Unit 1 · The Global Tapestry, c. 1200–1450

Song Dynasty of China ● (core concept) — The imperial dynasty that ruled China from 960 to 1279. It utilized traditional methods of Confucianism and an imperial bureaucracy to maintain and justify its rule, presiding over a period of economic and cultural growth.

Imperial bureaucracy ● (core concept) — China's system of government administration staffed by officials selected through merit-based civil service examinations rooted in Confucian learning. The Song Dynasty used it to maintain and legitimize its rule.

Confucianism ● (core concept) — A Chinese philosophy and social ethic based on the teachings of Confucius, emphasizing moral governance, respect for hierarchy, and filial piety. Song rulers employed it to maintain and justify their authority.

Buddhism ● (core concept) — A religion founded on the teachings of the Buddha, centered on ending suffering through ethical conduct, meditation, and wisdom. In this period it continued to shape Asian societies in a variety of branches, schools, and practices.

Commercialization of the Song economy ● (core concept) — The process by which the economy of Song China became increasingly market-oriented and commercialized, with growing productive capacity, expanding trade networks, and innovations in agriculture and manufacturing.

Free peasant and artisanal labor ● (core concept) — Labor performed by independent farmers and craftspeople rather than enslaved or legally bound workers. The increasingly commercialized economy of Song China continued to depend on this labor.

Neo-Confucianism ○ — A revived, more philosophical form of Confucianism that blended Confucian ethics with Buddhist and Daoist ideas. It became highly influential in East Asian thought and education in this period.

Tibetan Buddhism ○ — The distinct branch of Mahayana Buddhism that developed in Tibet, blending Buddhist teachings with local Tibetan practices. It is one of the major branches of Buddhism in Asia.

Champa rice ○ — A fast-ripening, drought-resistant strain of rice introduced to China from the Champa region of present-day Vietnam. It boosted agricultural productivity and helped feed Song China's growing population.

Grand Canal ○ — The massive artificial waterway in China, expanded under the Song, that connected the rice-growing south with the political north. It moved grain, goods, and tax revenue across the empire.

Heian Japan ○ — The period of Japanese history (794-1185) centered on the imperial court at Heian (Kyoto), during which Japanese elites adopted Chinese literary, scholarly, and Buddhist traditions and adapted them to Japanese culture.

Filial piety ○ — The Confucian virtue of deep respect, obedience, and devotion toward parents and ancestors. It was a core cultural tradition shaping family and social life in East Asia.

Dar al-Islam ● (core concept) — Arabic for the 'abode of Islam': the collective term for the Muslim world, all lands under Muslim rule, stretching from Spain and North Africa through the Middle East to South and Southeast Asia.

Islam ● (core concept) — The monotheistic religion founded on the teachings of Muhammad as revealed in the Qur'an, with core beliefs and practices including prayer, fasting, charity, and pilgrimage. It continued to shape societies across Africa and Asia in this period.

Judaism ● (core concept) — One of the oldest monotheistic religions, based on the covenant between God and the Jewish people as described in the Hebrew Bible. Its core beliefs and practices continued to shape societies in Afro-Eurasia.

Christianity ● (core concept) — The monotheistic religion centered on Jesus Christ, whose core beliefs and practices continued to shape societies in Afro-Eurasia alongside Islam and Judaism.

Abbasid Caliphate ● (core concept) — The Islamic caliphate centered in Baghdad that ruled much of the Muslim world from 750 to 1258. Its fragmentation opened the way for new Islamic political entities to emerge.

New Islamic political entities ● (core concept) — The states that emerged as the Abbasid Caliphate fragmented, most of them dominated by Turkic peoples. These states demonstrated continuity, innovation, and diversity in Islamic governance.

Turkic peoples ● (core concept) — Ethnic groups originating in Central Asia (including the Seljuks and Mamluks) who converted to Islam and came to dominate the new Islamic states that emerged in this period.

Sufis ● (core concept) — Muslim mystics who emphasized a personal, devotional relationship with God. Alongside merchants and missionaries, Sufis carried Islam to many parts of Afro-Eurasia through military expansion and peaceful contact.

