The Moors were North African Muslims who had conquered the Iberian Peninsula in the 800s. Religious conflict with the Christian powers of Europe led to frequent conflicts, with their loss of regional power in 1492 with the fall of Grenada, and the full elimination of Muslims from Spain in 1609.

The Bubonic plague of the fourteenth century, also called the Black Death, led to the deaths of approximately thirty-three percent of the population of Europe. As you might expect this led to a myriad of social, political, religious, and economic issues. One of the more surprising consequences of the plague was the rising power of workers in European society. The plague led to a shortage of labor in Europe, particularly in Western Europe, which allowed those who survived to demand higher wages and improved working conditions.

The Anasazi are a Native American people who lived in the southwest of the modern-day United States during the pre-Columbian era. They are most notable for the elaborate dwellings, called pueblos, that they built in caves and on the plains.

The Toltec civilization existed in modern-day Mexico between approximately 900-1100 C.E. Much of what we know comes from recent architectural digs, but also from the Aztecs who saw the Toltecs as their cultural predecessors. They are famous for the construction of pyramids, much like those used by the Mayans and Aztecs.

The Chimu culture flourished on the Pacific coast of modern-day Peru from about 800 CE until the mid-fifteenth century.

The Zapotecs (500 BCE - 700 CE) and the Toltecs (800 - 1100 CE) are two civilizations that emerged in modern-day Mexico. The Zapotecs were briefly contemporaries of the Olmecs, and for a longer time, the Maya.

Although some historians theorize that Zheng He might have eventually made a voyage across the vast Pacific Ocean, to the New World, this is merely conjecture. The voyages of Zheng He, and his fleet, were primarily conducted in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. He did reach such distant places as the Swahili city-states of East Africa and Red Sea.

The Inca city of Tiwanaku was built on the shores of Lake Titicaca in modern-day Bolivia. Lake Titicaca is an important archaeological site, for it is here that many of the earliest South American civilizations arose.

The Vikings were seafaring warriors, traders, and settlers who were widely influential from the eighth to the thirteenth centuries. The longship was developed by the Vikings in the ninth century and was instrumental in allowing the Vikings to traverse long distances at icy northern latitudes. It allowed the Vikings to cross the Atlantic and establish colonies in Greenland and North America in the tenth and eleventh centuries.

Swahili city-states first emerged on the East African coast in the tenth century, and reached the height of their power between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries. The Swahili city-states were ethnically diverse (comprised of Africans and migrants from the Middle East and India) and traded extensively along the Indian Ocean trade network.