APW Common Themes and Definitions

UNIT 1 Dar-al-Islam

• Commonly referred to as the HOUSE OF ISLAM

  • Broad term that refers to the countries where Muslims can practice their religion FREELY

• Founded in the 600s

• Islam spread from India to Spain

• Helped establish Muslim caliphates

  • Islamic form of government that has political and religious leadership united

  • Caliph is the successor to Muhammad

• Allowed for the expansion of trading networks

• Tolerated different beliefs as long as a jizya (head tax) was paid

UNIT 1 Filial Piety 

• Emphasizes love, respect, and support for one’s parents and ancestors

• Stresses that followers display courtesy, ensure male heirs, uphold fraternity among brothers, and carry out the proper sacrifices after a parent’s death

• Demonstrated in Confucian stories like The Twenty-four Cases of Filial Piety

  • Depicts children exercising the tenet and upholding the tradition

• Remained the common tradition that runs throughout most of the religions

UNIT 1 Bhakti Movement

• Hindu devotional movement that flourished in the Medieval and early modern era, emphasizing music, dance, poetry, and rituals that were meant to attract direct union with the divine

• Influential societal reformation in Hinduism

  • Sought to provide an individual-focused alternative path to spirituality regardless of birth of gender

• Sought to change parts of Hinduism to get others converting to Islam and Buddhism to change to Hinduism

UNIT 1 Feudalism

The feudal system of the West came about with the fall of the great European empires, especially the Carolingian empire (think France, Germany, the United Kingdom, etc.). When these empires fell, Europe was left with a large and powerful military class without a strong state to govern them.

Between the 9th and 15th centuries, society was structured around a series of exchanges. The military class of knights/vassals agreed with the moneyed lords that they would protect the lord’s land in exchange for land. These lands were called fiefs and were tilled and farmed by peasants who were allowed to live on the land in exchange for taxes. This, in a nutshell, is feudalism, and feudalism is essential to understanding the development of the West.

• West

  • Fall of the great European empires

  • Left Europe with a large and powerful military class w/out a strong state to govern them

  • Society was structured around exchanges

UNIT 1 Serfdom

Serfdom dovetails nicely into feudalism, as the two go hand-in-hand and are essentially inseparable. Serfdom is a type of labor commonly used in feudal systems in which the laborers work the land in return for protection. However, this logic binds the serf to the land and their ruler. They were often not allowed to leave or pursue a new occupation. Serfdom was common in early Medieval Europe as well as in Russia until the mid-19th century.

UNIT 1 Foot Binding

Possibly one of the most visible reminders of Imperial Chinese upper-class visions of beauty, foot binding became a symbol of feminine attractiveness and extravagance. In 10th-century China, upper-class court dancers began applying painful bindings to young women as a way to stunt the growth of their feet.

The popularity of this act spread as the smaller foot represented not only beauty but the extravagance of the upper classes that did not need to use their feet to work. Often called lotus feet, the practice would not die out until the 20th century.

UNIT 1 Greco-Roman Philosophy

Though the 2019-2020 AP® World History course begins after Greco-Roman times, understanding their contributions to civilization is essential to understanding world history at large. This is less of a concrete event and more of an essential concept that you’ll need to keep in mind for your AP® World History exam.

Where eastern philosophies like Daoism revolved around the natural world, the philosophies of the Greek and Roman empires were often based upon logic, empirical observation, and the nature of political power and hierarchy. Part of the reason for this difference was the Greco-Roman strive for imperial expansion and the quest for practical solutions to political control. This was accomplished with the help of great thinkers like Aristotle and Cicero.