Part III Terms Flashcards
Bedouin
The nomadic pastoralists of the Arabian Peninsula, whose culture was based on camel and goat nomadism; the early converts to Islam.
shaykhs
Leaders of tribes and clans within bedouin society; usually men with large herds, several wives, and many children.
Mecca
City located in the mountainous region along the Red Sea in the Arabian peninsula; founded by Umayyad clan of Quraysh; site of the Ka’ba and the original home of Muhammad. Location of chief religious pilgrimage point in Islam.
Umayyad
Clan of Quraysh that dominated politics and the commercial economy of Mecca. Established a dynasty under this title as rulers of Islam, 661 to 750 CE.
Quraysh
Tribe of bedouins that controlled Mecca in the 7th century CE.
Ka’ba
The most revered religious shrine in pre-Islamic Arabia; located in Mecca; focus of obligatory annual truce among bedouin tribes; later incorporated as an important shrine in Islam.
Medina
Also known as Yathrib; the town located northeast of Mecca; grew dates palms whose fruit was sold to bedouins; became refuge for Muhammad following the hijra.
hijra
Muhammad’s flight from Mecca to Medina
Allah
The Arab term for the high god in pre-Islamic Arabia that was adopted by the followers of Muhammad and the Islamic faith.
Sasanian Empires
The dynasty that ruled Persia (contemporary Iran) in the centuries before the rise of Muhammad and the early decades of Islamic expansion.
Muhammad
The prophet of Islam. Born around 570 AD the Banu Hashim clan of the Quraysh tribe in Mecca; raised by father’s family; received revelations from Allah in 610 AD, died in 632 AD.
Khadijah
555-619 AD. The first wife of the prophet Muhammad, who had worked for her as a trader.
Qur’an
Recitations of the revelations received by Muhammad and the holy book of Islam.
Ali
599-661 AD. The cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad and one of the orthodox caliphs; the focus for Shi’a.
umma
The community of the faithful within Islam; transcended old tribal boundaries to create a degree of political unity.
zakat
Taxes for charity. Obligatory for all Muslims.
The Five Pillars of Islam
The obligatory religious duties of all Muslims: shahada (confession of faith), salat (prayer), fasting during Ramadan, zakat, and the hajj.
caliph
The political and religious successor to Muhammad.
Ramadan
Islamic month of religious observance requiring fasting from dawn to sunset.
hajj
A Muslim’s pilgrimage to Mecca to worship Allah at the Ka’ba.
Abu Bakr
The first caliph of the Muslim faithful after Muhammad’s death in 632 CE. Renowned for his knowledge of the nomadic tribes who then dominated the Islamic community.
Ridda Wars
Wars that followed Muhammad’s death in 632 CE, resulting in the defeat of rival prophets and some larger clans; restored the unity of Islam.
jihads
Struggles; often used for wars in defense of the faith, but also a term to indicate personal quests for religious understanding.
Copts
The Christian sect of Egypt; tended to support Islamic invasions in their area in preference to Byzantine rule.
Nestorians
A Christian sect found in Asia; tended to support Islamic invasions in their area in preference to Byzantine rule; cut off from Europe by Muslim invasions.
Uthman
Third caliph and member of the Umayyad clan; murdered by mutinous warriors returning from Egypt; death set off a civil war in Islam between followers of Ali and the Umayyad clan.
Battle of Siffin
Fought in 657 CE between forces of Ali and the Umayyads; settled by negotiation that led to the fragmentation of Ali’s party.
Mu’awiya
602-680 First Umayyad caliph following the civil war with Ali.
Sunnis
Political and theological division within Islam; supported the Umayyads.
Shi’a
Also known as the Shi’ites; political and theological division within Islam; followers of Ali.
Karbala
The site of the defeat and death of Husayn, the son of Ali; marked the beginning of the Shi’a resistance to the Umayyad caliphate.
Damascus
Syrian city that was the capital of the Umayyad caliphate.
mawali
Non-Arab converts to Islam.
jizya
Head tax paid by all nonbelievers in Islamic territories.
dhimmi
“People of the book;” applied as inclusive term to Jews and Christians in Islamic territories; later extended to Zoroastrians and even Hindus.
hadiths
Traditions of the prophet Muhammad.
