The Fall of Rome and Islam
This Roman Emperor moved the capital to the East in 330 CE and renamed the city after himself.
Who was Constantine?
West African empires grew incredibly wealthy by controlling the trade of these two major resources.
What are gold and salt?
These military warriors of medieval Japan followed a strict code of honor called Bushido.
Who are Samurai?
This Mesoamerican empire built its capital city, Tenochtitlan, on an island in the middle of a lake.
Who were the Aztecs?
Meaning "rebirth," this cultural movement began in Italy and sparked a renewed interest in ancient Greek and Roman art and learning.
What is the Renaissance?
Followers of Islam are expected to fulfill these five core duties, which include faith, prayer, charity, fasting, and pilgrimage.
This large desert had to be crossed by traders using camel caravans to reach West African kingdoms.
What is the Sahara Desert?
This nomadic group from the steppes of Central Asia conquered China and created the largest contiguous empire in world history.
Who were the Mongols?
Located in the Andes Mountains of South America, this empire used a system of knotted strings called quipus to keep records.
Who were the Incas?
Johannes Gutenberg's invention of this machine around 1440 allowed books to be mass-produced, rapidly spreading literacy across Europe.
What is the printing press?
This holy book of Islam contains the revelations received by the Prophet Muhammad.
What is the Qur'an (Koran)?
This famous, ultra-wealthy king of Mali made a legendary pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324, giving away fortunes in gold along the way.
Who was Mansa Musa?
To work in the Chinese government during the Tang and Song dynasties, scholars had to pass difficult exams based on this philosophy.
What is Confucianism (or Neo-Confucianism)?
This civilization on the Yucatan Peninsula developed a complex hieroglyphic writing system, an accurate 365-day calendar, and independent city-states.
Who were the Maya?
This German monk launched the Protestant Reformation in 1517 by nailing his 95 Theses to a church door.
Who was Martin Luther?
This Byzantine Emperor is famous for creating a unified code of law and rebuilding the Hagia Sophia.
Who was Justinian?
This city became a world-renowned center of Islamic learning, culture, and trade under the Mali and Songhai empires.
What is Timbuktu?
In Japanese feudalism, this supreme military dictator held the actual political power, while the Emperor served as a figurehead.
Who is the Shogun?
To farm on steep mountainsides, the Incas engineered this method of cutting flat steps into the slopes.
What is terrace farming?
This philosophical movement of the Renaissance shifted the focus away from religious theology and toward human potential, reason, and worldly achievements.
What is humanism?
This major nomadic Germanic group famously sacked Rome in 410 CE, severely weakening the Western Roman Empire and contributing to its final collapse.
Who were the Visigoths?
Because early West African societies did not use writing, history and traditions were preserved by these professional oral storytellers.
Who are griots?
This famous Italian merchant traveled along the Silk Road, lived in China for 17 years, and worked for the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan.
Who was Marco Polo?
These man-made, floating agricultural gardens were used by the Aztecs to grow crops on the shallow lake beds surrounding their capital.
What are chinampas?
This systematic approach to investigating the natural world, relying on data collection, observation, and testing hypotheses, was perfected during this era.
What is the Scientific Method?