Chapter 3 Key Terms (Unit 2)

Silk Roads

Land based trade route that linked Eurasia. Named after most famed product.

Dunhuang

A major commercial city on the Silk Road trading network and a center of Buddhist learning and art. Located in western China.

Caravanserai

an inn in some Eastern countries with a large courtyard that provides accommodation for caravans. Allowed merchants to rest, exchange, and resupply

Pure Land Buddhism

Emphasized salvationist aspects of Chinese Buddhism; popular among masses of Chinese society. Faith> Practices

Rebirth in Heaven realm

Neo-Confucianism

The Confucian response to Buddhism by taking Confucian and Buddhist beliefs and combining them into this. However, it is still very much Confucian in belief. In a way, it tries to get rid of Buddhism religious aspects, but respects its morals.

Samarkand

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

Sogdian city of Samarkand

practiced Zoroastrian fire rituals for Buddhism

Temujin/Chinggis Khan (Genghis Khan)

Title meaning "universal ruler" that was given to this Mongol leader in 1206 after he united the Mongols.

Mongol World War

Term used to describe half a century of military campaigns, massive killing, and empire building pursued by Chinggis Khan and his successors in Eurasia after 1209.

Khubilai Khan

Grandson of Chinggis Khan who ruled China from 1271 to 1294.

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.

return of traditional chinese ways

restoration of land

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.

Black Death

The common name for a major outbreak of plague that spread across Asia, North Africa, and Europe in the mid-fourteenth century, carrying off vast numbers of persons.

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.

Sea Roads

The world's largest sea-based system of communication and exchange before 1500 C.E. Centered on India, it stretched from southern China to eastern Africa.

Great Zimbabwe

City, now in ruins (in the modern African country of Zimbabwe), whose many stone structures were built between about 1250 and 1450, when it was a trading center and the capital of a large state.

Melake

Muslim port city that ame to be on waterway between sumatra and Malaya

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.

Sand Roads

A term used to describe the routes of the trans-Sahara trade in African. Linked interior WA to Medi and N Afri World

Arabian Camel

Introduced to North Africa and the Sahara in the early centuries of the Common Era, this animal made trans-Saharan commerce possible by 300 to 400 C.E.

Crusades

A series of holy wars from 1096-1270 AD undertaken by European Christians to free the Holy Land from Muslim rule.

House of Wisdom

An academic center for research and translation of foreign texts that was established in Baghdad in 830 C.E. by the Abbasid caliph al-Mamun.

American Web

A term used to describe the network of trade that linked parts of the pre-Columbian Americas; although less intense and complete than the Afro-Eurasian trade networks, this web nonetheless provided a means of exchange for luxury goods and ideas over large areas.

Chaco Phenomenon

Name given to a major process of settlement and societal organization that occurred in the period 860-1130 C.E. among the peoples of Chaco canyon, in what is now northwestern New Mexico; the society formed is notable for its settlement in large pueblos and for the building of hundreds of miles of roads (the purpose of which is not known).

Pochteca

Special merchant class in Aztec society; specialized in long-distance trade in luxury items

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.

Monsoons

seasonal wind patterns that cause wet and dry seasons

NE in Summers and SW in winters

Paper Money

"flying cash"; made it unnessary to carry heavy metal coins

secular affairs

naturalistic, non-religious considerations rather than religious doctrine

ex. Buddhism shunned material world. Until Buddhist monasteries started to adopt wealthier ways of living. "begging bowls of the monks" became symbols not daily practice. (Shift to secular activities).

Ex2. Renaissance

Chinggis Khan's policy

"Whoever submits shall be spared, but those who resist, they shall be destroyed with their wives, children and dependents... so that the others who hear and see should fear and not act the same."

Russia Mongols

Slaughtered many during invasion. The Mongols exploited the Russians and taxed a lot, but did not occupy because it was not worth occupying (Golden Horde / Kipchak Khanate) They could dominate and exploit Russia while maintaining their preferred pastoral way of life on the nearby steppe lands

factionalism

party strife and intrigue; infighting, dissension

ex. rapidly rising prices, cultural assimilation, furious epidemics of the plague, and growing peasant rebellions for Mongols

syncretism

The unification or blending of opposing people, ideas, or practices, frequently in the realm of religion. For example, when Islam was adopted by people in a new land by trade, they often incorporate it into their existing culture and traditions.

ex. Zoroastrian fire rituals of city of Samarkand became within Buddhism practices

(Look in Silk Roads Section for more detail)

Chinese Maritime Voyages

commissioned by the Chinese emperor Yongle of the Ming dynasty, was launched in 1405, followed over the next twenty-eight years by six more such expeditions. On board more than 300 ships of the first voyage was a crew of some 27,000.

- 180 physicians

- 100s of government officials

- 5 astrologers

- 7 high-ranking or grand eunuchs

- carpenters, tailors, accountants, merchants, translators, cooks

- thousands of soldiers and sailors

"bringing order to the world" = connection to Ghengis Khan's

Bananas

the introduction of a new food crop about 400 CE by Malagasy-speaking sailors from Indonesia to island of Madagascar or the East African coast encouraged enhanced agricultural productivity, enabled population growth, and laid the economic foundation for the growth of chiefdoms and state

Mongols

People from Central Asia when united ended up creating the largest single land empire in history. (Pastoral/Nomadic people)

"Indianization" of Southeast Asia

Maritime connections and trade between India and China beginning ca. 400 ce. , traders started to expand into Southeast Asia. With them came Buddhist and Hindu devotees- this extended indian influence. Indian alphabets like Sanskrit used to write SE Asian languages

Yam System

a fast postal and intelligence relay system created by the Mongol Empire. It used stations spaced 20 to 40 miles apart. Couriers swapped horses and rested at each stop, allowing riders to cover 120 to 190 miles (200 to 300 km) per day.

khanate

a historical political state or jurisdiction ruled by a Turkic or Mongolic leader known as a khan or khagan. These societies were primarily organized along tribal lines on the Eurasian Steppe, where power depended on the loyalty of warrior subjects and tribute.

lanteen sails

triangular sails that could catch wind from all sides

frame-and-mattress saddle

Arab invention, allowed camels to carry much heavier loads in a stable fashion