1.1 East Asia
Name three Song Dynasty inventions
What are Gunpowder, Compass, Wood Block Printing (an early version of the printing press)
This was the cause of the revolt originating in Khorasan (modern-day Afghanistan), that led to the fall of the Umayyad Caliphate and the rise of the Abbasids.
What is discontent at the domination of Arabs in previous caliphates?
This section of society was the most significantly affected by process of Sinification in Vietnam (and other regions too)
Who are the elite?
A collection of autonomous but connected polities whose form of political organization could be referred to as an Exchange Network/Interaction Sphere. They were noted for building massive mounds as ceremonial town centers
What is Mississippian Society/Cohokia
Lucrative trade through this route allowed for wealthy kingdoms like Ghana, Mali and Songhai to flourish, acting as both a middleman for trade as well as exporting valuable minerals.
What is the Trans-Saharan trade route?
Under feudal systems, the majority of commoners were bound to the land they lived and worked on through this status.
What is Serfdom?
This bureaucratic system was utilized in China where official obtained their positions by demonstrating merit based on performance on this exam.
What was the Civil Service Exam
(also known as meritocracy)
bonus: this class of scholar bureaucrats was known as the "Scholar Gentry Class"
A specific features of a Caliph which distinguish them from just any other Islamic king/emperor.
What is Amir al-Mu'minin aka "Commander of the faithful"
De-jure spiritual and political leader of all Muslims, guardian of the two Holy Mosques.
This Buddhist Kingdom straddled the straights of Malacca in SE Asia. Name it and how did it make money
What is Srivijaya and tax the Indo-Chinese trade
This society was noted for linking science and religion through astronomy and had a city-state political structure.
Who are the Maya?
African storytellers and historians who rely on a hereditary system of oral tradition. To see one die is to see a library burn.
What are Griots
The Manorial system required peasants to work on projects to develop/economically exploit a vassal's land, which can be seen as this form of rent/taxation.
What is Corvee / Labour Tax?
This fast ripening and drought resistant strain of rice from Vietnam spread to other parts of Asia because of Sinification and led to major population growth.
What is Champa Rice?
In 1258, the Mongols sacked this city built by the Abbasids, which had an incredible library with knowledge from various cultures, leading it to become a major cultural center known as the House of Wisdom.
What is Baghdad?
These seasonal winds established a predictable pattern of trading activity, connecting Western India to SW Asia and the E African Coast
What are monsoon winds?
This system was employed by the Aztecs to symbolize their dominance over surrounding areas and to collect the needed human resources (literally) for their religious processes.
What is a tribute system?
Instead of a centralized government, many communities formed this type of smaller-scale self government
What are Kin Based Networks and/or Stateless Societies
Describe a political difference between the Byzantine Empire (aka Eastern Roman Empire) and Western Europe
Decentralized in the west (feudalism), central in the east (bureaucratic state)
Under the Song Dynasty, this efficient internal waterway transportation system extended over 30,000 miles and connected northern and central China, allowing the Song to become one of the most prosperous and well connected states in the world
What is the Grand Canal?
These enslaved ethnic Turks from Central Asia served as soldiers and later as bureaucrats, later seizing power in Egypt and facilitating trade between the Islamic world and Europe, in cotton and sugar.
Who are the Mamluks/Mamluk Sultanate?
(Bonus: the Seljuks were basically the same thing but in Anatolia, aka modern day Turkey)
This group brought Islam to India and reigned from the 14th to the 16th century. This lead to some Hindus converting to Islam and others resenting Islam because a tax called the jizya was imposed on non-Muslim subjects.
What is the Delhi Sultanate?
This political model was adopted by the Haudenosaunee (better known by their exonym; Iroquois) emphasizing unity, while allowing each of the five member-nations to maintain autonomy.
What is a confederal model/confederacy?
This African Kingdom practiced Christianity since the 7th century, and its Solomonic successor state would later develop into a rare Sub-Saharan case of Feudalism in the 13th century .
What is Aksum?
These two roles were primary political functions of the Catholic Church in Europe during the 13th to mid-15th century.
What is diplomacy and ideological support for feudalism?
This syncretic belief system combines Confucianist rational thought with more abstract ideas of Daoism and Buddhism.
What is Neo-Confucianism?
A type of Islamic religious practice which focuses on spiritual purity and establishing direct personal connections with Allah. Engaged in missionary activity, especially after the establishment of the Abbasids.
What is Sufism/Sufis
Hindu culture and influence was extended over much of Southeast Asia, in large part due to this thalassic kingdom in southern India who exerted wide influence over the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia.
What is the Vijayanagar Empire or Chola Dynasty
The society which is seen as establishing a Mesoamerican regional tradition (characterized by systems of writing, sport, politics and religion) although some aspects of this tradition can be seen in parts of North America.
Who are the Olmecs?
A Kingdom relying heavily on trade with the the Swahili Coast which connected the Indian Ocean trade network and the East African interior.
What is Zimbabwe or Kilwa.
This quid-pro-quo relationship between rulers and vassals highlights the decentralized nature of the feudal system.
What is control of land and right to collect rent/taxes in exchange for tax revenue and military support?