Unit 1 Overview: State Building (1200-1450)

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, people, and systems from the Unit 1 lecture notes on global state building between 1200 and 1450.

Neolithic Revolution

The agricultural revolution and the spread of agriculture that made periods of state building possible.

Song China Meritocracy

A government hiring system where members took merit exams, providing more upward mobility than any other system in the world at the time.

Champa Rice

A high caloric rice from Vietnam that grew in dry soil year-round, creating a food surplus in China.

Proto-industrialization

A phase where innovation allowed fewer people to farm and more people to become artisans or laborers living in urban areas.

Filial Piety

The Confucian idea that men were the head of the household and their needs came first.

Zen-Buddhism

A religion created by combining Buddhism with Taoism after it arrived in China via the Silk Road.

Tributary System

A system where states surrounding China paid money or goods as a sign of submission, increasing Chinese prosperity.

Scholar Gentry

A social class in Song China comprised of those educated in Confucian philosophy, ranking just below the emperor.

Sinification

The process of being influenced by Chinese culture, which Vietnam resisted due to unique views on family and culture.

Dar-al Islam

A term meaning "everything Islam touches," referring to regional Islamic empires that made advances in math, literature, and medicine after the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate.

al-Andalus

A Muslim empire in Spain that represented tolerance and collaboration between numerous religions.

Mamluk Sultanate

A Muslim empire created across North Africa by Turkish slaves who seized control of the Egyptian government.

Nasiral-Din al-Tusi

A celebrated Islamic scholar who made mathematical advances that laid the groundwork for trigonometry.

A’ishah al-Ba’uniyyah

The most prolific female Muslim writer before the $20 ext{th}$ century.

Inca Tribute Empire

A highly centralized empire in Peru where local leaders deferred to the main ruler and surrounding regions provided labor or goods.

Carpa Nan

One of the largest roads in the world at the time, connecting the Inca empire with checkpoints throughout.

Bantu

The language group whose speakers spread knowledge of metalwork and agriculture throughout Africa.

Stateless Society

An African social structure lacking an organized and centralized government, often making them weak regarding tax systems or large projects.

Trans-Saharan Trade

A trade network improved by camels and caravans that allowed West African empires like Ghana, Mali, and Songhai to grow.

Great Zimbabwe

A large, non-Islamic state that dominated African gold and Indian Ocean trade and built a great wall for protection.

Manorialism

A system during decentralization where land owners (lords) provided protection to peasants (serfs) in exchange for labor on the manor.

Feudalism

A military and political system where rulers provided protection to vassals (nobles), who employed knights, and peasants worked the land.

The Black Death (The Plague)

An event around the year $1300$ that killed $rac{1}{2}$ of the European population, leading to peasant revolts and the formation of guilds.

Guilds

Organizations formed by workers to control working conditions in response to the changes following the Black Death.