Global History Midterm 1

Front 1

Herodotus

Back 1

He was a fifth century historian who wrote The Histories which is a record of his inquiry into history. He is known as the father of history. He is important because he chronicled the past by getting the accounts rather than using mythology

Front 2

Nomadic pastoralists

Back 2

These people were herders who used animals mainly for their “secondary products” (ex: milk and wool) and moved their flocks in order for them to graze. They interacted with settled communities with trade, but violence sometimes occurred. They are important because they learned to protect their flock using weapons which led to military skills that helped them sometimes conquer settled societies.

Front 3

Akbar the Great

Back 3

The grandson of Babur, Akbar used military might and diplomatic skill to consolidate and extend the Mughal Empire. He imposed a policy of toleration that blended the cultures of the Mughal Empire because it focused on tolerance of religion. He created a hybrid identity for the Empire.

Front 4

The Fall of Constantinople

Back 4

In 1453, Constantinople was besieged and conquered by the Ottomans under Sultan Mehmed II. It was the capital of the Byzantine Empire and one of the largest cities in the world due its wealth and strategic location for trade. It was important because the fall of the city to a Muslim power meant that Christian merchants in Europe would have to obtain their goods from Asia through a hostile intermediary power. This led them to look for a direct sea route to Asia and ultimately led Columbus to start his journey.

Front 5

Pedro de Cieza de Leon

Back 5

(1520-1554) He was Spanish chronicler of the Inca Empire that came to the Americas as a thirteen year old boy. For the next seventeen years Cieza took part as a soldier in a number of expeditions that established Spanish rule in various parts of South America. He collected much information that he began to publish upon his return to Spain in 1550. He is significant because his works became a major source for historians about the workings of the Inca Empire and about the Spanish conquest of that land.

Front 6

Kinkakuji

Back 6

Known as the “Temple of the Golden Pavilion,” it was a project of the Japanese ruler shogun Yoshimitsu Ashiaga instead of the emperor. It was originally constructed as part of a villa for Yoshimitsu for when he retired, but after he died it converted into a Zen Buddhist temple with a garden setting and a “mirror lake”. It is significant because it was an important Buddhist temple and one of the few Buddhist temples housing relics of the historical Buddha himself.

Front 7

Songhay Empire

Back 7

This empire rose in the second half of the fifteenth century and it was the most recent and the largest of impressive states that operated as a crucial intersection of the trans-Saharan trade routes and derived revenue from taxing commerce. Islam was growing in Songhay, but was mainly for urban elites and there was a cultural divide with Songhay. It is significant because it became a major center of Islamic learning and commerce by the early sixteenth century and helped expand African and Asian frontiers of the Islamic faith.

Front 8

Cassava

Back 8

A crop native to South America but spread widely in Asia and Africa where its edible root provided a major source of carbohydrates and calories. It is significant because it was an important crop in the Columbian exchange and helped to offset the population drain of the slave trade in Africa.

Front 9

Aurangzeb

Back 9

A Mughal ruler of India in the 17th century, he banned alcohol, drugs, music, and dance and tried to make Islam the only religion in India. In addition, he majorly antagonized the Hindu majority and prompted various movements of oppression to the Mughals. He is significant because the Mughal Empire started to fracture under his reign which led the British to take advantage of the divisions in India and began establishing themselves as a colonial power.

Front 10

Janissaries

Back 10

They were the Sultan’s elite guard in the Ottoman Empire that were recruited forcibly as children from the Balkans and converted to Islam. They were slaves, but had high status and power and revolted periodically to overthrow certain sultans. They are significant because they were the first standing army in the region since the days of Roman Empire. Mahmud II had them massacred in 1826.

Front 11

Lady Wortley Montagu

Back 11

An 18th century English writer and aristocrat, she believed that Turkish women had more liberty than English women because they wore muslins that hid their identity so men would not know who is who and men don’t dare touch or follow a woman. She is significant because she brought the Turkish practice of inoculation to Europe.

Front 12

The Dutch East India Company (VOC)

Back 12

A company formed in 1602 and chartered by the Dutch government in 1621 to conduct trade in the East Indies. It held a monopoly over the East India trade and was authorized to declare war and make peace and were back by mercenary forces. Its rival was the English East India Company. They are significant because in their effort to hold their monopoly, they killed thousands of natives and led to Dutch rule of Indonesia.

Front 13

Potosi

Back 13

It is the world’s largest silver mine in Bolivia which arose from a barren landscape high in the Andes. The wealthy European elite in Potosi lived in luxury while 8 million Native American miners/workers died due to the hard work and mercurial poisoning. It is significant because it contributed to the mining of silver which contributed to the European splendor in the early modern era. It also led to major deforestation in the area.

Front 14

Tokugawa Shogunate

Back 14

A series of military figures (beginning in the 17th century) who unified Japan politically who viewed Europeans as a threat to that unity and expelled Christian missionaries and suppressed the practice of Christianity. For two centuries, they largely closed off their country from the emerging world of European commerce meaning they were way behind the times. They used silver-generate profits to defeat hundreds of rival feudal lords and unify their country and tried to reestablish their country.

Front 15

Elmina

Back 15

It was a castle built in 1482 as a Portuguese “factory” that eventually became a holding station for enslaved Africans on the way to the New World. It was taken from the Portuguese in 1637 by the Dutch and was used as a model for other European slave traders in West Africa. By the 18th century about 30,000 enslaved peoples passed through Elmina every year. This is significant because it was a large pit stop before the Africans were shipped to the Americas.

Front 16

The Middle Passage

Back 16

Between 1500, and 1866, the Atlantic slave trade took about 12.5 million people from Africa and shipped them across the Middle Passage where only about 10.7 million made it to the Americas. Slaves on the Middle Passage were kept in horrendous conditions where about 1.8 million died before even making it to land. This is significant because it was a major part of the slave trade that would not have made it possible.

Front 17

The Code Noir (“Black Code”)

Back 17

This governed the treatment of slaves in the French colonies. For example, if a slave struck his master or their family, he was put to death. It restricted the activities of free slaves and gave French the ability to treat slaves poorly. This is significant because it was one of the many things that set the stage for abuse of slaves and helped lead to their mistreatment for centuries.

Front 18

Bhakti

Back 18

This was a devotional form of Hinduism that its devotees sought to achieve union with one or another of India’s many deities through songs, prayers, dances, poetry, and rituals. It appealed especially to women and its practitioners set aside caste distinctions and disregarded the rituals of the Brahmin priests in order to have direct contact with the divine. It is significant because it helped to bring Hindus and Muslims together in new forms of religious expression in India in the Muslim Mughal Empire.

Front 19

Guru Nanak

Back 19

(1469-1539) The founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak was involved in the bhakti movement and believed “there is no Hindu; there is no Muslim; only God.” His teachings, and those that followed, generally ignored caste distinctions and untouchability and ended the seclusion of women while proclaiming the “brotherhood of all mankind” and the essential equality of men and women. He is significant because it was a major step to help blend Islam and Hinduism.

Front 20

Copernicus

Back 20

(1473-1543) A polish priest and astronomer in the fifteenth century, he started the scientific revolution when he argued that the planets revolved around the Sun in his book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) published in 1543. This idea, known as heliocentrism, was supported by referring to past authors referencing the heliocentric model. This is significant because it was the first time that the earth was not seen as the center of things and that science was used instead of religion to make claims.