Fall of Rome
Internal corruption, military weakness, and pressure from barbarian invasions caused this ancient empire to collapse in 476 CE.
What is the Western Roman Empire?
These military campaigns were waged by Western European Christians to reclaim the Holy Land from Muslim control.
What were the Crusades?
This self-sufficient economic system was centered around a lord's estate and worked by peasants and serfs.
What is Manorialism?
Official decree or formal decree issued by the Pope, named after its lead seal.
What is a Papal Bull?
Ghana, Mali, and Songhai were key West African empires famous for controlling this lucrative trade network.
What is the Trans-Saharan Gold/Salt Trade?
This ancient network of overland trade routes connected China and the Far East with Europe and the Mediterranean.
What is the Silk Road?
King of the Franks crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 800 CE who united much of Western and Central Europe.
Who was Charlemagne (Charles the Great)?
The Black Plague primarily spread across Europe along these trade routes through merchant ships carrying infected fleas on rats.
What are trade networks (Silk Road & Mediterranean routes)?
This political and social hierarchy was based on obligations between lords, vassals, and knights in exchange for land and protection.
What is Feudalism?
1054 event splitting Christianity into Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.
What is the Great Schism?
This West African leader of the Mali Empire is renowned for his 1324 pilgrimage to Mecca and immense wealth in gold.
Who was Mansa Musa?
This commercial network relied on camel caravans to transport gold, salt, and manuscripts across the Desert in Africa.
What is the Trans-Saharan Trade Network?
Signed in 1215, this Great Charter limited English royal power and protected nobles' rights.
What is the Magna Carta?
Increased trade, exposure to Asian goods, and weakening feudal nobility were major consequences of these religious wars.
What were the Crusades?
This official decree or public order is issued directly by the Pope in the Catholic Church.
What is a Papal Bull?
Central religious, political, and social stabilizing authority in medieval Western Europe.
What is the Roman Catholic Church?
This famous West African city became a world-renowned center of Islamic learning, culture, and trade.
What is Timbuktu?
Silks, porcelain, and spices traveled from South Asia to coastal East Africa along this maritime trade network.
What is the Indian Ocean Trade Network?
Following the collapse of Roman administration and infrastructure, trade in Western Europe shifted from a vast, interconnected Mediterranean network to this highly localized system of economic self-sufficiency.
What is manorialism? (or the manorial system / feudal economy)
This fatal pandemic devastated Europe in the 14th century, originating in Asia and traveling along overland and maritime trade networks.
What was the Black Plague (Bubonic Plague)?
This 1054 split created the Roman Catholic Church in the West and the Eastern Orthodox Church in the East.
What is the Great Schism?
This ultimate power of the Catholic Church allowed the Pope to cut off a disobedient king or noble from the sacraments, effectively stripping them of their religious standing and political authority.
What is excommunication?
This East African language developed as a blend of Bantu languages and Arabic through coastal trade interactions.
What is Swahili?
Gold, ivory, timber, and slaves were primary export products shipped from this East African coastal region to South Asia.
What is the Swahili Coast?
As formal education vanished with the empire, the ability to read and write was lost to the general public and became almost exclusively preserved within these religious institutions.
What are monasteries? (or monastic houses / the Church)
The demographic collapse caused by the Black Plague led to labor shortages, resulting in this major shift in medieval peasant status.
What was the demand for higher wages / collapse of serfdom?
During the Middle Ages, this institution served as the primary unifying authority, providing moral guidance, political influence, and social stability across Western Europe.
What was the Catholic Church?
Because the majority of medieval peasants could not read, these colorful church features served as a visual Bible, teaching scriptural stories through vibrant, illuminated imagery.
What are stained glass windows?
North African and Berber traders traveled across the desert to trade this essential preservative with West African kingdoms in exchange for gold.
What is salt?
These Muslim merchants from North Africa regularly crossed the desert to exchange salt, textiles, and manufactured goods with West African kingdoms.
Who were Trans-Saharan / Berber traders?