Abbasid
The dynasty that succeeded the Umayyads as caliphs within Islam; came to power in 750 CE.
Battle of the River Zab
The victory of the Abbasids over the Umayyads; resulted in the conquest of Syria and the capture of the Umayyad capital.
Baghdad
The capital of the Abbasid dynasty located in Iraq near the ancient Persian capital of Ctesiphon.
wazir
The chief administrative official under the Abbasid caliphate; initially recruited from the Persian provinces of the empire.
dhows
Arab sailing vessels with triangular or lateen sails; strongly influenced European ship design.
ayan
The wealthy landed elite that emerged in the early decades of Abbasid rule.
lateen
Triangular sails attached to the masts of dhows by large booms, or yard arms, which extended diagonally high across the fore and aft of the ship.
al-Madhi
(ruled 775-785 CE) The third of the Abbasid caliphs; attempted but failed to reconcile moderates within the Shi’a to the Abbasid dynasty; failed to resolve problem of succesion.
Harun al-Rashid
One of the great Islamic rulers of the Abbasid era.
Buyids
Regional splinter dynasty of the mid-10th century; invaded and captured Baghdad; ruled Abbasid empire under the title of sultan; retained the Abbasids as figureheads.
Seljuk Turks
Nomadic invaders from central Asia via Persia; staunch Sunnis that ruled in the name of the Abbasid caliphs from the mid-11th century
Crusades
Series of military adventures initially launched by western Christians to free the Holy Land from Muslims; temporarily succeeded in capturing Jerusalem and establishing Christian kingdoms; later used for other reasons such as commercial wars and the extermination of heresy.
Saladin
Muslim leader in the last decades of the 12th century; reconquered most of the crusader outposts for Islam.
Ibn Khaldun
(1332-1406 CE) A Muslim historian that developed a concept that dynasties of nomadic conquerors had a cycle of three generations: strong, weak, and dissolute.
ulama
Orthodox religious scholars within Islam who pressed for a more conservative and restrictive theology, becoming increasingly opposed to non-Islamic ideas and scientific thinking.
al-Ghazali
(1058-1111 CE) A brilliant Islamic theologian who struggled to fuse Greek and Qu’ranic traditions; not entirely accepted by the ulama.
Mongols
Central Asian nomadic peoples; smashed Turko-Persian kingdoms; captured Baghdad in 1258 CE and killed the last Abbasid caliph.
Chinggis Khan
Born in the 1170s CE in the decades following the death of Kabul Khan; elected khagan of all Mongol tribes in 1206 CE; reponsible for the conquest of northern kingdoms of China; territories as far west as the Abbasid regions; died in 1227 CE, prior to the conquest of most of the Islamic world.
Shah-Nama
Written by Firdawsi in the late 10th and early 11th centuries CE, it relates the history of Persia from its creation to the Islamic conquests.
Hulegu
(1217-1265 CE) Ruler of the Ilkan khanate; the grandson of Chinggis Khan; responsible for the capture and destruction of Baghdad in 1257 CE.
Mamluks
Muslim slave warriors; established a dynasty in Egypt; defeated the Mongols at Ain Jalut in 1260 CE and halted the Mongol advance.
Muhammad ibn Qasim
(661-750 CE) Arab general that conquered Sind in India; declared the region of the Indus valley to be part of the Umayyad Empire.
Mahmud of Ghazni
(971-1030 CE) The third ruler of the Turkish slave dynasty in Afghanistan; led invasions of nothern India; credited with sacking one of the wealthiest of Hindu temples in northern India; gave Muslims a reputation for intolerance and aggression.
Muhammad of Ghur
(1173-1206 CE) A military commander of Persian extraction who ruled a small mountain kingdom in Afghanistan; began the process of conquest to establish Muslim political control of northern India; brought much of the Indus valley, Sind, and northwestern India under his control.
Qutb-ud-din Aibak
Lieutenant of Muhammad of Ghur; established a kingdom in India with its capital at Delphi; proclaimed himself Sultan of India (ruling 1206-1210 CE).
bhaktic cults
Hindu groups dedicated to gods and goddesses; stressed the importance of strong emotional bonds between the devotees and the god or goddess who was the object of their veneration; most widely worshipped gods were Shiva and Vishnu.
