Unit 1: The Americas (Prehistory - c. 1450 CE
Achievements of this civilization included advances in mathematics, astronomy, and writing.
Who are the Maya?
Richest man of all time, and leader of the Empire of Mali.
Mansa Musa
Who was the first modern European to land in the Americas?
Christopher Columbus
This European power built the first American empire, claiming a territory that stretched from the American southwest (including California and Los Angeles), down through Mexico, Central America, Peru, and ending in the southern tip of South America.
What were the most important crops from the New World?
Maize and Potatoes
This civilization built its capital in Tenochtitlan, now the site of modern-day Mexico City.
The Aztecs
Built as a center of trade and learning by Mansa Musa.
This Portuguese prince built a school for navigation in order to help facilitate the exploration.
Silver
What mammals were brought from the Old World to the New?
Horses, Cattle, Pigs, Goats (name at least two)
One of the few codices that survived the conquest, this is the name of the Mayan creation story.
Popul Vuh
This cosmopolitan East African culture was an early adopter or Christianity, and conducted official business in the Greek language.
Aksum
This Chinese admiral led voyages of exploration into the Indian Ocean, getting as far as the East African coast, primarily to show-off the achievements and wealth of Ming Dynasty China.
Zheng He
This was the first English-speaking colony in what is now the United States.
Jamestown
This Native American leader led a war against English settlers in Massachusetts.
Metacom/King Philip
This rare volcanic glass proved to be an important trade item for the Teotihuacan civilization, and was later used by Aztec warriors as a weapon.
Obsidian
This syncretic language and culture was created when the language of Arabic and Persian merchants blended with native, Bantu languages.
Swahili
Qing Dynasty
This form of slavery that developed in the Americas is unique in World History, as this system of slavery was based on race, and was hereditary.
Chattel Slavery
These companies established by the British and Dutch to facilitate trade in Asia behaved like governments, having the power to raise armies, charge taxes, and ratify treaties with foreign governments.
Built by the Mississippian culture around 1000 years ago, many Americans are unaware of this pyramid complex located near modern day St. Louis.
Cahokia
Violently captured by the Portuguese in the 1400's, this was the most important trading port on the Swahili Coast of East Africa.
Kilwa
This leader managed to unify Japan under his rule, moving the capital of Japan to Edo (modern day Tokyo) and establishing a shogunate that would later isolate Japan from the rest of the world for nearly 250 years. While this period, called the Edo Period, of isolation would lead to a flourishing of Japanese arts, it would also leave Japan behind in terms of technological innovations.
Tokugawa Ieyasu
This was the biological exchange between Afro-Eurasia (the Old World) and the Americas (the New World) following Columbus' voyage; European diseases like Smallpox led to the "Great Dying" of indigenous peoples of the Americas, while New World crops like Maize and Potatoes would help increase the populations of Afro-Eurasia.
The Columbian Exchange
This silver mine in modern day Bolivia was the richest silver mine in the Spanish empire, growing as large as London at its peak; Inca laborers were coerced into hellish working conditions through the Spanish "Mita" system here.
Potosí