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Mecca

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City in western Arabia; birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad and ritual center of the Islamic religion

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Muhammad

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Arab prophet; founder of religion of Islam

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Muslim

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An adherent of the Islamic religion; a person who "submits" (in Arabic Islam means ''Submission'') to the will of God.

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Islam

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Religion expounded by the Prophet Muhammad on the basis of his reception of divine revelations, which were collected after his death into the Quran. In the tradition of Judaism and Christianity,and sharing much of their lore, Islam calls on all people to recognize one creator god-Allah-who rewards or punishes believers after death according to how they led their lives.

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Medina

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City in western Arabia to which the prophet Muhammad and his followers emigrated in 622 to escape persecution in Mecca

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Umma

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The community of all Muslims. A major innovation against seventh-century Arabia, where traditionally kinship rather than faith had determined membership in a community.

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Caliphate

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Office established in succession to the Prophet Muhammad, to rule the Islamic empire; also the name of that empire.

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Quran

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Book composed of divine revelations made to the Prophet Muhammad between ca. 610 and his death in 632; the sacred text of the religion of Islam.

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Shi'ites

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Muslims belonging to the branch of Islam believing that God vests leadership of the community in a descendant of Muhammad's son-in-law Ali. Shi'ism is the state religion of Iran.

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Umayyad Caliphate

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First hereditary dynasty of Muslim caliphs (661 to 750). From their capital at Damascus, the Umayyads ruled an empire that extended from Spain to India. Overthrown by the Abbasid Caliphate.

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Sunnis

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Muslims belonging to branch of Islam believing that the community should select its own leadership. The majority religion in most Islamic countries.

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Abbasid Caliphate

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Descendants of the Prophet Muhammad's uncle, al-Abbas, the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate and ruled an Islamic empire from their capital in Baghdad (founded 762) from 750 to 1258. (p. 234)

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Mamluks

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Under the Islamic system of military slavery, Turkic military slaves who formed an important part of the armed forces of the Abbasid Caliphate of the ninth and tenth centuries. Mamluks eventually founded their own state, ruling Egypt and Syria (1250-1517)

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Ghana

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-first known kingdom in Sub-Saharan west Africa, between the sixth and thirteenth centuries, also the modern west African country once known as gold coast

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Ulama

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Muslim religious scholars. From the ninth century onward, the primary interpreters of Islamic law and the social core of Muslim urban societies.

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Hadith

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A tradition relating the words or deeds of the Prophet Muhammad; next to the Quran, the most important basis for Islamic law.

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Schism

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A formal split within a religious community.

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Manor

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In medieval Europe, a large, self-sufficient landholding consisting of the lord's residence (manor house), outbuildings, peasant village, and surrounding land.

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Serf

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In medieval Europe, an agricultural laborer legally bound to a lord's property and obligated to perform set services for the lord

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Fief

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In medieval Europe, land granted in return for a sworn oath to provide specified military service.

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Vassal

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In medieval Europe, a sworn supporter of a king or lord committed to rendering specified military service to that king or lord.

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Papacy

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The central administration of the Roman Catholic Church, of which the pope is the head.

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Holy Roman Empire

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Loose federation of mostly German states and principalities, headed by an emperor elected by the princes. It lasted from 962 to 1806.

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Investiture controversy

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Dispute between the popes and the Holy Roman Emperors over who held ultimate authority over bishops in imperial lands.

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Monasticism

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Living in a religious community apart from secular society and adhering to a rule stipulating chastity, obedience, and poverty. It was a prominent element of medieval Christianity and Buddhism. Monasteries were the primary centers of learning and literacy in medieval Europe

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Horse Collar

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Harnessing method that increased the efficiency of horses by shifting the point of traction from the animal's neck to the shoulders; its adoption favors the spread of horse-drawn plows and vehicles.

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Crusades

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(1095-1204) Armed pilgrimages to the Holy Land by Christians determined to recover Jerusalem from Muslim rule. The Crusades brought an end to western Europe's centuries of intellectual and cultural isolation.

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Pilgrimage

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Journey to a sacred shrine by Christians, seeking to show their piety, fulfill vows, or gain absolution for sins. Other religions also have pilgrimage traditions, such as the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca and the pilgrimages made by early Chinese Buddhists to India in search of sacred Buddhist writings.

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Grand Canal

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The 1,100-mile (1,700-kilometer) waterway linking the Yellow and the Yangzi Rivers. It was begun in the Han period and completed during the Sui Empire.

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Li Shimin

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One of the founders of the Tang Empire and its second emperor (r. 626-649). He led the expansion of the empire into Central Asia.

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Tang Empire

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Empire unifying China and part of Central Asia, founded 618 and ended 907. The Tang emperors presided over a magnificent court at their capital, Chang'an.

