The terms and definitions for the vocabulary terms in Ways of the World: Chapter 1.
Terms : Hide Images
| 9987130458 | Venus Figurines | Paleolithic carvings of the female form, often with exaggerated breasts, buttocks, hips and stomachs, which may have had religious significance. | 0 | |
| 9987130459 | trance dance | In San culture, a nightlong ritual held to activate a person's inner spiritual potency (n/um) to counteract the evil influences of gods and ancestors. This practice was apparently common to the Khoisan people, of who the Ju/'Hoansi are a surviving remnant. | 1 | |
| 9987130460 | shaman | In many early societies, a person believed to have the ability to act as a bridge between living humans and supernatural forces, often by means of trances induced by psychoactive drugs. | 2 | |
| 9987130461 | San, or Ju/'hoansi | A Paleolithic people living on the northern edge of the Kalahari desert in southern Africa. | 3 | |
| 9987130462 | Paleolithic "settling down" | The process by which some Paleolithic people moved towards permanent settlement in the wake of the last Ice Age. Settlement was marked by increasing storage of food and accumulation of goods as well as growing inequalities in society. | 4 | |
| 9987130463 | Paleolithic rock art | Although this term can refer to the art of any gathering and hunting society, it is typically used to describe the hundreds of Paleolithic paintings discovered in Spain and France and dating at about 20,000 years ago; these paintings usually depict a range of animals, although human figures and abstract designs are also found. | 5 | |
| 9987130464 | Paleolithic | Literally "old stone age", the term used to describe early Homo sapiens societies in the period before the development of agriculture. | 6 | |
| 9987130465 | "the original affluent society" | Term coined by the scholar Marshall Sahlins in 1972 to describe Paleolithic societies, which he registered as affluent not because they had so much but because they wanted or needed so little. | 7 | |
| 9987130466 | n/um | Among the San, a spiritual potency that becomes activated during "curing dances" and protects humans from the malevolent forces of gods or ancestral spirits. | 8 | |
| 9987130467 | Neanderthals | Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, a European variant of the Homo sapiens that died out about 25,000 years ago. | 9 | |
| 9987130468 | megafaunal extinction | Dying-out of a number of large animal species, including the mammoth and several species of hoses and camels, that occurred around 11,000-10,000 years ago, at the end of the Ice Age. The extinction may have been caused by the excessive hunting or by the changing climate of the era. | 10 | |
| 9987130469 | Jomon culture | A settled Paleolithic culture of prehistoric Japan, characterized by seaside villages and the creation of some of the world's earliest pottery. | 11 | |
| 9987130470 | insulting the meat | A San cultural practice meant to deflate pride that involved negative comments about the meat brought in by a hunter and the expectation that a successful hunter would disparage his own kill. | 12 | |
| 9987130471 | Ice Age | Any of a number of cold periods in history; the last Ice Age was at its peak around 20,000 years ago. | 13 | |
| 9987130472 | "human revolution" | The term used to describe the transition of humans from acting out of biological imperative to dependence on learned or invented ways of living (culture). | 14 | |
| 9987130473 | Hadza | A people of northern Tanzania, almost the last surviving Paleolithic society. | 15 | |
| 9987130474 | Great Goddess | According to one theory, a dominant deity of the Paleolithic Era. | 16 | |
| 9987130475 | "gathering and hunting peoples" | As the name suggests, people who live by collecting food rather than producing it. Recent scholars have turned this term instead of the older "hunter-gatherer" in recognition that such societies depend much more heavily on gathering than hunting for survival. | 17 | |
| 9987130476 | Flores man | A recently discovered hominid species of Indonesia. | 18 | |
| 9987130477 | Dreamtime | A complex worldview of Australia's Aboriginal people that held that current humans live in a vibration or echo of ancestral happenings. | 19 | |
| 9987130478 | Clovis Culture | The earliest widespread and distinctive culture of North America; named from the Clovis point, a particular kind of projectile point. | 20 | |
| 9987130479 | Chumash Culture | Paleolithic culture of southern California that survived until the modern era. | 21 | |
