AP World History Modern Speed Review

Overview

• The lecture covers the entire AP World History Modern course.
• Focus on understanding key concepts, events, and regions from the AP curriculum.
• Use a checklist to mark what you know and what needs more review.

Unit 1: Global Overview (1200-1450)

• East Asia:
  • Song Dynasty: Neo-Confucianism, civil service exam, and Buddhism.
  • Agricultural advancements from Champa rice.
• Dar al-Islam:
  • Fall of the Abbasids and rise of Turkish Sultanates.
  • Contributions in math, science, and medicine.
• South and Southeast Asia:
  • Impact of Buddhism and Hinduism.
  • Sufism as a mystical branch of Islam.
• Americas:
  • Inca Empire: Road and mit’a labor systems.
  • Aztec Empire: Human sacrifice and chinampas.
• Africa and Europe:
  • Africa: Mali, Trans-Saharan trade, Great Zimbabwe, Swahili coast.
  • Europe: Feudalism and decentralized government.

Unit 2: Interconnections (1200-1450)

• Trade Routes:
  • Silk Road: Luxury goods, banking houses, flying cash.
  • Indian Ocean Trade: Diaspora, Admiral Zheng He, monsoon winds.
  • Trans-Saharan Trade: Salt and gold, spread of Islam.
• Consequences of Trade:
  • Environmental: Bubonic plague, spread of crops.
  • Cultural: Spread of religions, technology (e.g., compass, gunpowder).
• Mongols:
  • Khanates facilitated exchange of ideas and technology.

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

• Empires to Know:
  • Manchus: Final Chinese Empire, maintained Neo-Confucianism.
  • Ottomans: Took Constantinople, religious conflicts with Safavids.
  • Mughals: Islamic rule over Hindu India, Akbar the Great.
  • Safavids: Shia empire between Ottomans and Mughals.
• Other Areas:
  • Songhai, Tokugawa Japan (sakoku policy).
• Belief Systems:
  • Protestant Reformation, Sikhism.

Unit 4: Maritime Empires (1450-1750)

• Technological Advances:
  • Caravels, astrolabes, compasses, lateen sails.
• Maritime Empires:
  • Portuguese: Spice trade, slave trade.
  • Spanish: Viceroys, encomienda system, Catholicism.
  • Joint Stock Companies: British East India Company, Dutch VOC.
• Columbian Exchange:
  • Transfer of plants, animals, diseases.
• Social Changes:
  • Casta system, coerced labor.

Unit 5: Revolutions (1750-Present)

• Political Revolutions:
  • Enlightenment ideas leading to American, French, Haitian revolutions.
  • Nationalism as a driving force.
• Industrial Revolution:
  • Started in Britain, spread to U.S. and Europe.
  • Key inventions: Steam engine, railroads, telegraph.
  • Rise of capitalism and industrial businesses.

Unit 6: Imperialism (1750-Present)

• Motives and Consequences:
  • Economic motives: Raw materials, markets.
  • Imperial expansions: Settler colonies, African partitions.
• Resistance Movements:
  • Sepoy Mutiny, Tupac Amaru, Cattle Killing Movement.
• Migrations:
  • Push and pull factors leading to urban growth.

Unit 7: Global Conflicts (1900-Present)

• World War I:
  • Causes: Imperialism, alliances, nationalism.
  • Total war, propaganda, military technology.
• Interwar Period and World War II:
  • Great Depression, rise of dictatorships.
  • Total war continued with advanced technology.
• Mass Atrocities:
  • Holocaust, Armenian Genocide, Cambodian Genocide.

Unit 8: Cold War and Decolonization

• Cold War:
  • Ideological divide: Capitalism vs. Communism.
  • Proxy wars, alliances like NATO and Warsaw Pact.
• Decolonization:
  • Non-violent and violent independence movements.

Unit 9: Globalization (1900-Present)

• Technological and Economic Integration:
  • Global connectivity: Planes, internet, trade agreements.
  • Emergence of free-market policies.
• Cultural and Social Changes:
  • Global culture: Bollywood, World Cup.
  • Environmental challenges and movements.