Tribute
Aztec demanded this from subject people in the form of gold, textiles, turquoise, obsidian, tropical bird feathers and cacao.
Matriarchy
Popular among some Native American groups where power was inherited through female lines of authority.
animism
Native Americans that believed the natural world was suffused with spiritual power. Sought to understand world by interpreting dreams and visions.
patriarchy
Classical western power structure where property and social identity descended in male family lines.
primogeniture
Fathers bestowing all their laid to their eldest son.
peasants
In 1450 this was the occupation of most Europeans.
republic
States that had no prince or king but instead were governed by merchant coalitions.
civic humanism
An ideology that praised public virtue and service to the state and in time profoundly influenced European and American conceptions of government.
Renaissance
1300-1450 Europe the era that saw a "rebirth" of the arts hearkening back to ancient Rome and Greece.
guilds
Artisan organizations that regulated trades.
Christianity
Grew out of Jewish monotheism and held that Jesus Christ was divine.
heresy
Doctrines that were inconsistent with the teachings of the Church.
Islam
Religion that considered Muhammad to be God's last prophet.
Crusades
Christian armies that fought to reverse Muslim advance in Europe and win back the holy lands.
predestination
The idea that God chooses certain people for salvation before they are born and condemns the rest to eternal damnation.
Protestant reformation
Started by Martin Luther essentially. Triggered a war between Holy Roman Empire and the northern principalities in Germany .
Counter-Reformation
A push back by Catholics in response to the Protestant reformation. Jesuits are founded, seminaries are started and indulgences are ceased.
trans-Saharan trade
West African empires of Ghana, Mali and Songhai enjoyed a monopoly on this trade. Trading gold, copper, salt and slaves.
reconquista
Campaign by Spanish Catholics to drive Muslim Arabs from the European mainland.
Hiawatha
According to Iroquois legend, he was a Mohawk that lost his family in one of the many wars. Met a spirit which taught him a series of condolence rituals. As a result he returned with a new gospel of peace and power. He founded the Iroquois Confederacy.
Martin Luther
Pinned 95 theses on a church door in Wittenberg and basically started the Protestant Reformation. Read the bible yourselves do not leave it to the priests to do that.
Mansa Musa
Tenth emperor of Mali, a devout Muslim who built and supported a lot of mosques and schools. He spent so much gold on a pilgrimage to Mecca that they endured a devalue of gold in the region for a decade.
Vasco de Gama
Explorer who got to East Africa and India by ship. Got cinnamon and pepper, starting Portuguese establishment of trading posts around Indian Ocean.
Christopher Columbus
Rediscovered America, stated genocide of Native Americans :)
Hernan Cortes
Led Spanish invasion of the Yucatan Peninsula.
Moctezuma
Last Aztec emperor, he welcomed Cortes who killed him.
Pedro Alvares Cabral
Portuguese explorer who established that country in Brazil.