Networks of Exchange
These seasonal wind patterns allowed merchants in the Indian Ocean to predict travel times between East Africa, Arabia, and India.
What are Monsoon Winds?
This Islamic empire, sandwiched between the Ottomans and the Mughals, was unique for making Shi'a Islam the state religion, often leading to conflict with its Sunni neighbors.
This biological and cultural exchange between the Old and New Worlds introduced potatoes to Europe and smallpox to the Americas.
What is the Columbian Exchange?
This conflict between Britain and China was sparked by trade imbalances and led to the "unequal treaties" that opened Chinese ports to foreigners.
What is the Opium Wars?
This metaphorical line described by Winston Churchill represented the division between Western Europe and the Soviet-controlled East.
What is the Iron Curtain?
Often found along the Silk Road, these "inns" allowed weary travelers and their animals to rest, effectively acting as the truck stops of the ancient world.
What are Caravanserai?
Under Akbar the Great, this empire in India used "Zamindars" to collect taxes and blended Persian, Islamic, and Hindu cultural influences.
What is the Mughal Empire?
This was the first European empire to round the horn of Africa and enter the Indian Ocean trade network.
What is Portugal?
This 1884–1885 meeting of European leaders carved up Africa into colonies without the input of a single African leader.
This US strategy aimed to stop the spread of communism rather than directly attacking the Soviet Union, leading to "proxy wars" in Korea and Vietnam.
What is Containment?
This West African ruler’s 14th-century pilgrimage to Mecca was so lavish that the amount of gold he distributed caused massive inflation in Cairo.
Who is Mansa Musa?
This Ottoman practice involved forcibly recruiting Christian boys from the Balkans to be converted to Islam and trained as elite soldiers or bureaucrats.
What is Devshirme?
This economic theory drove European empires to accumulate gold and silver by maintaining a favorable balance of trade with their colonies.
What is Mercantilism?
This 1857 uprising by Indian soldiers against the British East India Company led the British government to take direct control of India.
What is the Sepoy Mutiny?
This 1955 military alliance was the Soviet response to the creation of NATO, linking the USSR with its Eastern European satellite states.
What is the Warsaw Pact?
This 13th-century era, led initially by Genghis Khan, protected Silk Road trade routes, leading to a century of "peace" and increased cultural exchange.
What is "Pax Mongolica"?
The Ottoman capture of these THREE major cities in effect made the Sultan the leader of the Islamic World (or Caliph)
What are Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem?
This Spanish labor system granted settlers the right to extract forced labor from indigenous people, theoretically in exchange for Christianization.
What is the Encomienda System?
King Leopold II of Belgium personally owned this colony, where he oversaw a brutal regime focused on the extraction of rubber.
What is the Congo Free State?
This group of countries, led by nations like India and Indonesia, sought to remain neutral and avoid picking a side between the US and the USSR.
What is the non-aligned movement?
This city-state on the Malay Peninsula became a vital "choke point" for Indian Ocean trade, controlling the flow of goods between China and the Indian Ocean.
What is Malacca?
To consolidate power, this Russian leader "Westernized" his empire, even going so far as to tax the traditional long beards of the boyars.
Who is Peter the Great?
This was the European leader who invested heavily into making his country an innovator in maritime research and technology
Who is Henry the Navigator?
This US policy asserted that the Western Hemisphere was off-limits to further European colonization, effectively establishing US hegemony in Latin America.
What is the Monroe Doctrine?
These two policies—meaning "restructuring" and "openness"—were introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev and inadvertently led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
What are Perestroika and Glasnost?