"M" Names
This group of steppe nomads, led by Genghis Khan in the 13th century, established the largest contiguous land empire in history.
Mongols
This short-lived Chinese dynasty established an imperial “blueprint” for centralizing state power, which influenced later Chinese dynasties and even the Communist Chinese Party!
Qin Dynasty
This writing system of ancient Mesopotamia relied on a reed stylus, which would create symbols when pressed into soft clay tablets.
Cuneiform
This religion originated in Arabia in the 7th century, and spread all the way from Spain to Southeast Asia and along Africa’s “Swahili Coast.”
Islam
Originating with the Abbasid Translation Movement under the caliph Harun al-Rashid, this period saw new forms of art, architecture, literature, and science.
Islamic Golden Age
After receiving inspiration in a cave outside of Mecca, this man went on to rebuild the Kaaba and become the prophet of the world’s second-largest religion, Islam.
Muhammad
This flat Eurasian region is known for its unpredictable rainfall, constantly-shifting pastures and grasslands, and both nomadic and semi-nomadic societies.
Steppes
This civilization, now considered another major “riverine civilization” was the mother of all Mesoamerican societies.
Olmecs
Is Jesus a creation of God, or co-eternal with God? Find out the answer at this ecumenical council in 325AD, convened by the Emperor Constantine.
Council of Nicaea
Under the Gupta Dynasty, this golden age saw new advances in astronomy and mathematics, which contributed to the flourishing of learning in Baghdad a few centuries later.
Golden Age of India
The richest man in world history, who went on pilgrimage / PR tour to Mecca, and brought back leading Islamic intellectuals to his home city of Timbuktu in the Mali Empire.
Mansa Musa
Angkor Wat, Cambodia is the massive monastic complex of this religion, which originated in India and spread into Southeast Asia, China, and even into Japan
Buddhism
This system of government differs from a democracy, where instead of direct rule by the people, officials are elected to represent the people.
Republic
This major religious teacher deviated from the Vedic religions before him, by introducing the “Eightfold Path” and the way to escape the cycle of reincarnation.
The Buddha
The Mongol Empire ushered in this 100-year period of “peace,” with flourishing commerce across Eurasia, until the outbreak of the bubonic plague in the 14th century.
Pax Mongolica
Just barely old enough to drink by American standards, this Ottoman sultan conquered Constantinople on May 29, 1453, using a massive bronze cannon in the process.
Mehmed II "the Conqueror"
This Turkic empire defeated the Byzantine army at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, allowing for the mass migration of Turkic settlers into Asia Minor.
Seljuk Empire
Named after the Greek name for Greece, this term refers to the culture, ideals, and values of ancient Greece, most famously spread throughout the ancient world by Alexander the Great.
Hellenism
Unlike their Mesoamerican counterparts, the religions of this South American region practiced sacrifice to maintain reciprocity with their gods.
The Andes
This bourgeois family helped finance the Italian Renaissance through their innovative banking practices, supporting artists like Michelangelo, da Vinci, and Botticelli.
The Medici
This Roman demagogue and leader of the populares party slaughtered the pro-Senate supporters of his main rival, Sulla, and helped kickstart the fall of the Roman Republic.
Marius
During the Middle Ages in this country, the local daimyo and military shoguns were often more powerful than their emperors, who ruled from behind-the-scenes.
Japan
The “greatest” of all Egyptian pharaohs, who expanded the New Kingdom into the Levant and was likely the pharaoh in the Biblical Book of Exodus. Think Nacho Libre.
Ramesses II
This religion is a hybrid of Brahmanism, Buddhism, and Jainism, is simultaneously polytheistic and monotheistic, and originated on the Indian subcontinent.
Hinduism
The Tang Dynasty, one of China’s many golden ages, was briefly interrupted by this first and only Empress of China, who was deposed after her brutal and pro-Buddhist rule.
Wu Zetian