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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