AP World: 2.1-2.3 Terms

dhows

Small ships with triangular lateen sails, pointed bows, and square sterns

Could sail against the wind

Main bearers of Muslim commerce

Used by sufis and people making pilgrimages to Mecca

Sufi

Muslim holy men who sought new converts to Islam in all sorts of places (India, Java, Malaya, Philippine Islands, etc)

Peacefully converted masses of conquered people by 1200 CE

Traveled by caravan to Central Asia/across Sahara OR traveled across sea by dhows to Middle East and Indian Ocean

Song dynasty

Chinese dynasty (960-1279 CE) that witnessed major cultural developments and an expansion of trade and manufacturing

Mandarins

Also known as scholar-gentry, members of the elite class of civil servants in Chinese government --> Chinese officials

Many were appointed on basis of elite family connections, most has to pass civil service exams and have high literacy (went to school)

Source of virtually all of China's vast and distinguished philosophical, religious, literary, and artistic accomplishments

Xunzi

Chinese intellectual who wrote about war and the military, guided China's commanders for more than two millennia

Daoism

Religious philosophical system in China that stressed individual propriety and celebrated nature

Great Wall

Largest architectural complex built prior to the Industrial Revolution, protected China against nomadic raids

Tangut

Rulers of the Xi Xia kingdom of Northwest China; one of the regional kingdoms during the period of Southern Song; conquered by Mongols in 1226

Small kingdom in vicinity of Great Wall

Jurchens

Founders of Jin/Qin kingdom that succeeded the Liao in northern China; annexed most of the Yellow River basin and forced Song to flee to south to Yangzi River

Built rival empire across North China and Korea

Korea

Periodically occupied by China, formed tributary alliance with China, improved Chinese inventions and drew upon for inspiration (bureaucracy, layout of palace, technology, tea)

Vietnam

Conquered by China for over a thousand years, gained independence in 939 CE

Resisted full assimilation into Chinese culture, increased strength with help of more productive Chinese rice strains/cultivation practices, bureaucratic organization, variants of Buddhism, military organization and weaponry

Kept their own distinct language, women had stronger position in society, had allegiance to village and regional leaders, strong sense of ethnic identity (able to expand state to south at the expense of Khmers and southeast Asia)

Khmer

Most powerful empire in Southeast Asia of its time, conquered by Vietnam due to its strong sense of ethnic identity (now called Cambodia)

Japan

Regional trading and military power, borrowed selectively and had its own distinct culture

Shinto religion, own distinct language, polite behavior and ceremonial practices, military-dominated social hierarchy

Adopted Confucian legal codes and court ceremonies, patriarchy

Elite warriors favored Chan/Zen Buddhism but combined it with Shinto love of natural world, stylistic simplicity, and discipline

Had many larger and more beautiful temples than China, distinct literary tradition with first novels and poetry

Shinto

Religion of early Japanese culture; devotees worshipped numerous gods and spirits associated with the natural world; offers of food and prayers made to gods and nature spirits

Abbasid

Dynasty that succeeded the Umayyads as caliphs within Islam; came to power in 750 C.E.

Political and religious authority over majority of Muslims, empire from N. Africa to Afghanistan

Umayyad

the first dynasty of Arab caliphs whose capital was Damascus, overthrown by Abbasid Dynasty

Refugee prince of this dynasty established Muslim kingdoms in Iberian Peninsula and Algeria

Iberian Peninsula

Spain and Portugal, peninsula where Umayyad refugee prince established Muslim kingdoms

Algeria

Where a Muslim kingdom was established two decades after an Umayyad refugee prince established Muslim kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula

Constantinople

Capital of the Byzantine Empire, unable to be conquered by Abbasid rulers

Buyid Muslims

Group from Persia that invaded the Abbasid empire and contributed to its prolongation

Seljuk Turks

Group of converts to Islam that invaded the Abbasid empire and contributed to its prolongation

Baghdad

Capital of Abbasid Empire, key destination for merchants

Mongols

Nomadic herding peoples from Central Asia that attacked the Abbasid empire, reached Baghdad in 1258, captured the city, deposed the caliph, and ended the Abbasid dynasty

A Discourse Between Muslim Sages

Watercolor painting showing meditative figures with scholarly books --> elite class of Muslim world

Sind

Western India, Muslim rule here retreated until end of the tenth century when Turkish slave-dynasty arrived that had emerged in Afghanistan

Indian rajas and princes could not combine in resistance and opened the way for Muslim recovery of territories lost here

Delhi

A Muslim sultanate was established here that extended from Sind in the west to Bengal in the east to Central India

Helped defend India, along with mountain barrier, from Mongol attacks

Timur-i Lang

aka Tamerlane; leader of Turkic nomads; beginning in 1360s from base at Samarkand, launched series of attacks in Persia, the Fertile Crescent, India, and southern Russia; empire disintegrated after his death in 1405

Defeated Delhi sultanate in 1398, destroyed the city, killed tens of thousands of its people, divided India by kingdoms with Muslim vs. Hindu leaders

Babur

Leader from Central Asia who again united India and created the Mughal Empire

Descended from Mongol khans and Turkic conquerer, Timur

Samarkland

Capital built by Tamerlane. Part of the Khanate of Chaghatai. Began attacks on India here

Tamerlane

aka Timur-i Lang