Vocabulary 600CE - 1450CE Flashcards
A black stone or meteorite that became the most revered shrine in Arabia before the introduction of Islam; situated in Mecca, it later was incorporated in the Islamic faith
Ka’aba
A blend of two or more cultures or cultural traditions
Syncretism
A branch of languages originating in Oceania
Austronesian
A collection of the sayings and deeds of Mohammed
Hadith
A document written in England in 1215 that granted certain rights to nobles; later these rights came to be extended to all classes
Magna Carta
A household of wives and concubines in the Middle East, Africa, or Asia
Harem
A Japanese feudal lord in charge of an army of samurai
Daimyo
A knight’s code of honor in medieval Europe
Chivalry
A labor system used by Andean societies in which community member shared work owed to rulers and the religious community
Mita
A member of a Polynesian group that settled in New Zealand about 800CE
Maori
A military government established in Japan after the Gempei Wars; the emperor became a figurehead while real power was concentrated in the military, including the samurai
Bakufu
A Mongol ruler
Khan
A navigational instrument used to determine latitude by measuring the position of the stars
Astrolabe
A peasant who is bound to the land he or she works
Serf
A philosophy that blended Confucianism and Buddhist thought
Neo-Confucianism
A political, economic, and social system based on the relationship between lord and vassal in order to provide protection
Feudalism
A representative assembly, most notably in England
Parliament
A ritualistic bow practiced in the Chinese court
Kowtow
A small, easily steerable ship used by the Portuguese and Spanish in their explorations
Caravel
A society that is based on the authority of kinship groups rather than on a central government
Stateless society
A system of knotted cords of different sizes and colors used by the Incas for keeping records
Quipus
A system of self-sufficient estates that arose in medieval Europe
Manorialism
A tax, comprising percentages of personal income of every kind, levied as almsgiving for the relief of the poor: the third of the Pillars of Islam
Zakat
A term applied by Islamic governments to Muslims, Christians, and Jews in reference to the fact that all three religions had a holy book
People of the book
A tower attached to a mosque from which Muslims are called to worship
Minaret
A triangular sail attached to a short mast
Lateen sails
Age groups into which children were placed in Bantu Societies of early sub-Saharan Africa; children within these groups were given responsibilities and privileges suitable for their age and in this manner were prepared for adult responsibilities
Age Grades
An ancient Chinese counting device that used rods on which were mounted movable counters
Abacus
An ancient Shinto ritual still performed in the traditional Japanese capital of Kyoto
Tea ceremony
An Andean society also known as the Inca
Quechua
An artistic technique commonly used in Renaissance painting that gave a three-dimensional appearance to works of art
Perspective
An Islamic ruler
Sultan
The architecture of twelfth-century Europe, featuring stained-glass windows, flying buttresses, tall spires, and pointed arches
Gothic architecture
Artwork first seen in Muslim lands; a type of curvilinear decoration in painting, metalwork, etc., with intricate intertwining leaf, flower, animal, or geometrical designs
Arabesque
Aztec clans that supplied labor and warriors to leaders
Calpulli
A central American society that was centered around the city of Tula
Toltecs
Chinese dynasty founded by Hongwu and known for its cultural brilliance
Ming Dynasty
Chinese dynasty that was founded by the Mongolian ruler Kublai Khan
Yuan dynasty
Chinese porcelain that has a pale, green, translucent green
Celadon
First society people located in central North America
Mississippians
Five practices required of Muslim; faith, prayer, almsgiving, fasting, and pilgrimage
Five Pillars
In China, a method of breaking and binding women’s feet; seen as a sign of beauty and social position; this confined women to the household
Foot binding
In Incan society, a clan or community that worked together on projects required by the ruler
Ayllus
In Incan society, descent through both the father and mother
Parallel descent
In medieval Europe, a grant of land given in exchange for military or other services
Fief
In medieval Europe, a grant of land or other privileges to a vassal
Benefice
In medieval Europe, a person who pledged military or other services to a lord in exchange for a gift of land or other privileges
Vassal
Islamic holy war
Jihad
