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Mandate of Heaven
a political theory of ancient China in which those in power were given the right to rule from a divine source
Song Dynasty
During this Chinese dynasty (960 - 1279 AD) China saw many important inventions. There was a magnetic compass; had a navy; traded with india and persia (brought pepper and cotton); paper money, gun powder; landscape black and white paintings
Examination System
Examinations that were open to most males and used to recruit officials and bureaucrats in imperial China.
Filial piety
In Confucian thought, one of the virtues to be cultivated, a love and respect for one's parents and ancestors.
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.
Buddhism
the teaching of Buddha that life is permeated with suffering caused by desire, that suffering ceases when desire ceases, and that enlightenment obtained through right conduct and wisdom and meditation releases one from desire and suffering and rebirth
Patriarchy/Patriarchal
a society in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it
Foot Binding
Practice in Chinese society to mutilate women's feet in order to make them smaller; produced pain and restricted women's movement; made it easier to confine women to the household.
Theravada Buddhism
"Way of the Elders" branch of Buddhism followed in Sri Lanka and much of Southeast Asia. Theravada remains close to the original principles set forth by the Buddha; it downplays the importance of gods and emphasizes austerity and the individual's search for enlightenment.
Mahayana
The name of the more mystical and larger of the two main Buddhist sects. This one originated in India in the 400s CE and gradually found its way north to the Silk road and into Central and East Asia.
Tibetan Buddhism
a Buddhist doctrine that includes elements from India that are not Buddhist and elements of preexisting shamanism, a tradition of Buddhism that teaches that people can use special techniques to harness spiritual energy and can achieve nirvana in a single lifetime
Champa Rice
Quick-maturing rice that can allow two harvests in one growing season. Originally introduced into Champa from India, it was later sent to China as a tribute gift by the Champa state (as part of the tributary system.)
Grand Canal
The 1,100-mile (1,700-kilometer) waterway linking the Yellow and the Yangzi Rivers. It was begun in the Han period and completed during the Sui Empire.
Dar al-Islam
an Arabic term that means the "house of Islam" and that refers to lands under Islamic rule
Abbasid Caliphate
Descendants of the Prophet Muhammad's uncle, al-Abbas, they overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate and ruled an Islamic empire from their capital in Baghdad (founded 762) from 750 to 1258.
Seljuk Turks
Nomadic invaders from central Asia via Persia; staunch Sunnis; ruled in name of Abbasid caliphs from mid-11th century
Mamluks
Under the Islamic system of military slavery, Turkic military slaves who formed an important part of the armed forces of the Abbasid Caliphate of the ninth and tenth centuries. Mamluks eventually founded their own state, ruling Egypt and Syria (1250-1517)
Ottoman Turks
Turkish group ruled by the Ottoman dynasty; formed an empire that lasted from about 1300 to 1922. The group that proved to be the greatest threat to the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century.
Delhi Sultanates
For about 320 years beginning in 1206, five dynasties ruled over the city of Delhi in India. This kingdom has been coined the Delhi Sultanate. He also spread the influence of the Islamic religion throughout the region. After years of conquest, the Sultanate conquered and incorporated that majority of the Indian subcontinent. This resulted in a sort of unification process between the diverse peoples of the region, but also led to a split in Indian culture, as Hindus increasingly fought against the Sultanate in the 16th century, leading to its demise.
Nasir al-Din Tusi (1201-1274)
Persian mathematician and cosmologist whose academy near Tabriz provided the model for the movement of the planets that helped to inspire the Copernican model of the solar system.
House of Wisdom
Combination library, academy, and translation center in Baghdad established in the 800s.
Baghdad
Capital of Abbasid dynasty located in Iraq.
Cordova
The great center of Islamic culture, and Spain's capital at the time of the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates.
Crusades
A series of holy wars from 1096-1270 AD undertaken by European Christians to free the Holy Land from Muslim rule.
Bhakti Movement
An immensely popular development in Hinduism, advocating intense devotion toward a particular deity.
Buddhist monasteries
religious communities where Buddha's followers stayed, studied, and meditated
Vijayanagara Empire
Southern Indian kingdom (1336-1565) that later fell to the Mughals.
Srivijaya
A Malay kingdom that dominated the Straits of Malacca between 670 and 1025 C.E.; noted for its creation of a native/Indian hybrid culture.
Rajput Kingdoms
Several Hindu dynasties that confronted Turkic, Islamic invasions from Central Asia during the 11th and 12th Centuries.
Khmer Empire
a powerful empire that lasted roughly from the 9th to the 15th centuries in what is now Cambodia
Majapahit
Southeast Asian kingdom (1293-1520) centered on the island of Java.
Sukhothai
The kingdom that was set up by the Thai people in north central Thailand, influenced by Buddhism
Sinhala
Regional kingdom that developed on the island of Sri Lanka that was engaged in Indian Ocean trade.
Maya city-states
Classical culture in Southern Mexico and Central America; contemporary with Teotihuacan; extended over broad region; featured monumental architecture, written language, calendrical system, mathematical system; highly developed region.
Mexica
The warrior tribe from the north portion of Mexico, who would conquer the Central Valley of Mexico. They would found the Aztec Empire. These people identified themselves as separate tribes, such as the Mexica, from whom Mexico gets its name.
Inca
Largest and most powerful Andean empire. Controlled the Pacific coast of South America from Ecuador to Chile from its capital of Cuzco.
Chaco Canyon
An urban center established by Anasazi located in southern New Mexico. There, they built a walled city with dozens of three-story adobe houses with timbered roofs. Community religious functions were carried out in two large circular chambers called kivas.
Mesa Verde
The largest complex of Anasazi cliff-dwellings in the United States Southwest, built between about AD 1150 and AD 1300
Cahokia
Mississippian settlement near present-day St. Louis, home to as many as 25,000 Native Americans
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.
Ethiopia
A Christian kingdom that developed in the highlands of eastern Africa which was engaged in the Indian Ocean trade network.
Hausa Kingdoms
The dominant tribe in Nigeria is the largest ethnic group. Established trans-Saharan trade routes between West Africa and Mediterranean world.
Holy Roman Empire
Loose federation of mostly German states and principalities, headed by an emperor elected by the princes. It lasted from 962 to 1806.
Lay Investiture Controversy
A disagreement between Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII about who should appoint church officials.
Fuedalism
A political system in which nobles are granted the use of lands that legally belong to a king in return for loyalty and military service
Chivalry
Code of conduct for knights during the Middle Ages
Manorial System
an economic system in the Middle Ages that was built around large estates called manors
Serfs
A person who lived on and farmed a lords land in feudal times
Monasticism
Living in a religious community apart from secular society and adhering to a rule stipulating chastity, obedience, and poverty. (Primary Centers of Learning in Medieval Europe)
Scholasticism
A medieval philosophical and theological system that tried to reconcile faith and reason during the Middle Ages
