6 Chapter 1 Key Terms

Key Terms

Beringia

an ancient land bridge linking Asia and North America

Black Death

two strains of the bubonic plague that simultaneously swept western Europe in the fourteenth century, causing the death of nearly half the population

chasquis

Incan relay runners used to send messages over great distances

chattel slavery

a system of servitude in which people are treated as personal property to be bought and sold

chinampas

floating Aztec gardens consisting of a large barge woven from reeds, filled with dirt and floating on the water, allowing for irrigation

Crusades

a series of military expeditions made by Christian Europeans to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries

feudal society

a social arrangement in which serfs and knights provided labor and military service to noble lords, receiving protection and land use in return

Inquisition

a campaign by the Catholic Church to root out heresy, especially among converted Jews and Muslims

Koran

the sacred book of Islam, believed by Muslims to be the word of God, dictated to Muhammad through an angel, in the seventh century

matriarchy

a society in which women have political power

mita

the Incan labor tax, with each family donating time and work to communal projects

polygyny

the practice of taking more than one wife

quipu

an ancient Incan device for recording information, consisting of variously colored threads knotted in different ways

Reconquista

Spain’s nearly eight-hundred-year holy war against Islam, which ended in 1492

serf

a peasant tied to the land and its lord