AP World History Period 2 Notes

Unit 3 | Land-Based Empires

💡 Big Ideas:

• Empires continued to expand by conquering territory
• Gunpowder weapons play increasing role in warfare
• Governments focus on centralized rule with a monarch and bureaucracy

3.1 | European, East Asian, and Gunpowder Empires

• Empires: Russia, Ottomans, Safavid, Mughal, and Qing Dynasty
• Europe
  • Monarchs centralize power (very unchecked, absolutism)
  • Beginning of the Age of Exploration
  • Printing Press → Higher Literacy Rates
  • Religious Conflicts
• Russia
  • Ivan the Great kicks out the Mongols
  • Begins to expand to the Pacific
  • Begin to consider Westernizing
• Qing China
  • Defeated the Ming Dynasty → Manchu invaders
  • Expands Territory
  • Dynastic Patterns
• Muslim Gunpowder Empires
  • Ottomans → Ruled from Istanbul/Constantinople
  • Sunni
  • Ruled by Suleiman
  • Safavids → Ruled from Isfahan
  • Shi’a
  • Ruled by Shah Abbas I
  • Mughals → Ruled India
  • A Sunni minority among Hindus
    • Tolerant
  • Ruled by Akbar

3.2 | Empires: Administration

• Similarities among Empires
  • Centralized Powers
  • Bureaucracy
  • Taxes
  • Armies
  • Supported by Religious Beliefs
• Europe
  • Monarchy based on the Divine Rights of Kings
  • England develops Constitutional Monarchy
  • Absolute Monarchy in France (Divine Right)
  • Louis XIV (14) → Built Versailles
• Russia
  • Tsar (King) ran an absolutist empire
  • Boyars (Nobles) → Serfs worked for them
• Ottomans
  • Absolutism
  • Devshirme System → Young boys taken from the Balkans and Educated to remain loyal to the Sultan
  • Created Janissaries → Elite “core” of military; projection of power
• Japan
  • Feudalism
  • Controlled fiefdoms → Served by Samurai
  • Emperor was a figurehead, real power held by Shogunate
• Mughals
  • Very Tolerant
  • Zamindars (Tax Collectors)
• Art used to represent power
  • St. Petersburg
  • Taj Mahal
  • Suleymaniye Mosque

3.3 | Belief Systems

• Europe
  • Protestant Reformation → Christian reform movement led by Martin Luther’s 95 Thesis (Criticized Church)
  • Opposed Indulgences
  • Catholic vs. Protestant (Decision of what to make territories)
  • 30 Years War
• Russia
  • Absolutist Tsar → Head of Church and Government
• Gunpowder Empires
  • Ottomans → Sunni
  • Mostly Tolerant
  • Safavids → Shi’a
  • No Tolerance
  • Mughal → Sunni
  • Very Tolerant
  • Sikhism → Creation of Din-i Ilahi (Hindu + Islam)

3.4 | Comparisons in Empires

• Military
  • All empires had well-trained, organized, and ready armies
  • European wars over Reformation
  • Safavids went to war with Ottomans and Mughals to spread Shi’a Islam
• Centralized Bureaucracies
  • China → Civil Service Exam
  • Ottomans → Devshirme System
  • Songhai → Officials educated in Madrasas (schools) — Started by Mansa Musa
• Taxation
  • Mughal Zamindars → Tax Collectors from Peasant Farmers
  • Ottoman Tax Farming → Collector paid sum for whole areas
  • Aztec Tribute System → Set up taxes in conquered regions

Unit 4 | Transoceanic Interconnections

💡 Big Ideas:

• Various empires expanded using gunpowder weapons and centralized governments
• Age of Exploration begins due to new tech and economic motivations
• Entire world is connected — Columbian Exchange + 1st Global Trade Network

4.1 | Technological Innovations

• New Technology helps Europeans begin the Age of Exploration in the 1400s
• Technologies
  • Magnetic Compass (China) — Helped sailors follow routes
  • Astrolabe (Muslims) — Used to plot positions on a map
  • Lateen Sails (Arab Sailors) — Triangular sails better sailing into the wind
  • Cartography → Map Making
  • New Ships — Sturdier, Multi-mast Ships to survive harsher conditions