Mira Bai
(1498-1547 CE) A celebrated Hindu writer of religious poetry; reflected the openess of the bhaktic cults to women.
Kabir
(1440-1518 CE) Muslim mystic that played down the importance of ritual differences between Hinduism and Islam.
Shrivijaya
A trading empire centered on the Malacca Straits between Malaya and Sumatra; controlled the trade of the empire; Buddhist government resisted Muslim missionaries; fall opened up southeastern Asia to Muslim conversion.
Malacca
Portuguese factory or fortified trade town located on the tip of the Malayan peninsula; traditionally a center for trade among the southeastern Asian islands.
Demak
The most powerful of the trading states on the north coast of Java; converted to Islam and served as a point of dissemination to other ports.
stateless societies
African societies organized around kinship or other forms of obligation and lacking the concentration of political power and authority associated with states.
Ifriqiya
The Arabic term for eastern north Africa.
Maghrib
The Arabic word for western north Africa.
Almohadis
A reformist movement among the Islamic Berbers of northern Africa; later than the Almoravids; penetrated into sub-Saharan Africa.
juula
Malinke merchants that formed small partnerships to carry out trade throughout the Mali empire; eventually spread throughout much of West Africa.
Sundiata
The “Lion Prince;” a member of the Keita clan; created a unified state that became the Mali Empire; died about 1260 CE.
griots
Professional oral historians who served as keepers of traditions and advisors to kings within the Mali empire.
Ibn Battuta
(b. 1304 CE) An Arab traveler who described African societies and cultures in his travel records.
Timbuktu
A port city of Mali located just off the flood plain on the great bend in the Niger River. With a population of 50,000, it contained a library and a university.
Songhay
The successor state to Mali that dominated the upper reaches of the Niger valley; formed as an independent kingdom under a Berber dynasty; capital at Gao; reached imperial status under Sunni Ali (r. 1464-1492 CE).
Muhammad the Great
An Islamic ruler of the mid-16th century that extended the boundaries of the Songhay Empire.
Hausa
People of northern Nigeria; formed into states following the demise of the Songhay Empire that combined Muslim and pagan traditions.
Sharia
Islamic law; defined among other things as the patrilineal nature of Islamic inheritance.
Zenj
Arabic term for the east African coast.
Benin
A powerful city state in present day Nigeria which came into contact with the Portuguese in 1485 but remained relatively free of European influence; an important commercial and political entity until the 19th century.
demography
The study of population.
demographic transition
The shift to low birth rates and infant death rates and a stable population; first emerged in western Europe and the U.S. in the late 19th century.
Kongo
A kingdom based on agriculture formed on the lower Congo River by the late 15th century; captital at Mbanza Kongo; ruled by hereditary monarchy.
Great Zimbabwe
A Bantu confederation of Shona-speaking peoples located between Zambezi and Limpopo rivers; developed after the 9th century, featuring royal courts built of stone; created a centralized state by the 15th century, with the king taking the title of Mwene Mutapa.
Hagia Sophia
A new church constructed in Constantinople during the reign of Justinian. A wonder of the Christian world and a significant architectural and engineering achievement.
Justinian
(r. 527-565) Byzantine emperor; rebuilt Constantinople, systematized the Roman legal code, built the Hagia Sophia, made Greek the official language of the empire.
Belisarius
(c. 505-565 CE) One of Justinian’s most important military commanders during the period of reconquest of western Europe, commanding in north Africa and Italy.
Greek fire
A Byzantine weapon consisting of a chemical mixture (petroleum, quicklime, and sulfur) that ignited when exposed to water; utilized to drive back the Arab fleets that attacked Constantinople.
Bulgaria
A Slavic kingdom established in the northern portions of the Balkan peninsula that was a constant source of pressure on the Byzantine Empire; defeated by Emperor Basil II in 1014 CE.
icon
An artistic representation, usually of a religious figure.
sahel
The extensive grassland belt at the southern edge of the Sahara.
Cyril
(827-869 CE) Along with Methodius, he was a missionary sent by the Byzantine government to eastern Europe and the Balkans; converted southern Russia and the Balkans to Orthodox Christianity; he was responsible for the creation of a written script for Slavic known as Cyrillic.
