AP World History: Modern Exam — Period 1 Notes (1200-1450)

Love these notes? Try Kaplan's best AP Prep:

• Get the full Kaplan AP World History: Modern book from Amazon

• Sign up for an AP World History: Modern Review Session

AP World History: Modern Key Takeaways — Period 1 (1200-1450)

1. The spread of religion, aided by the increase in trade, often acted as a unifying social force. Throughout East Asia, the development of Neo-Confucianism solidified a cultural identity. Islam created a new cultural world known as Dar al-Islam, which transcended political and linguistic boundaries in Asia and Africa. Christianity and the Catholic Church served as unifying forces in Europe.

2. Centralized empires like the Arab Caliphates and the Song Dynasty built on the successful models of the past, while decentralized areas (Western Europe and Japan) developed political organization to more effectively deal with their unique issues. The peoples of the Americas saw new, large-scale political structures develop, such as the Inca Empire in the Andes and the Mississippian culture in North America.

3. The movement of people greatly altered the world politically and demographically. Traveling groups, such as the Turks and Mongols, disrupted much of Asia’s existing political structure. Turkic peoples founded the Mumluk and Delhi Sultanates. The recovery from the Mongol period introduced political structures that defined many areas for centuries to follow.

4. There was tremendous growth in long-distance trade. Technological developments such as the compass improved shipbuilding technology, and gunpowder shaped the development of the world. Trade through the Silk Road, the Indian Ocean, the trans-Saharan routes, and the Mediterranean Sea led to the spread of ideas, religions, and technology. Interregional cultural exchanges, represented by early world travelers like Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo, increased due to the Mongol Conquests.

5. War, disease, and famine caused massive social and political upheaval throughout Eurasia. The Black Death killed over a third of the European population, and the resulting labor shortfall increased the bargaining power of peasants, diminishing the system of feudalism. The Mongol Conquests led to a massive death toll from Korea to Russia to the Middle East, weakening many regions for centuries to come as European powers expanded outward.

6. Western Europe and China saw significant economic and political recoveries. The Italian city-states grew prosperous enough to support the burgeoning Renaissance, which was partly inspired by ancient Greek works recovered from Islamic scholars. The Ming Dynasty experienced a cultural flowering that resulted in great works of art. The Ming also supported major naval expeditions by Zheng He.

Key Terms: Period 1 (1200-1450)

Remember that the AP World History exam tests you on the depth of your knowledge, not just your ability to recall facts. While we have provided brief definitions here, you will need to know these terms in even more depth for the AP exam, including how terms connect to broader historical themes and understandings.

Cultural Developments and Belief Systems

• Neo-Confucianism: Popular during the Tang Dynasty; fused elements of Buddhism and Confucianism.

• Catholic Church: The largest of the three main branches of Christianity; centered in Rome and led by the pope; found most often in Europe, the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa, and parts of East Asia.

• Eastern Orthodox Church: The third largest of the three main branches of Christianity; originally based in the Byzantine Empire; found most often in Russia, Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and parts of Central Asia.

• Shi’a: One of the two main branches of Islam; rejects the first three Sunni caliphs and regards Ali, the fourth caliph, as Muhammad’s first true successor; most commonly found in Iran, but otherwise constitutes 10 to 15 percent of Muslims worldwide.

• Sunni: One of the two main branches of Islam; commonly described as orthodox and differs from Shi’a in its understanding of the Sunnah and in its acceptance of the first three caliphs; is by far the most common branch of Islam worldwide.

Civilizations in the Americas

• Chinampa: A form of Mesoamerican agriculture in which farmers cultivated crops in rectangular plots of land on lake beds; hosted corns, beans, chilis, squash, tomatoes, and more; provided up to seven harvests per year.

• Mit’a: A mandatory public service system in the Inca Empire requiring all people below the age of 50 to serve for two months out of the year; not to be confused with the mita, a forced labor system practiced by conquistadors in the former Inca Empire.

Civilizations in East Asia

• Mandate of Heaven: Ancient Chinese concept stating that the right to rule was granted by the heavens; used to explain the rise of every Chinese dynasty, including the Qing in 1644.

