The Ottomans
The Seljuks and Ottomans were from this nomadic, horse-riding, warrior ethnic group from the Asian steppe.
Who are the Turks?
What is Venice?
What is Islam?
This holy figure revealed to Muhammad that there is only one true god, and that Muhammad is his prophet.
Who is the Angel Gabriel?
Small empire that developed in West Africa between 900-1150.
What is Ghana?
What is a janizary/janissary?
During the hijra/hegira, Muhammad fled from Mecca to this city, where he gained his first Muslim congregation.
What is Medina?
These individuals keep alive the history of their villages and kingdoms through their storytelling.
Who are griots?
Muslims gather here on Fridays for prayers.
What are mosques?
A lively trade developed complete with various trade routes going across this large African desert.
What is the Sahara?
What is a "gunpowder empire"?
Great Byzantine capital conquered by the Ottomans in 1453.
What is Constantinople?
Go to one of these if you feel you are being attacked by spiritual forces and need "divine" intervention.
Who are diviners?
The Islamic Empire reached its greatest height under 7th century caliphate before steadily declining in size.
What is the Umayyads?
Medieval African empires grew wealthy from the control over the trade of these two valuable commodities.
This "magnificent" sultan is recognized for his law code and extending the empire to its greatest size.
Who is Suleiman I or Suleiman the Magnificent?
Major city of Islam, learning and commerce famous for its mud-constructed madrasa and mosque in the Kingdom of Mali.
What is Timbuktu?
The word for when some African societies pass on kinship ties through the mother's side of the family.
What is matrilineal?
These are two main branches of Islam that developed due to arguments about the who should be caliph?
What are Sunni and Shiite?
King of Mali who made a fabulous pilgrimage to Mecca and spent exorbitant amounts of gold in improving other places in Dar al-Islam along the way.
Who is Mansa Musa?
This world-famous church in Constantinople was converted into a mosque even though it retained the same name.
What is the Hagia Sophia?
Famous Southern African city, whose ruins include large stone buildings and walls, that impress historians and tourists alike.
What is Great Zimbabwe?
This is important to African communities and refers to how members were related through common bloodlines.
What is kinship?
This powerful caliphate of Dar al-Islam that was ended when its capital, Baghdad, was sacked by the Mongols in 1258.
What is the Abbasid Caliphate?
This was the latest of the medieval African empires to take over the trade routes and territory in West Africa c. 1500.
What is the Songhai Empire?