| 9987130480 | Brotherhood of the Tomol | A prestigious craft guild that monopolized the building and ownership of large oceangoing canoes, or tomols, among the Chumash people (located in what is now southern California) | 22 | |
| 9987130481 | Austronesian migrations | The last phase of the great human migraton that established a human presence in every habitable region of the earth. Austronesian-speaking people settled in the Pacific Islands and Madagascar in a series of seaborne migrations that began around 3,500 years ago. | 23 | |
| 9987130482 | Yellow Turban Rebellion | A major Chinese peasant revolt that began in 184 C.E. and helped cause the fall of the Han dynasty. | 24 | |
| 9987130483 | Xiongnu | Nomadic peoples to the north of the Great Wall of China who were a frequent threat to the stability of the Chinese state | 25 | |
| 9987130484 | Wudi | Han emperor who began the Chinese civil service by establishing an academy to train imperial bureaucrats. | 26 | |
| 9987130485 | Solon | Athenian statesman and lawmaker whose reforms led the Athenians towards democracy | 27 | |
| 9987130486 | Qin Shihuangdi | Literally "first emperor from the Qin" Shihuangdi forcibly reunited China and established a strong and repressive state. | 28 | |
| 9987130487 | Qin dynasty | A short-lived but highly influential Chinese dynasty that succeeded in reuniting China at the end of the Warring States period. | 29 | |
| 9987130488 | Punic Wars | Three major wars between Rome and Carthage in North Africa, fought between 264 and 146 B.C.E., that culminated in Roman victory and control of the western Mediterranean. | 30 | |
| 9987130489 | Plebeians | Poorer, less privileged Romans who gradually won a role in Roman politics. | 31 | |
| 9987130490 | Persian Empire | A major empire that expanded from the Iranian plateau to incorporate the Middle East from Egypt to India ; flourished from about 550 - 330 B.C.E. | 32 | |
| 9987130491 | Persepolis | The capital and greatest palace-city of the Persian Empire. Destroyed by Alexander the Great. | 33 | |
| 9987130492 | Peloponnesian War | Great war between Athens and Sparta (w/their allies), lasting from 431 to 404 B.C.E. The conflict ended with the defeat of Athens and the closing of Athens' Golden Age. | 34 | |
| 9987130493 | pax Romana | The "Roman Peace," a term typically used to denote the stability and prosperity of the early Roman Empire, especially in the first and second centuries C.E. | 35 | |
| 9987130494 | Patricians | Wealthy, privileged Romans who dominated early Roman society. | 36 | |
| 9987130495 | Olympic Games | Greek religious festival and athletic competition in honor of Zeus ; found in 776 B.C.E. and celebrated every four years. | 37 | |
| 9987130496 | Mauryan Empire | A major empire that encompassed most of India. | 38 | |
| 9987130497 | Marathon (Battle of Marathon) | Athenian victory over a Persian invasion in 490 B.C.E. | 39 | |
| 9987130498 | Mandate of Heaven | The ideological underpinning of Chinese emperors, this was a belief that a ruler held authority by command of a divine force as long as he ruled morally and benevolently. | 40 | |
| 9987130499 | Ionia | The territory of Greek settlements on the coast of Anatolia ; the main bone of contention between the Greeks and the Persian Empire. | 41 | |
| 9987130500 | Hoplite | A heavily armed Greek infantryman. Over time, the ability to afford a hoplite panoply and to fight for the city came to define Greek citizenship. | 42 | |
| 9987130501 | Herodotus | Greek historian known as the "father of history." His Histories enunciated the Greek view of a fundamental divide between East and West, culminating in the Greco-Persian Wars of 490~480 B.C.E. | 43 | |
| 9987130502 | Hellenistic Era | The period from 323-30 B.C.E. in which Greek culture spread widely in Eurasia in the kingdoms ruled by Alexander's political successors. | 44 | |
| 9987130503 | Han dynasty | Dynasty that ruled China from 206 B.C.E. to 220 C.E., creating a durable state based on Shihuangdi's state-building achievement. | 45 | |
| 9987130504 | Gupta Empire | An empire of India (320~550 C.E.). | 46 | |
| 9987130505 | Greco-Persian Wars | Two major Persian invasions of Greece, in 490 and 480 B.C.E., in which the Persians were defeated at both land and sea each time. | 47 | |
| 9987130506 | Darius I | Great king of Persia after the upheavals after Cyprus's death ; completed the establishment of the Persian Empire. | 48 | |
| 9987130507 | Cyrus (the Great) | Founder of the Persian Empire ; a ruler noted for his conquests, religious tolerance, and political moderation. | 49 | |