Methodius
(826-885 CE) Along with Cyril, he was a missionary sent by the Byzantine government to eastern Europe and the Balkans; converted southern Russia and the Balkans to Orthodox Christianity; responsible for the creation of a written script for Slavic known as Cyrillic.
Kiev
A trade city in southern Russia established by Scandinavian traders in the 9th century; became a focal point for a kingdom of Russia that flourished to the 12th century.
Rurik
A legendary Scandinavian who was regarded as the founder of the first kingdom of Russia, based in Kiev in 855 CE.
Kievan Rus’
The predecessor to modern Russia; a medieval state that existed from the end of the 9th to the middle of the 13th century. Its territory spanned parts of modern Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia.
Vladimir I
A ruler of the Russian kingdom of Kiev from 980 to 1015 CE; converted the kingdom to Christianity.
Russian Orthodoxy
A Russian form of Christianity imported from the Byzantine empire and combined with the local religion. The king characteristically controlled major appointments.
Yaroslav
(978-1054) The last of the great Kievan monarchs; issued legal codification based on the formal codes developed in Byzantium.
boyars
Russian aristocrats; possessed less political power than did their counterparts in western Europe.
Tatars
Mongols; captured Russian cities and largely destroyed the Kievan state in 1236 CE, but left the aristocracy and Russian orthodoxy intact.
Middle Ages
The period in western European history from the decline and fall of the Roman Empire until the 15th century.
Vikings
Seagoing Scandinavian raiders from Denmark, Sweden, and Norway who disrupted coastal areas of western Europe from the 8th to the 11th centuries.
manorialism
A system that described the economic and political relations between landlords and their peasant laborers during the Middle Ages, involving a hierarchy of reciprocal obligations that exchanged labor or rents for access to land.
serfs
The peasant agricultural laborers within the manorial system of the Middle Ages.
moldboard
A heavy plow introduced in northern Europe during the Middle Ages that permitted deeper cultivation of heavier soils; a technological innovation of the medieval agricultural system.
Three-Field System
The system of agricultural cultivation by the 9th century in western Europe that included one third in spring grains and one third fallow.
Clovis
An early Frankish king that converted the Franks to Christianity around 496 CE; allowed the establishment of the Frankish kingdom.
Carolingians
The royal house of the Franks after the 8th century until their replacement in the 10th century.
Charles Martel
(686-741 CE) A Carolingian monarch of the Franks who was responsible for defeating the Muslims in the battle of Tours in 732 CE, ending the Muslim threat to western Europe.
Charlemagne
Charles the Great; A Carolingian monarch who established a substantial empire in France and Germany around 800 CE.
Holy Roman Emperors
The emperors in northern Italy and Germany following the split of Charlemagne’ empire; claimed the title of emperor around the 10th century; failed to develop a centralized monarchy in Germany.
vassals
Members of the military elite who received land or a benefice from a feudal lord in return for military service and loyalty.
William the Conqueror
Invaded England from Normandy in 1066 CE, extending the tight feudal system to England; established an administrative system based on sheriffs; established a centralized monarchy.
Magna Carta
The Great Charter issued by King John of England in 1215 CE that confirmed feudal rights against monarchical claims; represented the principle of mutual limits and obligations between rulers and feudal aristocracy.
parliaments
Bodies representing privileged groups found in England, Spain, Germany, and France that institutionalized the feudal principle that rulers should consult with their vassals.
three estates
The three social groups considered the most powerful in western countries: church, nobles, and urban leaders.
Hundred Years War
A conflict between England and France from 1337 to 1453 CE; fought over lands England possessed in France and feudal rights versus the emerging claims of national states.
Urban II
A pope who called for the first crusade in 1095 CE; appealed to Christians to mount a military assault to free the Holy Land from Muslims.
Gregory VII
A pope during the 11th century who attempted to free the church from the influence of feudal lords; quarreled with Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV over the practice of lay investiture.
investiture
The practice of state appointment of bishops; cause of war between Gregory VII and Henry IV.
Peter Abelard
(1079-1142 CE) The author of “Yes and No;” a university scholar who applied logic to problems of theology, demonstrating the logical contradictions within the established doctrine.
