Unit 1 APWH

an inexpensive and efficient internal waterway transportation system extending over 30,000 miles.

proto-industrialization a set of economic changes in which people in rural areas made more goods than they could sell.

The scholar gentry was educated in Confucian philosophy and became the most influential social class in China.

One distinctive constraint on women's activities in China was the practice of foot binding, which became common among aristocratic families during the Song dynasty.

A syncretic faith, Neo-Confucianism, evolved in China between 770 and 840. It focused on social and ethical philosophy, not religious belief, combining rational thought with the most abstract ideas of Taoism and Buddhism.

During the Heian Period (794-1185) Japan emulated Chinese traditions in politics, art, and literature.

Under Islamic rule, scholars made advances in algebra and medicine. Between the 8th and 13th centuries during the innovative Abbasid Caliphate, many scholars traveled to Badhdad to study at renowned center of learning known as the house of wisdom.

west of the Abbasid Empire, Egypt had recruited slaves known as Mamaluks, to serve as soldiers and government officials. During a times of political unrest, they seized control of Egypt and established an empire, the Mamaluk Sultinate, across North Africa. 

From north of the Abbasid Empire, in central Asia, came another group of Muslims, the Seljuk Turks. They captured parts of the Middle East, including Baghdad.

Unlike Muslims who focused on intellectual pursuits, such as the study of the Quran, Sufis emphasized introspection to grasp truths that they believed could not be understood through learning.

One factor contributing to this resentment was that the Delhi Sultanate imposed a tax, called the jizya, on all non-Muslim subjects of the empire.

In East Africa, trading blended Bantu and Arabic to develop a new language Swahili.

on Lake Texcoco, the Aztecs built floating gardens called chinampas to increase the amount of space for food production.

As the Aztecs conquered much of Mesoamerica, they developed a tribute system that ensured their dominance. Conquered people were forced to pay tribute, surrender lands, and perform military service.

A system of government in which priests rule in the name of God or a god.

the Incans were subject to the mita system, mandatory public service. Men between the ages of 15 and 50 provided agricultural and other forms of labor including the construction of roads.

Using captive labor, they constructed a massive roadway system called the Carpa Nan, with some 25,000 miles of roads used mainly by the government and military.

kin-based networks, where families governed themselves. A male head of the network, a chief, mediated conflicts and dealt with neighboring groups.

Griots, or storytellers, were the conduits of history for a community. Griots possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of family lineages and the lives and deeds of great leaders. Just as men served as griots, women served as griottes. They could sing at special occasions, such as weddings.

The Normans were descendants of Vikings who settled in the northwest corner of France, a region known as Normandy.

European civilization in the Middle Ages was characterized by a decentralized political organization based on a system of exchanges of land for loyalty known as feudalism. Feudalism was the basic political organizing system of Medieval Europe.

The manorial system was the basic economic organizing system of Medieval Europe as it provided economic self-sufficiency to both peasants and nobles alike.

The feudal system incorporated a code of chivalry–an unwritten set of rules for conduct focusing on honor, courtesy, and bravery–to resolve disputes.

Serfs, while not slaves, were tied to the land.

In 1054, the Christian church in Europe experienced a division, often called the Great Schism, and split into two branch.

The combination of these religious, social, and economic pressures resulted in a series of European military campaigns between 1095 and the 1200s in the Middle East known as the Crusades.

Urban growth was hampered after about 1300 by a five-century cooling of the climate known as the Little Ice Age. Lower temperatures reduced agricultural productivity, so people had less to trade and cities grew more slowly. The Little Ice Age led to an increase in disease and an increase in unemployment.

an association of craftsmen or merchants formed for mutual aid and protection and the furtherance of their professional interests.

The Reconquista (Reconquest) or Iberian Crusades were military campaigns largely conducted between the 11th and 13th century CE to liberate southern Portuguese and Spanish territories, then known as al-Andalus, from the Muslim Moors who had conquered and held them since the 8th century CE.

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