AP World Unit 4 Cramming

⛵ Unit 4: Transoceanic Interconnections

🧠 CRAM GOAL for Unit 4:

Understand how maritime exploration led to the first truly global economy through conquest, colonization, forced labor, and biological exchange — all of which reshaped power, cultures, and societies across the world.

🌍 BIG PICTURE:

This unit is about global interactions through sea-based empires, exploration, and trade. It marks the first truly global world — connected by ocean routes.

🚢 Key Concept #1: Maritime Exploration & Technology

• Who’s Exploring?

  • Portugal: First to explore (Prince Henry, Vasco da Gama). They go around Africa to India.

  • Spain: Christopher Columbus crosses the Atlantic → sets up the Columbian Exchange.

  • England, France, Netherlands: Join later — mostly set up colonies and trade posts.

• Why are they exploring?

  • Gold (economic gain), Glory (national pride), God (spread Christianity).

  • Also: Muslims controlled land routes (Silk Roads), so Europeans needed sea routes.

• New Tech = New Power

  • Astrolabe, caravel, lateen sail, compass → helped long-distance navigation.

  • Maps got way better.

🧬 Key Concept #2: Columbian Exchange

• Massive biological exchange between Eastern and Western Hemispheres.

• From Europe/Africa → Americas: Horses, pigs, sugar, wheat, disease (smallpox = ☠ for Native Americans).

• From Americas → Europe/Africa: Potatoes, maize (corn), tomatoes, chocolate = 🍟 revolution in Europe.

• Long-term impact: DEATH of indigenous people (up to 90% in some areas), population boom in Afro-Eurasia due to better nutrition.

💸 Key Concept #3: New Economies & Labor Systems

• Mercantilism: Economic policy = get gold and silver, export more than import, control colonies for resources.

• Joint-stock companies (e.g., British East India Company): Spread risk, increase profit, fund colonization.

• New labor systems:

  • Encomienda: Spanish used natives for forced labor in Latin America.

  • Hacienda: Estates with debt peonage — locals forced to work to “pay off” debt.

  • Chattel slavery: Brutal, hereditary slavery system from Africa → Americas (via Atlantic Slave Trade).

  • Indentured servants: Poor Europeans worked for 4–7 years in exchange for passage to the New World.

🌎 Key Concept #4: Maritime Empires & Competition

• Portuguese: Trading post empire in Africa & Asia.

• Spanish: Huge colonies in the Americas + Philippines.

• Dutch: Banking & trade (especially Southeast Asia).

• British & French: North America & India (eventually).

• Competition = wars, piracy, and naval conflict (especially over sugar islands).

🧠 Key Concept #5: Cultural Syncretism & Resistance

• Religion spreads: Christianity via missionaries (Jesuits in China, Franciscans in the Americas).

• Syncretism:

  • Vodun (Haiti): Mix of African religions + Catholicism.

  • Virgin of Guadalupe (Mexico): Catholicism meets native culture.

• Resistance:

  • Pueblo Revolt (1680): Native Americans fight back against Spanish rule.

  • Maroon societies: Runaway slaves formed communities (Jamaica, Brazil).

🧪 Tip for CRAMMING:

• Connection is KEY: Everything in this unit is about how the world becomes connected — trade, empire, ideas, disease.

• Think hemispheres: How do the Eastern and Western hemispheres impact each other after 1492?

• Tie to other units: This global interaction sets up:

  • Unit 5 (revolutions fueled by imperialism and wealth),

  • Unit 6 (new imperialism + industrialization), and

  • Units 7–9 (global wars, decolonization, globalization).

🗒 WHAP CED

4.1: Technological Innovations from 1450-1750 (Causation)

Learning Objective:

• Explain how cross-cultural interactions resulted in the diffusion of technology and facilitated changes in patterns of trade and travel from 1450 to 1750

Historical Developments:

• Knowledge, scientific learning, and technology from the Classical, Islamic, and Asian worlds spread, facilitating European technological developments and innovations

• The developments included the production of new tools, innovations in ship designs, and an improved understanding of regional wind and currents patterns—all of which made transoceanic travel and trade possible

Illustrative Examples:

• Innovations in Ship Design:

  • Carrack

  • Caravel

  • Fluyt

• European technological developments influenced by cross-cultural interactions with the Classical, Islamic, and Asian worlds:

