AP World History Study Guide

Unit 1: The Global Tapestry (c. 1200 to c. 1450)

Topic 1.1: Developments in East Asia

• China (Song Dynasty)
  • Wealth, political stability, and intellectual innovations.
  • Shift from local to market production; greatest manufacturing capability.
  • Spread of Buddhism and Confucianism; bureaucratic meritocracy.
  • Economic advances: Grand Canal, gunpowder, agriculture, and tribute systems.
  • Social structures: aid to poor, foot binding.
  • Religious diversity: Buddhism (Theravada, Mahayana, Tibetan) and Neo-Confucianism.
• Japan
  • Feudal society; rise of shogunate and centralized government.
• Korea
  • Tributary relationship with China; centralized government, Confucian and Buddhist beliefs.
• Vietnam
  • Greater independence for women; nuclear family preference.

Topic 1.2: Developments in Dar al-Islam

• Innovations in trigonometry, literature, medicine.
• Merchants held in high regard; increased status for Muslim women.
• Cultural transfers: House of Wisdom, commentaries on Greek philosophy.

Topic 1.3: Developments in South and Southeast Asia

• South Asia: Chola Dynasty, Delhi Sultanate, Hinduism vs. Islam.
• Southeast Asia: Influence of South Asia; Srivijaya Empire, Majapahit Kingdom.

Topic 1.4: State Building in the Americas

• Mississippian Culture: rigid class and matrilineal society.
• Maya City-States: City-states governed by divine kings.
• Aztecs: Tributary system, human sacrifices, important role of women.
• Inca: Mita system, sun worship, sophisticated agriculture.

Topic 1.5: State Building in Africa

• Political structures formed by Bantu migrations; kin-based networks.
• West/East Africa: trade, Islam spread, empires like Mali, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia.
• Social structures: kinship, age, gender roles, and slavery.

Topic 1.6: Developments in Europe

• Feudalism and manorial system.
• Political trends: growth of monarchies; Hundred Years War.
• Roman Catholic Church: power, corruption, and influence in education.
• Crusades and economic/social change; rise of middle class, anti-Semitism.
• Renaissance: revival of Greek/Roman culture, printing press, humanism.

Topic 1.7: Comparisons

• State-building: Song Dynasty, Abbasid Caliphate, Mali Empire, Aztecs/Incas.
• Types of state-building: Emergence, Revival, Synthesis, Expansion.
• Trade and cultural exchange; paper manufacturing, patriarchal societies.

Unit 2: Networks of Exchange (c. 1200 to c. 1450)

Topic 2.1: The Silk Roads

• Growth due to Crusades, Mongol Empire; rise in city trade centers.
• Financial innovations in China; demand for luxury goods.

Topic 2.2: The Mongol Empire

• Genghis Khan's conquests and policy of religious tolerance.
• Expansion into Russia (Golden Horde), impact on Europe/Asia.

Topic 2.3: Exchange in the Indian Ocean

• Spread of Islam, increased demand for specialized products.
• Growth of Swahili city-states; impact of trade on wealth.

Topic 2.4: Trans-Saharan Trade Routes

• Gold trade's wealth effect in West Africa.
• Expansion of empires like Mali; Timbuktu as a center of Muslim life.

Topic 2.5: Cultural Consequences

• Spread of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam via trade.
• Scientific and technological advances shared along trade routes.

Topic 2.6: Environmental Consequences

• Agricultural migration and environmental degradation.
• Spread of the Black Death; significant population impact.

Topic 2.7: Economic Exchange

• Similarities in trade networks: luxury goods, centralized trading cities.
• Effects: rise in trading cities, standardized currency.

Unit 3: Land-Based Empires (c. 1450 to c. 1750)

Topic 3.1: Empires Expand

• Gunpowder Empires: Muslim empires (Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal).
• Europe: End of plagues, rise of Russia, China (Ming and Qing Dynasties).

Topic 3.2: Empires Administration

• European centralization; Russia under Peter the Great.
• Legitimizing power through religion and art; Ottoman achievements.

Topic 3.3: Belief Systems

• Protestant Reformation: Lutheranism, Calvinism, Anglicanism.
• Counter-Reformation: Jesuits, Council of Trent, religious wars.
• Scientific Revolution: Bacon, Newton, empiricism.

Topic 3.4: Comparison in Land-Based Empires

• Military might and centralized bureaucracy; taxation policies.