| 9987130508 | Caesar Augustus | The great-nephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar who emerged as sole ruler of the Roman state at the end of an extended period of civil war. | 50 | |
| 9987130509 | Athenian democracy | A radical form of direct democracy in which much of the free male population of Athens had the franchise and officeholders were chosen by lot. | 51 | |
| 9987130510 | Ashoka | The most famous ruler of the Mauryan Empire ; he converted to Buddhism and tried to rule peacefully and with tolerance. | 52 | |
| 9987130511 | Aryans | Indo-European pastoralists who moved into India about the time of the collapse of the Indus Valley civilization ; their role in causing this collapse is still debated by historians. | 53 | |
| 9987130512 | Alexander the Great | Alexander III of Macedon, conqueror of the Persian Empire and part of northwestern India. | 54 | |
| 9987130513 | Ahura Mazda | In Zoroastrianism, the good god who rules the world. | 55 | |
| 9987130536 | Yellow Turban Rebellion | A massive Chinese peasant uprising inspired by Daoist teachings that began in 184 CE with the goal of establishing a new golden age of equality and harmony. | 56 | |
| 9987130537 | Wudi | The Chinese emperor (r. 141-87 BCE) who started the Chinese civil service system with the establishment in 124 BCE of an imperial academy for future officials. | 57 | |
| 9987130538 | Wu, Empress | The only female "emperor" in Chinese history (r. 690-705 CE), Empress Wu patronized scholarship, worked to elevate the position of women, and provoked a backlash of Confucian misogynist invective. | 58 | |
| 9987130539 | Wang Mang | A Han court official who usurped the throne and ruled from 8 CE to 23 CE; noted for his reform movement that included the breakup of large estates. | 59 | |
| 9987130540 | Vaisya | The Indian social class that was originally defined as farmers but eventually comprised merchants. | 60 | |
| 9987130541 | untouchables | An Indian social class that emerged below the Sudras and whose members performed the most unclean and polluting work. | 61 | |
| 9987130542 | the "three obediences" | In Chinese Confucian thought, the notion that a woman is permanently subordinate to male control: first that of her father, then of her husband, and finally of her son. | 62 | |
| 9987130543 | Sudra | The lowest Indian social class (caste system) of varna; regarded as servants of their social betters. The Sudra varna eventually included peasant farmers. | 63 | |
| 9987130544 | Spartacus | A Roman gladiator who led the most serious slave revolt in Roman history from 73 to 71 BCE. | 64 | |
| 9987130545 | scholar-gentry class | A term used to describe members of China's landowning families, reflecting both the wealth generated from their land and the power and prestige that they derived as government officials. | 65 | |
| 9987130546 | "ritual purity" in Indian social practice | In India, the idea that members of higher castes must adhere to strict regulations limiting or forbidding their contact with objects and members of lower castes to preserve their own caste standing and their relationship with the gods. | 66 | |
| 9987130547 | Pericles | A prominent and influential statesman of Ancient Athens (ca. 495-429 BCE); presided over Athen's Golden Age. | 67 | |
| 9987130548 | latifundia | Huge estates operated by slave labour that flourished in parts of the Roman Empire. | 68 | |
| 9987130549 | Kshatriya | The Indian social class of warriors and rulers. | 69 | |
| 9987130550 | karma | In Indian belief, the force generated by one's behaviour in a previous life that decides the level at which an individual will be reborn. | 70 | |
| 9987130551 | helots | The dependent, semi-enslaved class of ancient Sparta whose social discontent prompted the militarization of Spartan society. | 71 | |
| 9987130552 | Greek and Roman slavery | In the Greek and Roman world, slaves were captives from war and piracy (and their descendants), abandoned children, and the victims of long-distance trade; manumission was common. Among the Greeks, household service was the most common form of slavery, but in parts of the Roman state, thousands of slaves were employed under brutal conditions in the mines and on great plantations. | 72 | |
| 9987130553 | dharma | In Indian belief, performance of the duties appropriate to an individual's caste; faithful performance will lead to rebirth in a higher caste. | 73 | |
