AP World History Notes

Unit 1 Big Ideas

Big Idea #1 and #2

• As the Abbasid Caliphate declined, new Islamic political states emerged, expanding and fostering intellectual innovation.
• Delhi Sultanate and Mamluk Sultanate (in Egypt) were significant:
  • Differed from the Abbasids by being Turkic, not Persian.
• Song China: Maintained rule through:
  • Confucianism: A hierarchical philosophical system, continuing from the Tang Dynasty.
  • Imperial Bureaucracy: Civil service exam for merit-based roles, promoting order and stability.
  • Classless system allowing merit-based entry.
• Buddhism: Continued to influence Chinese society.
  • Chan Buddhism: Spread through cultural diffusion.
• Song Economy: Flourished with innovations:
  • Champa Rice: From the Champa Kingdom; allowed multiple harvests per year, increasing food supply and population.
  • Grand Canal: Expanded waterway for transportation, making China a populous trading center.
• These states, like the Abbasids, formed Dar-al-Islam.
  • Military Expansion and Merchants: Revived trade on the Silk Roads, fostering cultural diffusion.
  • West Africa: Created illiterate officials, helping rulers legitimize their rule.
• Sufi Movement: Adapted mystical Islam, facilitating its spread.
• Innovations and Transfers: Mathematics (algebra, trigonometry), literature (translation of Greek classics in Spain).

Big Idea #3

• Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam profoundly influenced state-building in South and Southeast Asia.

Big Idea #4

• American civilizations developed strong states, urban centers, and complex belief systems.
• Aztecs and Inca: Demonstrated continuity and state-building from earlier states like the Maya.
• Tenochtitlan: Monumental constructions.
• Tribute System: A decentralized system where conquered sent tribute, continuing human sacrifice.

Big Idea #5

• African state-building was facilitated through trade networks and religion.
• Indian Ocean Trade Network: East Africa and Southeast Asia.
• Interaction of merchants introduced Swahili: A blend of Arabic and Bantu languages.
• European state-building was characterized by religion and decentralized monarchies.
• Examples of decentralized monarchies included the Roman Catholic Church.

Unit 2 Big Ideas

Big Idea #1

• Exchange networks expanded geographically, increasing interaction between states.
• Trade Networks:
  • Silk Roads: Luxury goods were trade, especially silk for elite markets.
    • Cities like Kashgar and Samarkand grew in prominence.
    • Development of economy money first started in china, using paper money rather than heavy gold or silver coins a solution to facilitate trade, increasing trade, development of new forms of credit: Banking houses and flying money emerged.
  • Indian Ocean Network: The most significant trade network due to:
    • Demand for goods not locally available, such as Chinese porcelain, Indian cotton and pepper, and Southeast Asian spices.
      Technological innovations: lateen sails, magnetic compass, astrolabe, Chinese junks, and dows facilitated trade.
    • Spread of Islam facilitated growth, with cities like Swahili states in eastern Africa acting as brokers for gold, ivory, and enslaved people.
    • Cities such as the Sultanate of Malacca rapidly expanded through trade.
  • Effects: Diasporic Communities: Settlements of people away from their homeland facilitated trade through connections.
    • Examples include Chinese communities in Southeast Asia and Arab/Persian communities in East Africa.
  • Cultural and Technological Transfers: Example of Voyage of Zheng He in the Ming Dynasty visited distant places throughout the Indian Ocean and enroll them in the chinese tribute system
    Trans-Saharan Network:
  • Connected North Africa/Mediterranean and West Africa.
    • Innovations that was introduced:Introduction of the Arabian camel + saddle.
    • Effect further increased international trade and expanded the range of existing trade routes.
  • Mali was a new empire that happened during the 12th century that further mono;lozire the trade and become wealthy.

Big Idea #2

* A major for the growth of trading routes was cultural diffusion.
*  **Religion and belief systems**: 
    *Buddhism entered China from India through the Silk Roads, evolving into Chan Buddhism and spreading to Japan as Zen Buddhism.It also entered the south east, saisa svijay and the majapaht
            * Islam spread through Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia through trade and conquest, influencing the Swahili language and making Timbuktu/Mali centers for Islamic education.

• Scientific and technological innovations: Champa rice lead to population growth
  *Increase interconnectedness between SD and KGar both were the center of islamic scholarship

Fall of Baghdad and Religious Conflicts

• Baghdad fell after the Mongol conquest in 1258, leading to decline.
• CONTEXT: Christianity divided into Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Church (Great Schism of 1054).
• Catholic Church's power and corruption (indulgences, simony) led to Martin Luther's 95 Theses and the Protestant Reformation.
  • Printing press facilitated the spread of Luther’s ideas.
• Catholic/Counter Reformation: Council of Trent addressed corrupt practices and reaffirmed doctrines.
• Religious wars resulted from rulers imposing Catholicism or Protestantism.
• Conflict also existed between Shia Muslims and Sunni Ottomans.

Gunpowder Empires and Dynastic Changes

• Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals, and Manchus expanded using gunpowder.
  • Ottomans sacked Baghdad.
  • Akbar (Mughal) promoted religious tolerance.
  • Qing Dynasty (Manchus) replaced the declining Mongol Yuan Dynasty.

