Empires & Rulers
This emperor codified Roman law and rebuilt the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople during the 6th century.
Justinian the Great
This 4,000-mile overland trade network connected China to the Mediterranean, facilitating the exchange of silk, spices, and ideas.
Silk Road
Invented in China during the Han dynasty but widely utilized for printing text and currency by the Song dynasty, this material revolutionized record-keeping.
paper
He united the Mongol tribes in 1206 and created the largest contiguous land empire in history.
Genghis Khan
This Moroccan scholar and explorer traveled over 73,000 miles across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, outdoing Marco Polo.
Ibn Battuta
This intellectual hub in Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age brought together scholars to translate classical Greek and Persian texts into Arabic.
House of Wisdom
This 14th-century ruler of the Mali Empire is widely considered one of the richest individuals in history and made a famous pilgrimage to Mecca
Mansa Musa
hese seasonal wind patterns in the Indian Ocean allowed merchants to reliably sail between East Africa, Arabia, and India.
monsoons
This architectural style, which dominated late medieval Europe, is famous for pointed arches, flying buttresses, and stained-glass windows.
Gothic architecture
This grand empress was the only female emperor of China, ruling during the Zhou dynasty (interrupting the Tang dynasty) in the late 7th century.
Wu Zetian
This powerful merchant association of German towns dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe from the 13th to the 17th centuries.
Hanseatic League
This Mesoamerican empire built their capital city, Tenochtitlan, on an island in Lake Texcoco, featuring advanced engineering and floating gardens called chinampas.
Aztecs