• Grand Canal: World’s longest canal, connecting the fertile Huang He River to the highly populated cities in the north; allowed grain to be shipped easily.

• Champa rice: Introduced to China from Vietnam; allowed the Chinese to have two harvests per year, dramatically improving output; combined with an improved infrastructure, led to a significant growth of the Chinese population.

Islamic Golden Age

• Al-Andalus: Islamic state located in modern-day Spain; led by the Berbers; renowned for its achievements in science, mathematics, and trade.

• Astrolabe: Introduced to the Islamic world in the 700s, where it was perfected by mathematicians; used by astronomers and navigators to determine latitude through inclination.

• Trans-Saharan trade: Trade network starting in the 400s and 500s; thrived due to an organized network of camel caravans carrying gold, salt, cloth, slaves, and other valuables; allowed the kingdoms of Ghana and Mali to thrive, and as Islam spread to Africa, allowed its teachings to impact the lives of kings and traders.

Europe during the Late Middle Ages

• Feudalism: Political and economic system that developed as a result of the decentralization and collapse of the Western Roman Empire; lords, usually noblemen, protected vassals in exchange for mandatory labor or military service; vassals received a fief, or grant of land.

• Bills of exchange: Written guarantees of payment that were essentially the forerunners of modern-day bank checks; helped facilitate trade; known as sakk in the Islamic world; also used in China during this period.

• Crusades: Holy wars launched by Pope Urban II in 1095 that called for Christians to reclaim the Holy Land of Israel from Muslims; its four campaigns, lasting over 100 years, were unsuccessful; stimulated European-Muslim trade and reintroduced Europeans to wisdom that had been last taught during the Classical period.

Nomadic and Traveling Empires

• Ottomans: Group of Anatolian Turks who, in their dedication to Islam, attacked the weakening Byzantine Empire and captured Constantinople in 1453; expanded to create an empire in the Middle East and Southeast Europe; collapsed after World War I.

• Mongols: Group of Central Asian nomads from Mongolia who, under the leadership of Genghis Khan, conquered large portions of the Asian continent; four empires, centered on Russia, China, Persia, and the Central Asian steppes, were led by Khan’s successors until the Mongol Empire collapsed into disunity and civil war.

• Genghis Khan: Mongol clan leader who united the clans and made the Mongols the most feared force in Asia; under his leadership, the Mongol Empire expanded greatly into China, Persia, Central Asia, and Tibet; sons ruled the Four Khanates that followed; grandson, Kublai Khan, became leader of the Yuan Dynasty in 1271.

Civilizations in Africa

• Mansa Musa: Ruling from 1312 to 1337, he was the most famous of the Mali emperors; capital city, Timbuktu, was a center of trade, culture, and education; most famous for going on pilgrimage to Mecca (a practice that few Muslims in his time actually did) carrying a large caravan with satchels of gold, which he used to fund schools and mosques across North Africa.

• Swahili city-states: Cities in East Africa (present- day Somalia, Kenya, and Tanzania) that became bustling ports due to interchanges between Bantu and Arab mariners; in an effort to facilitate trade, the Bantus created a hybrid language, Swahili, that allowed them to communicate with the Arabs (a language that is still spoken by over 80 million East Africans).

Interregional Economic and Cultural Exchange

• Melaka: Located in modern-day Malaysia; port city that became a waystation for sea traders from China and India in the fourteenth century.

• Bubonic plague: Disease that spread from China to Europe through rats and decimated Europe’s population; ended the feudal system and led many people to question religion; also known as the Black Plague or the Black Death.

• Ibn Battuta: Islamic traveler who, in the four- teenth century, visited the kingdom of Mansa Musa in the Mali Empire; his writings stimulated an interest in African trade.

• Marco Polo: Venetian merchant who spent over 20 years traveling the Silk Road through the Mongol Empire, where he actually served on the court of its ruler, Kublai Khan; his efforts stimulated interest in trade with China.

Recovery and Renaissance in Asia and Europe

• Renaissance: A period of artistic and scien- tific self-discovery and relearning of Classi- cal wisdom, particularly from the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries; stimulated by the Crusades and soldiers’ exposure to Muslim advances in math, science, and the arts; also led to questioning of the nature of religion and natural phenomena.