AP World History Key Concepts

AP World History

Key Concepts & Focus Questions June 22, 2010

A key concept is a description of course content knowledge particular to a given historical period. Thekey concepts and content outlines that follow provide a conceptual framework to help teachers andstudents understand, organize and prioritize historical developments within each designated historicalperiod. It is not necessary to teach the concepts in the order listed in these outlines, or even in isolation;several key concepts can be taught simultaneously. Through the use of these outlines, the frameworkclearly indicates the depth of knowledge required for each key concept. By focusing the key concepts onglobal processes and themes rather than on specific historical facts or events, teachers are free to chooseexamples that interest them or their students to demonstrate the concept.

Throughout the framework, examples of historical content are provided in parentheses as an illustrationor context for the key concept, but they are not required features of the course or required knowledge forthe exam. Teachers are encouraged to explore other examples as viable options for teaching the contentbeyond those mentioned and should feel free to use either the parenthetical examples or their own exam-ples without compromising students’ ability to perform well on the AP Exam. While students will needto be able to draw upon detailed, illustrative, factual historical knowledge to be successful in the revisedAP World History course and exam, the updated framework provides direction and opportunities to dothis more selectively and in greater depth.

Note:The Focus Questions in this document are solely my attempt to “reverse engineer” the Key Concepts.They are NOT official and are NOT “endorsed” by the College Board.

Bill StricklandEast Grand Rapids High SchoolEast Grand Rapids, MI

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Key Concept Focus Questions 1

Period 1: Technological and Environmental Transformations, to c. 600 BCE

Key Concept 1.1 Big Geography and the Peopling of the Earth

The term “Big Geography” draws attention to the global nature ofworld history. Throughout the Paleolithic period, humans migratedfrom Africa to Eurasia, Australia, and the Americas. Early humanswere mobile and creative in adapting to different geographical settingsfrom savannah to desert to Ice Age tundra. By analogy with modernhunter/forager societies, anthropologists infer that these bands wererelatively egalitarian. Humans also developed varied and sophisticatedtechnologies.

What is the evidence thatexplains the earliest history ofhumans and the planet?

How is this evidenceinterpreted?

I. Archeological evidence indicates that during the PaleolithicEra, hunting-foraging bands of humans gradually migratedfrom their origin in East Africa to Eurasia, Australia and theAmericas, adapting their technology and cultures to newclimate regions.

Where did humans first appearon Earth, and what were thecharacteristics of their society,technology, economy, andculture?

A. Humans used fire in new ways: to aid hunting and foraging, toprotect against predators and to adapt to cold environments.

Describe earliest humans’technology & tools

B. Humans developed a wider range of tools specially adapted todifferent environments from tropics to tundra.

C. Economic structures focused on small kinship groups ofhunting/foraging bands that could make what they needed tosurvive. However, not all groups were self-sufficient; theyexchanged people, ideas and goods.

How did the earliest humans’society help them procureenough supplies to survive?

Key Concept 1.2 The Neolithic Revolution and Early Agricultural Societies

In response to warming climates at the end of the last Ice Age fromabout 10,000 years ago, some groups adapted to the environment innew ways while others remained hunter/foragers. Settled agricultureappeared in several different parts of the world. The switch toagriculture created a more reliable, but not necessarily morediversified, food supply. Agriculturalists also had a massive impact onthe environment, through intensive cultivation of selected plants to theexclusion of others, through the construction of irrigation systems andthrough the use of domesticated animals for food and for labor.Populations increased; family groups gave way to village and laterurban life with all its complexity. Patriarchy and forced labor systemsdeveloped giving elite men concentrated power over most of the otherpeople in their societies.

Pastoralism emerged in parts of Africa and Eurasia. Pastoral peoplesdomesticated animals and led their herds around grazing ranges. Likeagriculturalists, pastoralists tended to be more socially stratified thanwere hunter-foragers. Because pastoralists were mobile, they rarelyaccumulated large amounts of material possessions, which would have

What were the long-termdemographic, social, political,and economic effects of theNeolithic Revolution?

How did pastoral societiesresemble or differ from earlyagricultural societies?

Key Concept Focus Questions2

been a hindrance when changing grazing areas. Pastoralists’ mobilityallowed them to become an important conduit for technologicalchange as they interacted with settled populations.

Where did pastoralism persisteven after the NeolithicRevolution?

I. Beginning about 10,000 years ago, the Neolithic Revolution ledto the development of new and more complex economic andsocial systems.

How did the NeolithicRevolution affect humansocieties economically &socially?

A. Possibly as a response to climatic change, permanentagricultural villages emerged first in the lands of the easternMediterranean. Agriculture emerged at different times inMesopotamia, the Nile River valley and sub-Saharan Africa,the Indus River valley, the Yellow River or Huang He valley,Papua-New Guinea, Mesoamerica and the Andes.

Why did the NeolithicRevolution start (at all)?

Where did the NeolithicRevolution first transformhuman populations? (Pluralanswer)

B. Pastoralism developed at various sites in the grasslands ofAfro-Eurasia.

Where did pastoralism persisteven after the NeolithicRevolution?

C. Different crops or animals were domesticated in the variouscore regions, depending on available local flora and fauna.

What various crops & animalswere developed ordomesticated during theNeolithic Revolution?

D. Agricultural communities had to work cooperatively to clearland and to create the water control systems needed for cropproduction.

What labor adjustments did hu-mans make in order to facilitatethe Neolithic Revolution?

E. These agricultural practices drastically impacted environmentaldiversity. Pastoralists also affected the environment by grazinglarge numbers of animals on fragile grasslands, leading toerosion when over-grazed.

What were the environmentaleffects of the NeolithicRevolution?

II. Agriculture and pastoralism began to transform humansocieties.

A. Pastoralism and agriculture led to more reliable and abundantfood supplies which increased population.

What effects did pastoralism &agriculture have on the foodsupply?

B. Surpluses of food and other goods led to specialization oflabor, including new classes of artisans and warriors, and thedevelopment of elites.

What were the social effects ofthe increased food supplycaused by increase of agri-culture?

C. Technological innovations led to improvements in agriculturalproduction, trade, and transportation, including pottery, plows,woven textiles, metallurgy, wheels and wheeled vehicles.

What technological innovationsare associated with the growthof agriculture?

D. In both pastoralist and agrarian societies, elite groups accum-ulated wealth, creating more hierarchical social structures andpromoting patriarchal forms of social organization.


Key Concept 1.3 The Development and Interactions of Early Agricultural,Pastoral, and Urban Societies

From about 5,000 years ago, urban societies developed, laying thefoundations for the first civilizations. The term civilization is normallyused to designate large societies with cities and powerful states. Whilethere were many differences between civilizations, they also sharedimportant features. They all produced agricultural surpluses thatpermitted significant specialization of labor. All civilizationscontained cities and generated complex institutions, such as politicalbureaucracies, including armies and religious hierarchies. They alsofeatured clearly stratified social hierarchies and organized long-distance trading relationships. Economic exchanges intensified withinand between civilizations, as well as with nomadic pastoralists.

What is a ‘civilization,’ andwhat are the definingcharacteristics of acivilization?

As populations grew, competition for surplus resources, especiallyfood, led to greater social stratification, specialization of labor,increased trade, more complex systems of government and religion,and the development of record keeping. As civilizations expanded,they had to balance their need for more resources with environmentalconstraints such as the danger of undermining soil fertility. Finally, theaccumulation of wealth in settled communities spurred warfarebetween communities and/or with pastoralists; this violence drove thedevelopment of new technologies of war and urban defense.

How did civilizations developand grow more complex before600 BCE?

What were the effects of thisincreasing complexity?

I. Core and foundational civilizations developed in a variety ofgeographical and environmental settings where agricultureflourished. NOTE: Students should be able to identify the locationof all of the following.A. Mesopotamia in the Tigris and Euphrates River valleysB. Egypt in the Nile River valleyC. Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa in the Indus River valleyD. The Shang in the Yellow River or Huang He valleyE. The Olmecs in MesoamericaF. Chavín in Andean South America.

Where did the earliestcivilizations develop, and whydid they develop in thoselocations?

II. The first states emerged within core civilizations.

A. States were powerful new systems of rule that mobilizedsurplus labor and resources over large areas. Early states wereoften led by a ruler whose source of power was believed to bedivine or had divine support, and/or who was supported by themilitary.

What is a “state?” Who ruledthe early states, and whichsegments of society usuallysupported the ruler?

B. As states grew and competed for land and resources, the morefavorably situated had greater access to resources—includingthe Hittites’ access to iron, produced more surplus food andexperienced growing populations. These states were able toundertake territorial expansion and conquer surrounding states.

Why were some early statesable to expand and conqueringneighboring states?

C. Early regions of state expansion or empire building wereMesopotamia, Babylonia, and the Nile Valley.

Give four examples of early


empires in the Nile &Tigris/Euphrates River Valleys.

D. Pastoralists were often the developers and disseminators ofnew weapons (such as compound bows or iron weapons) andmodes of transportation (such as chariots or horseback riding)that transformed warfare in agrarian civilizations.

What role did pastoralcivilizations play vis a visempires?

III.Culture played a significant in role in unifying states throughlaw, language, literature, religion, myths and monumental art.

What methods did rulers use tounify their populations?

A. Early civilizations developed monumental architecture andurban planning (such as ziggurats, pyramids, temples,defensive walls, streets and roads or sewage and watersystems).