Bernard of Clairvaux
(1090-1153 CE) Emphasized the role of faith in preference to logic; stressed the importance of a mystical union with God; successfully challenged Abelard and had him driven from the universities.
Thomas Aquinas
(1225-1274 CE) The creator of one of the great syntheses of medieval learning; taught at the university of Paris; the author of several “Summas;” believed that through reason, it was possible to know much about natural order, moral law, and the nature of God.
scholasticism
The dominant medieval philosophical approach, so called because of its base in the schools or universities; based on the use of logic to resolve theological problems.
Gothic
An architectural style that developed during the Middle Ages in western Europe, featuring pointed arches and flying buttresses as external supports on the main walls.
Hanseatic League
An organization of cities in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia for the purpose of establishing a commerical alliance.
capitalism
An economic system based on profit-seeking, private ownership, and investment.
guilds
Sworn associations of people in the same business or craft in a single city; stressed security and mutual control; limited membership, regulated apprenticeship, and guaranteed good workmanship; often established franchise within cities.
Black Death
A plague that struck Europe in the 14th century, significantly reducing Europe’s population and affecting social structure.
Indians
A misnomer created by Columbus referring to the indigenous peoples of the New World, implying a social and ethnic commonality among Native Americans that did not exist.
Toltec culture
Succeeded Teotihuacan culture in central Mexico; strongly militaristic ethic including human sacrifice; influenced a large territory after 1000 CE, but declined after 1200 CE. Established a capital at Tula around 968 CE. Spoke Nahuatl, a language also later spoken by the Aztecs.
Topiltzin
A religious leader and reformer of the Toltecs in the 10th century who was dedicated to the god Quetzalcoatl. After losing a struggle for power, he went into exile in the Yucatan peninsula.
Quetzalcoatl
The Feathered Serpent- a Toltec deity. Adopted by the Aztecs as a major god.
Chichén Itzá
A city in Yucatan conquered by Toltec warriors around 1000 CE.
Tenochtitlan
Founded about 1325 CE on a marshy island in Lake Texcoco, the city became the center of Aztec power. It joined with Tlacopan and Texcoco in 1434 CE to form a triple alliance that controlled most of the central plateau of Mesoamerica.
Tlaloc
Called Chac by the Maya; a major god of the Aztecs associated with fertility and the agricultural cycle. The god of rain.
cosmography
the science that deals with the constitution of the whole order of nature
Huitzilopochtli
The Aztec tribal patron god that identified with the old sun god, and the central figure of the cult of human sacrifice and warfare.
Nezhualcoyotl
The leading Aztec king of the 15th century.
chinampas
Beds of aquatic weeds, mud, and earth placed in frames made of cane and rooted in lakes to create “floating islands.” Utilized as a system of irrigated agriculture by the Aztecs.
pochteca
The special merchant class in Aztec society that specialized in long-distance trade in luxury items.
calpulli
Clans in Aztec society, later expanding to include residential groups that distributed land and provided labor and warriors.
pipiltin
The Aztec nobility that controlled the priesthood and military leadership.
ayllus
Households in Andean societies that recognized some form of kinship, tracing their descent from some common, sometimes mythical ancestor.
Pachacuti
A ruler of Inca society from 1438 to 1471 CE who launched a series of military campaigns that gave the Incas control of the region from Cuzco to the shores of Lake Titicaca.
Twantinsuyu
The word for the Inca Empire, which extended from present day Columbia to Chile and eastward to northern Argentina.
split inheritance
The Inca practice of descent in which all titles and political power went to the successor, but the wealth and land remained in the hands of the male descendants for the support of the cult of the dead Inca’s mummy.
Temple of the Sun
An Inca religious center located at Cuzco that was the center of the state religion, in which the mummies of past Incas were kept.
huacas
Inca holy shrines
curacas
Local rulers under the Inca
tambos
Way stations used by the Incas as inns and storehouses that acted as both supply centers for Inca armies on the move and relay points for a system of runners used to carry messages.
mita
Labor that was extracted for lands assigned to the state and the religion. All communities were expected to contribute in this essential aspect of Inca imperial control.
yanas
A class of people within Inca society removed from their ayullus to serve permanently as servants, artisans, or workers for the Inca or the Inca nobility.
