AP World History Timeline Notes

Overview

• Focus on the context and connections between events rather than memorizing dates.
• Highlighted items are frequently tested.
• Full study guide available here.

Period One: 700 to 1450

Abbasid Caliphate (750-1258)

• Capital: Baghdad (modern-day Iraq).
• Built around trade, using receipt and bill systems.
• Decline led to Turkic Muslim empires like Seljuk Empire.

Song Dynasty (960-1279)

• Neo-Confucianism, hierarchy, and filial piety emphasized.
• Legal restrictions on women, such as foot binding.
• Imperial bureaucracy expanded through merit-based systems.
• Economic growth via Champa rice, Grand Canal, Eurasian trade.

Crusades (1095-1291)

• European military campaigns to convert Muslims and non-Christians.

Delhi Sultanate (1206-1526)

• Spread of Islam in Southeast Asia.
• Resistance from Rajput Kingdom, maintaining Hindu influence.

Mongol Empire (Genghis Khan: 1206-1227)

• Unified Mongolian tribes; expanded across Eurasia.
• Promoted cultural diffusion, global trade.
• Ruthless, organized, mobile fighters.
• Important for the Silk Roads.

Magna Carta (1215)

• Granted right to a fair trial for citizens.

Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368)

• First foreign-ruled dynasty in China, led by Mongols.

Ottoman Empire (1299-1923)

• Founded by Osman Bey, expanded as Mongol Empire fell.
• Islamic state, used gunpowder weapons.
• Devshirme system for elite Janissaries.

Mansa Musa's Pilgrimage (1324)

• Introduced Mali's wealth to the Mediterranean.

Aztec Empire (1428-1521)

• Tenochtitlan as capital, known for trade and sacrifice.

Inca Empire (1438-1533)

• Expansionist with a unified language and road systems.
• Mita system enforced state labor.

Other Notable Events

• Swahili state-building (1440).
• Printing press (1440) by Johannes Gutenberg.
• Start of Atlantic slave trade (1441).

Period Two: 1450 to 1750

Ottoman Empire (1453)

• Conquered Constantinople.

Sikhism (1469)

• Emerged blending doctrines from Islam and Hinduism.

Age of Exploration (1492)

• Columbus' voyage marks the start of Spanish colonization.

Protestant Reformation (1517)

• Martin Luther's 95 Theses.

Mughal Empire (1526-1748)

• Notable rulers: Akbar and Aurangzeb.
• Bhakti Movement & Sufism rising.

Scientific Revolution (1550-1700)

Enlightenment (1715-1789)

• Influenced revolutions, suffrage, abolition of slavery.

Period Three: 1750 to 1900

Industrial Revolutions

• First (1760-1789): Steam Engine, Britain leads.
• Second (1870-1914): Enhanced technologies.

American Revolution (1765-1783)

• Inspired other nations.

French Revolution (1789-1795)

• Driven by social inequality and enlightenment ideas.

Opium Wars (1839-1860)

• Treaty of Nanjing.

Meiji Restoration (1868)

• Japan's westernization and rise as a world power.

Berlin Conference (1885)

• Beginning of the "scramble for Africa."

Period Four: 1900 to Present

World Wars

• WWI (1914-1918): Militarism, alliances, imperialism.
• WWII (1939-1945): Holocaust, atomic bombings.

Cold War (1947-1991)

• Tensions between US (capitalism) & Soviet Union (communism).

Decolonization & Independence

• Indian Partition (1947), new nations formed.

Modern Conflicts

• Gulf War (1990), War on Terror post-9/11.

Globalization

• NAFTA (1994).