What architectural forms didearly civilizations produce?

B. Elites, both political and religious, promoted arts andartisanship (such as sculpture, painting, wall decorations orelaborate weaving).

Which social strata encouragedthe development of art inancient civilizations?

C. Systems of record keeping (such as cuneiform, hieroglyphs,pictographs, alphabets or quipu) arose independently in allearly civilizations and subsequently were diffused.

What forms of writingdeveloped in ancientcivilizations?

D. States developed legal codes, including the Code ofHammurabi, that reflected existing hierarchies and facilitatedthe rule of governments over people.

What was the relationshipbetween literature and culture?

E. New religious beliefs developed in this period continued tohave strong influences in later periods, including the Vedicreligion, Hebrew monotheism and Zoroastrianism.

What pre-600 BCE religionsstrongly influenced later eras?

F. Trade expanded throughout this period, with civilizationsexchanging goods, cultural ideas and technology. Tradeexpanded from local to regional and trans-regional, includingbetween Egypt and Nubia, Mesopotamia and the Indus valley.

How “big” were the pre-600 BCE trading regions?

G. Social and gender hierarchies intensified as states expandedand cities multiplied.

How did social and genderidentities develop pre-600 BCE?


Period 2: Organization and Reorganization of Human Societies, c. 600 BCE toc. 600 CE

Key Concept 2.1 The Development and Codification of Religious and CulturalTraditions

As states and empires increased in size and contacts between regionsmultiplied, religious and cultural systems were transformed. Religionsand belief systems provided a bond among the people and an ethicalcode to live by. These shared beliefs also influenced and reinforcedpolitical, economic and occupational stratification. Religious andpolitical authority often merged as rulers, some considered divine,used religion, along with military and legal structures, to justify theirrule and ensure its continuation. Religions and belief systems couldalso generate conflict, partly because beliefs and practices variedgreatly within and among societies.

How did religions helpstrengthen political, economic,and cultural ties withinsocieties?

I. Codifications and further developments of existing religioustraditions provided a bond among the people and an ethicalcode to live by.

How did religions promote asense of unity?

A. The association of monotheism with Judaism was furtherdeveloped with the codification of the Hebrew Scriptures,which also showed reflected the influence of Mesopotamiancultural and legal traditions. The Assyrian, Babylonian andRoman empires conquered various Jewish states at differentpoints in time. These conquests contributed to the growth ofJewish diasporic communities around the Mediterranean andMiddle East.

What are the characteristicsand core teachings of Judaism?

B. The core beliefs outlined in the Sanskrit scriptures formed thebasis of the Vedic religions—often known as Hinduisms—which contributed to the development of the social andpolitical roles of a caste system and in the importance ofmultiple manifestations of Brahma to promote teachings aboutreincarnation.

What are the characteristicsand core teachings ofHinduism(s)?

II. New belief systems and cultural traditions emerged andspread, often asserting universal truths.

What is a “universal religion?”Where did universal religionsexist by 600 CE?

A. The core beliefs preached by the historic Buddha and recordedby his followers into sutras and other scriptures were, in part, areaction to the Vedic beliefs and rituals dominant in SouthAsia. Buddhism changed over time as it spread throughoutAsia, first through the support of the Mauryan Emperor Asoka,and then through the efforts of missionaries and merchants andthe establishment of educational institutions to promote its coreteachings.

What are the characteristicsand core teachings ofBuddhism?

How and where did Buddhismspread by 600 CE?


B. Confucianism’s core beliefs and writings originated in thewritings and lessons of Confucius and were elaborated by keydisciples who sought to promote social harmony by outliningproper rituals and social relationships for all people in Chinaincluding the rulers.

What are the characteristicsand core teachings ofConfucianism?

C. In the major Daoist writings (such as the Daodejing), the corebelief of balance between humans and nature assumed that theChinese political system would be altered indirectly. Daoismalso influenced the development of Chinese culture (such asmedical theories and practices, poetry, metallurgy orarchitecture).

What are the characteristicsand core teachings of Daoism?

D. The core beliefs preached by Jesus of Nazareth, and laterrecorded by his disciples, drew on the basic monotheism ofJudaism, and initially rejected Roman and Hellenisticinfluences. Despite initial Roman imperial hostility,Christianity spread through the efforts of missionaries andmerchants through many parts of Afro-Eurasia, and eventuallygained Roman imperial support by the time of the emperorConstantine.

What are the characteristicsand core teachings ofChristianity?

How and where did Christianityspread by 600 CE?

E. The core ideas in Greco-Roman philosophy and scienceemphasized logic, empirical observation and the nature ofpolitical power and hierarchy.

What are the main character-istics of Greco-Romanphilosophy and science?

III. Belief systems affected gender roles (such as Buddhism’sencouragement of a monastic life and Confucianism’semphasis on filial piety).

How did religions affect genderroles in their respectivesocieties?

IV. Other religious and cultural traditions continued parallel tothe codified, written belief systems in core civilizations.

What other religious andcultural traditions werecommon by 600 CE?

A. Shamanism and animism continued to shape the lives of peoplewithin and outside of core civilizations, because of their dailyreliance on the natural world.

How did humans’ reliance onthe natural word influencereligion?

B. Ancestor veneration persisted in many regions (such as inAfrica, the Mediterranean region, East Asia or the Andeanareas).

How did humans relate to theirdeceased ancestors?

V. Artistic expressions, including literature and drama,architecture, and sculpture, show distinctive culturaldevelopments.

How did art and culturedevelop to 600 CE?

A. Literature and drama acquired distinctive forms (such as Greektragedy or Indian epics) that influenced artistic developmentsin neighboring regions and in later time periods (such as inAthens, Persia or South Asia).

What literary works influencedlater eras?

B. Distinctive architectural styles can be seen in buildings (suchas those in India, Greece, the Roman empire, andMesoamerica).

How did different societies’architectural styles develop?


C. The convergence of Greco-Roman culture and Buddhist beliefsaffected the development of unique sculptural developments.

What examples of syncretismreflect the Classical Era to600 CE?

Key Concept 2.2 The Development of States and Empires

As the early states and empires grew in number, size and population,they frequently competed for resources and came into conflict withone another. In quest of land, wealth, and security, some empiresexpanded dramatically. In doing so, they built powerful militarymachines and administrative institutions that were capable oforganizing human activities over long distances, and they created newgroups of military and political elites to manage their affairs. As theseempires expanded their boundaries, they also faced the need todevelop policies and procedures to govern their relations withethnically and culturally diverse populations: sometimes to integratethem within an imperial society and sometimes to exclude them. Insome cases, these empires became victims of their own successes. Byexpanding boundaries too far, they created political, cultural andadministrative difficulties that they could not manage. They alsoexperienced environmental, social and economic problems when theyover-exploited their lands and subjects and permitted excessive wealthto concentrate in the hands of privileged classes.

What is an “empire,” and whatwere empires’ commoncharacteristics during theClassical Era?

I. The number and size of imperial societies grew dramaticallyby imposing political unity on areas where there hadpreviously been competing states. NOTE: Students should knowthe location and names of the key states and empires below.

How did the number & size ofClassical empires compare tothe Ancient Era?

A. Southwest Asia: Persian Empires (such as Achaemenid,Parthian or Sassanid)

B. East Asia: Qin and Han dynastiesC. South Asia: Maurya and Gupta EmpiresD. Mediterranean region: Phoenicia and its colonies, Greek city-

states and colonies, and Hellenistic and Roman EmpiresE. Mesoamerica: Teotihuacan, Maya city statesF. Andean South America: Moche

What were the most influentialof the Classical Era empires?

II. Empires and states developed new techniques of imperialadministration based, in part, on the success of earlier politicalforms.

What techniques did Classicalempires create to administertheir territories?

A. In order to organize their subjects the rulers createdadministrative institutions including centralized governments,elaborate legal systems, and bureaucracies (such as in China,Persia, Rome or South Asia ).

What new political methodswere created in order to rulethe larger empires in theClassical Era?

B. Imperial governments projected military power over largerareas using a variety of techniques including: diplomacy;developing supply lines; building fortifications, defensivewalls, and roads; and drawing new groups of military officersand soldiers from the local populations or conquered peoples.

How did imperial governmentslet their population know thatthe government was “incharge?”


C. Much of the success of empires rested on their promotion oftrade and economic integration by building and maintainingroads and issuing currencies.

What role did trade play increating and maintainingempires?

III. Unique social and economic dimensions developed in imperialsocieties in Afro-Eurasia and the Americas.

What unique social andeconomic characteristicsexisted in empires?

A. Cities served as centers of trade, public performance ofreligious rituals, and political administration for states andempires (such as Persepolis, Chang’an, Pataliputra, Athens,Carthage, Rome, Alexandria, Constantinople or Teotihuacan.)

What function did imperialcities perform?

B. The social structures of all empires displayed hierarchies thatincluded cultivators, laborers, slaves, artisans, merchants, elitesor caste groups.

What social classes andoccupations were common inempires?

C. Imperial societies relied on a range of methods to maintain theproduction of food and provide rewards for the loyalty of theelites including corvée, slavery, rents and tributes, peasantcommunities and family and household production.

What labor systems providedthe workers for ClassicalEmpires?

D. Patriarchy continued to shape gender and family relations in allimperial societies of this period.

Describe the gender and familystructures of Classical Eraempires.

