Chapter 3

Definitions for vocabulary terms from Chapter 3:

The Silk Roads

  • Caravanserai: Inns or guesthouses located along trade routes from the Mediterranean to China where merchants could rest, exchange goods, and resupply animals.

  • Samarkand: A major, prosperous Central Asian Silk Road commercial city in present-day Uzbekistan where cultural and religious exchange flourished.

  • Dunhuang: A critical Silk Road junction city in western China that became a major center of Buddhist learning, painting, and rock-carved cave art.

  • "Flying cash": A Chinese financial innovation using paper money rather than heavy metal coins to facilitate long-distance commercial exchange.

  • "Bills of exchange": A contract introduced by European traders promising payment, serving as an early form of credit.

  • Mahayana Buddhism: A devotional form of Buddhism flourishing on the Silk Roads that emphasized compassion, featured the Buddha as a deity alongside bodhisattvas, and offered popular salvation without strict asceticism.

  • Pure Land Buddhism: A highly popular Chinese school of Mahayana Buddhism focused on salvation by faith and repeating the name Amitabha to ensure rebirth in a heavenly realm.

  • Chan Buddhism: A Chinese school of Buddhism emphasizing strict meditation practice and drawing heavily on Daoist perspectives; later spread to Japan as Zen Buddhism.

  • Zen Buddhism: The Japanese adaptation of Chinese Chan Buddhism that became especially popular among the samurai warrior class.

  • Neo-Confucianism: A reformulation of Confucian thinking during the Song dynasty that incorporated moral insights from Buddhism and Daoism while rejecting their religious elements.

The Mongol Network

  • Chinggis (or Genghis) Khan: The supreme leader (born Temujin) who unified the rival Mongol tribes in 1206 and initiated widespread conquests creating the largest contiguous land empire in history.

  • Khan: A title given to supreme rulers or sovereign leaders among Mongol and Turkic nomadic pastoral peoples.

  • Karakorum: The centralized capital city established during the Mongol Empire that housed specialized administrative offices and welcomed various world religions.

  • Sack of Baghdad 1258: The devastating Mongol conquest of the Abbasid capital resulting in massive loss of life and the end of the Islamic Abbasid caliphate.

  • Khubilai Khan: Grandson of Chinggis Khan who ruled China from 1271 to 1294, founding the Yuan dynasty and governing as a Confucian-style emperor.

  • Yuan Dynasty: The Mongol dynasty that ruled unified China from 1271 to 1368, adopting Chinese administrative practices while maintaining strict social segregation between Mongols and Chinese.

  • The Great Khanate: The central division of the Mongol Empire incorporating the traditional Mongol homeland and East Asia (China).

  • Il-Khanate: The southwestern sector of the Mongol Empire covering Persia and surrounding regions, where Mongol rulers converted to Islam and assimilated into local society.

  • Golden Horde: The northwestern domain of the Mongol Empire dominating Russia, exploitation of which was conducted through indirect tribute collection rather than direct settlement.

  • Chagatai/Jagadai Khanate: The central division of the Mongol Empire encompassing Central Asia and the core Silk Road trade routes.

  • Black Death / the Plague: A catastrophic epidemic caused by Yersinia pestis that spread across Mongol trade networks in the 14th century, sharply reducing Afro-Eurasian populations.

  • Pax Mongolica: A period of relative peace and stability across Eurasia under Mongol imperial rule that revitalized Silk Road trade and international exchange.

The Sea Roads

  • Junk: A large Chinese oceangoing ship equipped with multiple masts and advanced navigational features designed for mass cargo trade in the Indian Ocean.

  • Dhow: An Indian or Arab oceangoing vessel featuring triangular lateen sails and hulls constructed by stitching wooden boards together.

  • Great Zimbabwe: A powerful interior state in southeastern Africa linked to coastal gold trade, famous for constructing massive mortarless stone enclosures.

  • Melaka: A strategic Malay port city along the Strait of Melaka that developed into a major cosmopolitan commercial hub and catalyst for the spread of Islam.

  • Zheng He: The Muslim eunuch admiral who captained seven massive Chinese maritime trade and tribute expeditions into the Indian Ocean basin between 1405 and 1433.

  • Ming Voyages: A series of state-sponsored naval expeditions launched by Emperor Yongle to establish Chinese power, prestige, and tribute relationships across the Indian Ocean.

The Sand Roads

  • Sahara: The vast North African desert that became a major international commercial highway rather than a barrier following the introduction of camel transport.

  • Arabian Camel: A pack animal capable of going ten days without water that enabled regular trans-Saharan trade caravans.

  • Hajj: The sacred Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca that every able-bodied Muslim is expected to undertake at least once in their lifetime.

  • Mansa Musa: The Muslim ruler of the Kingdom of Mali who undertook a famous, lavish pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324, highlighting West Africa's wealth and Islamic ties.

The Islamic World

  • Islamic Green Revolution: The widespread diffusion of agricultural crops, technological practices, and irrigation techniques across arid regions of the Islamic world leading to population growth.

  • House of Wisdom: An academic center established in 9th-century Baghdad by the Abbasid caliph al-Mamun for translating and researching Greek, Persian, and Indian scientific texts.

  • Ibn Sina: A influential Persian polymath and physician whose 14-volume Canon of Medicine set standards for medical practice across Europe and the Islamic world.

  • Sharia: The comprehensive body of Islamic law regulating both religious practice and daily social/economic interactions.

  • Madrassas: Higher education colleges across the Islamic world dedicated to instruction in Islamic law, theology, and administrative training.

  • Ulama: Learned Islamic scholars and legal experts who preserved, interpreted, and transmitted religious knowledge and law.

  • Crusades: A series of Western European holy wars launched from 1095 onward to secure holy sites in the Middle East from Islamic control.

Connections across the Americas

  • American Web: A network of long-distance commercial, cultural, and agricultural exchange stretching loosely across North, Central, and South America.

  • Cahokia: A major Mississippian chiefdom located near modern St. Louis that served as the center of a regional trade network and built massive earthen pyramid mounds.

  • Chaco Canyon: A major regional center in modern New Mexico featuring large pueblo structures, turquoise manufacturing, and hundreds of miles of radiating roads.

  • Pochteca: Professional Aztec merchants who conducted large-scale long-distance trading expeditions as private business entities and state agents.