Unit 1: The Global Tapestry Vocabulary Flashcards

Practice question and answer flashcards generated from the Unit 1 Global Tapestry vocabulary list.

Who was 'A'ishah al-Ba’uniyyah?

The most prolific female Muslim writer and poet before the 20th century.

What was the Abbasid Caliphate, and how did it end?

A dynasty of the Muslim empire of the caliphate that followed the Umayyad Caliphate; it was destroyed by the Mongol invasion in 1258.

What are The Analects?

The compilation of Confucius' teachings after his death.

What is Ancestor Veneration in Confucian practice?

A Confucian practice of praying to one's ancestors.

What are Artisans?

Skilled manual workers in a particular craft who often work by hand.

Who was Ashoka?

The third king of the Mauryan Empire who promoted Buddhism.

What were the Bantu Migrations?

The spread of Bantu-speaking peoples from their homeland in what is now southern Nigeria to most of Africa.

What was the Bhakti Movement?

A 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.

How is Brahman defined in the context of Hinduism?

A Hindu spirit that is the energy that connects everything; also refers to a priest class.

What is the Caste System in India?

A rigid social system in India that gives every Indian a particular place in the social hierarchy from birth.

What is Champa Rice?

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

What is Chan Buddhism?

A Chinese school of Mahāyāna Buddhism popular during the Tang and Song Dynasties.

What was Chang'an?

An ancient Chinese capital of several dynasties, now known as Xi'an.

What was the purpose of the Civil Service Exam in China?

A system of testing designed to select the most studious and learned candidates for appointment as bureaucrats in the Chinese government.

What was the Chola Dynasty?

A Tamil maritime empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in world history.

How is Confucianism defined?

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.

What is Corvee Labor?

Forced, unpaid labor that was often intermittent.

What were the Crusades?

A series of Christian holy wars conducted against nonbelievers.

What is Daoism?

A Chinese philosophy based on the teachings of Lao Zi which taught that people should turn to nature and give up their worldly concerns, acting largely as a spiritual alternative to Confucianism.

What was the Delhi Sultanate?

A Muslim kingdom that ruled parts of India from the 13th to the 16th centuries and was an Islamic state on the outside of the Caliphate system.

What is Dharma within the caste system?

A position and career determined by birth within the caste system.

What is a Diaspora?

Any movement of the citizens of a population sharing the same ethnic descent.

What is the Eightfold Path?

One of Buddha's teachings which outlines the path to nirvana.

What is Ethiopia noted for in the 12th century?

A Christian-led African kingdom that emerged in the 12th century, known for their rock hewn churches.

How did the Feudalism land system function?

A land system in which a king owned all the land and granted tracts to nobles in exchange for military loyalty, and nobles granted parts of their land to vassals or serfs who worked the land.

What is Filial Piety?

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

What is the Forbidden City?

A walled section of Beijing built in the Ming Dynasty where emperors lived between 1121 and 1911.

What are the Four Noble Truths?

Buddha's guiding principles regarding suffering.

What was the significance of the 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.

What was the purpose of the Great Wall of China?

A Chinese defensive fortification built during the reign of Shi Huangdi to keep out northern nomadic invaders.

How did Great Zimbabwe gain power?

A powerful state in the African interior that emerged from the growing trade in gold to the East African coast.

What was the Gupta Empire?

The empire that later united India following the Maurya Empire.

What is significant about the Han Dynasty?

It was China's longest running dynasty.

What were the Hausa Kingdoms?

A group of small independent city-states in northern central Africa.

What is the Hebrew Bible?

A collection of sacred books containing diverse materials concerning the origins, experiences, beliefs, and practices of the Israelites.

What characterized the Heian Period in Japan?

A period lasting from 794 to 1185 CE when Japan was most closely connected to and influenced by Chinese culture.

What was the House of Wisdom?

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

What was the Imperial Bureaucracy in China?

A large organization in China in which appointed officials carried out the policies of the empire.

What was the Inca Empire?

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

What was the Indian Ocean Maritime System?

A trade route across the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.

What is a Jati?

A classification within the Indian caste system.

What is Judaism?

The oldest known monotheistic religion.

What is Karma in Hindu belief?

The effects of a person's actions that determine his destiny in his next incarnation.

What is Kowtow?

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

Who was Lao Zi?

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

What is Legalism?

A political philosophy in China that emphasized the unruliness of human nature and justified state coercion and control, invoked by Qin and early Han rulers to validate their regimes.

What is Mahayana Buddhism?

A form of Buddhism that focuses on service and became popular in China and Korea.

What was the Majapahit Kingdom?

A Buddhist Kingdom from 1293-1520 based on Java that gained power by controlling sea routes.