IV. The Roman, Han, Persian, Mauryan, and Gupta empirescreated political, cultural, and administrative difficulties thatthey could not manage, which eventually led to their decline,collapse and transformation into successor empires or states.

What caused Classical Empiresto decline, collapse, ortransform into something else?

A. Through excessive mobilization of resources, imperial govern-ments caused environmental damage (such as deforestation,desertification, soil erosion or silted rivers) and generatedsocial tensions and economic difficulties by concentrating toomuch wealth in the hands of elites.

What were the environmentaland social weaknesses ofClassical Empires?

B. External problems resulted from security issues along theirfrontiers, including the threat of invasions (such as betweenHan China and Xiongnu; Gupta and the White Huns; orbetween Romans, and their northern and eastern neighbors).

What external weaknessescontributed to the end ofClassical Empires?

Key Concept 2.3 Emergence of Transregional Networks of Communication andExchange

With the organization of large-scale empires, the volume of long-distance trade increased dramatically. Much of this trade resulted fromthe demand for raw materials and luxury goods. Land and water routeslinked many regions of the Eastern Hemisphere, while somewhat laterseparate networks connected the peoples and societies of theAmericas. Exchanges of people, technology, religious and culturalbeliefs, food crops, domesticated animals and disease pathogens

How did Classical era tradenetworks compare to Ancientera networks?

What forces contributed to thechanges between the two eras?

What was commonly tradedalong these trade networks?


developed alongside the trade in goods across far-flung networks ofcommunication and exchange.

I. Land and water routes became the basis for transregionaltrade, communication and exchange networks in the EasternHemisphere, while somewhat later separate networksconnected the peoples and societies of the Americas. NOTE:Students should know how factors including the climate andlocation of the routes, the typical trade goods, and the ethnicity ofpeople involved shaped the distinctive features of the followingtrade routes.A. Eurasian Silk RoadsB. Trans-Saharan caravan routesC. Indian Ocean sea lanes D. Mediterranean sea lanes

How did trade &communication networksdevelop by 600 CE?

II. New technologies facilitated long-distance communication andexchange.

A. New technologies (such as yokes, saddles or stirrups)permitted the use of domesticated pack animals (such ashorses, oxen, llamas or camels) to transport goods acrosslonger routes.

B. Innovations in maritime technologies (such as the lateen sail ordhow ships) as well as advanced knowledge of the monsoonwinds stimulated exchanges along maritime routes from EastAfrica to East Asia.

What technologies enabledlong-distance overland andmaritime trade?

III. Alongside the trade in goods, exchanges of people, technology,religious and cultural beliefs, food crops, domesticated animalsand disease pathogens developed across far-flung networks ofcommunication and exchange.

Besides the physical goods,what intangibles also traveledalong trade networks?

A. The spread of crops, including rice and cotton from South Asiato the Middle East, encouraged changes in farming andirrigation techniques (such as the development of the qanatsystem).

What crops spread alongClassical Era trade networks?

B. The spread of disease pathogens diminished urban populationsand contributed to the decline of some empires (such as Romeor China)

What effects did diseases haveon Classical empires?

C. Religious and cultural traditions were transformed as theyspread including Chinese culture, Christianity, Hinduism andBuddhism.

How did religions spread alongtrade networks, and how did thetrade networks affect thereligions?


Period 3: Regional and Transregional Interactions, c. 600 to c. 1450 CE

Key Concept 3.1 Expansion and Intensification of Communication and ExchangeNetworks

Though Afro-Eurasia and the Americas remained separate from eachother, this era witnessed a deepening and widening of old and newnetworks of human interaction within and across regions. The resultswere unprecedented concentrations of wealth and the intensification ofcross-cultural exchanges. Innovations in transportation, state policiesand mercantile practices contributed to the expansion and developmentof commercial networks, which in turn served as conduits for cultural,technological, and biological diffusion within and between varioussocieties. Pastoral or nomadic groups played a key role in creating andsustaining these networks. Expanding networks fostered greater inter-regional borrowing while at the same time sustaining regionaldiversity. Significantly, Islam, a major religion, emerged at the start ofthis period and spread quickly through practices of trade, warfare, anddiffusion characteristic of this period.

How did trade networks in thepost-Classical Era compare tothe Classical Era?

What new technologies,governmental policies, andmerchant activities accom-panied these developments?

What role did pastoral andnomadic groups play in thesetrade networks?

I. Improved transportation technologies and commercialpractices led to an increased volume of trade, and expandedthe geographical range of existing and newly-active tradenetworks.

How did the physical size ofpost-Classical trade networkscompare to the previous era?

A. Existing trade routes flourished including the Silk Roads, theMediterranean Sea, the trans-Saharan and the Indian Oceanbasins flourished and promoted the growth of powerful newtrading cities (such as—to mention just a few— Novgorod,Timbuktu, the Swahili city-states, Hangzhou, Calicut,Baghdad, Melaka, Venice, and, in the Americas, Tenochtitlanor Cahokia).

What Classical era tradenetworks continued during thepost-classical era, and whichnew cities were added duringthe post-Classical era?

B. New trade routes between Mesoamerica and the Andesdeveloped.

What new trade network(s)developed in this era?

C. The growth of inter-regional trade in luxury goods (such as silkand cotton textiles, porcelain, spices, precious metals andgems, slaves or exotic animals) was encouraged by significantinnovations in previously-existing transportation andcommercial technologies, including more sophisticated caravanorganization (such as caravanserai or camel saddles), use of thecompass, astrolabe, and larger ship designs in sea travel, andnew forms of credit and monetization (such as bills ofexchange, credit, checks or banking houses).

What new technologies enabledthe growth of inter-regionaltrade networks?

D. Commercial growth was also facilitated by state practices(such as the minting of coins or use of paper money), tradingorganizations (such as the Hanseatic League), and state-sponsored commercial infrastructures like the Grand Canal inChina.

What factors encouragedcommercial growth in the post-classical era?


E. The expansion of existing empires—including China, theByzantine Empire, and the Caliphates—as well as newempires—like the Mongols—facilitated trans-Eurasian tradeand communication as new peoples were drawn into theirconquerors’ economies and trade networks.

How did trans-Eurasian tradeas a whole develop during thepost-Classical era?

II. The movement of peoples caused environmental and linguisticeffects.

What were the effect of migra-tion in the post-classical era?

A. The expansion and intensification of long-distance trade routesoften depended on peoples’ understanding of a particularregional environment and their subsequent technologicaladaptations to them (such as the way Scandinavian Vikingsused their longboats to travel in coastal and open water as wellas rivers and estuaries, the Arabs and Berbers adapted camelsto travel across and around the Sahara or central Asian pastoralgroups used horses to travel in the steppes).

What basic understandings ofenvironment and technologydid post-classical traders needto conduct their business?

B. Some migrations had significant environmental impact,including the migration of the agricultural Bantu-speakingpeoples who facilitated transmission of iron technologies inSub-Saharan Africa, and the maritime migrations of thePolynesian peoples who cultivated transplanted foods anddomesticated animals as they moved to new islands.

What were the environmentaleffects of migration in the post-classical era?

C. Some migrations and commercial contacts led to the diffusionof languages throughout a new region or the emergence of newlanguages (such as the spread of Bantu languages, includingSwahili, or the spread of Turkic and Arabic languages).

What were the linguistic effectsof migration in the post-classical era?

III. Cross-cultural exchanges were fostered by the intensificationof existing or the creation of new networks of trade &communication.

How did trade networks as awhole develop in the post-classical era?

A. Islam developed in the Arabian peninsula from the interactionsamong Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians with the localpeoples and expanded to many parts of Afro-Eurasia due tomilitary expansion and the activities of merchants andmissionaries.

Why and where did Muslimtrade networks change in thepost-classical era?

B. In key places along important trade routes, merchants set updiaspora communities where they introduced their own culturaltraditions into the indigenous culture (such as Muslimmerchant communities in the Indian Ocean region, Chinesemerchant communities in Southeast Asia, Sogdian merchantcommunities throughout Central Asia or Jewish communitiesin the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean basin, or along the SilkRoads).

What institutions did merchantscreate to foster both trade andcultural diffusion in the post-classical era?

C. The writings of certain inter-regional travelers (such as IbnBattuta, Marco Polo or Xuangzang) illustrate both the extentand the limitations of inter-cultural knowledge andunderstanding.

How well did post-classicalsocieties know and understandeach other?


D. Increased cross-cultural interactions resulted in the diffusion ofliterary, artistic, and cultural traditions (such as the influence ofNeo-Confucianism and Buddhism in East Asia, Hinduism andBuddhism in Southeast Asia, the influence of Islam in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia or the influence ofToltec/Mexica and Inca traditions in Meso- and AndeanAmerica).

How did post-classical tradeaffect the diffusion of literary,artistic, and culturaltraditions?

E. Increased cross-cultural interactions also resulted in thediffusion of scientific and technological traditions (such as theinfluence of Greek and Indian mathematics on Muslimscholars, the return of Greek science and philosophy to westernEurope via Muslim al-Andalus in Iberia, or the spread ofprinting and gunpowder technologies from East Asia into theIslamic empires and into Western Europe).

How did post-classical tradeaffect the diffusion of scientificand technological traditions?

IV. There was continued diffusion of crops and pathogensthroughout the Eastern Hemisphere along the trade routes.

What were the biologicaleffects of post-classical trade?

