UNIT 1 and 2 STUDY GUIDE

magnetic compass

Chinese invention that aided navigation by showing which direction was north

rudder

the hinged plate at the back and bottom of a boat, used for steering

junk

A very large flatbottom sailing ship produced in the Tang and Song Empires, specially designed for long-distance commercial travel.

Mongol Empire

an empire founded in the 12th century by Genghis Khan, which reached its greatest territorial extent in the 13th century, encompassing the larger part of Asia and extending westward to the Dnieper River in eastern Europe.

Trade Cities

Cities that grew because of trade

Kashgar

a central trading point where the Eastern and Western Silk Roads met.

Samarkand

During the rule of Timur Lane was the most influential captial city, a wealthy trading center known for decorated mosques and tombs.

Caravanserai

inn or rest station for caravans

money economy

an economic system based on money rather than barter

flying cash

Enabled merchants to deposit good or cash at one location and draw the equivalent in cash or merchandise elsewhere in China.

paper money

legal currency issued on paper; it developed in China as a convenient alternative to metal coins

Banking Houses

These European banks developed during the Middle Ages to aid trade. Along with innovations such as bills of exchange, or bank drafts, and credit, the rise of banking houses supported the development of interregional trade in luxury goods.

bill of exchange

issued by a banker in one city to a merchant who could exchange it for cash in a distant city, thus freeing him from traveling with gold, which was easily stolen

Hanseatic League

An economic and defensive alliance of the free towns in northern Germany, founded about 1241 and most powerful in the fourteenth century.

Mongols

A people of this name is mentioned as early as the records of the Tang Empire, living as nomads in northern Eurasia. After 1206 they established an enormous empire under Genghis Khan, linking western and eastern Eurasia.

Khan

A Mongol ruler

Kuriltai

Meeting of all Mongol chieftains at which the supreme ruler of all tribes was selected

Genghis Khan

Founder of the Mongol Empire.

Khanates

Four regional Mongol kingdoms that arose following the death of Chinggis Khan.

Pax Mongolica

The period of approximately 150 years of relative peace and stability created by the Mongol Empire.

Batu

ruler of the golden horde; one of Chinggis Khan's grandsons; responsible for the invasion of Russia beginning in 1236.

Golden Horde

Mongol khanate founded by Genghis Khan's. It was based in southern Russia and quickly adopted both the Turkic language and Islam. Also known as the Kipchak Horde.

Moscow

Russia

Hulegu

Grandson of Chinggis Khan and ruler of Ilkhan khanate; captured and destroyed Abbasid Baghdad.

Kublai Khan

(1215-1294) Grandson of Genghis Khan and founder of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty in China.

Yuan Dynasty

(1279-1368 CE) The dynasty with Mongol rule in China; centralized with bureaucracy but structure is different: Mongols on top->Persian bureaucrats->Chinese bureuacrats.

Zhu Yuanzhang

The given name of the Hongwu emperor, the founder of the Ming dynasty

Ming Dynasty

Succeeded Mongol Yuan dynasty in China in 1368; lasted until 1644; initially mounted huge trade expeditions to southern Asia and elsewhere, but later concentrated efforts on internal development within China.

Gobi Desert

A high desert in China and Mongolia.

siege weapons

weapons used to attack castles

cannon

a big gun, especially one mounted on a base or wheels

White Lotus Society

Secret religious society dedicated to overthrow of Yuan dynasty in China; typical of peasant resistance to Mongol rule

Bubonic Plague

disease brought to Europe from the Mongols during the Middle Ages. It killed 1/3 of the population and helps end Feudalism. Rats, fleas.

Malacca (Melaka)

Important Portuguese control area because all commerce went through the strait; controlled the maritime highway. Principal clearinghouse of trade in the eastern Indian Ocean. At Melaka, the Portuguese oversaw shipping between the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. Malaysia. Conquered by a Dutch fleet in 1641

Gujarat

Region of western India famous for trade and manufacturing.

Swahili city-states

dominated trade along the east African coast

Calicut

Great spice port of India where da Gama landed and traded

Spice Islands

Europeans' name for the Moluccas, islands rich in cloves and nutmeg

Indian Ocean Basin

connected East Africa, Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia with China and Japan

monsoon winds

seasonal wind in India, the winter monsoon brings hot, dry weather and the summer monsoon brings rain

Lateen Sail

triangular sail that made it possible to sail against the wind; used in the Indian Ocean trade

Stern Rudder

a small piece of wood in the back so that you can steer a large vessel more effectively.

Astrolabe

An instrument used by sailors to determine their location by observing the position of the stars and planets

Indian Ocean Slave Trade

E. Africa -> Middle East & India/ Similar conditions to the Atlantic Slave Trade/ Cultural Diffusion

diaspora

A dispersion of people from their homeland

Zheng He

An imperial eunuch and Muslim, entrusted by the Ming emperor Yongle with a series of state voyages that took his gigantic ships through the Indian Ocean, from Southeast Asia to Africa.

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.

Sundiata

the founder of Mali empire. He crushed his enemies and won control of the gold trade routes

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.

Songhai Kingdom

Largest African trading kingdom during its time; Helped rebel against Mali; only lasted for about 100 years

Timbuktu

City on the Niger River in the modern country of Mali. It was founded by the Tuareg as a seasonal camp sometime after 1000. As part of the Mali empire, Timbuktu became a major major terminus of the trans-Saharan trade and a center of Islamic learning.