Unit 4: Transoceanic Interconnections (c. 1450 to c. 1750)

Topic 4.1: Technological Innovations

• Developments in navigational technology, ship improvements.

Topic 4.2: Exploration Causes and Events

• European voyages and their impacts; expansion of trade routes.

Topic 4.3: Columbian Exchange

• Diseases, population effects, introduction of new crops/livestock.
• Slavery and forced labor systems.

Topic 4.4: Maritime Empires

• State-building in Africa, Japan, and China; European rivalries.
• Economic systems: encomienda, silver trade, mercantilism.

Topic 4.5: Empires Maintained

• Effects of the Atlantic slave trade; economic dependency on Europe.

Topic 4.6: Challenges to State Power

• Internal and external challenges; rebellions and revolts.

Topic 4.7: Social Hierarchies

• Ottoman social structure, European aristocracies.

Unit 5: Revolutions (c. 1750 to c. 1900)

Topic 5.1: The Enlightenment

• Intellectual movement; important thinkers and feminism.

Topic 5.2: Nationalism and Revolutions

• French and Haitian Revolutions, nationalism in Europe.

Topic 5.3: Industrial Revolution Begins

• Growth of technology, rise of Britain.

Topic 5.4: Industrialization Spreads

• Global spread of industrialization; impact on India.

Topic 5.5: Technology of the Industrial Age

• Second Industrial Revolution: steel, oil, and electricity.

Topic 5.6: Government's Role

• Ottoman and Japanese industrialization; Meiji Restoration.

Topic 5.7: Economic Developments

• Business organizations, cultural effects of industrialization.

Unit 6: Consequences of Industrialization (c. 1750 - c. 1900)

Topic 6.1: Rationales for Imperialism

• Nationalist, cultural, and economic motives.

Topic 6.2: State Expansions

• Scramble for Africa, imperialism in Asia and the Americas.

Topic 6.3: Indigenous Responses

• Resistance and rebellion in the Americas and Southeast Asia.

Topic 6.4: Global Economic Developments

• Technological developments, agricultural changes.

Topic 6.5: Economic Imperialism

• Economic control in Asia, commodity impacts.

Topic 6.6: Causes of Migration

• Migration through labor systems; challenges faced.

Topic 6.7: Effects of Migration

• Ethnic enclaves, prejudice, regulation of immigration.

Unit 7: Global Conflict (c. 1900 - c. 1945)

Topic 7.1: Shifting Powers After 1900

• Revolutions in Russia, China, Mexico.

Topic 7.2: Causes of World War I

• MANIA; alliances and their impacts.

Topic 7.3: Conducting World War I

• Warfare advancements, US entry, total war strategy.

Topic 7.4: Economies in the Interwar Period

• Great Depression, political revolutions in Russia.

Topic 7.5: Unresolved Tensions

• Effects of WWI, anti-colonialism, nationalism in Asia.

Topic 7.6: Causes of World War II

• Early victories, home fronts, Allied victory.

Topic 7.7: Conducting World War II

• Total war, US involvement, atomic bombings.

Unit 8: Cold War and Decolonization (c. 1945 - c. 1990)

Topic 8.1: Setting the Stage

• End of WWII, shifting power dynamics, Marshall Plan.

Topic 8.2: The Cold War

• Spread of Communism in China, land reform in Latin America.

Topic 8.3: Effects of the Cold War

• Decolonization movements in Africa and Asia.

Topic 8.4: Spread of Communism

• Communism's global influence post-WWII.

Topic 8.5: Decolonization

• Movements in Ghana, Algeria, Vietnam, Egypt.

Topic 8.6: Newly Independent States

• Israel's founding, women's power in South Asia.

Topic 8.7: End of the Cold War

• Nonviolent resistance, global cultural shifts.

Unit 9: Globalization (c. 1990 - Present)

Topic 9.1: Advances in Technology

• Green Revolution, energy technologies, medical innovations.

Topic 9.2: Disease and Poverty

• Persistent diseases, new epidemics.

Topic 9.3: Environmental Debates

• Causes/effects of environmental changes, population growth.

Topic 9.4: Economics in the Global Age

• Free-market economies, knowledge economies, trade organizations.

Topic 9.5: Calls for Reform

• Steps toward racial/gender equality, global feminism.

Topic 9.6: Globalized Culture

• Political, social, and artistic changes, popular culture.

Topic 9.7: Resistance to Globalization

• Criticisms of globalization, anti-globalism movements.