European Empires and Maritime Technology

• European empires adopted maritime technology from China to facilitate transoceanic trade.
• Portuguese innovations: astrolabe, magnetic compass, lateen sail, Dutch fluyt, caravel.
  • Dutch fluyt helped the Dutch VOC dominate Indian Ocean trade.
• Sea-based empire building was state-sponsored due to population growth, monarch consolidation, and desire for Asian spices.
• Motivations: Gold, God, and Glory (wealth, spreading Christianity, dominance).

Columbian Exchange

• Initiated by Columbus in 1492, the Columbian Exchange reshaped societies and environments.
• Effects: Exchange of crops, animals, cultures, and diseases.
  • Eastern Hemisphere: Corn, potatoes, and beans.
  • Western Hemisphere: Wheat, rice, sugar, and livestock.
  • Diseases: Smallpox caused significant population decline in the Americas.
• Atlantic Slave Trade: Resulted in demographic shifts and cultural changes from the African Diaspora.

Portugal's Trading Post Empire

• Portugal pursued sea-based expansion due to limited land expansion options.
  *Prince Henry the Navigator sponsored attempts to find an all water route into the Indian Ocean network
• Motivations:
  *Technology: caravel/carrack
  *Economics: Trans-Saharan Gold and Spices
  *Religion: Desire to spread Christianity and find Prester John.
  *Trading posts were established around Africa and the Indian Ocean, including Vasco de Gama’s discovery of Calicut.

Spain's Sea-Based Empire

• Spain, under Isabelle and Ferdinand, sought to emulate Portugal.
• Christopher Columbus: Sailed westward to find the Spice Islands but discovered the Americas in 1492.
• Spanish colonization: Ferdinand Magellan sailed to the East Indies, and Spain colonized the Americas, opening transatlantic trade.

Enlightenment and Revolutions

• Enlightenment ideas and rising nationalism led to revolutions (French, Haitian, American, Latin American).
• The Industrial Revolution started in Britain and transformed the world.
• When western industrialization spread the middle eastern and asian countries share in global manufacturing declined and the advent of new technologies changed the landscape of manufacturing.

The Enlightenment

• Definition: An intellectual movement using rationalism and empiricism to understand the natural world and human relationships.
  • Rationalism: Reason is the most reliable source of knowledge.
  • Empiricism: Knowledge is gained through the senses and experimentation.
• Extension of the Scientific Revolution, applying scientific methods to human society.
• Questioning the role of religion in public life due to the issue of revealed religions that could not be questioned.
• Shift of authority: From outside (external figures) to inside a person (individual belief).

New Belief Systems

• Deism: God created everything and then left it alone.
• Atheism: Rejection of religious belief and divine beings.

New Enlightenment Ideas (Political Ideas)

• Individualism: The individual human is the most basic element of society.
• Natural Rights: Humans are born with rights that cannot be infringed upon by governments.

Effects of Enlightenment Ideas

• Major Revolutions: American, French, Haitian, Latin American.
• Nationalism: Sense of commonality among people based on shared language, religion, and social customs.
• Expansion of Suffrage and reason for expansing: Liberty and equality were revered in America as part of the cultural heritage beginning with the Declaration of Independence
• Abolition of Slavery: Enlightenment thinkers criticized slavery (Britain was the wealthiest nation + gained wealth during the Industrial revolution by means of paid labor -> made economic sense). An enslaved people contributed with the Great Jamaica Revolt -> played a role in Britain’s decision to abolish slavery
• End of Serfdom: Transition from agricultural to industrial economies made serfs irrelevant and the impact of peasants revolts and persuaded state leaders to end serfdom.
• Calls for Women’s Suffrage because of the demand of equality of life.
  • Olympe De Gouges: Created the Declaration of the Rights of Women and the Female Citizen.
    *In America women gathered at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 to call for a constitutional amendment that recognized women’s right to vote.

Nationalism and Revolution

• Industrial Revolution: Process where states transitioned from agrarian to industrial economies

Industrial Revolution in Britain

• Why Britain Came First:
  • Proximity to Waterways to transport of goods to markets
  • Distribution of Coal and Iron: Development of coal power increased efficiency in the production of iron (built bridges, machines, railroads → rapid industrialization)
  • Access to Foreign Resources: establishment of maritime empires, they had access to raw materials that weren’t available in Britain
  • Improved Agricultural Productivity: fertility of the soil maintained, Crop Rotation + Seed Drill: seeds could be planted more efficiently → less waste + greater harvests + Columbian Exchange introduced potatoes → better diets/health (increased life span spiked population)
    *Legal Protection of Private Property: legal protection of private property: Britain passed laws that protected entrepreneurs → entrepreneurs felt safe to risk investment to start new businesses (contributed to rapid industrialization)
    *Accumulation of Capital: Amount of wealth gained through the atlantic slave trade, Britain had many ppl who had extra capital (Capitalists) → with extra money they invested in the industrial businesses

The Factory System

• Concentrated production in a single location, powered by moving water (Water Frame).
  • Connected to the Spinning Jenny in textile factories for rapid textile creation.
  • Specialization of labor occurred, making workers easily replaceable due to low skill requirements.