Mecca

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

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

Sahara Desert

the world's largest desert (3,500,000 square miles) in northern Africa

Oases

Fertile places in dry areas where water is found

Arabian Desert

A desert on the Arabian Peninsula in southwestern Asia

Pack animals

an animal used to carry heavy loads

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. Invented somewhere between 500 and 100 BCE by Bedouin tribes.

Black Death

A deadly plague that swept through Europe between 1347 and 1351

Marco Polo

Venetian merchant and traveler. His accounts of his travels to China offered Europeans a firsthand view of Asian lands and stimulated interest in Asian trade.

lbn battuta

in 1352 one of mansa musa's successors prepared to receive a traveler and historian

Margery Kempe

The Book of Margery Kempe

Swahili

Bantu language with Arabic loanwords spoken in coastal regions of East Africa.

Urdu

A Persian-influenced literary form of Hindi written in Arabic characters and used as a literary language since the 1300s.

Hangzhou

Capital of later Song dynasty; located near East China Sea; permitted overseas trading; population exceeded 1 million.

Samarkand

A city in Uzbekistan.

Constantinople

Capital of the Byzantine Empire

Champa Rice

Quick-maturing rice that can allow two harvests in one growing season. Originally introduced into Champa from India, it was later sent to China as a tribute gift by the Champa state (as part of the tributary system.)

bananas

the introduction of a new food crop about 400 CE encouraged a fresh migratory surge in Africa. what was the crop?

sugar

export from the americas

Citrus crops

makes fruits- lemon, lime, oranges, citrus, etc.

degradation

deprivation; poverty; debasement

Overgrazing

Destruction of vegetation caused by too many grazing animals consuming the plants in a particular area so they cannot recover

deforestation

Destruction of forests

soil erosion

wearing away of surface soil by water and wind

Song Dynasty

(960-1279 CE) The Chinese dynasty that placed much more emphasis on civil administration, industry, education, and arts other than military.

Imperial Bureaucracy

Division of an empire into organized provinces to make it easier to control

Meritocracy

a system in which promotion is based on individual ability or achievement

Grand Canal

The 1,100-mile (1,700-kilometer) waterway linking the Yellow and the Yangzi Rivers. It was begun in the Han period and completed during the Sui Empire.

Gunpowder

The formula, brought to China in the 400s or 500s, was first used to make fumigators to keep away insect pests and evil spirits. In later centuries it was used to make explosives and grenades and to propel cannonballs, shot, and bullets.

Champa Rice

Quick-maturing rice that can allow two harvests in one growing season. Originally introduced into Champa from India, it was later sent to China as a tribute gift by the Champa state (as part of the tributary system.)

Proto-industrialization

Preliminary shift away from agricultural economy in Europe; workers become full- or part-time producers of textile and metal products, working at home but in a capitalist system in which materials, work orders, and ultimate sales depended on urban merchants; prelude to Industrial Revolution.

Artisans

skilled workers who make goods by hand

Scholar-gentry

Chinese class created by the marital linkage of the local land-holding aristocracy with the office-holding shi; superseded shi as governors of China.

Foot Binding

Practice in Chinese society to mutilate women's feet in order to make them smaller; produced pain and restricted women's movement; made it easier to confine women to the household.

woodblock printing

a form of printing in which an entire page is carved into a block of wood

Buddhism

A religion based on the teachings of the Buddha.

Theravada Buddhism

Buddhist sect that focuses on the wisdom of the Buddha

Mahayana Buddhism

Also known as popular Buddhism, is allows people more ways to reach enlightenment and boddhisatvas can help you reach enlightenment.

Tibetan Buddhism

makes great use of ritual

Syncretic

A religion that combines several traditions

Chan Buddhism

Known as Zen in Japan; stressed meditation and appreciation of natural and artistic beauty; popular with members of elite Chinese society

Zen Buddhism

a Japanese school of Mahayana Buddhism emphasizing the value of meditation and intuition.

Filial Piety

In Confucian thought, one of the virtues to be cultivated, a love and respect for one's parents and ancestors.

Neo-Confucianism

term that describes the resurgence of Confucianism and the influence of Confucian scholars during the T'ang Dynasty; a unification of Daoist or Buddhist metaphysics with Confucian pragmatism

Heian Period

(794 - 1100) move the capital to Heian; 300 years of developing a new culture; growth of large estates; arts and literature of china flourished; elaborate court life; personal diaries (pillow book and the take of genji); moved away from chinese culture

Feudalism

A political system in which nobles are granted the use of lands that legally belong to their king, in exchange for their loyalty, military service, and protection of the people who live on the land

Mamluk Sultanate

- A political unit in Egypt established by Mamluks

- Defeated the Mongols and the Ayyubid Sultanate

- Did not set up a consistent, hereditary line of succession, which hurt them greatly

- Failed to adapt to new warfare and were eventually defeated by the Ottomans, who brought guns

- Disinterest in trade also contributed to their downfall

Seljuk Turks

nomadic Turks from Asia who conquered Baghdad in 1055 and allowed the caliph to remain only as a religious leader. they governed strictly

Sultan

Military and political leader with absolute authority over a Muslim country