Middle Ages
This system of government and society in the Middle Ages was based on land, loyalty, and duty.
What is feudalism?
This is the heavy metal outfit that knights wore to protect themselves in battle.
What is armor?
This Italian explorer traveled all the way to China along the Silk Road and wrote a famous book about his adventures.
Who is Marco Polo?
The word Renaissance means this in French, because it was a time when people took a fresh interest in art, science, and learning.
What is "rebirth"?
This explorer sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492, landing in the Americas while looking for a shortcut to Asia.
Who is Christopher Columbus?
This terrible sickness, also called the Black Death, spread across Europe and wiped out millions of people.
This was a deep, wide ditch dug around a castle, usually filled with water, to keep enemies out.
What is a moat?
In feudal Japan, these elite warriors were very similar to Europe's knights and followed a strict code of honor.
Who were the Samurai?
This Italian artist and scientist painted the Mona Lisa and sketched designs for flying machines.
Who is Leonardo da Vinci?
Explorers used this magnetic tool with a needle to figure out which direction was North while out at sea.
What is a compass?
Most people in the Middle Ages were poor farmers who worked on a lord's land. They were called peasants, villeins, or this term.
What are serfs?
Before becoming a knight, a young boy would start learning skills around age 7 by serving as this.
What is a page? (Bonus: What did a page become before becoming a knight?)
This large empire, with its capital at Constantinople, was the eastern half of the old Roman Empire that survived through the Middle Ages.
What is the Byzantine Empire?
Johannes Gutenberg invented this machine, which made it much faster and cheaper to make books.
What is the printing press?
This Portuguese explorer's crew was the first to sail all the way around the world, proving the Earth was round.
Who is Ferdinand Magellan?
This powerful religious leader lived in Rome and was the head of the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages.
Who is the Pope?
This was the strict code of honor, politeness, and bravery that all knights were expected to follow.
What is chivalry?
This Chinese invention, made from a mix of chemicals, was originally used for fireworks but later changed how wars were fought.
What is gunpowder?
This brilliant artist painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and sculpted the famous statue of David.
Who is Michelangelo?
This explorer was sent by Queen Isabella of Spain to search out a new route to the East by sailing West, and instead was the second person to discovered the Americas after the Viking age.
Who is Christopher Columbus?
Signed in England in 1215, this famous document limited the power of the king and said that everyone had to follow the law.
What is the Magna Carta?
This was the strongest, safest, and tallest tower located deep inside the castle walls.
What is a keep?
The Khans, Genghis Khan being the first and most famous.
This Italian scientist pushed the idea of Heliocentrism, the Earth revolving around the Sun.
Who is Galileo Galilei?
Queen Elizabeth hired this pirate to do some "exploring" for her in the new world and he looted the Spainish cargo ships and brought back the spoils to her and she knighted him.
Who is Sir Francis Drake?