| 9987130554 | caste as varna and jati | The system of social organisation in India that has evolved over millennia; it is based on an original division of the populace into four inherited classes (varna), with the addition of thousands of social distinctions based on occupation (jatis), which became the main cell of social life in India. | 74 | |
| 9987130555 | Brahmins | The Indian social class of priests. | 75 | |
| 9987130556 | Ban Zhao | A Chinese woman writer and court official (45-116 C.E.) whose work provides valuable insight on the position of women in classical China. | 76 | |
| 9987130557 | Aspasia | A foreign woman resident in Athens (ca. 470-400 BCE) and partner of the statesman Pericles who was famed for her learning and wit. | 77 | |
| 9987130558 | American Web | A term used to describe the network of trade that linked parts of the pre-Columbian Americas; although less intense and complete than the Afro-Eurasian trade networks, this web nonetheless provided a means of exchange for luxury goods and ideas over large areas. | 78 | |
| 9987130559 | Black Death | The name given to the massive epidemic that swept Eurasia in the 14th century C.E.; it may have been bubonic plague, anthrax, or a collection of epidemic diseases. | 79 | |
| 9987130560 | Borobudur | The largest Buddhist monument anywhere in the world, _______ is a mountainous ten-level monument with an elaborate carving program, probably built in the ninth century C.E. by the Sailendra rulers of central Java; it is an outstanding example of cultural exchange and syncretism. | 80 | |
| 9987130561 | Bubonic Plague | A highly fatal disease transmitted by fleas; it devastated the Mediterranean world between 534 and 750 C.E. and again in the period 1346-1350 C.E. | 81 | |
| 9987130562 | Ghana, Mali, Songhay | A series of important states that developed in western and central Sudan in the period 50-1600 C.E. in response to the economic opportunities of trans-Saharan trade (especially control of gold production). | 82 | |
| 9987130563 | Great Zimbabwe | A powerful state in the African interior that apparently emerged from trade of gold to the East African coast; flourished between 1250 and 1350 C.E. | 83 | |
| 9987130564 | Ibn Battuta | A famous Arab scholar, merchant, and public official who visited much of the Islamic world in the fourteenth century and wrote a major account of what he saw. | 84 | |
| 9987130565 | Indian Ocean Trading Network | The world's largest sea-based system of communication and exchange before 1500 C.E., ____________ commerce stretched from southern China to eastern Africa and included not only the exchange of luxury and bulk goods but also the exchange of ideas and crops. | 85 | |
| 9987130566 | Jie People | A nomadic people who controlled much of northern China in the third and fourth centuries; many converted to Buddhism. | 86 | |
| 9987130567 | Malaysians | Speakers of Austronesian languages from what is now Indonesia who became major traders in Southeast Asia and Madagascar. | 87 | |
| 9987130568 | Monsoons | Alternating wind currents that blew eastward across the Indian Ocean in the summer and westward in the winter, facilitating trade. | 88 | |
| 9987130569 | Oasis Cities of Central Asia | Cities such as Merv, Samarkand, Khotan, and Dunhuang that became centers of trans-Eurasian trade. | 89 | |
| 9987130570 | Pochteca | Professional merchants among the Aztecs. | 90 | |
| 9987130571 | Sailendra | A kingdom of central Java that flourished from the eighth century to the tenth century C.E., noted for being deeply influenced by Indian culture. | 91 | |
| 9987130572 | Sand Roads | A term used to describe the routes of the trans-Saharan trade in Africa. | 92 | |
| 9987130573 | Silk Roads | Land-based trade routes that linked the distant peoples of Eurasia. | 93 | |
| 9987130574 | Srivijaya | A Malay kingdom that dominated the Straits of Malacca between 670 and 1025 C.E., noted for its creation of a native/Indian hybrid culture. | 94 | |
| 9987130575 | Sudan | From the Arabic term for "the land of black people," a large region of West Africa that became part of a major exchange circuit. | 95 | |
| 9987130576 | Swahili Civilization | An East African civilization that emerged in the eighth century C.E. from a blending of Bantu, Islamic, and other Indian Ocean trade elements. | 96 | |
| 9987130577 | Third-Wave Civilizations | Civilizations that emerged between 500 and 1500 C.E. and were typified by intensifying trade networks. | 97 | |