Large Chinese sailing ships specially designed for long-distance travel during the Tang and Song Dynasties
Junks
Letters of credit issued in place of coins
Flying money
Military leader under the Bakufu
Shogun
Muslims who attempt to reach Allah through mysticism
Sufis
Name given to a group of sub-Saharan African peoples who migrations altered the society of sub-Saharan Africa
Bantu-speaking peoples
One who submits; a follower of Islam
Muslim
Pertaining to the middle ages of European history
Medieval
Platforms of twisted vines and mud that served the Aztecs as floating gardens and extended their agricultural land
Chinampas
Pre-Incan South American society that fell to the Incas in the 15th century
Chimor
Regional military leaders in Japan who ruled small kingdoms from fortresses
Bushi
Southeast Asian sailors who traveled the Indian Ocean; by 500CE they had colonized Madagascar, introducing the cultivation of the banana
Malay sailors
Storytellers of sub-Saharan Africa who carried on oral traditions and histories
Griots
The term applied to the rich agricultural lands of the Yangtze River valley under the Zhou dynasty
Middle Kingdom
The “divine wind” credited by the Japanese with preventing the Mongol invasion of Japan during the thirteenth century
Kamikaze
The 732 battle that halted the advance of Muslim armies into Europe at a point in northern France
Battle of Tours
The authority claimed by monarchs to appoint church officials
Investiture
The body of law that governs Muslim society
Shariah
The branch of Islam that holds that the leader of Islam must be a descendant of Muhammed’s family
Shi’ite
The branch of Islam that believes that the Muslim community should select its leaders; this was the largest branch of Islam
Sunni
The chief Muslim political and religious leader
Caliph
The Chinese class of well-educated men from whom many bureaucrats were chosen
Scholar-gentry
The code of honor of the samurai in Japan
Bushido
The community of Muslim believers
Umma
The curved metal plate in a plow that turns over an earth from the furrow
Moldboard plow
The European name for the outbreak of the bubonic plague that spread across Asia, Europe, and North Africa in the fourteenth century
Black death
The flight of Muhammed from Mecca to Medina, the first year in the Muslim calendar
Hijah
The god of Muslims; Arabic word for “god”
Allah
The head of the Eastern Orthodox Church
Metropolitan
The holy book of Islam
Quran
The holy month of Islam which commemorates the appearance of the angel Gabriel to Muhammed; fasting is required during this month
Ramadan
The house of Islam; a term representing the political and religious unity of the various Islamic groups
Dar al-Islam
The house of worship of followers of Islam
Mosque
The Japanese practice of ritual suicide
Seppuku
The military class of feudal Japan
Samurai
The name given to the pueblo-dwelling natives in the southwest North American continent
Anasazi
The name given to themselves by the Aztec people
Mexica
The payment of a tax in the form of goods and labor by subject peoples
Tribute
The period from about 1250 to 1350 in which the Mongols ensured the safety of Eurasian trade and travel
Mongol Peace (Pax Mongolica)
The period of European history traditionally given as 500 to 1500
Middle ages
The pilgrimage to the Ka’aba in Mecca required once of every Muslim who was not limited by health or financial restrictions
Hajj
The practice of the Roman Catholic and other Christian churches of prohibiting participation in the sacraments to those who do not comply with the church teachings or practices
Excommunication
The revival of learning in Europe beginning about 1300 and continuing to about 1600
Renaissance
The rule of shoguns
Shogunate
The ruler of the Quechua people of the west coast of South America; the term is also applied to the Quechua people as a whole
Inca
The skill of political survival and dominance in the world of steppe nomads; it involved the knowledge of tribal and clan structure and often used assassinations to accomplish its goals
Steppe diplomacy
The traditional Japanese religion based on veneration of ancestors and spirits of nature
Shinto
The various American tribes who, in prehistoric and early historic times, erected the burial mounds and other earthworks of the Mississippi drainage basin and the southeastern United States
Moundbuilders
Turkic military slaves who formed part of the army of the Abbasid Caliphate in the ninth and tenth centuries; they founded their own state in Egypt and Syria from the thirteenth to the early sixteenth centuries
Mamluks
Wars in Japan that pitted the Samurai against the peasants
Gempei Wars
