Mongols
A people of this name is mentioned as early as the records of the Tang Empire, living as nomads in northern Eurasia. After 1206 they established an enormous empire under Genghis Khan, linking western and eastern Eurasia
Genghis Khan
The official title of a Mongol warrior named Temujin, a 13th century ruler who founded an empire that included parts of China, Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe
Nomadism
A way of life, forced by a scarcity of resources, in which groups of people continually migrate to find pastures and water
Yuan Empire
Empire created in China and Siberia by Khubilai Khan
Bubonic Plague
A bacterial disease of fleas that can be transmitted by flea bites to rodents and humans; humans in late stages of the illness can spread the bacteria by coughing. High mortality rate and hard to contain
Il-khan
A "secondary" or peripheral" khan based in Persia. The Il'khans' khanate was founded by Hulegu, a grandson of Genghis Khan, and was based at Tabriz in modern Azerbaijan. It controlled much of Iran and Iraq
Golden Horde
Mongol khanate founded by Genghis Khan's grandson Batu. It was based in southern Russia and quickly adopted both the Turkic language and Islam. Also known as the Kipchak Horde
Timur
Member of a prominent family of the Mongols' Jagadai Khanate, through conquest gained control over much of Central Asia and Iran. He consolidated the status of Sunni Islam as orthodox, and his descendants, the Timurids, maintained his empire
Rashid al-Din
Adviser to the Il-khan ruler Ghazan, who converted to Islam on his advice
Nasir al-Din Tusi
Persian mathematician and cosmologist whose academy near Tabriz provided the model for the movement of the planets that helped to inspire the Copernican model of the solar system
Alexander Nevskii
Prince of Novgorod (r. 1236-1263). He submitted to the invading Mongols in 1240 and received recognition as the leader of the Russian princes under the Golden Horde
Tsar
From Latin caesar, this Russian title for a monarch was first used in reference to a Russian ruler by Ivan III (r. 1462-1505)
Ottoman Empire
Islamic state founded by Osman in northwestern Anatolia ca. 1300. After the fall of the Byzantine Empire,it was based at Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) from 1453 to 1922. It encompassed lands in the Middle East, North Africa, the Caucasus, and eastern
Khubilai Khan
Last of the Mongol Great Khans (r. 1260-1294) and founder of the Yuan Empire
lama
In Tibetan Buddhism, a teacher
Beijing
China's northern capital, first used as an imperial capital in 906 and now the capital of the People's Republic of China
Ming Empire
Empire based in China that Zhu Yuanzhang established after the overthrow of the Yuan Empire. The emperor Yongle sponsored the building of the Forbidden City and the voyages of Zheng He
Yongle
Reign period of Zhu Di (1360-1424), the third emperor of the Ming Empire (r. 1403-1424).Sponsored the building of the Forbidden City, a huge encyclopedia project, the expeditions of Zheng He, and the reopening of China's borders to trade and travel
Zheng He
An imperial eunuch and Muslim, entrusted by the Ming emperor Yongle with a series of state voyages that took his gigantic ships through the Indian Ocean, from Southeast Asia to Africa.
Yi
Korean dynasty (1392-1910); succeeded Koryo dynasty after Mongol invasions; restored aristocratic dominance and Chinese influence.
Kamikaze
The 'divine wind,' which the Japanese credited with blowing Mongol invaders away from their shores in 1281
Ashikaga Shogunate
The second of Japan's military governments headed by a shogun (a military ruler). Sometimes called the Muromachi Shogunate
Hakata
City on the coast where the Japanese expected the Mongols to land and which became fortified
City of the Khan
Great Capital of Khubilai Khan's capital city
Mongol Yoke
Describes the ruthless Mongol rule over the Slavs for about 200 years after the conquest of Chinggis Khan. The Mongols used existing Slavic princes as servants and tax collectors. Good princes were rewarded with heredity. Alexander Nevsky began the proces
Movable Type
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. Invented in Korea 13th Century
Ceramics
Large export of Jingdezhen during the Ming Empire