Government Structure
In medieval Europe, this political and social system was based on the exchange of land for military service and loyalty.
What is feudalism?
This invention from China, originally sought by alchemists seeking immortality, eventually changed warfare forever.
What is gunpowder?
This network of overland routes connected China to the Mediterranean, facilitating the exchange of goods and ideas for centuries.
What are the Silk Roads?
This Songhai ruler is considered the richest individual in history, famous for his lavish pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324.
Who was Mansa Musa?
In medieval Europe, this was the single institution that united people across political boundaries, with Latin as its common language.
What is the Roman Catholic Church?
This title, meaning "successor" to Muhammad, was held by the leader of the Islamic world, though by 1200 their political power had declined.
What is a Caliph?
Who invented paper and what impact did paper have on human society?
This Chinese invention revolutionized record-keeping and spread knowledge across Eurasia. It eventually led to higher literacy rates.
This maritime trade network was the world's richest, connecting East Africa, Arabia, India, and China using monsoon winds.
What is the Indian Ocean trade network?
This founder of the Mongol Empire united the nomadic tribes and created the largest contiguous land empire in history.
Who was Chinggis (Genghis) Khan?
These are some of the core duties required of all Muslims, including prayer, fasting, and a pilgrimage to Mecca.
What are the Five Pillars of Islam?
What is the civil service exam?
The Song Dynasty in China used this system of exams to select officials for its government based on merit, not birth.
This navigational tool, first used in China for fortune-telling.
What is the magnetic compass?
This network across a vast desert connected West African empires like Mali to North Africa and the Mediterranean.
What is the trans-Saharan trade network?
This Muslim leader and founder of the Ayyubid dynasty is known in the West for his chivalrous conflict with Richard the Lionheart.
Who was Saladin?
This disease, spread by fleas on rats along trade routes, killed 30-60% of Europe's population and led to the decline of feudalism.
What is the Black Death?
What was the government/societal structure of Japan around this time?
Around 1200, Japan was transitioning into its first military dictatorship, the Kamakura Shogunate (1192–1333).
Establishment of Feudalism: Power was decentralized, with shugo (military governors) and jitō (estate stewards) appointed by the shogun to manage provinces, collect taxes, and maintain order.
The concept of zero and these numerals, which we use today, were developed in India and spread to Europe through the Islamic world.
What are Arabic numerals?
West Africa's immense wealth came from trading these two commodities, which were often exchanged weight-for-weight.
What are gold and salt?
This Chinese dynasty, in power during the "Golden Age" in Asia, was the world's most technologically advanced civilization of its time.
What was the Song Dynasty?
These enslaved soldiers in the Islamic world, like the Mamluks, could rise to positions of immense power, sometimes even becoming rulers.
What is military slavery?
In the Islamic world, this was a military ruler who held the real political power, often overshadowing the Caliph.
Who was a Sultan?
This mathematical discipline, from the Arabic word al-jabr, was pioneered by Islamic scholars like Al-Khwarizmi.
What is algebra?
What is the Pax Mongolica?
This term describes the period of relative peace and safe travel across the Mongol Empire, which boosted trade along the Silk Roads.
This West African empire rose to power by controlling the gold trade, with its wealth and learning center at Timbuktu.
What was the Mali Empire?
This religion spread from India to China along the Silk Road, adapting and blending with existing philosophies like Daoism and Confucianism.
What is Buddhism?