| 9987130578 | Trans-Saharan Slave Trade | A fairly small-scale trade that developed in the twelfth century C.E., with West African slaves captured in raids being exported across the Sahara for sale mostly as household servants in Islamic North Africa; the difficulty of travel across the desert limited the scope of this trade. | 98 | |
| 9987130579 | Venice | An Italian city that by 1000 C.E. emerged as a major center of Mediterranean trade. | 99 | |
| 9987130580 | Abbasid Caliphate (pron. ah-BASS-id) | Dynasty of caliphs who ruled an increasingly fragmented Islamic state from 750 to 1258 eventually becoming a little more than figureheads. | 100 | |
| 9987130581 | al-Andalus (pron. al-AND-a-loos) | Arabic name for Spain (literally, the "land of the Vandals"), most of which was conquered by Arab and Berber forces in the early eighth century C.E. | 101 | |
| 9987130582 | Anatolia | Ancient name for Asia Minor, part of the Byzantine Empire that was gradually overrun by the Turks & that is now the Republic of Turkey. | 102 | |
| 9987130583 | Battle of Talas River | Arab victory over the Chinese in 751 CE that checked Chinese expansion to the west and enabled the conversion of Central Asia to Islam | 103 | |
| 9987130584 | Bedouins | Nomadic Arabs | 104 | |
| 9987130585 | dhimmis | "protected subjects" under Islamic rule, non-Muslims who were allowed to practice their faith as "people of the book" in return for their paying special taxes | 105 | |
| 9987130586 | al-Ghazali | Great Muslim theologian, legal scholar, and Sufi mystic (1058-1111) who was credited with incorporating Sufism into mainstream Islamic thought | 106 | |
| 9987130587 | hadiths | Traditions passed on about the sayings or actions of Muhammad and his immediate followers; hadiths rank second only to the Quran as a source of Islamic law | 107 | |
| 9987130588 | hajj | The pilgrimage to Mecca enjoined on every Muslim who is able to make the journey; one of the Five Pillars of Islam. | 108 | |
| 9987130589 | hijra | The "flight" of Muhammad and his original seventy followers from Mecca to Yathrib (later Medina) in 622CE; the journey marks the starting point of the Islamic calendar. | 109 | |
| 9987130590 | House of Wisdom | An academic center for research and translation of foreign texts that was established in Baghdad in 830 C.E. by the Abbasid caliph al-Mamun. | 110 | |
| 9987130591 | Ibn Battuta | Fourteenth century Arab traveler (1304-1368) who wrote about his extensive journeys throughout the Islamic world. | 111 | |
| 9987130592 | Ibn Sina | One of the greatest polymaths of the Islamic world (930-1037), a Persian who wrote prolifically on the scientific (esp. medicine) and philosophical issues; he is often known as "Avicenna," the Latinized form of his name. | 112 | |
| 9987130593 | imams | In Shia Islam, leaders with high religious authority; the twelve _____ of early Shia Islam were Muhammad's nephew Ali and his descendants | 113 | |
| 9987130594 | jihad | Arabic of "struggle," this term describes both the spiritual striving of each Muslim toward a godly life and armed struggle against the forces of unbelief and evil. | 114 | |
| 9987130595 | jizya | Special tax paid by dhimmis in Muslim-ruled territory in return for freedom to practice their own religion. | 115 | |
| 9987130596 | Kaaba | Great stone shrine in Mecca that was a major pilgrimage center for worshippers of many different deities before it was reconsecrated to monotheistic use by Muhammad. | 116 | |
| 9987130597 | madrassas | Formal colleges for higher institutions in the teaching of Islam as well as in secular subjects founded throughout the Islamic world in beginning in the 11th century | 117 | |
| 9987130598 | Mecca | Key pilgrimage center in Arabia that became the birthplace of Islam. | 118 | |
| 9987130599 | Mozarabs | "would-be Arabs" in Muslim-ruled Spain, referring to Christians who adopted much of Arabic culture and observed many Muslim practices without actually converting to Islam | 119 | |
| 9987130600 | Muhammad Ibn Abdullah | The Prophet of Islam (570-632 C.E.) | 120 | |
| 9987130601 | Muslim | Literally, "one who submits"; the name was adopted by Muhammad and his followers to describe their submission to God. | 121 | |
| 9987130602 | Pillars of Islam | Five core practices required of Muslims: a profession of faith, regular prayer, charitable giving, fasting during Ramadam, and a pilgrimage to Mecca (if financially and physically possible). | 122 | |
| 9987130603 | Marco Polo | The most famous European traveler in the Middle Ages (1254-1324), whose travel account of his time in China was widely popular in Europe. | 123 | |
