Medieval Europe
In 800, this Frankish ruler was crowned “Emperor of the Romans,” symbolizing the alliance between church and state.
Who is Charlemagne?
This Moroccan Muslim traveler journeyed across Africa, the Middle East, India, and Southeast Asia in the 1300s.
Who is Ibn Battuta?
This trans-Saharan trade item from North Africa was exchanged for gold from West Africa.
What is salt?
This Mesoamerican empire built its capital, Tenochtitlán, on an island in Lake Texcoco.
What is the Aztec Empire?
This 1258 Mongol attack destroyed the Abbasid capital and marked the end of the Abbasid Caliphate’s political power.
What is the sack of Baghdad?
This economic system of medieval Europe centered on self-sufficient estates worked by peasants or serfs under the authority of a local lord.
What is the manorial system?
This Chinese admiral of the early Ming Dynasty led massive treasure fleets across the Indian Ocean.
Who is Zheng He?
This East African trading civilization developed along the coast and blended African, Arab, and Persian influences.
What is the Swahili Coast (or Swahili city-states)?
This Andean empire was centered in the city of Cuzco.
What is the Inca Empire?
This East African kingdom remained a stronghold of Christianity despite being surrounded by Muslim states and trade networks during the medieval period.
What is Ethiopia (or the Kingdom of Aksum/Ethiopian Empire)?
This Byzantine military and administrative system divided the empire into districts governed by military commanders who were granted land in return for service.
What is the theme system?
This Franciscan missionary traveled to China in the late 13th century and became the first archbishop of Khanbaliq under Mongol rule.
Who is John of Montecorvino?
This famous pilgrimage to Mecca by a West African ruler in the 1300s displayed immense wealth and spread Islam in his empire.
What is Mansa Musa’s hajj?
This labor system required Inca subjects to work on state projects such as roads and terraces.
What is the mit’a system?
This long lasting political and cultural interaction in northern India brought Islamic rulers over a largely Hindu population beginning in 1206.
What is the Delhi Sultanate?
This loose political entity in central Europe, revived by Otto I in 962, was neither truly holy, Roman, nor an empire, according to Voltaire.
What is the Holy Roman Empire?
This Nestorian Christian monk from the Mongol Empire traveled west as a diplomatic envoy and met with European rulers in the late 1200s.
Who is Rabban Bar Sauma?
This earlier West African empire controlled trans-Saharan trade before Mali and declined after losing control of key trade routes.
What is Ghana?
These floating agricultural plots helped the Aztecs grow food in the shallow waters around their capital.
What are chinampas?
This 14th-century Central Asian conqueror, also known as Timur, built a vast empire through brutal campaigns across Persia, India, and the Middle East.
Who is Tamerlane (or Timur)?
Using fast, shallow-draft longships, these Scandinavian seafarers raided monasteries and later established settlements such as Normandy in France.
Who are the Vikings?
This English Christian mystic of the early 15th century recorded her pilgrimages to Jerusalem and other holy sites in what is considered the first autobiography in English.
Who is Margery Kempe?
This powerful city-state in southern Africa, known for its massive stone enclosures, grew wealthy from trade in gold and ivory between the interior and the Swahili Coast.
What is Great Zimbabwe?
This system required conquered peoples in central Mexico to provide goods, labor, or captives to the dominant empire centered at Tenochtitlán.
What is the tribute system?
This German crusading military order, often associated with campaigns in the Baltic region, fought to convert pagan peoples in Prussia and Lithuania.
Who are the Teutonic Knights?