WHAP Vocab Review

Renaissance

"rebirth"; following the Middle Ages into modernity, a movement that centered on the revival of interest in the classical learning of Greece and Rome

Magna Carta

(1215) a charter of liberties (freedoms) that King John "Lackland" of England was forced to sign; it made the king obey the same laws as the citizens of his kingdom. It reformed law and justice and controlled behavior of royals

Yuan Dynasty

(1279-1368 CE) The dynasty with Mongol rule in China; centralized with bureaucracy but structure is different: Mongols on top->Persian bureaucrats->Chinese bureaucrats.

Mahayana Buddhism

Also known as popular Buddhism, is allows people more ways to reach enlightenment and boddhisattvas can help you reach enlightenment.

Bhakti Movement

An immensely popular development in Hinduism, advocating intense devotion toward a particular deity.

Ibn Khaldun

Arab historian. He developed an influential theory on the rise and fall of states. Born in Tunis, he spent his later years in Cairo as a teacher and judge. In 1400 he was sent to Damascus to negotiate the surrender of the city. Founder of the modern disciplines of sociology, economics, historiography and more.

Sahel

Belt south of the Sahara where it transitions into savanna across central Africa. It means literally 'coastland' in Arabic.

Dunhuang

Chinese city located on silk road that transmitted Mahayana Buddhism to China.

Timbuktu

City on the Niger River in the modern country of Mali. It was founded by the Tuareg as a seasonal camp sometime after 1000. As part of the Mali empire, Timbuktu became a major major terminus of the trans-Saharan trade and a center of Islamic learning.

Khutulun

A Mongol princess/noblewoman (ca. 1260-1306) whose exploits in battle and wrestling, along with her choice of husbands, provide insight into the relative freedom and influence of elite Mongol women in their societies.

Xiongnu

A confederation of nomadic peoples living beyond the northwest frontier of ancient China. Chinese rulers tried a variety of defenses and stratagems to ward off these 'barbarians,' as they called them, and dispersed them in 1st Century. (168)

Black Death

A deadly plague that swept through Europe between 1347 and 1351

Bantu

A major African language family. Collective name of a large group of sub-Saharan African languages and of the peoples speaking these languages. Famous for migrations throughout central and southern Africa.

Turks

A member of the Turkish-speaking ethnic group in Turkey, or, formerly, in the Ottoman Empire

Feudalism

A political system in which nobles are granted the use of lands that legally belong to their king, in exchange for their loyalty, military service, and protection of the people who live on the land. Peasants (serf) have to live on the land and farm it in exchange for protection and were not allowed to leave

Crusades

A series of holy wars from 1096-1270 AD undertaken by European Christians to free the Holy Land from Muslim rule.

Angkor Wat

A temple complex built in the Khmer Empire and dedicated to the Hindu God, Vishnu. Later became a Buddhist Temple towards end of 12th century.

Pastoralism

A type of agricultural activity based on nomadic animal husbandry or the raising of livestock to provide food, clothing, and shelter. Livestock were released onto large outdoor lands

Sikhism

Indian religion founded by the guru Nanak (1469-1539) in the Punjab region of northwest India. After the Mughal emperor ordered the beheading of the ninth guru in 1675, warriors from this group mounted armed resistance to Mughal rule.

Mahmud of Ghazni

Islamic leader who ruled parts of Iran and India between the years 997-1030. Islamic presence in India was quite new at the time. Unaccustomed to ruling a non-Muslim population, he destroyed various Hindu and Buddhist temples. His raids into India are often portrayed as being motivated by money. Which he used to build his capital in Ghazni which was a significant cultural centre in the Islamic World.

Sultanate of Delhi

Islamic state in northern India established by Mahmud's successors in 1206 C.E. that began to establish the presence of Islam on the Indian subcontinent.

Alexander the Great

King of Macedon. Between 334 and 323 B.C.E. he conquered the Persian Empire, reached the Indus Valley, founded many Greek-style cities, and spread Greek culture across the Middle East.

Camel Caravans

Used to travel across deserts. Fleets in the desert were camel caravans. Fleets usually meant groups on ships.

English Parliament

-Firmly established by the 14th century -Gained power at the expense of the king -Composed of the House of Lords (titled nobility) and the House of Commons (gentry and middle classes)

Pure Land School of Buddhism

Found within Mahayana Buddhism, used to describe the Pure Land teachings. It is the belief that there will never not be a corrupt world. So it is the goal to be reborn in the "Pure Land"

Temujin/Chinggis Khan

Founder of the Mongol Empire, united the nomadic tribes of Northeast Asia

Hulegu

Grandson of Chinggis Khan and ruler of Ilkhan khanate; captured and destroyed Abbasid Baghdad.

Modun

Great ruler of the Xiongnu Empire (r. 210-174 B.C.E.) who created a centralized and hierarchical political system.

Oral Histories

Historical accounts passed from one generation to the next. Particularly important in societies where no written accounts survive.

Kabir

Muslim mystic during 15th century; played down the importance of ritual differences between Hinduism and Islam

Sufis

Muslim mystics who seek communion with God through meditation, fasting, and other rituals

Kipchak Khanate/Golden Horde

Name given to Russia by the Mongols after they conquered it and incorporated it into the Mongol Empire in the mid-thirteenth century; known to Russians as the "Khanate of the Golden Horde."

Griots

Professional oral historians who served as keepers of traditions and advisors to kings within the Mali Empire in West Africa

Khubilai Khan

Reigned in China after establishing the Yuan Dynasty; he actively promoted Buddhism; descendant of Chinggis Khan.

Harsha

Ruler who followed Guptas in India; briefly constructed a loose empire in northern India between 616 and 657 C.E. Peace and Prosperity attracted scholars and artists.

An Lushan Rebellion

The Tang was engaged in a number of wars around it's borders and lost thousands of troops. They were also very expensive. Uprising against the Tang dynasty in attempt to replace it with the Yan dynasty. Lead by An Lushan. This weakened the centralization of the Tang

Melaka

The first major center of Islam in Southeast Asia, a port kingdom on the southwestern coast of the Malay Peninsula.

Great Schism

The separation of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church (1054 CE) After years of regular disagreements

Lineage

ancestry