AP World Unit 1 (Period 1: 1200-1450)

Global Tapestry

Swahili

blended language that combined Bantu and Arabic languages and is still spoken today

Mamluks

enslaved soldiers from the Abbasid era

Urdu

a new language with elements of Hindi, Arabic, and Farsi that developed among the Muslims of South Asia

Sanskrit

sacred language of the Vedas in India

Nasir al-Din al-Tusi

Persian mathematician; one of the most celebrated Islamic scholars

Lao Zi

a Chinese philosopher who taught retreat from society into nature and that individuals should seek to become attuned with Dao

Mahayana Buddhism

focuses on service and became popular in China and Korea

Sufis

a mystical Muslim group that had successful missionaries. They believed they could become closer to God through prayer, fasting, and a simple life

Ancestor Veneration

a Confucian practice of praying to one's ancestors

Confucionism

the system of ethics, education, and statesmanship taught by Confucius and his disciples, stressing love for humanity, ancestor worship, reverence for parents, and harmony in thought and conduct

Kowtow

an act of deep respect shown by kneeling and bowing so low as to have one's head touching the ground

Judaism

oldest known monotheistic religion

Nirvana

the state of liberation from suffering which can be achieved when an individual follows the Eightfold Path in Buddhism

Dharma

a position and career determined by birth within the caste system

Meritocracy

the exam system that granted Chinese officials their positions

Inca Empire

largest imperial state in the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries. The empire spanned almost the entire coast of western South America

Sukhothai Kingdom

a kingdom in north central Thailand from 1238 until 1438

Hausa Kingdom

a group of small independent city-states in northern central Africa

Song Dynasty

a Chinese imperial dynasty that ruled from 960 to 1279 that preceded the Yuan Dynasty

Crusades

a series of Christian holy wars conducted against nonbelievers

Bhakti Movement

Hindu devotional movement that flourished in the early modern era, emphasizing music, dance, poetry, and rituals as means by which to achieve direct union with the divine 9. Brahman: Hindu spirit that is the energy that connects everything; a priest class

Silk Road

a vast network of trading routes that connected the East to the West: Constantinople in Europe to Chang'an in Asia

Filial Piety

a Confucian virtue of respect, obedience, and care for one's parents and elderly family members

Champa Rice

an Indian quick-maturing, very resistant rice that could be harvested twice in one growing season

Woodblock Printing

a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia that originated in China

Artisan

skilled manual workers in a particular craft who often work by hand

Syncretism

the blending of elements from more than one religion into a distinct system of worship

Corvee Labor

forced, unpaid labor that was often intermittent

Grand Canal

an over 1,000 mile-long transportation waterway that allowed China to be the most populous trading area in the world during the Song Dynasty