AP World History Units 1-5 Overview

Introductory Remarks

• Covering Units 1 through 5
• Exam date: May 8th
• Lecture format: Two-hour review sessions
• Super chats for shoutouts until 9 PM Eastern

Unit 1: The Global Tapestry (1200-1450)

State Building in Song China

• Maintained rule through Confucianism and imperial bureaucracy
• Confucianism: Hierarchical societal structure, carried over from Tang Dynasty
• Civil service exams expanded, meritocracy established
• Imperial bureaucracy: Appointed officials carrying out policies
• Economy flourished due to innovations (e.g., Champa rice, Grand Canal)
• Song China was highly interconnected with global trade

Islamic and South Asian Empires

• Abbasid Caliphate decline, rise of new Islamic states (Delhi Sultanate, Mamluk Sultanate)
• Introduction of Turkish-Islamic empires
• Spread of Islam through military expansion, merchants, and Sufism
• Intellectual innovations in math (algebra, trigonometry) and literature

State Building in the Americas and Africa

• Aztecs: Tribute system, decentralized state, influence from Maya
• Great Zimbabwe: Prosperity from trade, Indian Ocean network
• Cultural diffusion: Swahili language blend, Ethiopian Christianity

State Building in Europe

• Feudalism and decentralized monarchies
• Influence of Roman Catholic Church
• Agricultural innovations like the three-field system

Unit 2: Networks of Exchange (1200-1450)

Expansion of Trade Networks

• Silk Roads, Indian Ocean Trade, Trans-Saharan Trade
• Innovations: Caravanserai, yokes, saddles, stirrups, money economies
• Indian Ocean: Swahili city-states, Sultanate of Malacca
• Trans-Saharan: Introduction of Arabian camel, rise of Mali Empire

Cultural Diffusion and Environmental Consequences

• Spread of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam
• Diffusion of crops (e.g., bananas, Champa rice)
• Spread of disease: Black Death

Mongols and Interconnection

• Creation of largest land-based empire
• Facilitated trade, cultural exchange, technological transfers

Unit 3: Land-Based Empires (1450-1750)

Development and Expansion

• Gunpowder as a key factor
• Ottoman Empire: Janissaries, sacking of Constantinople
• Safavids: Shiite dynasty, gunpowder military
• Mughals: Displacement of Delhi Sultanate, Akbar's tolerance
• Qing Dynasty: Manchu rule over Han Chinese

Legitimizing and Consolidating Power

• Bureaucracies, military professionals, religious ideas
• Monumental architecture, tax systems (e.g., Ottoman tax farming)

Conflicts and Belief Systems

• Protestant Reformation and Catholic Reformation
• Sunni-Shia divides
• Emergence of syncretic belief systems like Sikhism

Unit 4: Transoceanic Interactions (1450-1750)

Maritime Empires

• European exploration: Gold, God, and Glory
• Portuguese trading-post empire
• Columbian Exchange: Crops, animals, diseases, population impacts

Colonization and Mercantilism

• Spanish and Portuguese economic systems in the Americas
• Encomienda and hacienda systems
• Rise of the Atlantic slave trade

Economic and Social Changes

• Joint-stock companies (British/Dutch East India Companies)
• Triangular trade
• Social hierarchies (e.g., Spanish Casta System)

Unit 5: Revolutions and Industrialization (1750-1900)

Enlightenment and Reform

• Enlightenment ideas: Natural rights, social contract
• Reform movements: Women's suffrage, abolitionism

Nationalism and Revolutions

• American, French, Haitian Revolutions, Latin American independence
• Key documents: Declaration of Independence, Declaration of the Rights of Man, Bolivar's Letter from Jamaica

Industrial Revolution

• Beginnings in Britain: Factors of industrialization
• Factory system, mass production, specialization of labor

Spread of Industrialization

• Decline of non-Western manufacturing
• Technological advances: Steam engine, internal combustion engine

Economic Shifts

• Free market capitalism, transnational businesses
• Increased standards of living, rise of the middle class

State Reforms

• Labor unions and collective bargaining
• Karl Marx and critiques of capitalism
• Tanzimat Reforms in the Ottoman Empire

Conclusion

• Return for Units 6-9 review tomorrow
• Encouragement for exam preparation and success