For the most part, I like the idea behind and the execution of this toss up. However, I would not call it "world" history. The lead-in has a Moroccan as an active agent, but this clue is something that would be more likely known through study of English history (particularly because the story comes from an English chronicler) than Moroccan history. The remainder of the question is either about what Europeans did in Morocco and the impacts of those actions in Europe or how the actions of Moroccans affected Europeans. If we were to create a definition of world history from this question, the stage (Morocco), but not the actors (Europeans), dictates what does and does not qualify. History is not the land's story, but the people's, and if this question were labeled by whose story it is telling, it should have been called European history.According to Matthew Paris, a king of this modern-day country rejected a letter by King John in 1213 seeking an alliance and promptly expelled English envoys. The Mensagem (“men-SAH-zhem”) helped popularize the belief that a monarch killed in this modern-day country would return to lead a Fifth Empire, an event that Canudos (“kuh-NOO-doosh”) leader Antônio Conselheiro (“cone-sell-YAY-roo”) claimed to predict. The Treaty of Zamora secured the independence of one kingdom after it won the Battle of Ourique (“oh-REEK”) against a state based in this country. Ferdinand the Holy Prince was captured and killed following a battle in this country against its (*) Marinid dynasty. The Iberian Union was formed after Sebastian I of Portugal was killed in this country during a battle between “three kings” at Ksar El Kebir. A sultanate from this country was defeated by a Christian alliance at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa. For 10 points, the Battle of Tangiers was fought in what African country, whose Almohad Caliphate opposed the Reconquista? ANSWER: Kingdom of Morocco [or al-Mamlakah al-Maghribiyah; or Tageldit n Lmaɣrib]
<RD, World History>
I must admit that my analysis of this question is cherry-picked support for my gut feeling that quiz bowl is not defining "world" properly in its history distribution; I haven't extensively surveyed the canon and I am biased towards non-Western history. However, it has been pointed out numerous times that quiz bowl, as a game played and created by people from the West, is fundamentally and necessarily biased towards its own culture. This is exactly why a definition of what is "world history" is important. With only 1/1 per standard packet, the space to explore the history of the majority of the world is very limited and should be used for that purpose.
I don't think there is a clear-cut divide between what is and is not world history, particularly in more recent times as the world has become more integrated. The best metric I can think of is whether the majority of the question clues, and rewards knowledge of, the actions of/effects on non-Western cultures. We need to be cognizant of who we are representing in our questions and how best we can represent the world's diversity in the restricted space accessibility allows.