Inca socialism
A view created by Spanish authors to describe Inca society as a type of utopia, potraying it as a carefully organized system in which every community collectively contributed to the whole.
quipu
A system of knotted strings utilized by the Incas in place of a writing system that could contain numerical and other types of information for censuses and financial records.
metates
stone used for grinding food
Taika reforms
An attempt to remake a Japanese monarch into an absolute Chinese-style emperor, involving attempts to create a professional bureaucracy and a peasant conscript army.
The Tale of Genji
The first novel of any language, it relates the life history of a prominent and amorous son of the Japanese emperor. Written by Lady Murasaki; evidence for the mannered style of Japanese society.
Fujiwara
A Japanese aristocratic family in the mid-9th century that exercised exceptional influence over imperial affairs, aiding in the decline of imperial power.
esoteric
designed for or understood by the specially initiated alone; requiring or exhibiting knowledge that is restricted to a small group
bushi
Regional warrior leaders in Japan that ruled small kingdoms from fortresses; administered the law, supervised public works projects, and collected revenues; built up private armies.
samurai
Mounted troops of Japanese warrior leaders (bushi) that were loyal to the local lords instead of the emperor.
seppuku
Ritual suicide or disembowelment in Japan, commonly known in the West as hara-kiri, that demonstrated courage and was a means to restore family honor.
Taira
A powerful Japanese family in the 11th and 12th centuries that competed with the Minamoto family; defeated after the Gempei Wars.
Minamoto
Defeated the rival Taira family in teh Gempei Wars and established military government (bakufu) in 12th-century Japan.
Gempei Wars
Waged for five years from 1180 CE, on Honshu between the Taira and Minamoto families, resulting in the destruction of the former.
bakufu
A military government established by the Minamoto following the Gempei Wars that was centered at Kamakura. Though it retained the emperor, the real power lay with the military government and the samurai.
shoguns
The military leaders of the bakufu.
Hojo
A warrior family closely allied to the Minamoto, it dominated the Kamakura regime, manipulating Minamoto rulers who in turn claimed to rule in the name of the Japanese emperor at Kyoto.
Ashikaga Takuaji
A member of the Minamoto family that overthrew the Kamakura regime, establishing the Ashikaga Shogunate from 1336-1573 CE; drove the emperor from Kyoto to Yoshino.
Ashikaga Shogunate
Replaced the Kamakura regime in Japan; ruled from 1336 to 1573 CE; destroyed the rival Yoshino center of imperial authority.
daimyos
Warlord rulers of the 300 small states following the civil war and disruption of the Ashikaga Shogunate; holdings later consolidated into unified and bounded mini-states.
Choson
The earliest Korean kingdom; conquered by Han armies under Wudi in 109 BCE.
Koguryo
Tribal people of northern Korea; established an independent kingdom in the northern half of the peninsula in 37 BCE; began a process of Sinification.
Silla
An independent Korean kingdom in the southeastern part of the peninsula; defeated the Koguryo along with their Chinese Tang allies; submitted as a vassal of the Tang emperor and agreed to tribute payment; ruled a united Korea by 668 CE.
Paekche
An independent Korean kingdom in the southwestern part of the peninsula; defeated by the rival Silla kingdom and its Chinese Tang allies in the 7th century.
Sinification
The extensive adoption of Chinese culture in other regions that was typical of Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.
Koryo
The dynasty that followed the Silla (918-1392 CE).
Yi
The Korean dynasty that succeeded the Koryo dynasty following a period of Mongol invasions; established 1392 and ruled until 1910, restoring aristocratic dominance and Chinese influence.
Khmers
Indianized rivals of the Vietnamese; moved into the Mekong River delta region at a time of Vietnamese drive to the south.
Trung sisters
The leaders of one of the frequent peasant rebellions in Vietnam against Chinese rule; revolt broke out in 39 CE; demonstrates the importance of Vietnamese women in the indigenous society.
Chams
Indianized rivals of the Vietnamese; driven into the highlands by the successful Vietnamese drive to the south.
Nguyen
Rival Vietnamese dynasty that arose in southern Vietnam to challenge the traditional dynasty of Trinh in the north at Hanoi; kingdom centered on the Red and Mekong rivers; capital at Hue.
