In 1427-1428, the Mexica ruler, waged war against the Tepanec Alliance and defeated them. This effectively established the Aztec Empire.

One of the great advancements of Muslim intellectual life was the introduction of , or schools for the study of Muslim law and religion.

Part 3 Essay Question (40%): Your essay should have an introduction with a clear and specific thesis, a body with evidence, and a conclusion that reinforces your central argument. Select the option you feel the most comfortable with and answer it to the best of your ability. You may find it helpful to write out a brief outline of the essay before you begin writing.Choose ONE (1):Trace the rise and fall of the Tawantinsuyu Empire. What family was associated with the ruling class of this empire? Where did this empire settle and what allowed them to thrive in the area? Describe the social organizations of this empire and the methods its rulers used to enact effective rule. What helped to facilitate imperial expansion? Ultimately, what explains the decline and fall of the Tawantinsuyu civilization?When was the Medieval Chinese Economic Revolution and what allowed it to occur? What developments catalyzed the Medieval Chinese Economic Revolution and helped China develop into a dominant economic force? What was the Theory of the Dynastic Cycle and how did the Tang Dynasty defy this trend? Who dominated the ruling class during the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty and why was this group of people an effective class of rulers?List and examine the causes of the Crusades. Who originally called for a Crusade and what were this person’s motivations? How did this person attract volunteers and what types of people engaged in the Crusades? In which Crusades were Europeans successful? Why? What Muslim figure reversed Christians’ fortunes during the Crusades and pushed Europeans out of the Holy Land? Which Crusades, in particular, were spectacular failures and why? Ultimately, did European Christians achieve the goals they set forth to accomplish during the crusades?

Key Term Bank​The 12th Century Renaissance​The Basin of Cuzco​Blood Sacrifices​Bushido Code​Chinese Paper Money​Christian Curses​The Code of Chivalry​Crusader States​Easter Island​Emperor Taizu of Song​Fief​Figure of a Lohan​Human Sacrifice​Itzcoatl​Jizya​The Kamasutra​Khubilai Khan​Lake Texcoco​Lake Titicaca​Marco Polo​Moctezuma II​Peasants​The Pillow Book​Popol Vuh​Serfs​Shakuntala​Sic et Non​The Troyes Fair​The Valley of Mexico​Zakariya Al-Qazwini

One of Rome’s foundational myths centers on the dangers of unvirtuous women. In Virgil’s Aeneid, the Trojan Aeneas (who would come to found Rome later on) fell in love with a Carthaginian woman, . Aeneas’s lover, also called Elyssa, begged Aeneas to stay with her in Carthage forever. However, Aeneas’s true duty was to take his people away from Carthage and to found Rome. When Aeneas chose his duty over love, this Carthaginian woman cursed him and vowed that Carthage would give birth to an avenging spirit to destroy Aeneas and Rome. This woman’s attempts to obstruct her lover from his duty came to serve as the antithesis of the virtuous Roman woman.

The complicated political relations between England and France were exacerbated when the Norman, William the Conqueror, defeated Harold Godwinson at in 1066 and claimed the English throne (essentially giving control of the English kingdom to a Frenchman). William was fortunate, as Harold Godwinson’s army had been depleted during a major battle against his brother and Norway’s King Harald Hardrada in the previous weeks.

Muslim societies were polygynist (meaning that one man could marry multiple wives) and the Qur’an specified that a man could marry as many as four wives (in practice, many Muslim elites far exceeded that limit). After the first generation or so of Muslims, many societies borrowed a Persian and Eastern custom of secluding the wives of an elite married man into a secure location called a . While the man’s first wife tended to be free of this system, his other wives would remain forever secluded in their women’s quarters. The elite Muslim husband would visit this site for conjugal visits, but aside from his romantic visits, the women would never see another man aside from eunuchs (castrated males) who would guard the women.

The greatest division in Muslim history came with the Sunni-Shi’a Schism. The disagreement centered on the differences between the Shi’a – supporters of Ali who believed that the caliph must be a blood descendent of the Prophet Muhammad. The other group, the Sunni, emphasized the primacy of the Sunna (examples from Muhammad’s life) and stressed that the caliph did not necessarily have to descend from Muhammad. The Sunni faction was led by . Ali was assassinated (likely under orders of this figure) and this Sunni leader became caliph. This marked the end of the Rashidun Caliphate and the beginning of the Umayyad Caliphate.

Although Egyptian pharaohs were predominantly male, a handful of women ascended to the Egyptian throne (often having to display themselves with male features in art and iconography in order to justify their rule). Perhaps the most famous female Egyptian pharaoh was . She ruled as regent for her stepson, Thutmose III (who later tried to erase any record of her ever having ruled). During her reign she emphasized trading, sponsored artists and architects, and oversaw the building of a magnificent structure at Deir el Bahri.

Under the system of feudalism, vassals would be awarded for their service with a fiefdom – usually a landed estate known as a manor. The economic power of the warrior class rested on this manorial system, and peasants often worked the fields under a system known as manorialism. Commoners who were personally free but were bound to the land and unable to leave were known as .