Essential Vocab Flashcards
Sahel
Grassland belt region on the southern fringe of the Sahara desert, where many civs pop up.
Sharia
The Islamic law; among other things, it defined a patrilineal policy of inheritance
What civilization had the city of Timbuktu?
Mali
Griots
Oral historians in the Mali empire that advised the King
Ibn Batuta
Arab historian that traveled and wrote abt African civs that he visited.
Umma
Islamic community of believers
What state succeeded Mali Empire?
Songhay
Kiev
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.
Rurik
First prince of Kiev.
Vladimir I
Responsible for the beginning of national conversion to Christianity, creating a Russian Orthodox Church via militarily forced and mass conversions + importing Byzantine church leaders.
Yaroslav
Last of the great Kievan princes, who built many churches, passed legal codification, and arranged the translation of religious texts into Slavic
Magna Carta
A statement of feudal rights against the power of the King, showing the divide between the rulers and the feudal aristocracy.
Parliament
Bodies representing the interests of privileged groups, institutionalizing the feudal principle that kings should consult their vassals.
Scholasticism
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.
Hanseatic League
Organization of cities in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia, used to promote trade and commercial alliances
Bedouins
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
Shaykhs
Tribe or clan leaders
Quraysh
Tribe that the Umayyad and Muhammad belonged to.
Hijra + significance
Muhammad’s flight to Medina. Marks first day on the Muslim Calendar
Khadijah
First wife of Muhammad; initially his boss for several years, as he was a merchant.
What is the capital of the Umayyad caliphate?
Damascus
Define caliph
The political and religious successor to Muhammad
Ridda Wars
Wars in which the Umayyad caliphate defeated rival prophets and won back many of the Bedouin tribes that had left following Muhammad’s death.
Abu Bakr
First caliph of the Umayyad caliphate, one of Muhammad’s first followers.
Jizya
Head tax paid by non-Muslims
What caliph’s death instigated the civil war for Ali to ascend the throne?
Uthman’s assassination, the third caliph.
Jihad
Holy war
Dhimmi
People of the book
Mawali
Non-Muslim converts to Islam.
Hadiths
Traditions of the prophet, recorded by female scribes
How did Islam promote literacy, even for females?
The Qur’an had to be read, so even women were educated in reading so as to understand it.
Who did the Abbasid Caliphate trace descent from?
al-Abbar
What was the capital of the Abbasid caliphate
Baghdad
Wazir
The chief administrator and head of the Caliph’s inner council. The “royal executioner”
Ayan
Wealthy elite that formed during the early Abbasid Empire
Dhow
Arab ships with lateen sails
Why were lateen sails special ?
Allowed the boat to sail both against and with the wind
