AP World History Study Guide

Unit 1: The Global Tapestry

Developments in East Asia (c. 1200 to c. 1450)

China

• Song Dynasty (960-1279): Wealth, stability, artistic and intellectual innovations.
• Economic Developments:
  • Grand Canal: Transportation system enhancing commerce.
  • Gunpowder: Spread to Eurasia via Silk Roads.
  • Agriculture: Irrigation and heavy plows increased food production, population growth.
  • Tributes: Income from other states honoring the emperor.
• Social Structures:
  • Aid to poor, public hospitals.
  • Female subordination exemplified by foot binding.
• Religious Diversity:
  • Spread of Buddhism and Neo-Confucianism.

Japan

• Feudalism: Lack of centralized government; daimyo controlled land.
• Government: Shogun installed in 1192; centralization in 17th century.

Korea

• Connection to China:
  • Tributary relationship and governmental centralization.
  • Aristocracy maintained control.

Vietnam

• Social Structures:
  • Greater independence for women.
  • Merit-based bureaucracy with village allegiance.

Developments in Dar al-Islam (c. 1200 to c. 1450)

Innovations

• Advances in mathematics, literature, and medicine.
• Merchants valued; women had higher status compared to Christians or Jews.

Transfers

• Preservation of Greek philosophy, House of Wisdom in Baghdad.
• Scholarly exchanges in Muslim and Christian Spain.

Developments in South and Southeast Asia (c. 1200 to c. 1450)

South Asia

• Political Structures:
  • Stability in southern India with the Chola Dynasty.
  • Northern India experienced upheaval.
• Religion:
  • Hinduism and Islam differences.
  • Bhakti Movement emphasized emotional spiritual life.

Southeast Asia

• Sea-Based Kingdoms: Srivijaya and Majapahit Empires.
• Land-Based Kingdoms: Sinhala Dynasties, Khmer Empire prospered through agriculture.

State Building in the Americas

Mississippian Culture

• First large-scale civilization in North America.

Maya City-States

• City-state government, divine rights of kings.

Aztecs

• Network of aqueducts, tributary system, theocratic government.

Inca

• Provinces with bureaucracy, mita system for labor.

State Building in Africa

Political Structures

• Kin-based networks, Bantu migrations.
• Wealth from the trade of gold; Islam spread through trade.
• Mali and Zimbabwe as powerful trading societies.

Social Structures

• Kinship, age, and gender significance.
• Enslavement increased status.

Developments in Europe (c. 1200 to c. 1450)

Feudalism: Political and Social Systems

• Manorial system provided self-sufficiency and defense.

Political Trends

• Monarchies grew more powerful.
• Roman Catholic Church held great power.
• Hundred Years War between England and France.

Christian Crusades

• European military campaigns to reclaim the Holy Land.

Economic and Social Change

• Growth of the middle class and cities.
• Anti-Semitism and Muslim discrimination.

Renaissance

• Revival of interest in classical Greek and Roman culture.
• Gutenberg printing press increased literacy.

Unit 2: Network of Exchange

The Silk Roads

• Expansion due to Mongol Empire.
• New financial systems in China.

The Mongol Empire

• Genghis Khan's conquests expanded the empire.
• Impact on trade and cultural exchanges.

Exchange in the Indian Ocean

• Increased demand for specialized products and trade of enslaved people.
• Growth of states due to trade.

Trans-Saharan Trade Routes

• Gold and Islam spread through West Africa.
• Mali's wealth from taxing trade.

Cultural Consequences

• Spread of Buddhism in East Asia.
• Hinduism and Buddhism spread via trade.

Environmental Consequences

• Bubonic Plague spread via Mongol trade routes.
• Agricultural exchanges increased productivity and affected the environment.

Economic Exchange Comparisons

• All trade routes led to urban growth and centralization.

Unit 3: Land-Based Empires

Empires Expand

• Gunpowder Empires: Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal.
• Russia's expansion under Ivan IV.

Empires: Administration

• Centralizing control through bureaucracy.
• Legitimizing power through religion and art.

Empires: Belief Systems

• Protestant Reformation: Lutheranism, Calvinism, Anglicanism.
• Counter-Reformation: Council of Trent, Jesuits.

Comparison in Land-Based Empires

• Military might and centralized bureaucracy.

Unit 4: Transoceanic Interconnections

Technological Innovations (1450 to 1750)

• Developments in transoceanic travel and trade.

Columbian Exchange

• Diseases, animals, and food exchanges.
• Cash crops and forced labor systems.

Maritime Empires

• State-building and European rivalries.
• Encomienda system and mercantilism.

Unit 5: Revolutions

The Enlightenment

• Intellectual movement promoting reason and individualism.

Nationalism and Revolutions

• French and Haitian revolutions.
• Nationalism and unification in Italy and Germany.

Industrial Revolution

• Growth of technology and industrialization spreads.
• New business organizations and mass culture.

Unit 6: Consequences of Industrialization

Rationales for Imperialism

• Nationalist, cultural, religious, and economic motives.

State Expansions

• Scramble for Africa and imperialism in Asia and Latin America.

Indigenous Responses

• Resistance and rebellion against imperialism.

Global Economic Developments

• Railroads, steamships, and telegraph transformed trade.
• Agricultural products focused on cash crops.

Unit 7: Global Conflict

Shifting Powers After 1900

• Revolution in Russia, upheaval in China and Mexico.

World Wars

• Causes, conduct, and aftermath of WWI and WWII.

Interwar Economies

• Great Depression, rise of right-wing governments.

Unresolved Tensions

• Effects of the World Wars and anti-colonial movements.

Unit 8: Cold War and Decolonization

Cold War Context

• Division of the world into communist and capitalist blocs.

Decolonization

• Independence movements in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

Newly Independent States

• Challenges and developments in Israel, South Asia.

Unit 9: Globalization

Advances in Technology

• Green Revolution and energy technologies.

Environmental Issues

• Deforestation, desertification, and resource depletion.

Global Economy

• Free-market economies and knowledge economies.

Calls for Reform

• Racial and gender equality movements.

Global Culture

• Political, social, and artistic changes post-1900.