A. New foods and agricultural techniques were adopted inpopulated areas (such as bananas in Africa, new rice varietiesin East Asia, or the spread of cotton, sugar and citrusthroughout Dar-al Islam and the Mediterranean basin).

What new foods, crops, andagricultural practices diffusedin the post-classical era?

B. The spread of epidemic diseases, including the Black Death,followed the well-established paths of trade and militaryconquest.

What diseases and pathogensalso spread via post-classicaltrade networks?

Key Concept 3.2 Continuity & Innovation of State Forms and Their Interactions

State formation in this era demonstrated remarkable continuity, inno-vation and diversity in various regions. In Afro-Eurasia some statesattempted, with differing degrees of success, to preserve or reviveimperial structures, while smaller, less-centralized states continued todevelop. The expansion of Islam introduced a new concept—thecaliphate—to Afro-Eurasian statecraft. Pastoral peoples in Eurasiabuilt powerful and distinctive empires that integrated people andinstitutions from both the pastoral and agrarian worlds. In theAmericas, powerful states developed in both Mesoamerica and theAndean region

How did state formationsdevelop in the post-classicalera?

I. Empires collapsed and were reconstituted; in some regionsnew state forms emerged.

A. Most reconstituted governments following the collapse ofempires, including the Byzantine Empire and the Chinesedynasties—Sui, Tang, and Song—combined traditional sourcesof power and legitimacy (such as patriarchy, religion or land-owning elites) with innovations better suited to the currentcircumstances (such as new methods of taxation, tributarysystems or adaptation of religious institutions).

How did post-classical statesavoid the mistakes of classicalempires in the regions whereclassical empires collapsed?


B. In some places, new forms of governance emerged, includingthose developed in various Islamic states (such as theAbbasids, Muslim Iberia or the Delhi sultanates), the MongolKhanates, and city-states (such as in the Italian peninsula, EastAfrica or Southeast Asia).

What new forms of governanceemerged in the post-classicalera?

C. Some states synthesized local and borrowed traditions (such asPersian traditions influencing Islamic states or Chinesetraditions influencing Japan).

How & where did govern-mental diffusion occur in thepost-classical era?

D. In the Americas, as in Afro-Eurasia, state systems expanded inscope and reach: networks of city-states flourished in the Mayaregion, and, at the end of this period, imperial systems werecreated by the Mexica (“Aztecs”) and Inca.

How did states in the Americasdevelop in the post-classicalera?

II. Inter-regional contacts and conflicts between states andempires encouraged significant technological and culturaltransfers, for example between Tang China and the Abbasids,across the Mongol empires and during the Crusades.

What technological andcultural exchanges did statesencourage in the post-classicalera?

Key Concept 3.3 Increased Economic Productive Capacity and Its Consequences

Changes in trade networks resulted from and stimulated increasingproductive capacity, with important implications for social and genderstructures and environmental processes. Productivity rose in bothagriculture and industry. Rising productivity supported populationgrowth and urbanization but also strained environmental resources andat times caused dramatic demographic swings. Shifts in productionand the increased volume of trade also stimulated new labor practices,including adaptation of existing patterns of free and coerced labor.Social and gender structures evolved in response to these changes.

What were the overallworldwide economic trends inthe post-classical era?

I. Innovations stimulated agricultural and industrial productionin many regions.

A. Agricultural production increased significantly due totechnological innovations (such as Champa rice varieties, thechinampa field systems, waru waru raised field cultivation inthe Andean areas, improved terracing techniques or the horsecollar).

What new innovations affectedagriculture in the post-classicalera?

B. In response to increasing demand in Afro-Eurasia for foreignluxury goods, crops were transported from their indigenoushomelands to equivalent climates in other regions.

How and why did crops migrateduring the post-classical era?

C. Chinese, Persian, and Indian artisans and merchants expandedtheir production of textiles and porcelains for export; industrialproduction of iron and steel expanded in China.

How did textile and porcelainproduction develop in the post-classical era?

II. The fate of cities varied greatly, with periods of significantdecline, and periods of increased urbanization buoyed byrising productivity and expanding trade networks.


A. Factors that contributed to declines of urban areas in thisperiod included invasions, disease, the decline of agriculturalproductivity, and the Little Ice Age.

Why did some post-classicalurban areas decline?

B. Factors that contributed to urban revival included the end ofinvasions, the availability of safe and reliable transport, the riseof commerce and the warmer temperatures between 800 and1300. Increased agricultural productivity and subsequent risingpopulation and greater availability of labor also contributed tourban growth.

Why did some post-classicalurban areas prosper and grow?

C. While cities in general continued to play the roles they hadplayed in the past as governmental, religious and commercialcenters, many older cities declined at the same time thatnumerous new cities took on these established roles. NOTE:Students should be able to explain the cultural, religious,commercial and governmental function of at least two majorcities.

What roles did cities play intheir societies during the post-classical era?

III. Despite significant continuities in social structures and inmethods of production, there were also some importantchanges in labor management and in the effects of religiousconversion on gender relations and family life.

How did social and laborsystems develop during thepost-classical era?

A. As in the previous period, the main forms of labor organizationincluded free peasant agriculture, nomadic pastoralism, craftproduction and guild organization, along with various forms ofcoerced and unfree labor and government imposed labor taxesand military obligations.

What pre-existing labor systemscontinued through the post-classical era?

B. As in the previous period, social structures were shaped largelyby class and caste hierarchies. Patriarchy persisted; however, insome areas, women exercised more power and influence, mostnotably among the Mongols and in West Africa, Japan andSoutheast Asia.

How did social and genderhierarchies develop in the post-classical era?

C. New forms of coerced labor appeared including serfdom inEurope and Japan and the elaboration of the mit’a in the IncaEmpire. Free peasants resisted attempts to raise dues and taxesby staging revolts (such as in China or the Byzantine Empire).The demand for slaves for both military and domestic purposesincreased particularly in central Eurasia, parts of Africa and theeastern Mediterranean.

What new labor forms devel-oped in the post-classical era?

D. The diffusion of Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and Neo-Confucianism often led to significant changes in genderrelations and family structure.

Who did some gender roles andfamily structures change in thepost-classical era?


Period 4: Global Interactions, c. 1450 to c. 1750

Key Concept 4.1 Globalizing Networks of Communication and Exchange

The interconnection of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres madepossible by transoceanic voyaging marked a key transformation of thisperiod. Technological innovations helped to make transoceanicconnections possible. Changing patterns of long-distance trade includedthe global circulation of some commodities and the formation of newregional markets and financial centers. Increased transregional and globaltrade networks facilitated the spread of religion and other elements ofculture as well as the migration of large numbers of people. Germs carriedto the Americas ravaged the indigenous peoples, while the globalexchange of crops and animals altered agriculture, diets and populationsaround the planet.

Describe the degree ofglobal ‘interconnection’after 1500 CE compared tobefore 1500.

What were the overalleffects of this change inglobal interconnectedness?

I. In the context of the new global circulation of goods, there was anintensification of all existing regional trade networks that broughtprosperity and economic disruption to the merchants and govern-ments in the trading regions of the Indian Ocean, Mediterranean,Sahara, and overland Eurasia.

How did the global tradenetwork after 1500 CE affectthe pre-existing regionaltrade networks? (IndianOcean, Mediterranean,trans-Saharan, Silk Routes)

II. European technological developments in cartography andnavigation built on previous knowledge developed in the classical,Islamic and Asian worlds, and included the production of newtools (such as astrolabe or revised maps), innovations in shipdesigns (such as caravels) and an improved understanding ofglobal wind and currents patterns, all of which made transoceanictravel and trade possible.

What technical develop-ments made transoceanicEuropean travel & tradepossible?

Where did thosedevelopments originate?

III. Remarkable new transoceanic maritime reconnaissance occurredin this period.

What were the major nota-ble transoceanic voyagesbetween 1450-1750 CE?

A. Official Chinese maritime activity expanded into the Indian Oceanregion with the naval voyages led by Ming Admiral Zheng Hewhich enhanced Chinese prestige.

Where did Zheng He andthe Chinese Treasure Fleetstravel?

B. Portuguese development of a school for navigation led to increasedtravel to and trade with West Africa and resulted in theconstruction of a global trading-post empire.

Why did Portugal beginlonger maritime voyages ca.1430 CE?

C. Spanish sponsorship of the first Columbian and subsequentvoyages across the Atlantic and Pacific dramatically increasedEuropean interest in transoceanic travel and trade.

What effect did Columbus’travels have on Europeans?

D. Northern Atlantic crossings for fishing and settlements continuedand spurred European searches for multiple routes to Asia.

What originally motivatedEuropeans to travel acrossthe northern Atlantic?


IV. The new global circulation of goods was facilitated by royalchartered European monopoly companies who took silver fromSpanish colonies in the Americas to purchase Asian goods for theAtlantic markets, but regional markets continued to flourish inAfro-Eurasia using established commercial practices and newtransoceanic shipping services developed by European merchants.

What new financial andmonetary means made newscale(s) of trade possible?

What previously establishedscale(s) of trade continued?

A. European merchants’ role in Asian trade was characterized mostlyby transporting goods from one Asian country to another market inAsia or the Indian Ocean region.

Describe Europeanmerchants overall traderole c. 1450-1750.

B. Commercialization and the creation of a global economy wereintimately connected to new global circulation of silver from theAmericas.

What role did silver play infacilitating a truly globalscale of trade?

