arabic word for "ruler" which describes the head of any Islamic state.

Sundiata

The founder of the Mali empire who was known for military prowess and centralized governmental power.

Ibn Khaldun

14th-century Arab historian and philosopher who laid the stones for what would later become sociology.

Mansa Musa

King of Mali who was renowned for his immense wealth which she showed on a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Trans-Saharan caravan trade network

A network of land trade that exchanged slaves and gold for cloth, pottery, and trinkets from the Mediterranean.

Caravanserai

Rest stops for traders on the Saharan Desert.

Timbuktu

A trade center on the Niger River.

Matrilineal

An adjective describing societies that trade lineage through the mother's ancestry.

Mamluk Empire

A dynasty founded by Mamluk military slaves in Cairo that reestablished the caliphate.

Mamluk

Non-Muslims turned slaves who were bought as children and then converted to Islam. They did not interact with Arabs and so kept their cultural identities, but once a soldier converted, his children would be born Muslims and he would be freed, so their children were ineligible to become mamluks. Also, they did no manual labor and could rise to high military ranks.

Cairo

The capital of Egypt on the Nile River as a center of trade, especially during the Islamic golden age.

Qadi

A Muslim jurist who made decisions based on Sharia.

Sharia

Islamic law; rules that Muslims are meant to follow laid out by the Quran, the hadith, and more.

Fatwa

Legal rulings made by qadis following sharia. Essentially, court rulings.

Battle of Ain Jalut

The battle between the Mamluks and the Mongols that ended in Mamluk victory and set the southern Mongolian border.

Madrasas

Colleges in Cairo that taught the Islamic faith.

Sufi

Islamic mystics who believed they could have direct access to God without a middleman.

Indian Ocean trade network

Trade network that connected ports in East Africa, Arabia, and India through large ships.

Dhow

Main ship used in the Indian Ocean trade made from teak and coconut fiber twine. They lacked a deck but required little crew.

Swahili

A Bantu language that creolized Arabic and became an African lingua franca.

Great Zimbabwe

The largest city-state in Zimbabwe distinguished by stone enclosures. Had the largest stone structures built in sub-Saharan Africa before 1500.

Delhi Sultanate

An Islamic sultanate led by Mamluks in India.

Iqta grants

Administrative grants given to tax collectors by the caliph instead of a regular paycheck schedule.

Muhammad bin Tughluq

A Delhi sultan who was known for having fantastical ideas but executing them poorly.

Mad Sultan

He earned the title for attempting to move the capital from Delhi and introduce copper coins to replace silver.

Dhimmi

Protected peoples who practiced other religions in Islamic states by paying the jizya.

Jizya

Taxes on non-Muslims living in Islamic states in exchange for being able to practice their religion of choice.

Vijayanagar

An empire in Central India that ruled for more than two centuries.

Chinggis Khan (Temujin)

Founder and first Khan of the Mongol Empire through extensive military campaigns across Eurasia.

The Origin of Chinggis Khan

The single most significant primary source that detailed Chinggis Khan's life, and Mongol culture, and was written in their native language.

Uighur

A Central Asian script that formed the literary tradition of Mongolian.

Shamans

Mongol religious leaders who contacted deities through incense and burnt and cracked bones that read like messages.

Khan

The Mongolian word for 'ruler'.

Tanistry

A process by which the Mongols chose a new leader by defeating rivals in battle.

Khuriltai

The assembly at which the new Khan was hailed after tanistry.

Postal Relay System

A Mongol institution that included fixed routes with rest stops and became the central nervous system of the empire.

Khara Khorum

The capital of the Mongol Empire as set by Chinggis Khan.

Pax Mongolica

A period of peace and stability across the Mongol Empire.

Il-Khanate (Hulegu)

The Mongol government in Iran founded by Chinggis Khan's second son.

Qipchak Khanate (Golden Horde)

The Mongol government in the Eurasian steppe including Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan.

Principality of Muscovy

The successor to the Golden Horde in Russia.

Ivan III

Muscovy's most important leader who overthrew the Golden Horde.

Chaghatai Khanate

The Mongol government in Central Asia including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and China.

Timur the Lame (Tamerlane)

Successor to the Chaghatai khanate known for his terrifying campaigns against his enemies.

Khubilai Khan

Grandson of Chinggis Khan who ruled Mongolia and conquered South China but not Japan or Vietnam.

