Ready to boost your knowledge of important terms in Asian history? This channel includes articles exploring important terms and their historical and cultural meanings.
East India Company, the name given to a number of companies set up in the 17th and 18th centuries by various European countries to trade with the East Indies, India, and China. See more »
Most people are familiar with the traditional geisha garb and makeup, but the actual job description is commonly misunderstood. Find out whether you understand what the geisha does and how a woman becomes one with the Ultimate Geisha Quiz.
See more »Arab League, an organization of Arab nations, officially called the League of Arab States.
See more »Assassins, in the original sense, members of a Muslim secret order of fanatics. The name, from the Arabic hashshashin , "hashish eaters," refers to the supposed practice of using the drug hashish to excite a religious fervor in members chosen to kill persons marked for death by the order's leaders.
See more »Babylon, the largest city of ancient Mesopotamia and capital of the Babylonian Empire.
See more »Black Hole of Calcutta, a military jail. During the struggle between Great Britain and France for control of India in 1756, Siraj-ud-Daula, the Muslim nabob (deputy ruler) of Bengal, attacked the British and captured Fort William at Calcutta (now Kolkata).
See more »East India Company, the name given to a number of companies set up in the 17th and 18th centuries by various European countries to trade with the East Indies, India, and China.
See more »Galatia, in ancient times, a region in central Asia Minor, mostly within present-day Turkey.
See more »Polo, Marco (1254?-1324), an Italian traveler to the Far East. Marco Polo, his father, and his uncle are the first Europeans known to have crossed the entire width of Asia.
See more »Montreux Convention, June, 1936, an international agreement signed at Montreux, Switzerland.
See more »Nine-power Treaty, February 6, 1922, a treaty signed at Washington, D.C. The signers were China and the United States, Great Britain (for the British Empire), Japan, Italy, France, Belgium, Portugal, and the Netherlands, who agreed to respect the sovereignty, independence, and territorial and administrative integrity of China.
See more »Andrews, Roy Chapman (1884–1960), a United States naturalist, explorer, and author.
See more »Samurai, the warrior class of feudal Japan. The samurai, also known as bushi (military gentry), were the elite fighters in the feudal armies of Japan.
See more »Shogun, the military governor of Japan for most of the period from 1192 to 1868. Japan since the fifth century B.C.
See more »Burton , Sir Richard Francis (1821–1890), a British traveler, linguist, and author.
See more »Straits Settlements, a former British crown colony in Southeast Asia, occupying coastal areas of the Malay Peninsula and nearby islands.
See more »Turkestan, or Turkistan, a large, indefinite region in Central Asia. It extends eastward from the Caspian Sea through Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and southern Kazakhstan into Xinjiang in China.
See more »Tyre, an ancient Phoenician port city on the eastern Mediterranean coast. It was the main port of Phoenicia's trade empire.
See more »Adams, William (1564?-1620), the first Englishman to enter Japan. In 1598 Adams was engaged as pilot of a fleet of five Dutch vessels bound for the East Indies.
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