C. Influenced by mercantilism, joint-stock companies were newmethods used by European rulers to control their domestic andcolonial economies and by European merchants to compete againsteach other in global trade.

What new mercantilistfinancial means developedto facilitate global trade?

D. The Atlantic system involved the movement of goods, wealth, andfree and unfree laborers, and the mixing of African, American andEuropean cultures and peoples.

What were the economicand social effects of theAtlantic trading system?

V. The new connections between the Eastern and Westernhemispheres resulted in the Columbian Exchange.

A. European colonization of the Americas led to the spread ofdiseases including smallpox, measles and influenza that wereendemic in the Eastern Hemisphere among Amerindianpopulations and the unintentional transfer of vermin, includingmosquitoes or rats.

What were the unintentionalbiological effects of theColumbian Exchange?

B. American foods (such as potatoes, maize or manioc) became staplecrops in various parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Cash crops(such as sugar or tobacco) were grown primarily on plantationswith coerced labor and were exported mostly to Europe and theMiddle East in this period.

What foods were trans-ferred to new geographicregions as part of theColumbian Exchange, andwhat were labor systemsmade this transfer possible?

C. Afro-Eurasian fruit trees, grains, sugar, and domesticated animals(such as horses, pigs or cattle) were brought by Europeans to theAmericas while other foods (such as okra or rice) were brought byAfrican slaves.

What plants/animals weretransferred across theAtlantic as part of theColumbian Exchange?

D. Populations in Afro-Eurasia benefitted nutritionally from theincreased diversity of American food crops.

What effects did Americanfood crops have on the dietof Afro-Eurasians?

E. European colonization and introduction of European agricultureand settlements practices in the Americas often affected thephysical environment through deforestation and soil depletion.

How did settlers’ actionaffect the Americas environ-mentally?

VI. The increase in interactions between newly connectedhemispheres and intensification of connections within hemispheres

How did the Columbian


expanded the spread and reform of existing religions and createdsyncretic belief systems and practices.

Exchange affect the spreadof religions?

A. Muslims developed Sunni, Shi’a, and Sufi traditions. As Islamspread to new settings in Asia and Africa, believers adapted it tolocal cultural practices.

B. The practice of Christianity continued to spread throughout theworld and was increasingly diversified by the process of diffusionand the Reformation.

C. Buddhism spread within Asia.

D. Syncretic forms of religion (such as vodun in the Caribbean, thecults of saints in Latin America, or Sikhism in South Asia)developed.

Where did the “universal”religions of Buddhism,Christianity & Islamspread?

How did the practice ofreligions develop in thisera?

VII. As merchants’ profits increased and governments collectedmore taxes, funding for the visual and performing arts, evenfor popular audiences, increased.

How did the arts fareduring this period?

A. Innovations in visual and performing arts were seen all over theworld (such as Renaissance art in Europe, miniature paintings inthe Middle East and South Asia, woodblock prints in Japan orpost-Conquest codices in Mesoamerica).

B. Literacy expanded accompanied by the proliferation of popularauthors, literary forms and works of literature in Afro-Eurasia(such as Shakespeare, Cervantes, Sundiata, Journey to the West orkabuki).

How did public literacy aswell as literary and artisticforms of expression developduring this period?

Key Concept 4.2 New Forms of Social Organization and Modes of Production

While the world’s productive systems continued to be heavily centered onagricultural production throughout this period, major changes occurred inagricultural labor, the systems and location of manufacturing, gender andsocial structures, and environmental processes. A surge in agriculturalproductivity resulted from new methods in crop and field rotation and theintroduction of new crops. Economic growth also depended on new formsof manufacturing and new commercial patterns, especially in long-distance trade. Political and economic centers within regions shifted, andmerchants’ social status tended to rise in various states. Demographicgrowth—even in areas such as the Americas, where disease had ravagedthe population—was restored by the eighteenth century and surged inmany regions, especially with the introduction of American food cropsthroughout the Eastern Hemisphere. The Columbian Exchange led to newways of humans interacting with their environments. New forms ofcoerced and semi-coerced labor emerged in Europe, Africa and theAmericas and affected ethnic and racial classifications and gender roles.

How did agriculture’s rolechange between 1450-1750?

What pre-requisiteconditions made thesechanges possible?

I. Traditional peasant agriculture increased and changed,plantations expanded, and demand for labor increased. These

How did labor systemsdevelop between 1450-1750?


changes both fed and responded to growing global demand forraw materials and finished products.

A. Peasant labor intensified in many regions (such as the developmentof frontier settlements in Russian Siberia, cotton textile productionin India or silk textile production in China).

How was peasant laboraffected between 1450-1750?

B. Slavery in Africa continued both the traditional incorporation ofslaves into households and the export of slaves to theMediterranean and Indian Ocean.

How did slavery withinAfrica compare to the pre-1450 era?

C. The growth of the plantation economy increased the demand forslaves in the Americas.

D. Colonial economies in the Americas depended on a range ofcoerced labor (such as chattel slavery, indentured servitude,encomienda and hacienda systems, or the Spanish adaptation ofthe Inda mit’a.

What caused the Atlanticslave trade to expand sodramatically?

How did labor systemsdevelop in the colonialAmericas?

II. As new social and political elites changed, they also restructurednew ethnic, racial and gender hierarchies.

A. Both imperial conquests and widening global economicopportunities contributed to the formation of new political andeconomic elites (such as the Manchus in China, Creole elites inSpanish America, European gentry or urban commercialentrepreneurs in all major port cities in the world).

How did the post-1450economic order affect thesocial, economic, andpolitical elites?

B. The power of existing political and economic elites (such as thezamindars in the Mughal Empire, nobility in Europe or daimyo inJapan) fluctuated as they confronted new challenges to their abilityto affect the policies of the increasingly powerful monarchs andleaders.

How did pre-existingpolitical and economicelites react to thesechanges?

C. Some notable gender and family restructuring occurred includingthe demographic changes in Africa that resulted from the slavetrades (as well as dependence of European men on Southeast Asianwomen for conducting trade in that region or the smaller size ofEuropean families).

How were gender andfamily structures affected tothese changes?

D. The massive demographic changes in the Americas resulted in newethnic and racial classifications (such as mestizo, mulatto orcreole).

How did societies in theAmericas reflect the post-1450 economic order?


Key Concept 4.3 State Consolidation and Imperial Expansion

Empires expanded and conquered new peoples around the world, but theyoften had difficulties incorporating culturally, ethnically and religiouslydiverse subjects and administrating widely dispersed territories. Agents ofEuropean powers moved into existing trade networks around the world. InAfrica and the greater Indian Ocean, nascent European empires consistedmainly of interconnected trading posts and enclaves. In the Americas,European empires moved more quickly to settlement and territorialcontrol responding to local demographic and commercial conditions.Moreover, the creation of European empires in the Americas quicklyfostered a new Atlantic trade system that included the trans-Atlantic slavetrade. Around the world, empires and states of varying sizes pursuedstrategies of centralization, including more efficient taxation systems thatplaced strains on peasant producers, sometimes prompting localrebellions. Rulers used public displays of art and architecture to legitimizestate power. African states shared certain characteristics with largerEurasian empires. Changes in African and global trading patternsstrengthened some West and Central African states—especially on thecoast, led to the rise of new states and contributed to the decline of stateson both the coast and in the interior.

How did empires attempt toadminister the newwidespread nature of theirterritories?

How did the role of Africa,the Americas, Asia, andEurope develop in this newworld-wide political order?

How did the people ofvarious empires react totheir government’smethods?

I. Rulers used a variety of methods to legitimize and consolidatetheir power.

A. Visual displays of political power (such as monumentalarchitecture, urban plans, courtly literature or visual arts) helpedlegitimize and support rulers.

How did political rulerslegitimize and consolidatetheir rule?

B. Rulers continued to use religious ideas to legitimize their rule(such as European notions of divine right, the Safavid use ofShiism, the Mexica or Aztec practice of human sacrifice, theSonghay promotion of Islam or the Chinese emperors’ publicperformance of Confucian rituals).

What role did religion playin legitimizing politicalrule?

C. States treated different ethnic and religious groups in ways thatboth utilized their economic contributions while limiting theirability to challenge the authority of the state (such as the Ottomantreatment of non-Muslim subjects, Manchu policies towardChinese or the Spanish creation of a separate “República deIndios”)

How were ethnic andreligious minorities treatedin various empires?

D. Recruitment and use of bureaucratic elites, as well as thedevelopment of military professionals (such as the Ottomandevshirme, Chinese examination system or salaried samurai),became more common among rulers who wanted to maintaincentralized control over their populations and resources.

How did rulers make surethat their governmentalwere well run?

E. Rulers used tribute collection and tax farming to generate revenuefor territorial expansion.

How did rulers finance theirterritorial expansion?


II. Imperial expansion relied on the increased use of gunpowder,cannons and armed trade to establish large empires in bothhemispheres.

What was the relationshipbetween imperialism andmilitary technology?

A. Europeans established new trading post empires in Africa and Asiawhich proved profitable for the rulers and merchants involved innew global trade networks, but also affected the power of states ininterior West and Central Africa.

How did Europeans goabout creating new globalempires and tradenetworks?

B. Land empires expanded dramatically in size, including theManchus, Mughals, Ottomans and Russians.

C. European states, including Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands,France and Britain, established new maritime empires in theAmericas.

How did pre-existing land-based empires and newempires during this eracompare to previous era’sempires?