Mehmed the Conqueror

Leader of the Ottomans who captured Constantinople but became a patron of the arts.

Yuan Dynasty

The Mongol dynasty in China that predated the Ming dynasty.

Kamikaze

The Japanese word for 'divine wind' used to describe the powerful winds that saved the Japanese from the Mongols.

Ming Dynasty

A Han Chinese dynasty that overthrew the Mongols but continued many of their practices.

Yongle Emperor

The third Ming Emperor who sponsored Zheng He's voyages and the construction of the Forbidden City.

Zheng He's expeditions

Voyages on Chinese junk ships meant to establish the Yongle emperor's power.

Junk Ships

Chinese sailing ships with a flat bottom that were used during the Ming dynasty.

Bernardino Sahagun

A Franciscan friar who recorded the history of the Aztecs before the Spanish conquest in their native language.

Nahuatl

The Mexican language of the Aztecs used in Sahagun's book.

General History of the Things of New Spain

Written record in Nahuatl of the history of the Aztecs and the arrival of Europeans from the point of view of the conquered.

Aztec Empire

An empire in Tenochtitlan with over 4 million people ruled by the Mexica who spoke Nahuatl.

Altepetl

The Nahuatl word for 'city-states.' Each had a leader, government, palace, temple, and market.

Mexica

The word that some Nahua groups called themselves, which today, is sometimes replaced by Aztec.

Tenochtitlan

The capital of the Aztec empire which was once a swampland and was populated by 200,000 people.

Obsidian

A volcanic glass utilized by the Mexica to create weapons.

Inca Empire

An Andean empire founded through integrated conquest.

Ayllu

Andean kin groups of the Inca empire that worked the land in zones.

Sapa Inca

The Incan ruler, meaning "Unique Inca" who was descended from the Sun God.

Cuzco

The capital city of the Inca Empire in the Andes at an elevation of 11,300 ft.

Quechua

The language of the Incas.

Quipu

A system of knotted strings used to count the population. It is unreadable.

Mita system (forced labor)

Male household heads between 25-50 perform 2-3 months of labor every year.

Humanism

An intellectual movement around 1350 that emphasized the humanities like logic, grammar, philosophy, and history instead of scholasticism.

Renaissance

The period during which the humanist movement grew in Europe, meaning "rebirth."

Movable Type

A printing technique invented in China but introduced to Europe during the Renaissance.

Henry the Navigator

A Portuguese prince who sponsored explorations in the Mediterranean, Atlantic, and West African coast intending to convert as many people to Christianity as possible.

Ferdinand and Isabella

The King and Queen of Spain who funded Columbus's voyages to India, where he instead found the New World.

Iberian peninsula

A European peninsula that houses both Spain and Portugal.

Hispaniola

A Caribbean island that today houses Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Arawak

The name of a family of languages spoken around Hispaniola and the name of the speakers of said languages.

Treaty of Tordesillas

A treaty between Portugal and Spain that divided the world with all new territories to the West belonging to Spain and all to the East belonging to Portugal.

Conquistadors

A word meaning "conquerers" used to describe Spaniards who conquered Latin and Central America.

Hernan Cortes

A Spanish conquistador who overthrew the Aztec empire and won Mexico as a Spanish territory.

Malinche

A Nahua noblewoman who translated between those native to Latin America and the Spaniards while also being an advisor to Cortes.

Bernal Diaz del Castillo

A conquistador who aided Cortes and wrote the history of their conquest.

Great Speaker Moctezuma

The last ruler of the Aztec empire who was defeated by Cortes and his conquistadors.

Francisco Pizarro

A Spanish conquistador who ended the Inca empire.

Atahualpa

The last ruler of the Inca empire who was defeated by Pizarro and his conquistadors.

Encomienda System

A system in which a certain number of natives were "entrusted" to Spaniards for labor, gold, and goods in exchange for teaching them about Christianity.

Joint-stock Companies

Business ventures that were sold to multiple shareholders to spread risk and wealth equally.

Bourgeoisie

The French middle class that were educated landowners but not aristocrats.

Dutch East India Company

A joint venture in Amsterdam that monopolized all Dutch trade in Asia and also ruled Dutch colonial possessions in the East Indies.

Kongo Kingdom

A west-central African kingdom that was one of the first to aid the Atlantic Slave Trade by establishing a relationship with the Portuguese.

Ottomans

Sunni Turkic Muslims who controlled Anatolia in modern-day Turkey.