Unit 2 APWH

Lateen sail -  It is debatable whether Arab sailors invented the triangular Lateen sails that they used, but the sails were popular because sailors found that the triangular shape could easily catch winds coming from many different directions. Rudder - During the Han dynasty, Chinese scientists developed the magnetic compass and improved the rudder, both of which helped aid navigation and ship control along the seas.

Compass -  an instrument containing a magnetized pointer that shows the direction of magnetic north and bearings from it. Astrolabe - The astrolabe, improved by Muslim navigators in the 12th century, allowed sailors to determine how far north or south they were from the equator. 

Dhows - The small wooden dhows used by Arab and Indian sailors dominated the seas during the post-Classical era. Junks - The Chinese junk, also developed in the Han dynasty, was a boat similar to the southwest Asian dhow, had multiple sails, and was as long as 400ft–at least triple the size of the typical Western European ships of its time.

In the winter months, winds originated from the Northeast, while in the spring and summer, they blew from the southwest.

the land route of the Silk Road was vibrant and essential to inter-regional trade in the 14th and 15th centuries.

By the end of the 8th century CE, the Trans-Saharan trade had become famous throughout Europe and Asia. Gold was the most precious commodity traded.

South Asia, with its location in the center of the Indian Ocean, benefited enormously from trade in the Indian Ocean Basin. Although some of the causes of expanded trade in the Indian Ocean Basin were the same as those of expanded overland routes, some were related specifically to ocean travel and knowledge.

Flying cash -  allowed merchants to deposit paper money under their name at one location and withdraw the same amount at another location. Banking house - At a banking house, a person can present a bill of exchange–a document stating the holder was legally promised payment of a set amount on a set date–and receive that amount of money in exchange.

In the 13th century, cities in northern Germany and Scandinavia formed a commercial alliance called the Hanseatic League.

The Mongol conquests helped to transmit the fleas that carried the Bubonic Plague, termed the Black Death, from southern China to central Asia, and from there to Southeast Asia and Europe.

The Mongol leader Temujin born in 1162, spent the early decades of his life creating a series of tribal alliances and defeating neighboring groups one by one.

a grandson of Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, set his sights on China which was then ruled by the Song Dynasty.

 Adhering closer to Chinese tradition, rather than enforcing Mongolian practices of leadership and control, Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty.

In 1236, Batu, the son of Khan’s oldest son, led a Mongolian army of 100,000 soldiers into Russia, which at the time was a loose network of city-states and principalities. Batu’s army, which came to be known as the Golden Horde, marched westward, conquering the small Russian kingdoms and forcing them to pay tributes.

Those who expected Genghis Khan to govern the way he made war were suppressed. The period of Eurasian history between the 13th and 14th centuries was often called the Pax Mongolica, or Mongolian peace.

when Mongols conquered parts of China and Persia, they exploited the expertise of captured engineers who knew how to produce improved siege weapons

In 1368 a Buddhist monk from a poor peasant family led a revolt that overthrew the Yuan dynasty and founded the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

To make something Chinese in character or form.

settlements of people away from their homeland are known as diaspora.

Modern-day Malaysia and Indonesia became known as the Spice Islands because of the fragrant nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom they exported. 

Once the routes of the Silk Roads became stabilized, inns known as caravanserai sprang up, often about 100 miles apart.

Improvements in agricultural efficiency such as the use of Champa Rice(fast-ripening), spread from India to Vietnam and China. With a reliable food supply, the population grew, as did cities and industries, such as the production of porcelain, silk, steel, and iron. 

in the late 13th century, Marco Polo, an Italian native from Venice, visited the court of the Mongol leader Kublai Khan. Chinese cities impressed Polo. After he returned to Italy in 1295, he wrote a book about his travels.

 The voyages of the Muslim admiral Zheng He (1371-1433) reflect this transfer as well as the conflicts it sometimes generated.

When he was just 21 years old, Ibn Battuta (1304-1353), a Muslim scholar from Morocco, set out to see the world he read about.

See you soon - Pia