III. Competition over trade routes (such as Omani-European rivalryin the Indian Ocean and piracy in the Caribbean), state rivalries(such as the Thirty Years War or the Ottoman-Safavid conflict),and local resistance (such as bread riots) all provided significantchallenges to state consolidation and expansion.

What obstacles to empire-building did empiresconfront, and how did theyrespond to thesechallenges?


Period 5: Industrialization and Global Integration, c. 1750 to c. 1900

Key Concept 5.1 Industrialization and Global Capitalism

Industrialization fundamentally altered the production of goods around theworld. It not only changed how goods were produced and consumed, aswell as what was considered a “good,” but it also had far reaching effectson the global economy, social relations and culture. Although it iscommon to speak of an “Industrial Revolution,” the process ofindustrialization was a gradual one that unfolded over the course of theeighteenth and nineteenth centuries, eventually becoming global.

How did Industrializationaffect seemingly unrelatedfields like social structures,culture, the economy?

I. Industrialization changed fundamentally how goods wereproduced.

A. A variety of factors led to the rise of industrial production:Europe’s location on the Atlantic ocean; the geographicaldistribution of coal, iron, and timber; European demographicchanges; urbanization; improved agricultural productivity; legalprotection of private property; an abundance of rivers and canals;access to foreign resources; and the accumulation of capital.

What combination offactors were necessary tobegin the IndustrialRevolution?

B. The development of machines, including steam engines and theinternal combustion engine, made it possible to exploit vast newresources of energy stored in fossil fuels, specifically coal and oil.The “fossil fuels” revolution greatly increased the energy availableto human societies.

What “fueled” (both liter-ally and metaphorically) theIndustrial Revolution?

C. The development of the factory system concentrated labor in asingle location and led to an increasing degree of specialization oflabor.

How did factories changethe nature of labor itself?

D. As the new methods of industrial production became morecommon in parts of northwestern Europe, they spread to otherparts of Europe and the United States, Russia and Japan.

Where did factories start,and where/how did thefactory system spread?

E. The “second industrial revolution” led to new methods in theproduction of steel, chemicals, electricity and precision machineryduring the second half of the nineteenth century.

What was the “2 Indus-nd

trial Revolution?”

II. New patterns of global trade and production developed andfurther integrated the global economy as industrialists sought rawmaterials and new markets for the increasing amount and array ofgoods produced in their factories.

How did the IndustrialRevolution influence worldtrade overall?

A. The need for raw materials for the factories and increased foodsupplies for growing population in urban centers led to the growthof export economies around the world that specialized in massproducing single natural resources (such as cotton, rubber, palmoil, sugar, wheat, meat or guano). The profits from these rawmaterials were used to purchase finished goods.

What raw materials werecommonly exported toindustrialized areas?


B. The rapid development of industrial production contributed to thedecline of economically productive, agriculturally-basedeconomies (such as textile production in India).

As industrial productionrose, what type(s) ofproduction declined?

C. The rapid increases in productivity caused by industrial productionencouraged industrialized states to seek out new consumer marketsfor their finished goods (such as British and French attempts to“open up” the Chinese market during the nineteenth century)

What “new” markets didindustrialized states lookfor/create for their exports?

D. The need for specialized and limited metals for industrialproduction, as well as the global demand for gold, silver anddiamonds as forms of wealth led to the development of extensivemining centers (such as copper mines in Mexico or gold anddiamond mines in South Africa).

What role did monetary andprecious metals play in theIndustrial Revolution?

III. To facilitate investments at all levels of industrial production,financiers developed and expanded various financial institutions.

A. The ideological inspiration for economic changes lies in thedevelopment of capitalism and classical liberalism associated withAdam Smith and John Stuart Mill.

B. Financial instruments expanded (such as stock markets, insurance,

the gold standard or limited liability corporations).

How did industrialists legit-imize the economic changesof the Industrial Rev?

What financial institutionsfacilitated industrialproduction?

C. The global nature of trade and production contributed to theproliferation of large scale transnational businesses (such asbicycle tires, the United Fruit Company or the HSBC-Hong Kong& Shanghai Banking Corporation).

How did the IndustrialRevolution affect the scaleof businesses and overalleconomic activity?

IV. There were major developments in transportation andcommunication including railroads, steamships, telegraphs andcanals.

What were the importantdevelopments in transpor-tation during the Ind. Rev?

V. The development and spread of global capitalism led to a varietyof responses.

A. In industrialized states, many workers organized themselves toimprove working conditions, limit hours and gain higher wageswhile others opposed capitalist exploitation of workers bypromoting alternative visions of society (such as Utopiansocialism, Marxism or anarchism).

How did workers respond tothe Ind. Rev., and how didtheir vision of societycompare to industrialists’?

B. In Qing China and the Ottoman Empire some members of thegovernment resisted economic change and attempted to maintainpre-industrial forms of economic production.

C. In a small number of states, governments promoted their ownstate-sponsored visions of industrialization (such as the economicreforms of Meiji Japan, the development of factories and railroadsin Tsarist Russia, China’s Self-Strengthening program orMuhammad Ali’s development of a cotton textile industry inEgypt).

How did governmentsrespond to the tremendouseconomic changes of theIndustrial Revolution?


D. In response to criticisms of industrial global capitalism somegovernments mitigated the negative effects of industrial capitalismby promoting various types of reforms (such as state pensions andpublic health in Germany, expansion of suffrage in Britain orpublic education in many states).

How and why did somegovernments reform theirpractices because of theIndustrial Revolution?

VI. The ways in which people organized themselves into societies alsounderwent significant transformations in industrialized states dueto the fundamental restructuring of the global economy.

A. New social classes, including the middle class and the industrialworking class, developed.

B. Family dynamics, gender roles and demographics changed inresponse to industrialization.

C. Rapid urbanization that accompanied global capitalism often led tounsanitary conditions, as well as to new forms of community.

How did the Ind. Rev. affectsocial and demographiccharacteristics?

Key Concept 5.2 Imperialism and Nation-State Formation

As states industrialized during this period, they also expanded existingoverseas colonies and established new types of colonies and transoceanicempires. Regional warfare and diplomacy both resulted in and wereaffected by this process of modern empire-building. The process was ledmostly by Europe, although not all states were affected equally, which ledto an increase of European influence around the world. The United Statesand Japan also participated in this process. The growth of new empireschallenged the power of existing land-based empires of Eurasia. Newideas about nationalism, race, gender, class and culture also developedthat both facilitated the spread of transoceanic empires and new states, aswell as justifying anti-imperial resistance and the formation of newnational identities.

What are the similarities &differences betweencolonialism and imper-ialism?

How did imperialism affectEurope’s influence aroundthe world?

I. Industrializing powers established transoceanic empires.

A. States with existing colonies (such as the British in India or theDutch in Indonesia) strengthened their control over those colonies.

B. European states (such as the British, the Dutch, the French, theGermans or the Russians) as well as the Americans and theJapanese established empires in throughout Asia and the Pacific,while Spanish and Portuguese influence declined.

Which states increased theirinfluence and control overtheir pre-existing colonies,and which saw theirinfluence decrease?

C. Many European states used both warfare and diplomacy toestablish empires in Africa (such as Britain in West Africa orBelgium in the Congo)

D. In some parts of their empires, Europeans established settlercolonies (such as the British in southern Africa, Australia and NewZealand, or the French in Algeria).

E. In other parts of the world, industrialized states practicedeconomic imperialism (such as the British and French expanding

What methods and tacticsdid industrialized states useto establish and expandtheir empires?


their influence in China through the Opium Wars or the British andthe United States investing heavily in Latin America).

II. Imperialism influenced state formation and contraction aroundthe world.

A. The expansion of U.S. and European influence over TokugawaJapan led to the emergence of Meiji Japan.

B. The United States, Russia and Qing China emulated Europeantransoceanic imperialism by expanding their land borders andconquering neighboring territories.

How did imperialism help,hurt, or change variousstates?

C. Anti-imperial resistance led to the contraction of the OttomanEmpire (such as the establishment of independent states in theBalkans, semi-independence in Egypt. French and Italian coloniesin North Africa or later British influence in Egypt).

How did anti-imperialismaffect the Ottoman Empire’sterritories?

D. New states (such as the Cherokee nation, Siam, Hawai’i or theZulu kingdom) developed on the edges of empire.

E. The development and spread of nationalism as an ideologyfostered new communal identities (such as the German nation,Filipino nationalism or Liberian nationalism).

What were the effects ofnationalism on variouspeoples and regions?

III. New racial ideologies, especially Social Darwinism, facilitated andjustified Imperialism.

How did imperialists justifyimperialism?

Key Concept 5.3 Nationalism, Revolution, and Reform

The eighteenth century marked the beginning of an intense period ofrevolution and rebellion against existing governments and theestablishment of new nation-states around the world. Enlightenmentthought and the resistance of colonized peoples to imperial centers shapedthis revolutionary activity. These rebellions sometimes resulted in theformation of new states and stimulated the development of newideologies. These new ideas in turn further stimulated the revolutionaryand anti-imperial tendencies of this period.

How did both the Enlighten-ment and colonized peop-les’ actions affect politicaldevelopments after 1750?

How did political rebellionsaffect the political struct-ures and ideologies aroundthe world?

I. The rise and diffusion of Enlightenment thought that questionedestablished traditions in all areas of life often preceded therevolutions and rebellions against existing governments.