  • Lateen sail

  • Compass

  • Astronomical charts

4.2: Exploration: Causes and Events from 1450 to 1750 (Causation)

Learning Objective:

• Explain the economic causes and effects of maritime exploration by the various European states

Historical Developments:

• Portuguese development of maritime technology and navigational skills led to increased travel to and trade with Africa and Asia and resulted in the construction of a global trading-post empire

• Spanish sponsorship of the voyages of Columbus and subsequent voyages across the Atlantic and Pacific dramatically increased European interest in transoceanic travel and trade

• Northern Atlantic crossings were undertaken under English, French, and Dutch sponsorship, often with the goal of finding alternative sailing routes to Asia.

4.3: Columbian Exchange (Causation)

Learning Objective:

• Explain the causes of the Columbian Exchange and its effects on the Eastern and Western Hemispheres

Historical Developments

• The new connections between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres resulted in the exchange of new plants, animals, and diseases, known as the Columbian Exchange

• European colonization of the Americas led to the unintentional transfer of disease vectors, including mosquitos and rats, and the spread of diseases that were endemic in the Eastern Hemisphere, including smallpox, measles, and malaria. Some of these diseases substantially reduced the indigenous populations, with catastrophic effects in many areas

• American foods became staple crops in various parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Cash crops were grown primarily on plantations with coerced labor and were exported mostly to Europe and the Middle East

• Afro-Eurasian fruit trees, grains, sugar, and domesticated animals were brought by Europeans to the Americas, while other foods were brought by African enslaved persons

• Populations in Afro-Eurasia benefitted nutritionally from the increased diversity of American food crops

Illustrative Examples:

• Domesticated animals:

  • Horses

  • Pigs

  • Cattle

• Foods brought by African enslaved persons;

  • Okra

  • Rice

4.4: Maritime Empires Established (Continuity and Change)

Learning Objective (1):

• Explain the process of state building and expansion among various empires and states in the period from 1450 to 1750

Historical Developments (1):

• Europeans established new trading posts in Africa and Asia, which provided profitable for rulers and merchants involved in new global trade networks. Some Asian states sought to limit the disruptive economic and cultural effects of European-dominated long-distance trade by adopting restrictive or isolationist trade policies

• Driven largely by political, religious, and economic rivalries, European states established new maritime empires, including the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, French, and British

• The expansion of maritime trading networks fostered the growth of states in Africa, including the Asante and the Kingdom of Kongo, whose participation in trading networks led to an increase in their influence

Illustrative Examples (1):

• Asian states that adopted restrictive or isolationist trade policies:

  • Ming China

  • Tokugawa Japan

Learning Objective (2):

• Explain the continuities and changes in the economic systems and labor systems from 1450 to 1750

Historical Developments (2):

• Despite some disruption and restructuring due to the arrival of the Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch merchants, existing trade networks in the Indian Ocean continued to flourish and included intra-Asian trade and Asian merchants

• Newly developed colonial economies in the Americas largely depended on agriculture, utilized existing labor systems, including the Incan mit’a and introduced new labor systems including chattel slavery, indentured servitude, and encomienda and hacienda systems

• Enslavement in Africa continued in its traditional forms, including incorporation of enslaved persons into households and the export of enslaved persons to the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean regions

• The growth of the plantation economy increased the demands for enslaved labor in the Americas, leading to the significant demographic, social, and cultural changes

Illustrative Examples:

• Indian Ocean Asian merchants:

  • Swahili Arabs

  • Omanis

  • Gujaratis

  • Javanese

4.5: Maritime Empires Maintained and Developed (Continuity and Change)

Learning Objective:

• Explain how rulers employed economic strategies to consolidate and maintain power throughout the period from 1450 to 1750

Historical Developments:

• Mercantilist policies and practices were used by European rulers to expand and control their economies and claim overseas territories. Joint-stock companies, influenced by these mercantilist principles, were used by rulers and merchants to finance exploration and were used by rulers to compete against one another in global trade

• Economic disputes led to rivalries and conflict between states

Illustrative Examples:

• Competition over trade routes:

  • Muslim-European rivalry in the Indian Ocean

  • Moroccan conflict with the Songhai Empire

Learning Objective:

• Explain the continuities and changes in the networks of exchange from 1450 to 1750

Historical Developments:

• The Atlantic trading system involved the movement of goods, wealth, and labor, including enslaved persons.