What was Mali?

A trading empire that flourished in western Africa from the 13th to the 16th century and was known for its wealth.

Who were the Mamluks?

Enslaved soldiers from the Abbasid era.

What was the Mauryan Empire?

An empire that unified most of India into a peaceful and stable empire and expanded trade.

Who were the Mayans?

A civilization that established a series of independent states and city-states in Mesoamerica.

What was Meritocracy in imperial China?

The exam system that granted Chinese officials their positions.

What is Mesa Verde?

The largest complex of Anasazi cliff-dwellings in the United States Southwest.

What was the Moche civilization?

A civilization near the coast of Peru that built irrigation networks and urban centers that had brick temples.

What is Moksha?

The goal for Hindus in which you are reunited with Brahman and escape reincarnation.

How are Monarchies defined?

Governments in which the supreme power is lodged in the hands of a monarch who reigns over a state or territory, usually for life and by hereditary right.

What is Monastic Living?

A religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work.

What are Monsoons?

Seasonal winds of the Indian Ocean and southern Asia which affected trade routes.

What are Mudras?

Hand gestures with specific meaning or significance in Indian classical sculpture and dance.

Who was Nasir al-Din al-Tusi?

A Persian mathematician and one of the most celebrated Islamic scholars.

What is Nirvana?

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

What is Neo-Confucianism?

The revival of Confucian teachings during the Tang and Song dynasties and a subsequent synthesis of Confucianism with aspects of Buddhism and Daoism.

What is an Oligarchy?

A form of government in which a small group of elites make decisions for everyone.

Who were the Olmec?

The earliest known Mexican civilizations.

Who were the Parthians?

A Persian dynasty based in Iran that extended into Mesopotamia.

What was Pataliputra?

The chief political and commercial center of northern India.

What is Patriarchy?

A society in which men hold power within the family, in governance, and/or in economics.

What is Polygyny?

A form of polygamy in which a man has two or more wives simultaneously.

What is Proto-industrialization?

A condition where people in rural areas produce more goods than they can sell.

What was the Qin Dynasty?

The Chinese dynasty that established the first centralized imperial government, built much of the Great Wall, replaced the Zhou dynasty, and employed legalist ideas.

What were the Rajput Kingdoms?

Hindu kingdoms that arose after the fall of the Gupta Empire.

What is Reciprocity in state relations?

A relationship between people and state where people pay tribute in exchange for access to resources.

What is Reincarnation?

A Hindu principle in which souls pass to other beings after death.

What is Sanskrit?

The sacred language of the Vedas in India.

Who were the Scholar Gentry?

A Confucian educated social class that became the most influential social class of China.

What is Shinto?

The indigenous religion of Japan in which people believed that kami (spirits) were present in their natural surroundings.

Who is Shiva?

An important Hindu deity who in the trinity of gods was the Destroyer.

What were the Sinhala Dynasties?

Sri Lankan dynasties which were largely Buddhist.

What was the Silk Road?

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

What was the Song Dynasty?

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

What was the Srivijaya Empire?

An Indonesian Hindu sea-based empire based on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia which was an important trade center.

Who were the Sufis?

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

What was the Sukhothai Kingdom?

A kingdom in north central Thailand from 1238 until 1438.

What is Swahili?

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

What is Syncretism?

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

What was the Tang Dynasty?

A Chinese imperial dynasty preceding the Song, remembered for being one of the greatest periods of peace, prosperity, cultural achievements, and strong centralized government in Chinese history.

What was Teotihuacan?

A major city in Mesoamerica that was the center for cultural and religious activities.

What is a Theater State?

A state that acquires prestige and power by developing attractive cultural forms and staging elaborate public ceremonies.

What is Theravada Buddhism?

Buddhism focused on meditation found in Southeast Asia.

What is Tibetan Buddhism?

A form of Buddhism in Tibet centered around chanting.

What were the Trans-Saharan Trade Routes?

Networks of exchange that transformed West Africa by connecting it to larger parts of the world.

What is a Universalizing Religion?

A religion seeking to convert others, such as Islam.

What is Urdu?

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

What are Varnas within the Indian caste system?

Warriors within the Indian caste system.

What are the Vedas?

The oldest collection of scriptures of Hinduism and religious texts in an ancient Sanskrit language.

What was the Vijayanagara Empire?

An empire in southern India between 1336 and 1646, founded by the brothers Harihara and Bukka Raya in 1336 to protect people from northern Muslim states.

Who is Vishnu?

A Hindu god considered the preserver of the world.

What is Woodblock Printing?

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

Who were the Xiongnu?

The Chinese name for the confederacy of Turkish-speaking peoples who were nomadic herders in Central Asia.