What role did the Enlight-enment play in makingpolitical revolutions &rebellions possible?

A. Thinkers (such as Voltaire or Rousseau) applied new ways ofunderstanding the natural world to human relationships,encouraging observation and inference in all spheres of life.

How did Enlightenmentthinkers affect understand-ings of the relationshipbetween the natural worldand humans?

B. Intellectuals critiqued the role that religion played in public life,insisting on the importance of reason as opposed to revelation

How did the Enlightenmentevaluate the role of religionin public life?


C. Enlightenment thinkers (such as Locke or Montesquieu) developednew political ideas about the individual, natural rights and thesocial contract.

What new political ideas re:the individual, naturalrights, and the social con-tract did the Enlightenmentdevelop?

D. They also challenged existing notions of social relations which ledto the expansion of rights as seen in expanded suffrage, theabolition of slavery and the end of serfdom as their ideas wereimplemented.

What social & politicalnorms did Enlightenmentthinkers challenge? Whatwere the effects of theirquestioning?

II. Beginning in the eighteenth century peoples around the worlddeveloped a new sense of commonality based on language, religion,social customs and territory. These newly imagined nationalcommunities linked this identity with the borders of the state whilegovernments used this idea to unite diverse populations.

What is the basis of nation-al identity and nationalism?

How did governments usethese new ideas on theirpopulations?

III. Increasing discontent with imperial rule and the spread ofEnlightenment ideas propelled reformist and revolutionarymovements.

A. Subjects challenged the centralized imperial governments (such asthe challenge of the Marathas to the Mughal Sultans)

How did subject peoplesrelate to their rulinggovernments?

B. American colonial subjects led a series of rebellions whichfacilitated the emergence of independent states in the UnitedStates, Haiti and mainland Latin America. French subjects rebelledagainst their monarchy. These revoluts generally attempted to putthe Enlightenment’s political theory into practice. Evidence of thiscan be found in the American Declaration of Independence, theFrench Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen or Bolivar’sJamaica Letter.

How did rebellions andrevolutions in the Americasand Europe reflect Enlight-enment ideals?

C. Slave resistance (such as the establishment of Maroon societies)challenged existing authorities in the Americas.

How did slaves’ resistanceaffect existing authorities inthe Americas?

D. Increasing questions about political authority and growingnationalism contributed to anti-colonial movements (such as theIndian Revolt of 1857 or the Boxer Rebellion).

What was the relationshipbetween nationalism andanti-colonialism?

E. Some of the rebellions were influenced by religious ideas andmillenarianism, (such as the Taiping Rebellion, the Ghost Danceor the Xhosa cattle killing).

How did religion influencenationalism?

F. Responses to increasingly frequent rebellions led to reforms inimperial policies (such as the Tanzimat movement or the Self-Strengthening Movement).

How did imperial govern-ments react to nationalisticrebellions?

IV. The global spread of European political and social thought andthe increasing number of rebellions stimulated new transnationalideologies and solidarities.

What other new ideologiesdid the Enlightenmentstimulate?


A. Discontent with monarchist and imperial rule encouraged thedevelopment of political ideologies including liberalism, socialismand communism.

What new politicalideologies developed fromca. 1750-1900?

B. Demands for women’s suffrage and an emergent feminismchallenged political and gender hierarchies (such as MaryWollstonecraft’s “A Vindication of the Rights of Women,”Olympe de Gouges’ “Declaration of the Rights of Women and theFemale Citizen” or the resolutions passed at the Seneca FallsConference in 1848).

What people or issues didEnlightenment thinkersignore or overlook?

Key Concept 5.4 Global Migration

Migration patterns changed dramatically throughout this period and thenumbers of migrants increased significantly. These changes were closelyconnected to the development of transoceanic empires and a globalcapitalist economy. In some cases, people benefitted economically frommigration, while other peoples were seen simply as commodities to betransported. In both cases, migration produced dramatically differentsocieties for both sending and receiving societies and presented challengesto governments in fostering national identities and regulating the flow ofpeople.

How did migrations in thisperiod compare to earlierperiods?

What were the main social,economic, and politicalcauses and effects of thisnew age of migration?

I. Migration in many cases was influenced by changes indemography in both industrialized and unindustrialized societiesthat presented challenges to existing patterns of living.

How did the IndustrialRevolution affect migrationpatterns during this period?

A. Changes in food production and improved medical conditionscontributed to a significant global rise in population.

What were the causes ofworld population growth?

B. Because of the nature of the new modes of transportation, bothinternal and external migrants increasingly relocated to cities. Thispattern contributed to the significant global urbanization of thenineteenth century.

How did new modes oftransportation affectmigration?

II. Migrants relocated for a variety of reasons. Why did people migrate?

A. Many individuals (such as manual laborers or specializedprofessionals) chose freely to relocate, often in search of work.

What were the economicmotives behind migration?

B. The new global capitalist economy continued to rely on coercedand semi-coerced labor migration, including slavery, Chinese andIndian indentured servitude and convict labor.

What types of migrationwere voluntary vs.involuntary?

C. While many migrants permanently relocated, a significant numberof temporary and seasonal migrants returned to their homesocieties (such as Japanese agricultural workers in the Pacific,Lebanese merchants in the Americas or Italians in Argentina).

How permanent weremigrations?

III. The large scale nature of migration, especially in the nineteenthcentury, produced a variety of consequences and reactions to theincreasingly diverse societies on the part of migrants and theexisting populations.

What were the social conse-quences and reactions to 19 century migrations?th


A. Due to the physical nature of the labor in demand, migrants tendedto be male, leaving women to take on new roles in the homesociety that had been formerly occupied by men.

How were gender rolesaffected by migration?

B. Migrants often created ethnic enclaves, (such as concentrations ofChinese and Indians in different parts of the world) which helpedtransplant their culture into new environments and facilitated thedevelopment of migrant support networks.

How did migrants preserveand transplant their culturein their new homes?

C. Receiving societies did not always embrace immigrants, as seen invarious degrees of ethnic and racial prejudice and the ways statesattempted to regulate the increased flow of people across theirborders (such as the Chinese Exclusion Act or the White AustraliaPolicy).

How did receiving societiesreact to the new presence offoreign migrants?


Period 6: Accelerating Global Change and Realignments, c. 1900 to present

Key Concept 6.1 Science and the Environment

Rapid advances in science altered understandings of the universe and thenatural world and led to the development of new technologies. Thesechanges enabled unprecedented population growth, which altered howhumans interacted with the environment and threatened delicateecological balances at local, regional and global levels.

How did science affecthumans’ conception of thenatural world in the 20th

century?

I. Researchers made rapid advances in science that spreadthroughout the world, assisted by the development of newtechnology.

A. New modes of communication and transportation virtuallyeliminated the problem of geographic distance.

B. New scientific paradigms transformed human understandings ofthe world (such the theory of relativity, quantum mechanics, theBig Bang theory or psychology).

C. The Green Revolution produced food for the earth’s growingpopulation as it spread chemically and genetically enhanced formsof agriculture.

D. Medical innovations (such as the polio vaccine, antibiotics, and theartificial heart) increased the ability of humans to survive.

E. Energy technologies including the use of oil and nuclear powerraised productivity and increased the production of material goods.

What new technologies anddiscoveries affected com-munication, transportation,and conceptions of the

How did scientific discov-eries affect humans’ abilityto feed and care for them-selves?

What new energy technolo-gies affected the 20th

century?

II. As the global population expanded at an unprecedented rate,humans fundamentally changed their relationship with theenvironment.

A. Humans exploited and competed over the earth’s finite resourcesmore intensely than ever before in human history.

How did humans’ relation-ship to the environmentchange in the 20 century?th

B. Global warming was a major consequence of the release ofgreenhouse gases and other pollutants into the atmosphere.

C. Pollution threatened the world’s supply of water and clean air.Deforestation and desertification were continued consequences ofthe human impact on the environment. Rates of extinction of otherspecies accelerated sharply.

What negative conse-quences in the 20 centuryth

accompanied the benefits ofindustrialization?

III. Disease, scientific innovations, and conflict led to demographicshifts.

A. Diseases associated with poverty (such as malaria, tuberculosis, orcholera) persisted, while other diseases (such as 1919 influenzaepidemic, ebola or HIV/AIDS) emerged as new epidemics andthreats to human survival. In addition, changing lifestyles and

What caused some of themajor demographicchanges in the 20 century?th


increased longevity led to higher incidence of certain diseases(such as diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer's disease).

B. More effective forms of birth control gave women greater controlover fertility and transformed sexual practices.

C. Improved military technology (such as tanks, airplanes or theAtomic Bomb) and new tactics (such as trench warfare orfirebombing) led to increased levels of wartime casualties (such asNanjing, Dresden or Hiroshima).

How did the invention ofreliable birth control affectgender roles?

How did new militarytechnology affect wartimecasualties?

Key Concept 6.2 Global Conflicts and their Consequences

At the beginning of the twentieth century, a European-dominated globalpolitical order existed, which also included the United States, Russia andJapan. Over the course of the century, peoples and states around the worldchallenged this order in ways that sought to redistribute power within theexisting order and restructure empires, while those people and states inpower attempted to maintain the status quo. Other peoples and statessought to overturn the political order itself. These challenges to andattempts to maintain the political order manifested themselves in anunprecedented level of conflict with high human casualties. In the contextof these conflicts, many regimes in both older and newer states struggledwith maintaining political stability and were challenged by internal andexternal factors, including ethnic and religious conflicts, secessionistmovements, territorial partitions, economic dependency and the legaciesof colonialism.

