Moroccan Muslim scholar, the most widely traveled individual of his time He wrote a detailed account of his visits to Islamic lands from China to Spain and the western Sudan
A temple complex built in the Khmer Empire and dedicated to the Hindu God, Vishnu
Angkor Wat
an instrument containing a magnetized pointer that shows the direction of magnetic north and bearings from it
Compass
The system recruiting workers for particularly difficult and dangerous chores that free laborers would not accept
Mita System
An economic and defensive alliance of the free towns in northern Germany, founded about 1241 and most powerful in the fourteenth century
Hanseatic League
Venetian merchant and traveler His accounts of his travels to China offered Europeans a firsthand view of Asian lands and stimulated interest in Asian trade
Marco Polo
An Italian trading city on the Ariatic Sea, agreed to help the Byzantines' effort to regain the lands in return for trading privileges in Constantinople
Venice
Chinese ships, particularly from the 1400 s It was a sturdy Chinese ship design and the largest of its kind were treasures ships that could carry a thousand tons of cargo
Junks
small subsistence farms, commercial farms or sharecropping
Peasant Agriculture
Waring states that were always competing for control of trade routes and each other Many of these city states were Muslim and very cosmopolitan
Swahili City-States
The collective community of Islamic peoples, which is thought to transcend ethnic and political boundaries
Ummah
330 1453 eastern half of the Roman Empire, survived after fall of the Western Empire at the end of 5 th century C E Capital was Constantinople, named after Emperor Constantine
Byzantine Empire
An instrument used by sailors to determine their location by observing the position of the stars and planets
Astrolabe
A system of knots used for record keeping by the Incas
Quipos
A political religious system in which the secular ruler is also head of the religious establishment, as in the Byzantine Empire
Caesaropapism
570 632 Born in Mecca, died in Medina Founder of Islam Regarded by Muslims as a prophet of God Teachings make up the Qu'ran the Muslim holy book
Mohammed
As part of the Mali empire, this city became a major terminus of the trans Saharan trade and a center of Islamic learning
Timbuktu
group of traveling merchants and animals
Caravan
Raised fields constructed along lake shores in Mesoamerica to increase agricultural yields
Chinampas
a government in which the supreme power is in the hands of a sultan the sultan may be an absolute ruler or a sovereign with constitutionally limited authority
Sultanate
Emperor of the kingdom of Mali in Africa He made a famous pilgrimage to Mecca and established trade routes to the Middle East
Mansa Musa
Loose federation of mostly German states and principalities, headed by an emperor elected by the princes It lasted from 962 to 1806
Holy Roman Empire
sturdy boats built by Vikings that could
survive in the oceans and navigate in rivers
creating flat platforms in the hillside that provide a level planting surface, which reduces soil runoff from the slope
Terracing
A political system in which nobles are granted the use of lands that legally belong to their king, in exchange for their loyalty, military service, protection of people who live on land
Feudalism