an early gun that was large and difficult to maneuver
devshirme
the system of acquiring Christian boys from the Balkans to be enslaved, converted to Islam, and trained to serve the Ottoman sultan
Forbidden City
a walled complex of palaces, temples, and gardens built by the Ming dynasty emperors in the center of Beijing
harem
the private household of the Ottoman sultan
humanism
a movement born in fourteenth-century Italy that focused on the study of human beings, human nature, and human achievements rather than the study of God
Janissaries
the elite enslaved infantry corps of the Ottoman army
Mamluk Sultanate
a state in Egypt and the Levant administered and defended by educated, formerly enslaved men called mamluks
Red Turbans
a secret peasant society that rose up against Mongol rule during the Yuan dynasty
Renaissance
a period of intellectual and artistic rebirth inspired by the cultural achievements of ancient Greece and Rome
timar
a right granted to subjects of the Ottoman sultan to collect taxes in a given area