• The new global circulation of goods was facilitated by chartered European monopoly companies and the global flow of silver, especially from Spanish colonies in the Americas, which was used to purchase Asian goods for the Atlantic markets and satisfy Chinese demand for silver. Regional markets continued to flourish in Afro-Eurasia by using established commercial practices and new transoceanic and regional shipping services developed by European merchants

• Peasant and artisan labor continued and intensified in many regions as the demand for food and consumer goods increased

Illustrative Examples:

• Increased peasant and artisan labor:

  • Western Europe — Wool and linen

  • India — cotton

  • China — silk

Learning Objective:

• Explain how political, economic, and cultural factors affected society from 1450 to 1750

Historical Developments:

• Some notable gender and family restructuring occurred, including demographic changes in Africa that resulted from the trade of enslaved persons

• The Atlantic trading system involved the movement of labor—including enslaved persons—including enslaved persons and the mixing of African, American, and European cultures and peoples, with all parties contributing to this cultural synthesis

Learning Objective:

• Explain the similarities and differences in how various belief systems affected societies from 1450 to 1750

Historical Developments:

• In some cases, the intensification of interactions between newly connected hemispheres expanded the reach and furthered development of existing religions, and contributed to religious conflicts and the development of syncretic belief systems and practices

4.6: Internal and External Challenges to State Power from 1450 to 1750 (Causation)

Learning Objective:

• Explain the effects of the development of state power from 1450 to 1750

Historical Developments:

• State expansion and centralization led to resistance from an array of social, political, and economic groups on a local level

• Enslaved persons challenged existing authorities in the Americas through organized resistance

Illustrative Examples:

• Local resistance:

  • Pueblo revolts

  • Fronde

  • Cossack revolts

  • Maratha conflict with Mughals

  • Ana Nzinga’s resistance (as ruler of Ndongo and Matamba)

  • Metacom’s War (King Philip’s War)

• Resistance of enslaved persons:

  • The establishment of Maroon societies in the Caribbean and Brazil

  • Resistance of enslaved persons in North America

4.7: Changing Social Hierarchies from 1450 to 1750 (Continuity and Change)

Learning Objective:

• Explain how social categories, roles, and practices have been maintained or have changed over time

Historical Developments:

• Many states, such as the Mughal and Ottoman empires, adopted practices to accommodate the ethnic and religious diversity of their subjects or to utilize the economic, political, and military contributions of ethnic or religious groups. In other cases, states suppressed diversity or limited certain groups’ roles in society, politics, or the economy

• Imperial conquests and widening global economic opportunities contributed to the formation of new political and economic elites, including in China with the transition to the Qing Dynasty and in the Americas with the rise of the Casta system

• The power of existing political and economic elites fluctuated as the elites confronted new challenges to their ability to affect the policies of the increasingly powerful monarchs and leaders

Illustrative Examples

• Differential treatment of groups in society, politics, and the economy

  • Expulsion of Jews from Spain and Portugal; The acceptance of Jews in the Ottoman Empire

  • Restrictive policies against Han Chinese in Qing China

  • Varying status of different classes of women within the Ottoman Empire

• Existing elites:

  • Ottoman timars

  • Russian boyars

  • European nobility

4.8: Continuity and Change from 1450 to 1750 (Continuity and Change)

Learning Objective:

• Explain how economic developments from 1450 to 1750 affected social structures over time

Main Key Concepts:

• The interconnection of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, made possible by transoceanic voyaging, transformed trade and had a significant social impact on the world

  • Knowledge, scientific learning, and technology from the Classical, Islamic, and Asian worlds spread, facilitating European technological developments and innovation

  • The developments included the production of new tools, innovations in ship designs, and an improved understanding of regional wind and currents patterns—all of which made transoceanic travel and trade possible

• Although the world’s productive systems continued to be heavily centered on agriculture, major changes occurred in agricultural labor, the systems and locations of manufacturing, gender, and social structures, and environmental processes

  • The demand for labor intensified as a result of the growing global demand for raw materials and finished products. Traditional peasant agriculture increased and changed in nature, plantations expanded, and the Atlantic slave trade developed and intensified

• Empires achieved increased scope and influence around the world, shaping and being shaped by the diverse populations they incorporated

  • Economic disputes led to rivalries and conflict between states