Islamic intellectual innovations and transfers ● (core concept) — The significant scholarly advances and movement of knowledge encouraged by Muslim states and empires, in fields such as mathematics, medicine, and philosophy, including the preservation and commentary on Greek thought.

Seljuk Empire ○ — A Turkic Islamic empire that controlled much of the Middle East from the 11th to 13th centuries, one of the new Islamic political entities that emerged as Abbasid power declined.

Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt ○ — A powerful Islamic state in Egypt and Syria ruled by former slave-soldiers (mamluks) of Turkic origin. It famously halted the Mongol advance in the Middle East.

Delhi Sultanates ○ — A series of Turkic-led Muslim dynasties that ruled northern India from the 13th to 16th centuries, establishing Islamic political power in South Asia.

House of Wisdom ○ — The great library and translation center in Abbasid Baghdad where scholars preserved, translated, and built upon Greek, Persian, and Indian knowledge.

Hinduism ● (core concept) — The diverse religious tradition of India centered on dharma (duty and righteousness), karma, rebirth, and devotion to deities such as Vishnu and Shiva. Its core beliefs and practices continued to shape societies in South and Southeast Asia.

New Hindu and Buddhist states ● (core concept) — The states that emerged in South and Southeast Asia in this period, combining Hindu and Buddhist religious legitimacy with local governance, demonstrating continuity, innovation, and diversity in state formation.

Bhakti movement ○ — A devotional movement within Hinduism emphasizing personal love and devotion to a chosen deity over ritual and priestly mediation. It spread widely across South Asia.

Vijayanagara Empire ○ — A powerful Hindu empire in southern India (14th-16th centuries) that resisted the Delhi Sultanates and patronized Hindu temple culture.

Srivijaya Empire ○ — A Buddhist maritime trading empire centered in Sumatra (c. 7th-13th centuries) that controlled key straits of Southeast Asian trade.

Khmer Empire ○ — A Hindu-Buddhist empire centered at Angkor in Cambodia (c. 9th-15th centuries), famous for monumental temple complexes such as Angkor Wat.

Majapahit ○ — A Hindu-Buddhist thalassocratic empire based in Java (13th-16th centuries) that dominated trade across the Indonesian archipelago.

Rajput kingdoms ○ — Hindu warrior-kingdoms of northwestern India ruled by Rajput clans, known for resisting the expansion of the Delhi Sultanates.

Maya city-states ○ — Independent Maya urban centers in Mesoamerica and the Yucatan, each ruled by a divine king, that competed and traded with one another.

Mexica ○ — The Nahua people who built the Aztec Empire, centered on their capital Tenochtitlan in the Valley of Mexico.

Inca ○ — The Andean empire centered at Cuzco in Peru that by the 1400s controlled a vast territory along South America's western coast.

Cahokia ○ — A large Mississippian urban center near present-day St. Louis, the biggest pre-Columbian city north of Mexico, known for its great earthen mounds.

Great Zimbabwe ○ — A wealthy stone-walled city and trading state in southeastern Africa (c. 11th-15th centuries) that grew rich on Indian Ocean gold trade.

Ethiopia ○ — A Christian kingdom in the Horn of Africa whose state system expanded in scope and reach in this period, one of Africa's enduring states.

Hausa kingdoms ○ — A group of city-states in West Africa (in present-day Nigeria) that prospered on trans-Saharan trade.

Political decentralization in Europe ● (core concept) — The fragmentation of political authority in medieval Europe, where power was dispersed among competing rulers and lords rather than held by a single central state.

Decentralized monarchies ● (core concept) — European kingdoms in which the king's authority was limited and shared with powerful nobles, characteristic of politically fragmented medieval Europe.

Feudalism ● (core concept) — The decentralized political and social system of medieval Europe in which lords granted land (fiefs) to vassals in exchange for military service and loyalty.

Manorial system ● (core concept) — The economic organization of medieval Europe in which peasants worked the lands of a lord's manor in exchange for protection and the right to farm small plots.

Serfdom ● (core concept) — A form of coerced agricultural labor in medieval Europe in which serfs were legally bound to the land and owed labor and dues to their lord.

Free and coerced labor ● (core concept) — The mix of independent and bound workers in medieval European agriculture. Europe remained largely an agricultural society dependent on both free peasants and coerced labor such as serfdom.