unit 2 vocab

  1. Astrolabe: an instrument used to determine latitude by measuring the position of the stars

  2. Banking Houses: issued bills of exchange; model for modern banks

  3. Batu Khan:  the son of Genghis Khan’s oldest son who led an army of 100,000 Mongolian soldiers into Russia conquering small Russian kingdoms

  4. Bills of Exchange: documents stating the holder was legally promised payment of a set amount on a set date

  5. The Bubonic Plague: Mongol conquests brought fleas that carried the bubonic plague to Asia and Europe

  6. Calicut: city on the west coast of India that became a thriving center of trade

  7. Caravans: groups of people traveling together for mutual protection, often with pack animals such as camels

  8. Caravanserai (or caravansary): inns that popped up about 100 miles apart (the distance camels could go before they needed water) along the routes of the Silk Roads

  9. Camel Saddle: saddles developed by South Arabians as the use of the camel spread

  10. Chagatai Khanate: a medieval Central Asian empire and successor state to the Mongol Empire, ruled by the descendants of Genghis Khan's son, Chagatai Khan, encompassing territories in present-day Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and parts of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Afghanistan

  11. Composite Bow: a versatile weapon that provided the Mongol cavalry with superior range, accuracy, and mobility, contributing to their military dominance and conquests

  12. Constantinople: the capital of the eastern Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, and later the Ottoman Empire

  13. Credit: an arrangement to receive cash, goods, or services now and pay for them in the future

  14. Cultural Diffusion: the spread of ideas, religions and products often resulting from trade

  15. Dhow Ships: Arab ships with lateen sails; strongly influenced European ship design; facilitated trade in the Indian Ocean networks

  16. Diaspora: settlements of people away from their homeland arising from trade

  17. Flying Money: a system of credit developed in China that allowed a person to deposit money at one location and withdraw it at another

  18. Genghis Khan: name meaning “ruler of all” given to Temujin when he was elected khan of Mongolian Kingdom; also spelled Chinggis Khan

  19. Ghana Empire: first of the great medieval trading empires of western Africa known as the Land of Gold

  20. Gobi Desert: a desert in central Asia where many invaders came in to attack China

  21. Golden Horde: Batu’s army that pushed westward through Russia and then into Europe

  22. Gujarat: a region of western India famous for trade and manufacturing; the inhabitants are called Gujarati

  23. Gunpowder: invented in China in the 9th century; used in siege warfare like cannons in the Song Dynasty

  24. Hangzhou: capital of the Song Dynasty

  25. The Hanseatic League: a commercial alliance that formed between northern German cities and Scandinavia in the 13th century

  26. Hulegu: grandson of Genghis Khan that took control of the southwest region into the Abbasid territories and more of the Middle East until defeat in 1260

  27. Ibn Battuta: Moroccan Muslim scholar, the most widely traveled individual of his time

  28. Il-Khanate: Hulegu’s medieval Mongol state that ruled over Persia, Mesopotamia, and parts of the Caucasus and Anatolia, blending Mongol and Islamic cultures while serving as a regional power in the 13th to 14th centuries

  29. Indian Ocean Basin: largest sea-based trade network at the time

  30. Indian Ocean Slave Trade: slaves from eastern Africa were sold in northern Africa, the Middle east, and India. This led to African customs spreading throughout these areas

  31. Junk: Chinese sailing ship that developed during the Song Dynasty

  32. Kashgar: trading city located at the western edge of China where northern and southern routes of the Silk Roads crossed

  33. Khanates: the four regional Mongol kingdoms that arose after the death of Genghis Khan

  34. Khmer Empire: powerful and long-lasting empire in what is modern-day Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and southern Vietnam

  35. Kievan Rus’: a medieval East Slavic federation of city-states and principalities that fell under Mongol domination, leading to the establishment of the Mongol-controlled state known as the Golden Horde

