AP®︎ World History: Topic 2.3 Flashcards

Interconnected maritime routes linking East Africa, Southwest Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China; existing trade intensified and widened from c. 1200–1450

Predictable seasonal winds that reversed direction, allowing sailors to schedule voyages and return trips across the Indian Ocean

Commercial center where goods were imported, stored, exchanged, and reexported

System in which goods and information passed through multiple merchants and ports instead of one merchant making the entire journey

Western Indian Ocean vessel used by Arab, Persian, Indian, and East African sailors, commonly equipped with maneuverable lateen sails

Triangular sail mounted at an angle that allowed ships to use crosswinds effectively and maneuver more easily

Large Chinese ship with features such as multiple masts, sternpost rudders, and watertight compartments, capable of carrying substantial cargo

Chinese-developed navigational tool that indicated direction and helped sailors maintain a course away from visible landmarks

Navigational instrument that measured the angle of the sun or stars to estimate a ship’s latitude

Financing that allowed merchants to obtain goods or fund voyages without carrying or supplying the full value in coin

Arrangements in which several investors financed a voyage and divided its profits or losses

Trusted webs of relatives, agents, and religious or ethnic communities that supplied credit, information, storage, and contacts in distant ports

Independent East African port polities such as Kilwa and Mombasa that prospered by connecting inland gold and ivory with Indian Ocean trade

Commercial state founded around 1400 that grew wealthy by protecting and taxing trade through the Strait of Malacca

Narrow maritime passage between the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra linking the Indian Ocean with the South China Sea

Communities living outside their ancestral homelands while retaining connections to them, producing mutual cultural influence with host societies

Merchant communities that spread Islam and Indian Ocean customs while adopting African languages and practices through settlement and intermarriage

Settled traders who linked Southeast Asian markets to China while learning local languages, cooperating with rulers, and often intermarrying

Trading communities spread across maritime Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean that transmitted Malay language, regional knowledge, and commercial customs

Bantu language with substantial Arabic and other borrowed vocabulary, reflecting East Africa’s African foundations and Indian Ocean contacts

Ming admiral who led seven state-sponsored expeditions from 1405–1433 to display Chinese power and reinforce tributary and commercial ties; the voyages facilitated cultural and technological exchange

Northwestern Indian trading region whose ports connected inland cotton-textile production with markets throughout the Indian Ocean

Sturdier, higher-capacity vessels that lowered transportation costs and made longer, more profitable voyages possible

Wealthy Swahili city-state that prospered by connecting Indian Ocean merchants with the southeastern African gold trade