Essential Vocab

Question 1

Sahel

Answer 1

Grassland belt region on the southern fringe of the Sahara desert, where many civs pop up.

Question 2

Sharia

Answer 2

The Islamic law; among other things, it defined a patrilineal policy of inheritance

Question 3

What civilization had the city of Timbuktu?

Answer 3

Mali

Question 4

Griots

Answer 4

Oral historians in the Mali empire that advised the King

Question 5

Ibn Batuta

Answer 5

Arab historian that traveled and wrote abt African civs that he visited.

Question 6

Umma

Answer 6

Islamic community of believers

Question 7

What state succeeded Mali Empire?

Answer 7

Songhay

Question 8

Kiev

Answer 8

Trade city in the southern Russia that flourished from 9th-12th century, established by Scandinavian traders and a focal point of Russia in this time.

Question 9

Rurik

Answer 9

First prince of Kiev.

Question 10

Vladimir I

Answer 10

Responsible for the beginning of national conversion to Christianity, creating a Russian Orthodox Church via militarily forced and mass conversions + importing Byzantine church leaders.

Question 11

Yaroslav

Answer 11

Last of the great Kievan princes, who built many churches, passed legal codification, and arranged the translation of religious texts into Slavic

Question 12

Magna Carta

Answer 12

A statement of feudal rights against the power of the King, showing the divide between the rulers and the feudal aristocracy.

Question 13

Parliament

Answer 13

Bodies representing the interests of privileged groups, institutionalizing the feudal principle that kings should consult their vassals.

Question 14

Scholasticism

Answer 14

Using logic to solve theological problems, the dominant Medieval approach. Thomas Aquinas, an Italian monk/teacher at the University of Paris, wrote several summas supporting scholasticism.

Question 15

Hanseatic League

Answer 15

Organization of cities in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia, used to promote trade and commercial alliances

Question 16

Bedouins

Answer 16

Nomadic cultures based on camel and goat herding, divided into clans and tribes.
Early converts to Islam, controlling the safety of trading routes in this region

Question 17

Shaykhs

Answer 17

Tribe or clan leaders

Question 18

Quraysh

Answer 18

Tribe that the Umayyad and Muhammad belonged to.

Question 19

Hijra + significance

Answer 19

Muhammad’s flight to Medina. Marks first day on the Muslim Calendar

Question 20

Khadijah

Answer 20

First wife of Muhammad; initially his boss for several years, as he was a merchant.

Question 21

What is the capital of the Umayyad caliphate?

Answer 21

Damascus

Question 22

Define caliph

Answer 22

The political and religious successor to Muhammad

Question 23

Ridda Wars

Answer 23

Wars in which the Umayyad caliphate defeated rival prophets and won back many of the Bedouin tribes that had left following Muhammad’s death.

Question 24

Abu Bakr

Answer 24

First caliph of the Umayyad caliphate, one of Muhammad’s first followers.

Question 25

Jizya

Answer 25

Head tax paid by non-Muslims

Question 26

What caliph’s death instigated the civil war for Ali to ascend the throne?

Answer 26

Uthman’s assassination, the third caliph.

Question 27

Jihad

Answer 27

Holy war

Question 28

Dhimmi

Answer 28

People of the book

Question 29

Mawali

Answer 29

Non-Muslim converts to Islam.

Question 30

Hadiths

Answer 30

Traditions of the prophet, recorded by female scribes

Question 31

How did Islam promote literacy, even for females?

Answer 31

The Qur’an had to be read, so even women were educated in reading so as to understand it.

Question 32

Who did the Abbasid Caliphate trace descent from?

Answer 32

al-Abbar

Question 33

What was the capital of the Abbasid caliphate

Answer 33

Baghdad

Question 34

Wazir

Answer 34

The chief administrator and head of the Caliph’s inner council. The “royal executioner”

Question 35

Ayan

Answer 35

Wealthy elite that formed during the early Abbasid Empire

Question 36

Dhow

Answer 36

Arab ships with lateen sails

Question 37

Why were lateen sails special ?

Answer 37

Allowed the boat to sail both against and with the wind