| 9987130604 | Rightly Guided Caliphs | The first four rulers of the Islamic world (632-661) after the death of Muhammad. | 124 | |
| 9987130605 | Quran (also Qur'án & Koran) | Most holy text of Islam, recording the revelations given to the prophet Muhammad. | 125 | |
| 9987130606 | shariah | Islamic law, dealing with all matters of both secular and religious life. | 126 | |
| 9987130607 | shakyhs | Sufi teachers who attracted a circle of disciples and often founded individual schools of Sufism. | 127 | |
| 9987130608 | Sikhism | A significant syncretic religion that evolved in India, blending elements of Islam and Hinduism; founded by Guru Nanak (1469-1539) | 128 | |
| 9987130609 | Sufis | Islamic mystics, many of whom were important missionaries of Islam in conquered lands and who were revered as saints. | 129 | |
| 9987130610 | Sultanate of Delphi | Major Turkic Muslim state established in northern India in 1206 | 130 | |
| 9987130611 | Timbuktu | Great city of West Africa, noted as a center of Islamic scholarship in the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries. | 131 | |
| 9987130612 | ulamas | Islamic religious scholars. | 132 | |
| 9987130613 | Umayyad caliphate | Family of caliphs who ruled the Islamic world from 661 to 750 C.E. | 133 | |
| 9987130614 | umma | The community of all believers in Islam. | 134 | |
| 9987130514 | age-set | Among the Masai of East Africa, a group of boys united by a common initiation ceremony, who then moved together through the various "age-grades" and ranks of Masai life. | 135 | |
| 9987130515 | Black Death | Name later given to the massive plague pandemic that swept through Eurasia beginning in 1331; it is usually regarded as an outbreak of bubonic plague. | 136 | |
| 9987130516 | Chinggis Khan(Genghis Khan) | Title meaning "universal ruler" that was given to the Mongol leader Temujin in 1206 after he united the Mongols. | 137 | |
| 9987130517 | fictive kinship | Common form of tribal bonding in nomadic societies in which allies are designated and treated as blood relatives. | 138 | |
| 9987130518 | Ghazan Khan | Il-khan (subordinate khan) of Persia who ruled from 1295-1304; he is noted for his efforts to repair the Mongol damage to Persia. | 139 | |
| 9987130519 | Hulegu Khan | Grandson of Chinggis Khan (ca. 1217-1265) who became the first il-khan (subordinate khan) of Persia. | 140 | |
| 9987130520 | kaghan | Supreme ruler of a Turkic nomadic confederation. | 141 | |
| 9987130521 | Karakorum | Capital of the Mongol Empire. | 142 | |
| 9987130522 | Khanbalik | The "city of the khan" founded as a new capital city for the Mongols after their conquest of China; now the city of Beijing. | 143 | |
| 9987130523 | Khubilai Khan | Grandson of Chinggis Khan who ruled China from 1271-1294. | 144 | |
| 9987130524 | Kipchak Khanate | Name given to Russia by the Mongols after they conquered it and incorporated it into the Mongol Empire in the mid-thirteenth century; known to Russians as the "Khanate of the Golden Horde." | 145 | |
| 9987130525 | Masai | Nomadic cattle-keeping people of what is now Kenya and Tanzania. | 146 | |
| 9987130526 | Modun | Great ruler of the Xiongnu Empire (r. 210-174 B.C.E.) who created a centralized and hierarchal political system. | 147 | |
| 9987130527 | The Mongol World War | Term used to describe half a century of military campaigns, massive killing, and empire building pursued by Chinggis Khan and his successors in Eurasia after 1209. | 148 | |
| 9987130528 | pastoralism | Way of life in which people depend on the herding of domesticated animals for their food supply. | 149 | |
| 9987130529 | Temujin | Birth name of the Mongol leader better known as Chinggis Khan (1162-1227). | 150 | |
| 9987130530 | Turks | Turkic speakers from Central Asia, originally nomads, who spread westward into the Near East and into India; they created a series of nomadic empires between 552 and 965 C.E. but had a more lasting impact on world history when they became dominant in the Islamic heartland and founded a series of states and empires there. | 151 | |
| 9987130531 | Xiongnu | People of the Mongolian steps north of China who formed a large-scale nomadic empire in the third and second centuries B.C.E. | 152 | |
| 9987130532 | Yuan Dynasty | Mongol dynasty that ruled China from 1271-1368; its name means "great beginnings." | 153 | |
| 9987130533 | Almoravid Empire | A Berber imperial dynasty of Morocco, who formed an empire in the 11th century that stretched over the western Maghreb and Al-Andalus. Founded by Abdallah ibn Yasin, their capital was Marrakesh, a city they founded in 1062. | 154 |