  36. Kublai Khan: grandson of Genghis Khan that sought to conquer China and finally achieved it in 1271 and established the Yuan Dynasty

  37. Kuriltai: meeting of Mongol chieftains in 1206 where Temujin “Genghis Khan”  was elected khan of the Mongolian Kingdom

  38. Lateen Sail: triangular shaped sail that could catch wind from many different directions

  39. Magnetic Compass: navigation tool for determining direction that allowed ships to travel without following the coast

  40. Malacca:  a Muslim city-state that became wealthy by building a navy and collecting fees from ships that passed through the Strait of Malacca

  41. Mali Empire: West African empire from 1235-1400 with trading cities Tibuktu and Gao

  42. Mansa Musa: brought Mali to its peak of power and wealth from 1312 to 1337; displayed Mali’s wealth during an extravagant pilgrimage to Mecca

  43. Marco Polo: an Italian native who traveled to China in the late 13th century and wrote about travels

  44. Margery Kempe: 1373-1440 she was an English mystic who dedicated one of the earliest autobiographies in English. The book is significant because it’s a first-hand account of a middle-class medieval woman’s life

  45. Mecca: city in western Arabia that was the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad; ritual center of the Islamic religion and destination for pilgrimages

  46. Ming Dynasty: Chinese dynasty from 1368-1644 founded by Zhu Yuanzhang after the overthrow of the Yuan Dynasty

  47. Mogadishu: city in the coastal region of East Africa

  48. “Money Economy”: using money rather than bartering with commodities like cowrie shells or salt

  49. Monsoons: heavy winds that affected trade routes in the Indian Ocean

  50. Moscow: Russian city-state that collected additional tributes to build an anti-Mongol coalition that defeated the Golden Horde in 1380 at the Battle of Kulikovo

  51. Nomadism: a central component of Mongol society, characterized by their mobile lifestyle, reliance on animal husbandry, and skilled horsemanship, which enabled the Mongols to establish a vast empire through their expertise in mounted warfare and strategic mobility

  52. Pax Mongolica: the period of Mongolian peace between the 13th and 14th centuries

  53. Porcelain: a fine blue and white ware from China

  54. Sahara Desert: large desert in northern Africa with an arid climate that make farming nearly impossible

  55. Samarkand: located in present-day Uzbekistan in the Zeravshan River valley, this city was a stopping point on the Silk Roads between China and the Mediterranean

  56. Siege Weapons: portable towers and catapults

  57. Soil Erosion: overuse of farmland and deforestation reduced agricultural production in feudal Europe

  58. Songhai Kingdom: an Islamic empire established in the 1400s after the decline of the Mali Empire in West Africa

  59. Song Dynasty: (906-1279) Chinese dynasty that preceded the Yuan Dynasty

  60. The Spice Islands: term for the islands of modern-day Malaysia and Indonesia that exported spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom 

  61. Stern Rudders:  invented by the Chinese and made steering ships easier and more stable

  62. Sundiata: Mali’s founding ruler who gained control of the gold trade routes

  63. Sultanate of Malacca:  powerful Islamic kingdom which reached its peak in the mid-1400s

  64. Swahili City States: thriving city-states along the east coast of Africa created by Indian Ocean trade

  65. Timbuktu: a very wealthy and world-renowned center for Islamic learning

  66. Trans-Saharan Trade: route across the Sahara Desert; traded for gold and salt, created caravan routes, economic benefit for controlling dessert, camels and camel saddles were crucial in the development of these trade networks; facilitated the spread of Islam

  67. Uyghur Script: system of writing that Genghis Khan adopted for the Mongol Empire

  68. White Lotus Society: a secret society that began organizing to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty

  69. Yuan Dynasty: established by Kublai Khan in 1271 and was tolerant towards various religious groups in China

  70. Zheng He: a Muslim admiral, entrusted by the Ming emperor Yongle with a series of seven great voyages that took his many ships through the Indian Ocean, from Southeast Asia to Africa