Abbasid Caliphate

overthrew the Umayyad

Caliphate and ruled from 7501258; descendants of the
prophet Muhammad's uncle,
al-Abbas

bubonic plague

disease spread by fleas bites to

rodents and humans; high
mortality rate and difficult to
prevent spread

Byzantine Empire

Eastern Roman Empire

caliphate

office established in
succession to the prophet
Muhammad to rule the
Islamic empire

Champa rice

quick-maturing rice that can

allow two harvests in one
growing season; brought to
China from Vietnam

Charlemagne

Crusades

fief

Fujiwara

Ghana

King of the Franks; established

the Carolingian Empire; first to
hold the title of emperor in
Europe in over three hundred
years
series of religiously inspired Christian
military campaigns against Muslims in
the eastern Mediterranean that
dominated the politics of Europe from
1095 to 1204

grant of land in return

for a pledge to provide
military service
an ancient family of priests,
bureaucrats, and warriors that
controlled power and protected
the Japanese emperor

first land outside the orbit of

the caliphate to experience
gradual and peaceful
conversion to Islam

Grand Canal

waterway linking the Yellow

and Yangzi Rivers; begun by
the Han and finished by the
Sui

gunpowder

mixture of saltpeter, sulfur,

and charcoal used to make
explosives and grenades

hadith

tradition relating the

words/deeds of the Prophet
Muhammad; next to the Quran,
the most important basis for
Islamic law

Holy Roman Empire

loose confederation of German

princes and principalities
headed by an emperor elected
by the princes themselves

horse collar

moves the point of traction

from the animal's throat to its
shoulders

investiture controversy

Islam

junk

Kamakura shogunate

Kievan Russia

dispute between the popes and

the Holy Roman Emperors over
who held ultimate authority
over bishops in imperial lands

"will of God"; religion of

the prophet Muhammad

very large flatbottom sailing

ship specially designed for
long distance commercial
travel in Song Empire

first of Japan's
decentralized military
governments
state established at Kiev in
Ukraine c.879 by Scandivians
asserting dominance over
mostly Slavic peoples

Koryo

Li Shimin

mamluks

Korean kingdom founded in

918 and destroyed by a
Mongol invasion in 1259

one of the founders of the Tang

empire and its second emperor;
led the expansion of the empire
into Central Asia

Turkish slaves purchased by

caliphs from Central Asia and
established into a standing
army

manors

self-sufficient farming
estates

Mecca

late-blooming caravan
city; birthplace of the
prophet Muhammad

medieval

"middle-age"; Europe circa

500-1500; intermediate point
between Greco-Roman
antiquity and the Renaissance

Medina

city where the prophet

Muhammad and his followers
emigrated to in 622 to escape
persecution in Mecca

monasticism

movable type

Muhammad

living in a religious community apart

from secular society and adhering to a
rule stipulating chastity, obedience, and
poverty; prominent element of medieval
Christianity and Buddhism

type in which each individual character is

cast on a separate piece of metal;
replaced woodblock printing and allowed
for the arrangement of characters on a
page

founder of Islam

muslim

"one who makes

submission", follower of
Islam

neo-Confucianism

Song and later versions

of Confucian thought

papacy

the office of the pope

pilgrimages

journey to a sacred shrine by

Christians seeking to show
their piety, fulfill vows, or gain
absolution for sins

Quran

holy book of Islam

schism

serf

formal split within religious

community; Latin Church and
Orthodox Church in 1054

agricultural workers
who belonged to the
manor

Shi'ites

(Party of Ali); believed that

religious leadership rightly
belonged to Ali and his
descendants

Song Empire

empire in central and

southern China from 960-1126
and in southern China from
1127-1279

Sunnis

believed that the Islamic

community should choose its
leaders more broadly

Tang Empire

unified China and part of

Central Asia from 618-907;
capital in Chang'an

Tibet

large, stable empire positioned

where China, Southeast Asia,
South Asia, and Central Asia
meet

tributary system

Uighurs

ulama

a system in which countries in East and

Southeast Asia enrolled as tributary
states, acknowledging the superiority of
the emperors in China in exchange for
trading rights and strategic alliances

Turkic speakers who

controlled their own empire
from 744 to 840 in Mongolia
and Central Asia

Muslim religious
scholars

Umayyad Caliphate

first hereditary dynasty

of Muslim caliphs;
established by Mu'awiya

umma

community defined solely by

acceptance of Islam and of
Muhammad as the
"Messenger of God"

vassal

sworn supporter of a king or

lord committed to rendering
specified military service to
that king or lord

Zen

form of Buddhism that

asserted that mental discipline
alone could win salvation