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Tributary System

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A system in which, from the time of the Han Empire, countries in East and Southeast Asia not under the direct control of empires based in China nevertheless enrolled as tributary states, acknowledging the superiority of the emperors in China in exchange for trading rights or strategic alliances.

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Song Empire

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Empire in central and southern China (960-1126) while the Liao people controlled the north. Empire in southern China (1127-1279; the "Southern Song") while the Jin people controlled the north. Distinguished for its advances in technology, medicine, astronomy, and mathematics.

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Junk

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A very large flat bottom sailing ship produced in the Tang, Song, and Ming Empires, specially designed for long-distance commercial travel.

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Gunpowder

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A mixture of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal, in various proportions. The formula, brought to China in the 400s or 500s, was first used to make fumigators to keep away insect pests and evil spirits. IN later centuries it was used to make explosives and grenades and to propel cannonballs, shot, and bullets

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neo-Confucianism

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Term used to describe new approaches to understanding classic Confucian texts that became the basic ruling philosophy of China from the Song period to the Twentieth century.

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Zen

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The Japanese word for a branch of Mahayana Buddhism based on highly disciplined meditation. It is known in Sanskrit as Dhyana, in Chinese as Chan, and in Korean as Son

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Movable Type

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Type in which each individual character is cast on a separate piece of metal. It replaced woodblock printing, allowing for the arrangement of individual letters and other characters on a page, rather than requiring the carving of entire pages at a time. It may have been invented in Korea in the thirteenth century.

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Shamanism

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The practice of identifying special individuals (shamans) who will interact with spirits for the benefit of the community. Characteristics of the Korean kingdoms of the early medieval period and of early societies of Central Asia.

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Koryo

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Korean kingdom founded in 918 and destroyed by a Mongol invasion in 1259.

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Fujiwara

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Aristocratic family that dominated the Japanese imperial court between the ninth and twelfth centuries.

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Kamakura Shogunate

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The first of Japan's decentralized military governments (1185-1333)

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Champa Rice

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Quick-maturing rice that can allow two harvests in one growing season. Originally introduced into Champa from India, it was later sent to China as a tribute gift by the Champa state.

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Srivijaya

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A state based on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, between the seventh and eleventh centuries C.E. It amassed wealth and power by a combination of selective adaptation of Indian technologies and concepts, control of the lucrative trade routes between India and China, and skillful showmanship and diplomacy in holding together a disparate realm of inland and coastal territories.

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Teotihuacan

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A powerful city-state in central Mexico (100-75 C.E.). Its population was about 150,000 at its peak in 600.

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Chinampas

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Raised fields constructed along lake shores in Mesoamerica to increase agricultural yields.

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Maya

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Mesoamerican civilization concentrated in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and in Guatemala and Honduras but never unified into a single empire. Major contributions were in mathematics, astronomy, and development of the calendar.

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Toltecs

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Powerful postclassic empire in central Mexico (900-1168 C.E.). It influenced much of Mesoamerica. Aztecs claimed ties to this earlier civilization. (p. 305)

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altepetl

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An ethnic state in ancient Mesoamerica, the common political building block of that region.

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calpolli

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A group of up to a hundred families that served as a social building block of an altepetl in ancient Mesoamerica.

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Tenochtitlan

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Capital of the Aztec Empire, located on an island in Lake Texcoco. Its population was about 150,000 on the eve of Spanish conquest. Mexico City was constructed on its ruins.

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Aztec

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Also known as Mexica, they created a powerful empire in central Mexico (1325-1521 C.E.). They forced defeated peoples to provide goods and labor as a tax.

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Anasazi

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Important culture of what is now southwest United States (700-1300 C.E). Centered on Chaco Canyon in New Mexico and Mesa Verde in Colorado, the Anasazi culture built multistory residences and worshiped in subterranean building called kivas

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Chiefdom

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..., Form of political organization with rule by a hereditary leader who held power over a collection of villages and towns. Less powerful than kingdoms and empires, they were based on gift giving and commercial links.

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ayllu

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Andean lineage group or kin-based community.

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mit'a

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Andean labor system based on shared obligations to help kinsmen and work on behalf of the ruler and religious organizations.

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Moche

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Civilization of north coast of Peru (200-700 C.E.). An important Andean civilization that built extensive irrigation networks as well as impressive urban centers dominated by brick temples. (p. 313)

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Wari

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Andean civilization culturally linked to Tiwanaku, perhaps beginning as a colony of Tiwanaku.

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Tiwanaku

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Name of capital city and empire centered on the region near Lake Titicaca in modern Bolivia (375-1000 C.E.). (p. 315)

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Inca

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Largest and most powerful Andean empire. Controlled the Pacific coast of South America from Ecuador to Chile from its capitol of Cuzco

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Khipus

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System of knotted colored cords used by preliterate Andean peoples to transmit information.

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