AP World History Units 1 & 2

The Climax Connection

Cultural diffusion, unprecedented wealth, and devastating disease

Give an example of unprecedented wealth in the time period of 1200-1450

Mansa Musa

Give an example of devastating disease in the time period of 1200-1450

The Black Death

What state structures were located in the Americas during the time period of 1200-1450?

The Aztec & Inca Empires

What state structure was located in the Middle East during the time period of 1200-1450?

Dar-al-Islam

What state structure was located in West Africa during the time period of 1200-1450?

The Mali Empire

What state structure was located in South Asia during the time period of 1200-1450?

Delhi Sultanate (Islamic rule in India)

What state structures were located in East Asia during the time period of 1200-1450?

Song China & The Mongol Empire

How did rulers justify power?

Via Divine Right, the Mandate of Heaven, monumental architecture, and legal codes

What does Divine Right mean?

Royal bloodline

How were Islam and Buddhism similar in their ways of spreading?

They both spread primarily through travel

What specific ways did Islam spread?

Trade, Sufi missionaries, and conquest

What specific ways did Buddhism spread?

Monks & Silk Roads

What social structure was commonly in place in Western Europe?

Feudalism (lords & serfs)

What social structure was commonly in place in India?

Caste systems

Where was Feudalism largely present?

Western Europe

Where was the caste system largely present?

India

Song China (philosophical anchor & technological output)

• Neo-Confucianism and a rigid merit bureaucracy

• Invention of gunpowder, the compass, and the printing press

What does a merit bureaucracy mean?

Bureaucracy based on intelligence, not by your bloodline

Diffusion of Knowledge

Paper manufacturing travels from the Islamic World to Europe, accelerating learning

Dar-al-Islam (philosophical anchor & institutional core)

• Scholars preserving and translating vital Greek learning

• The House of Wisdom in Baghdad (key translation center)

What happened to the House of Wisdom?

It was burnt down by the Mongol army

What was the capital of the Aztec Empire?

Tenochtitlan

What system did the Aztec Empire use to organize society? What was the mechanism to it?

Tribute & slavery; the people they conquered were forced to provide physical goods, wealth, and slaves to the imperial center

What system did the Inca Empire use to organize society? What was the mechanism to it?

The Mit’a System (state labor); they implemented state-mandated physical labor required for public works and infrastructure

What technology was used for numbers in the Inca Empire?

Quipu (knotted cords)

Did the Aztec and Inca Empires know about each other and coexist?

No

Typical upper, middle, and lower classes in Western Europe

Upper: Lords

Middle: Vassals

Lower: Serfs

What dominant overarching power did Feudalism operate under in Western Europe?

The Catholic Church

Examples of the constant patriarchy

Foot-binding in China & purdah wearing in South Asia

What was the exception to the patriarchy? How?

Islam; they provided women with specific legal inheritance rights

What goods did Trans-Saharan trade typically move?

Gold & salt

Who reinvigorated trade along the Silk Roads? How?

The Mongols; they made it safe for free trade, so people felt comfortable & paid taxes to Mongols in return for keeping them safe

Silk Roads (goods, transport/tech, & innovations)

• Silk & spices

• Land caravans

• The spread of the Black Death

Indian Ocean Trade (goods, transport/tech, & innovations)

• Spices & textiles

• Mastery of monsoon winds

• Compass & astrolabe

Trans-Saharan Trade (goods, transport/tech, & innovations)

• Gold & salt

• Camels & saddles

• Rise of the Mali Empire

How did the Mongols pose as destroyers?

• Brutal military conquest

• They facilitated the spread of the plague via the Silk Roads

How did Mongols pose as connectors?

• Pax Mongolica

• Practiced religious tolerance

• Pushed Eastern technology to the West

Pax Mongolica

An era of unprecedented safe trading

Who were the ultimate trade facilitators in this time period?

The Mongols

How did Bills of Exchange increase the volume of long-distance trade?

They acted as early paper money, replacing larger, heavier forms of payment

How did understanding seasonal Monsoon winds allow for Indian Ocean trade?

They could predict the harsh winds, allowing for reliable, efficient, and safe trips along the Indian Ocean

What innovation helped make crossing Trans-Saharan trade routes possible for large caravans?

Camel saddles

What were diasporic communities?

Merchant groups settling abroad that facilitated cross-cultural trade

What did cross-cultural trade create?

Syncretic societies where people depended on each other more than before

Provide a specific example of cultural syncretism

Bantu Migrations (spread iron-working & farming across sub-Saharan Africa) + Arab Merchants = Swahili Culture

Provide examples of Mansa Musa’s actions to flaunt his unprecedented wealth during this time period

Mansa Musa of Mali →Embarks on Hajj to Mecca (1324) →Floods Cairo with gold→Proves Mali’s staggering wealth to the entire world

Where did Champa rice originate? Where did it spread?

It originated in Vietnam and spread to China

What is Champa Rice?

A drought-resistant crop allowing two harvests per year

Result of Champa Rice on society

Massive, sustained population boom in East Asia

How did the Black Death spread rapidly?

Through the newly secured Silk Roads

Result of the Black Death on society

Killed about 1/3 of Europe’s population and triggered a severe labor shortage, directly leading to higher wages for peasants

Cycle of history

Step 1: Rulers leverage belief systems to legitimize state power

Step 2: Strong, stable states emerge to protect networks of exchange

Step 3: Expanded trade routes diffuse technology and religion (syncretism)

Step 4: Global connection triggers massive environmental impacts (crops & disease)

What is the result of the cycle of history?

Societies reorganize and the cycle repeats