Islamic Empires and Society
The chief Muslim political and religious leader
Caliph
Islamic holy war.
Jihad
The branch of Islam that believes that the Muslim community should select its leaders; the Sunnis are the largest branch of Islam.
Sunni
A navigational instrument used to determine latitude by measuring the position of the stars.
Astrolabe
Pre-Columbian settlement located on the Mississippi River (near modern day St. Louis) that was the largest city in North America north of Mexico, with as many as 20,000 people living there at its peak. The city fell into decline after 1200, around the time that a flood occurred, becoming abandoned by 1400.
Cahokia
Aztec clans that supplied labor and warriors to leaders
Calpulli
Andean society also known as the Inca.
Quechua
A Muslim ruled region in what is now Spain, established in the 8th century A.D.
Al-Andalus
Head tax paid by all nonbelievers in Islamic territories.
Jizya
The branch of Islam that holds that the leader of Islam must be a descendant of Muhammad’s family.
Shi’ite
Complex designs typical of Islamic art, combining intertwining plants and geometric patterns.
Arabesque
Pre-Columbian civilization that flourished in the San Juan Basin of the American Southwest from the 9th to the 12th century CE
Chaco
Platforms of twisted vines and mud that served the Aztecs as floating gardens and extended their agricultural land
Chinampas
A system of knotted cords of different sizes and colors used by the Incas for keeping records.
Quipu
Second of the two great dynasties of the Muslim empire. It overthrew the Umayyad caliphate in 750 CE and reigned until it was destroyed by the Mongol invasion in 1258.
Abbasid Caliphate
A term applied by Islamic governments to Muslims, Christians, and Jews in reference to the fact that all three religions had a holy book.
People of the Book
Literally “people of the book”; applied as inclusive term to Jews and Christians in Islamic territories; later extended to Zoroastrians and even Hindus & Buddhists.
Dhimmi
Arab sailing vessels with triangular or lateen sails; strongly influenced European ship design.
Dhow
(in modern day Colorado) where Native Americans survived using a combination of hunting, gathering, and subsistence farming of crops such as corn, beans, and squash
Mesa Verde
The name given to themselves by the Aztec people
Mexica
Type of farming invented by the Inca people that made the cultivation of crops in hilly or mountainous regions possible. It is commonly used in Asia by rice-growing countries now such as Vietnam, Philippines, and Indonesia
Terraced farming
The House of Islam; a term representing the political and religious unity of various Islamic groups.
Dar al-Islam
The body of law that governs Muslim society.
Shariah
Turkic military slaves who formed part of the army of the Abbasid Caliphate in the ninth and tenth centuries/______ generals who founded their own state in Egypt and Syria from the thirteenth to early sixteenth centuries.
Mamluk
– The Grand Library of Baghdad that became one of the greatest centers of learning in the medieval world. Built primarily as a library, became the home of ancient and modern wisdom during the Islamic Golden Age, preserving important works of scholarship from across Europe and the Middle East.
House of Wisdom
Were a Chalcolithic (copper age) mound-building Native American culture that flourished in the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 to 1500 A.D., varying regionally.
Mississippians
A labor system used by Andean societies in which community members shared work owed to rulers and the religious community
Mita
Agricultural technique developed by pre-Hispanic people in the Andes region of South America. The system ensures both the collection of water and its subsequent drainage, combines raised beds with irrigation channels to prevent damage by soil erosion during floods, and creates a microclimate that prevents damage from insects and frosts.
Waru-waru
The community of all Muslims believers.
Umma
Muslims who attempt to reach Allah through mysticism. By educating the masses and deepening the spiritual concerns of the Muslims, they have played an important role in the formation of Muslim society
Sufis
Ruling military family of the Oğuz Turkic tribes that invaded southwestern Asia in the 11th century and eventually founded a Sunni Muslim empire that included Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, and most of Iran. Their advance marked the beginning of Turkish power in the Middle East.
Seljuk Empire
A characteristic of the Renaissance in which there was an increased focus on individuals rather than God.
Humanism
Name given to those people who built mounds in a large area from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Mississippi River to the Appalachian Mts. The greatest concentrations of mounds are found in the Mississippi and Ohio valleys
Mound-builders
A special merchant class in the Aztec Empire that traded in luxury goods
Pochteca
The five-century cooling of the climate from the 1200s to 1700s. The bitterly cold winters that Europeans experienced led to a reduction in agricultural productivity and trade and an increase in disease, unemployment, crime, and social unrest.
Little Ice Age