I. Europe dominated the global political order at the beginning ofthe century, but both land-based and transoceanic empires gaveway to new forms of transregional political organization by thecentury’s end.

A. The older land-based Ottoman, Russian or the Qing empirescollapsed due to a combination of internal and external factors(such as economic hardship, political and social discontent,technological stagnation or military defeat).

Why did older, land-basedempires decline and/orcollapse?

B. Some colonies negotiated their independence (such as India andthe Gold Coast from the British empire).

C. Some colonies achieved independence through armed struggle(such as Algeria and Vietnam from the French empire or Angolafrom the Portuguese empire).

By what means did imperialcolonies achieve independ-ence?

II. Emerging ideologies of anti-imperialism contributed to thedissolution of empires and the restructuring of states.

A. Nationalist leaders (such as Mohandas Gandhi, Ho Chi Minh orKwame Nkrumah) in Asia and Africa challenged imperial rule.

B. Regional, religious, and ethnic movements challenged bothcolonial rule and inherited imperial boundaries (such as

What new movementschallenged the status quoduring the age of imperialrule?

Who helped lead and definethese movements?


Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the Quebecois separatist movement or theBiafra secession movement)

C. Transnational movements sought to unite people across nationalboundaries (such as communism, pan-Arabism or pan-Africanism).

D. Movements to redistribute land and resources developed withinstates in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, sometimes advocating communism and socialism.

What new identities wereused to unite populationsspread across nationalborders?

What ideologies were oftenused to “undo”imperialism?

III. Political changes were accompanied by major demographic andsocial consequences.

A. The redrawing of old colonial boundaries led to populationresettlements (such as the Indian/Pakistan partition, the ZionistJewish settlement of Palestine or the division of the Middle Eastinto mandatory states).

B. The migration of former colonial subjects to imperial metropoles(such as South Asians to Britain, Algerians to France or Filipinosto United States) maintained cultural and economic ties betweencolony and metropole even after the dissolution of empires.

How were colonial peoplesaffected by the change ofold colonial boundaries?

How were relationshipsbetween imperial powersand former colonies main-tained after the end of thoseempires?

C. The proliferation of conflicts led to various forms of ethnicviolence (such as Armenia, the Holocaust, Cambodia and Rwanda)and the displacement of people resulting in refugee populations(such as Palestinians or Darfurians).

What circumstances con-tributed to genocide andmass refugee populations?

IV. Military conflicts occurred on an unprecedented global scale.

A. The First and Second World Wars were the first “total wars.”Governments used ideologies, including fascism, nationalism andcommunism, to mobilize all of their state’s resources, includingpeoples and resources both in the home countries and the coloniesor former colonies (such as the Gurkha soldiers in India or theANZAC troops in Australia). Governments also used a variety ofstrategies to mobilize these populations, including politicalspeeches, art, media and intensified forms of nationalism.

How did the World Warsaffect the nature of war andthe relationship of thegovernment to theirpopulations?

B. The varied sources of global conflict in the first half of the centuryincluded: imperialist expansion by European powers and Japan,competition for resources, ethnic conflict, great power rivalriesbetween Great Britain and Germany, nationalist ideologies and theeconomic crisis engendered by the Great Depression.

What ideologies motivatedthe World War conflicts?

C. The global balance of economic and political power shifted afterthe end of the Second World War and rapidly evolved into theCold War. The United States and Soviet Union emerged assuperpowers which led to ideological struggles between capitalismand communism throughout the globe.

How did the world’sbalance of power changeduring the Cold War?


D. The Cold War produced new military alliances, including NATOand the Warsaw Pact and promoted proxy wars in Latin America,Africa and Asia.

What were the Cold War’smilitary consequences?

E. The dissolution of the Soviet Union effectively ended the ColdWar.

What caused the Cold Warto end?

V. Although conflict dominated much of the twentieth century, manyindividuals and groups— including states—opposed this trend.Some individuals and groups, however, intensified the conflicts.

How did various reactionsto the violence of the 20th

century compare?

A. Groups and individuals challenged the many wars of the century(such as Picasso’s Guernica, the anti-nuclear movement during theCold War or Thich Quang Duc’s self-immolation) and somepromoted the practice of nonviolence (such as Tolstoy, Gandhi orMartin Luther King) as a way to bring about political change.

How did the anti-war andnon-violence movementsrespond to the century’smany wars?

B. Groups and individuals opposed and promoted alternatives to theexisting economic, political and social orders (such as the non-aligned movement which presented an alternative political bloc tothe Cold War, the Tiananmen Square protests that promoteddemocracy in China, the Anti-Apartheid Movement or the globaluprisings of 1968)

What alternatives wereoffered to the economic,political, and social statusquo?

C. Militaries and militarized states often responded to the prolifer-ation of conflicts in ways that further intensified conflict (such asthe promotion of military dictatorship in Chile, Spain, and Uganda,the United States promotion of a New World Order after the ColdWar or the build up of the “military-industrial complex” and armstrading).

D. More movements used violence against civilians to achievepolitical aims (such as the IRA, ETA, and Al-Qaeda).

How did reactions bygovernments and militariesaffect the degree of conflictduring the 20 century?th

Why did some movementsuse terrorism for politicalpurposes?

E. Global conflicts had a profound influence on popular culture (suchas Dada, James Bond, Socialist Realism or video games).

How was popular cultureaffected by the globalconflicts?

Key Concept 6.3 New Conceptualizations of Global Economy, Society, & Culture

The twentieth century witnessed a great deal of warfare and the collapseof the global economy in the 1930s. In response to these challenges, therole of the state in the domestic economy fluctuated new institutions ofglobal governance emerged and continued to develop throughout thecentury. Scientific breakthroughs, new technologies, increasing levels ofintegration, changing relationship between humans and the environmentand the frequency of political conflict all contributed to globaldevelopments in which people crafted new understandings of society,culture, and historical interpretations. These new understandings oftenmanifested themselves in and were reinforced by new forms of culturalproduction. Institutions of global governance both shaped and adapted tothese social conditions.

What new governmentalinstitutions emerged as aresult of the 20 centuryth

conflicts?

What made these newinstitutions possible?

What role did they play inthe world during the 20th

century?


I. States responded in a variety of ways to the economic challenges ofthe twentieth century.

A. In the Communist states of the Soviet Union and China,governments directed the national economies and oversaw thedevelopment of industry (such as the Five Year Plans or the GreatLeap Forward).

B. At the beginning of the century in the United States and parts ofEurope, governments played a minimal role in the nationaleconomy. With the onset of the Great Depression, governmentsbegan to take a more active role in the economy (such as the NewDeal or the Fascist corporatist economy).

C. In newly independent states after World War II, governments oftentook on a strong role in guiding the economy to promote economicdevelopment (such as Nasser’s promotion of economic develop-ment in Egypt or the encouragement of export-oriented economiesin East Asia).

D. At the end of the twentieth century, many governments encouragedfree market economic policies and promoted economicliberalization (such as the United States beginning with RonaldReagan, Britain under Margaret Thatcher, or China under DengXiaoping).

II. States, communities and individuals became increasinglyinterdependent, a process facilitated by the growth ofinternational organizations.

A. New international organizations (such as the League of Nations orthe United Nations) formed to maintain world peace and tofacilitate international cooperation.

How did new internationalorganizations affect therelationship of states andpeoples around the world?

B. New economic institutions (such as the IMF, World Bank orWTO) sought to spread the principles and practices associatedwith free market economics throughout the world.

C. Humanitarian organizations (such as UNICEF, the Red Cross,Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders or the WHO)developed to respond to humanitarian crises throughout the world.

What were the economiceffects of new internationalorganizations?

Humanitarian effects?

D. Regional trade agreements (such as the European Union, NAFTA,ASEAN or Mercosur) created regional trading blocs designed topromote the movement of capital and goods across nationalborders.

E. Multi-national corporations (such as Royal-Dutch Shell, Coca-Cola or Sony) began to challenge state authority and autonomy.

F. Movements throughout the world protested the inequality ofenvironmental and economic consequences of global integration.

How did these economicdevelopments affect thedistribution of worldresources?


III. People conceptualized society and culture in new ways; somechallenged old assumptions about race, class, gender and religion;often using new technologies to spread reconfigured traditions.

A. The notion of human rights gained traction throughout the world(such as the UN Declaration of Human Rights or the end of theWhite Australia Policy).

B. Increased interactions among diverse peoples sometimes led to theformation of new cultural identities (such as negritude) andexclusionary reactions (such as xenophobia, race riots orcitizenship restrictions).

What new social and cul-tural ideologies developed,and what were the conse-quences and reactions tothese ideologies?

C. Believers developed new forms of spirituality (such as New AgeReligions, Hare Krishna or Falun Gong) and chose to emphasizeparticular aspects of practice within existing faiths and apply themto political issues (such as fundamentalist movements andLiberation Theology)

How did communities offaith respond to the rapidchanges in the 20 century?th

IV. Popular and Consumer Culture became global.

A. Sport was more widely practiced and reflected national and socialaspirations (such as World Cup soccer, the Olympics or cricket).

B. Changes in communication and transportation technology enabledthe widespread diffusion of music and film (such as reggae orBollywood).

How did the global natureof culture affect sports,music, fashions, and thearts?

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