Trinh
The dynasty that ruled north Vietnam at Hanoi, 1533 to 1772; rivals of the Nguyen family in the south.
Yangdi
The second member of the Sui dynasty, he murdered his father Wendi to gain the throne; restored the Confucian examination system and was responsible for the construction of a Chinese canal system; assassinated in 618 CE.
Li Yuan
(566-635 CE) Also known as the Duke of Tang, he was a minister of Yangdi, taking over the empire following his assassination. As the first emperor of the Tang dynasty, his imperial title was Gaozu.
Chang’an
The capital of the Tang dynasty with a population of two million, larger than any other city in the world at that time.
Ministry of Rites
Administered examinations to students from Chinese government schools or those recommended by distinguished scholars.
jinshi
The title granted to students who passed the most difficult Chinese examination on all of Chinese literature, becoming immediate dignitaries and eligible for high office.
pure land Buddhism
Emphasizing the salvationist aspects of Chinese Buddhism, it was popular among the masses of Chinese society.
Chan Buddhism
Known as Zen Buddhism in Japan; stressed meditation and the appreciation of natural and artistic beauty; popular with members of elite Chinese socitey.
Empress Wu
Tang ruler 690-705 CE in China; supported the Buddhist establishment; tried to elevate it to state religion; commissioned multistory statues of the Buddha.
Wuzong
Chinese emperor of the Tang dynasty who openly persecuted Buddhism by destroying monasteries in the 840s CE; reduced the influence of Chinese Buddhism in favor of the Confucian ideology.
Xuanzong
The leading Chinese emperor of the Tang dynasty, who reigned from 713 to 755 CE, although he encouraged overexpansion.
Yang Guifei
(719-756 CE) A royal concubine during the reign of Xuanzong; the introduction of her relatives into the royal administration led to revolt.
Zhao Kuangyin
The founder of the Song dynasty (r. 960-976 CE); originally a general following the fall of the Tang; took the title of Taizu; failed to overcome the northern Liao dynasty that remained independent.
Liao dynasty
Founded in 907 CE by the nomadic Khitan peoples from Manchuria; maintained independence from the Song dynasty in China.
Khitans
Nomadic peoples of Manchuria; militarily superior to the Song dynasty but influenced by Chinese culture; forced humiliating treaties on Song China in the 11th century.
Zhu Xi
(1130-1200 CE) The most prominent of the neo-Confucian scholars during the Song dynasty in China; stressed the importance of applying philosophical principles to everyday life and action.
neo-Confucians
Revived ancient Confucian teachings in Song era China; had great impact on following dynasties; emphasis on tradition and hostility to foreign systems made Chinese rulers and bureaucrats less receptive to outside ideas and influences.
Tangut
Rulers of the Xi Xia kingdom of northwest China; one of the regional kindoms during the period of southern Song; conquered by the Mongols in 1226 CE.
Xi Xia
Kingdom of the Tangut people, north of the Song kingdom, in the mid-11th century; collected tribute that drained Song resources and burdened the Chinese peasantry.
Wang Anshi
Confucian scholar and chief minister of a Song emperor in the 1070s CE; introduced sweeping reforms based on the Legalists; advocated for greater state intervention in society.
Jurchens
The founders of the Jin kingdom that succeeded the Liao in northern China; annexed most of the Yellow River basin and forced the Song to flee to the south.
Jin
Kingdom north of the Song Empire; established by the Jurchens in 1115 CE after overthroing the Liao dynasty; ended 1234 CE.
Southern Song
The rump (small or inferior remnant or offshoot) state of the Song dynasty from 1127 to 1279 CE; carved out of the much larger domains ruled by the Tang and northern Song; culturally one of the most glorious reigns in Chinese history.
Grand Canal
Built in the 7th century during the reign of Yangdi during the Sui dynasty; designed to link the original centers of Chinese civilization on the north China plain with the Yangtze River basin to the south; nearly 1200 miles long.
junks
Chinese ships equipped with watertight bulkheads, sternpost rudders, compasses, and bamboo fenders; dominant force in Asian seas east of the Malayan peninsula.
flying money
A Chinese credit instrument that provided credit vouchers to merchants to be redeemed at the end of the voyage; reduced the danger of robbery; early form of currency.
footbinding
A practice in Chinese society of mutilating women’s feet in order to make them smaller; caused pain and restricted mobility, making it easier to confine women to the household.