4.2 | Exploration: Causes and Events

• Spain and Portugal begin to explore the Atlantic to find an oceanic route to Asia for economic reasons (Trade)
• Portugal
  • Henry the Navigator starts school to train explorers and sponsor voyages
  • Bartholomeu Diaz sails to South Africa (1488)
  • Vasco de Gama sails to India (1498)
  • Sets up trading posts on African Coasts, India, and Brazil
• Spain
  • Christopher Columbus → Sails across the Atlantic to the Americas (1492)
  • Ferdinand Magellan sails around the world (1522)
  • Sets up colonies in the new world
• England, France, and the Dutch (Netherlands) join in
• Motivations for Oceanic Exploration
  • Trade Routes → Direct access to Asian goods/spices
  • Land and Resources (Gold and Silver)
  • Spread Christianity (Missionaries)

4.3 | Columbian Exchange

• Biological exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and people between the Old and new world
  • Environmental and Demographic impacts
• New World impacted by new diseases (50% Died)
  • Smallpox, Measles, etc.
• Plants → Crops planted in new locations, alter diets of people
  • Corn, Potatoes, and Beans into the Old World
  • Wheat, Sugarcane, and Bananas into the New World
• Animals → Introduced to Old and New World
  • Horses used for military, farm work, and transportation
• Cash Crops led to the migration of African Slaves into the New World
  • Sugar and Cotton slave labor

4.4 | Maritime Empires are Established

• European nations create empires using weapons, germs, and coerced labor to compete for wealth and prestige
• Conquistadors conquered the Aztecs (Cortes; 1521) and Incas (Pizarro; 1533)
• England and France compete for North American colonies (7 Years’ War; 1756)
• Changes in Labor Systems
  • Old Systems
  • Serfdom (tied to land)
  • New Systems
  • Indentured Servants (work for passage to the new world)
  • Mit’a/Encomiendas (Amerindians worked for Europeans)
  • Chattel Slavery (forced movement of Africans)
    • Middle Passage (Journey of African Slaves across the Atlantic)

4.5 | Maritime Empires Maintained and Developed

• Commercial Revolution
  • Gold and Silver Economies
  • Joint-Stock Companies (ie. BEIC)
  • Triangular Slave System → Atlantic Trade Network
  • Goods to Africa from Europe for Slaves to America for Goods to Europe
• Politics
  • Colonial Governments
  • Viceroys in New Spain → Established control over indigenous people, laws, languages, etc.
  • Regional Governors → Had to be kept loyal to the home-crown
• Religions
  • Religious syncretism develops in colonies
  • Vodun and Santeria — Blending of African and Christian Beliefs

4.6 | Internal and External Challenges to State Power

• Empires ran into resistance in different areas
• Africa → Rebelled against slave raids and European interference
  • Some Empires are more armed than others → Led to Violence
• Russia → Resistance to serfdom
• New World
  • Rebellions against foreign conquerors/settlers
  • Slave Revolts

4.7 | Changing Social Hierarchies

• Religious Minorities
  • Spain expels Jews
  • Ottomans became very Tolerant
• Qing China
  • Discrimination against Han Chinese
• Las Castas in Latin America
  • Established by Europeans
  • Ethnicity-based, sorted by bloodline/race
  • Peninsulares, Creoles, mestizos/mulattoes, Amerindians, slaves

4.8 | Continuities and Changes from 1450 to 1750

• Continuities
  • Presence of Empires
  • Agricultural-based Economies
  • Patriarchy
• Changes
  • The world is truly connected
  • Transoceanic Travel/Trade
  • Atlantic Trade Network (Slave Trade)
  • Mercantilism policies (gain colonies, limit imports, and maximize exports)
  • Rise of Western Europe (overtakes Asia in power and wealth)
  • New social structures in the Americas (las Casas)
  • Christianity in the new world

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