Chapter 2 - Vocab Flashcards
(31 cards)
Constantinople
New capital for the eastern half of the Roman Empire ; Constantinople’s highly defensible and economically important site helped ensure the city’s cultural and strategic importance for many centuries.
Jiyza
Special tax paid by dhimmis in Muslim-ruled territory in return for freedom to practice their own religion.
al - Andalus
Arabic name for Spain, most of which was conquered by Arab and Berber forces between 711 - 718 C.E. Muslim Spain represented a point of encounter between the Islamic world and Christian Europe.
Swahili Civilization
An East African civilization that emerged in the 8th century C.E. as a set of commercial city-states linked into the Indian Ocean trading network.
West African Civilization
A series of important states that developed in the region stretching from the Atlantic coast to Lake Chad in the period 500 - 1600 C.E.
Mali
A prominent state within West African civilization ; it was established in 1235 C.E. and flourished for several centuries.
Trans-Saharan Slave Trade
A fairly small - scale commerce in enslaved people that flourished especially from 1100 - 1400, exporting enslaved West Africans across the Sahara for sale in Islamic North Africa.
Timbuktu
A major commercial city of West African civilization and a noted center of Islamic scholarship and education by the 16th century.
Byzantine Empire
A continuation of the eastern portion of the Roman Empire. It lasted for a thousand years after the collapse of Roman rule in the west, until its conquest by Muslim forces in 1453.
Ottoman Seizure of Constantinople
The city of Constantinople, the capital and almost the only outpost left of the Byzantine Empire, fell to the army of the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II “the Conqueror” in 1453, an event that marked the end of Christian Byzantium.
Kievan Rus
A culturally diverse civilization that emerged around the city of Kiev in the 9th century C.E. and adopted Christianity in the 10th, thus linking this emerging Russian state to the world of Eastern Orthodoxy.
Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Branch of Christianity that developed in the eastern part of the Roman Empire and gradually seperated
Song Dynasty
A Chinese dynasty (960-1279) that rose after the Tang Dynasty. An explosion of scholarship gave rise to Neo - Confucianism, and a revolution in agricultural and industrial production made China the richest, and most populated country on the planet.
China’s Economic Revolution
A major rise in prosperity that took place in China, marked by rapid population growth, urbanization, economic specialization, the development of an immense network of internal waterways, and a great increase in industrial production and technological innovation.
Hangzhou
China’s capital during the Song Dynasty, with a population at its height of more than a million people.
Foot Binding
A Chinese practice of tightly wrapping girls feet to keep them small, prevalent in the Song Dynasty and later ; emphasis on small size and delicacy was central to views of female beauty.
Hangul
A phonetic alphabet developed in Korea in the 15th century in a move toward greater cultural independence from China.
Bushido
The “way of warrior” reffering to the marital values of the Japanese Samurai, including bravery, loyalty, and an emphasis on death over surrender.
Tribute System
A set of practices that required a show of subordination from all non-Chinese authorities and the payment of tribute to the Chinese emperor. In return, China would grant trading rights to foreigners and offer gifts even more valuable than the tribute itself.
Chu Nom
A variation of Chinese writing developed in Vietnam that became the basis for an independent national literature ; “southern script”.
Srivijaya
A Malay kingdom that dominated the critical choke point in Indian Ocean trade at the strait of Melaka between 670 - 1025 C.E. Like other places in Southeast Asia, Srivijaya absorbed various cultural influences from India.
Madjapahit
A significant Southeast Asian state that assimilated Hindu religious ideas. It was located primarily on the island of Java and was at the peak of its power in the 14th century.
Angkor Wat
Temple build by the powerful Angkor kingdom in the 12th century C.E. to express a Hindu understanding of the cosmos centered on a mythical Mouth Meru, the home of the gods in Hindu tradition.
Abbasid Caliphate
An Arab dynasty of caliphs who governed much of the Islamic world from its capital in Baghdad beginning in 750 C.E. after 900 C.E. that empire increasingly fragmented until its overthrow by the Mongols in 1258.
