AP World History Unit 1 Notes

Unit 1: c. 1200-1450

This period focuses on how major civilizations built and maintained their states.

In AP World History, "state" refers to a territory politically organized under a single government (e.g., the United States, Japan).

Confucianism:
- A philosophy that shaped Chinese culture, experiencing a revival during the Song Dynasty known as Neo-Confucianism.
- Neo-Confucianism: Sought to remove Buddhist influences from Confucian thought.
- Hierarchy: Confucianism emphasizes a hierarchical society with prescribed orders (citizens submit to the state, women to men, juniors to elders, children to parents).
- Filial Piety: Children obeying and honoring parents, grandparents, and ancestors.
Women in Song China:
- Subordinate Position: Women had diminished legal rights and faced greater social restrictions compared to previous dynasties.
- Legal Rights: A woman's property became her husband's; widows/divorcees couldn't remarry.
- Social Restrictions: Limited access to education.
- Foot Binding: Elite women endured foot binding as a status symbol.
Expansion of Imperial Bureaucracy:
- A bureaucracy is a hierarchical government entity that carries out the emperor's will.
- Bureaucratic jobs were earned through civil service examinations based on Confucian classics, promoting meritocracy.
- While theoretically open to all men, the system favored the wealthy who could afford to study.

Korea, Japan, and Vietnam were influenced by Chinese traditions, such as civil service exams and Buddhism.

Four Noble Truths:
- Life is suffering.
- Suffering is caused by craving.
- Suffering can cease by ceasing craving.
- The way to cease craving is to follow the Eightfold Path.
Reincarnation and Nirvana: Shared beliefs with Hinduism.
Theravada Buddhism: Practiced mainly by monks in monasteries.
Mahayana Buddhism: Encouraged broader participation, with Bodhisattvas helping others achieve enlightenment.

Commercialization: Increased production and trade of goods like porcelain and silk.
Agricultural Innovations:
- Champa Rice: Introduced from the Champa Kingdom; matured early, drought-resistant, multiple harvests per year, leading to population growth.
Transportation Innovations:
- Grand Canal Expansion: Facilitated trade and communication.

Refers to regions where Islamic faith was the organizing principle.
Included Judaism and Christianity.
Islam emphasized salvation through righteous actions (almsgiving, prayer, fasting).

The Abbasid Caliphate started to decline, and was replaced by Turkic-led empires.
Seljuk Empire:
- Established by Turkic pastoralists in the 11th century.
- The Seljuks eventually took power from the Abbasids.

Continuity: Military administration, Sharia law.
Innovations:
- Nasir al-Din al-Tusi: Advances in mathematics and trigonometry.
- Preservation of Greek philosophy in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad: Ensured these texts influenced the European Renaissance.

Military Expansion: Seljuk, Mamluk, and Delhi Sultanates.
Merchants: Trade stimulated conversion in North and West Africa (e.g., the Empire of Mali).
Sufis: Missionary activities; Sufis adapted to local beliefs, leading to conversion in South Asia.

Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam influenced the region.
South Asia:
- Buddhism declined.
- Hinduism remained widespread; Islam grew with the Delhi Sultanate leading to Islam becoming the religion of the elite.
- Bhakti Movement: Emphasized devotion to one Hindu god and challenged social hierarchies.
Southeast Asia: Buddhism and Islam competed for dominance.

South Asia:
- The Delhi Sultanate struggled to impose Muslim rule on the Hindu population.
- Rajput Kingdoms: Hindu kingdoms resisted Muslim rule.
- Vijayanagara Empire: Established in 1336 by former Delhi Sultanate emissaries who reconverted to Hinduism.
Southeast Asia:
- Sea-Based Empire: Majapahit Kingdom (Buddhist) maintained influence by controlling sea routes for trade.
- Land-Based Empire: Khmer Empire (Hindu then Buddhist) exemplified religious continuity and change with Angkor Wat.

Aztec Empire:
- Founded in 1345 by the Mexica people; capital at Tenochtitlan.
- Formed an alliance in 1428 for aggressive expansion.
- Administered through a tribute system.
- Enslaved people played a role in religious sacrifices.

Inca Empire:
- Rose in the early 1400s, stretching across the Andean Mountain Range.
- More intrusive administration than the Aztecs, with an elaborate bureaucracy.
- Adopted the Mita system requiring labor on state projects.
- Centralized rule.

Mississippian Culture:
- First large-scale civilization in North America, focused on agriculture.
- Organized around monumental mounds, such as those built by the Cahokia people.

Swahili Civilization:
- City-states organized around commerce along the East African coast.
- Influenced by Muslim traders, leading to the emergence of the Swahili language (Bantu and Arabic hybrid) promoting integration into Islamic trade networks.

Powerful and centralized civilizations like Ghana, Mali, and Songhai, driven by trade.
Elite members converted to Islam.
Hausa Kingdoms: Decentralized states organized through Trans-Saharan trade.

Became a powerful African state through farming, cattle herding, and gold exports.
Maintained shamanic religion.

Flourished through trade, especially with the Mediterranean and Arabian Peninsula.
Remained Christian.

Dominated by Christianity (Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholicism).
Eastern Orthodox:
- Byzantine Empire: A New state emerged, the Kievan Rus, and adopted Eastern Orthodox Christianity, integrating them into Afro-Eurasian trade.
Roman Catholicism:
- Western Europe was divided into decentralized states; Roman Catholicism culturally linked every state.
- The Church had significant influence through its hierarchy.
- Muslims and Jews also exerted influence.

Political fragmentation and decentralization.
Feudalism: Powerful lords gained allegiance from lesser lords (vassals) in exchange for land and military service.
Manorialism: Society and economics organized around manors; peasants (serfs) were bound to the land in exchange for protection.
Monarchs began to grow in power, but centralization took several centuries.