Li Bo
(701-762 CE) The most famous poet of the Tang era; blended images of the mundane world with philosophical musings. Alternate spellings include Li Po and Li Bai.
kuriltai
The meeting of all Mongol chieftains at which the supreme ruler of all tribes was elected.
khagan
Title of the supreme ruler of the Mongol tribes
tumens
Basic fighting units of the Mongol Empire; consisted of 10,000 cavalrymen, each unit further divided into units of 1000, 100, and 10.
Karakorum
Capital of the Mongol Empire under Chinggis Khan, 1162-1227 AD.
Batu
Ruler of the Golden Horde; one of Chinggis Khan’s grandsons; responsible for the invasion of Russia beginning in 1236 AD.
Ogedei
(1186-1241 AD) Third son of Chinggis Khan who succeeded him as khagan following his father’s death.
Golden Horde
One of the four subdivisions of the Mongol Empire after Chinggis Khan’s death, originally ruled by his grandson Batu; its territory covered much of what is today south central Russia.
khanates
Four regional Mongol kingdoms that arose following the death of Chinggis Khan.
Battle of Kulikova
Russian army victory over the forces of the Golden Horde, helping to break the Mongol hold over Russia.
Prester John
In legends popular from the 12th to 17th century, a mythical Christian monarch whose kingdom was cut off from Europe by Muslim conquests; originally believed to be Chinggis Khan.
Baibars
(1223-1277 AD) The commander of Mamluk forces at Ain Jalut in 1260; originally enslaved by the Mongols and sold to the Egyptians.
Berke
(r. 1257-1266) A ruler of the Golden Horde who converted to Islam; his threat to Hulegu combined with the growing power of the Mamluks in Egypt forestalled any further Mongol conquests in the Middle East.
Kublai Khan
(1215-1294 AD) Grandson of Chinggis Khan; commander of the Mongol forces responsible for the conquest of China; became khagan in 1260; established a Sinicized Mongol Yuan dynasty in China in 1271.
Dadu
Present-day Beijing; so-called when Kublai Khan ruled China.
Chabi
The influential wife of Kublai Khan who promoted the interests of Buddhists in China; indicative of the refusal of Mongol women to adopt the restrictive social conventions of the Chinese; died 1281 AD.
Romance of the West Chamber
A Chinese drama written during the Yuan period; indicative of the continued literary vitality of China during Mongol rule.
White Lotus Society
Secret religious society dedicated to the overthrow of the Yuan dynasty in China; typical of peasant resistance to Mongol rule.
Zhu Yuanzhang
The given name of the Hongwu emperor, the founder of the Ming dynasty.
Ming dynasty
Succeeded the Mongol Yuan dynasty in China in 1368, lasting until 1644; intially mounted huge trade expeditions to southern Asia and elsewhere, but later concentrated efforts on internal development within China.
Timur-i Lang
Also known as Tamerlane, a leader of Turkish nomads; beginning in 1360s from the base at Samarkand, lauched a series of attacks in Persia, the Fertile Crescent, India, and southern Russia; empire disintegrated after his death in 1405.
Zheng He
A Chinese Muslim admiral who commanded a series of Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, and Red Sea trade expeditions under the third Ming emperor, Yunglo, between 1405 and 1433.
Renaissance
A cultural and political movement in western Europe that began in Italy c. 1400 AD; rested on urban vitality and expanding commerce; featured literature and art with distinctly more secular priorities than those of the Middle Ages.
Francesco Petrarch
(1304-1374 AD) One of the major literary figures of the Western Renaissance; an Italian author and humanist.
Castile and Aragon
Regional kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula; pressed the reconquest of the peninsula from Muslims and ultimately united under the Spanish monarchy.
Vivaldis
Two Genoese brothers who attempted to find a western route to the “Indies;” disappeared in 1291; precursors of the thrust into the southern Atlantic.
Vasco de Gama
Portuguese captain who sailed for India in 1497; established early Portuguese dominance in the Indian Ocean.
Henry the Navigator
A Portuguese prince responsible for the direction of a series of expeditions along the African coast in the 15th century; marked the beginning of western European expansion.
