AP World History Review Notes

Neo-Confucianism & Civil Arts Exam

  • Associated with dynasties.
  • Sweet Queue haircut as loyalty to Manchus.
  • Banner system centralizes power.

Ottoman Empire

  • Captured Constantinople in 1453 and renamed it Istanbul.
  • Sunni Muslim, often clashed with Shia Safavids in Persia.
  • Key terms:
    • Devshirme: System of building army, bureaucracy, and intellectual class, notably the Janissaries.
    • Tax Farming: Selling the right to tax to the highest bidder.

Mughal Empire

  • Islamic group ruling over a Hindu majority in India.
  • Religiously tolerant, especially under Akbar the Great.
  • Built the Taj Mahal.
  • Monumental architecture is significant in Unit 3.

Safavid Empire

  • Known as the Shia Empire.
  • Located between Sunni Ottomans to the West and Mughals to the East.

Other Land-Based Empires

  • Aztecs and Incas (mentioned in Unit 1).
  • Songhai: Took over from Mali as the Islamic powerhouse in West Africa.
  • Tokugawa Japan: Established a military shogunate led by a shogun; implemented "sakoku" (locked country) to isolate from maritime empires until Unit 6.

Belief Systems (1450-1750)

  • Protestant Reformation: Martin Luther's actions around 1500.
  • Sikhism: New religion based on teachings of Guru Nanak in the Mughal Empire, blending Hinduism and Islam.

Maritime Empires & Technology (Unit 4: 1450-1750)

  • Key technologies enabling European empires:
    • Portuguese and Spanish caravels
    • Dutch fluyts
    • Islamic astrolabes
    • Chinese compasses
    • Latin sails
    • Knowledge of winds

Portuguese Empire

  • Prince Henry sought route around Africa and to spread Christianity.
  • Reached Brazil and India by 1498.
  • Took control of the Spice Islands.
  • Started the Transatlantic slave trade.

Spanish Empire

  • Focused on the Americas.
  • Set up viceroyalties ruled by viceroys.
  • Defeated the Aztecs and Incas.
  • Established the Encomienda system (New World feudalism).
  • Extracted cash crops (sugar, coffee) and mined silver (e.g., Potosi).
  • Spread Catholicism with priests like Bartolomé de las Casas and the arrival of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1531.

Key Terms

  • Trading Post Empire: Establishing small trading posts instead of taking over large land chunks.
  • Joint Stock Companies: Government-sponsored monopolies where anyone could invest (spreading wealth and risk); e.g., British East India Trading Company and Dutch VOC.

Columbian Exchange

  • Exchange of plants, animals, and diseases across the ocean.
  • Significant impact on global trade and demographics.

Resistance to European Powers

  • Revolts of the enslaved (e.g., Queen Nanny in Jamaica)
  • Resistance against European arrivals in Africa (e.g., Ana Nzinga in Angola)
  • Local groups resisting expansion:
    • Hindu Marathas against the Mughals in India
    • Cossacks challenging the Russian empire
    • Tokugawa Japan shutting down to foreigners

Social Systems

  • Casta system: Hierarchy based on race in the New World.
  • Banner system in China
  • Millets in the Ottoman Empire
  • Impact of the slave trade on social changes in Africa and the Americas.
  • Coerced Labor: E.g., chattel slavery, Encomienda system.

Unit 5: Revolutions (1750-Present)

  • Political Revolutions: Rooted in the Enlightenment and natural rights.
    • American Revolution: Taxation without representation.
    • French Revolution: Against absolute monarch Louis XVI.
    • Haitian Revolution: Slave revolt against the French.
    • Latin American Revolutions: Bolivar led revolutions against the Spanish.
    • Nationalism: Shared beliefs lead to fight for the right to run the government.
  • Industrial Revolution: Starts in Great Britain (resources, capital, urban areas).
    • Factory System: Mass production for sale.
    • James Watt's Steam Engine: Movable power source.

Technological Innovations

  • Steam engine
  • Internal combustion engine
  • Railroads
  • Telegraph

Effects of Industrial Revolution

  • Decline in Asian production.
  • Meiji Restoration: Successful industrialization in Japan.
  • Self-Strengthening Movement: Failed to keep up in Qing China.
  • Egypt: Muhammad Ali capitalized on global demands for cotton.
  • Rise of Capitalism (Adam Smith): Laissez-faire policies.
  • Transnational Businesses: Unilever, HSBC.

Social Changes

  • Women push for equality.
  • Emergence of a new working class.
  • Karl Marx: Advocated for worker uprising.

Unit 6: Effects of Industrialization: Imperialism

  • Excuses for expansion: Racist policies (Social Darwinism), religious civilizing missions.
  • Real reasons:
    • Access to raw materials
    • Markets to sell goods
  • Major Empires: Americans, British, Japanese, Russians, French.
  • Settler Colonies: Britain in Australia replacing indigenous culture.

Imperialism Topics

  • Berlin Conference: Determined the future of Africa.
  • Sepoy Mutiny: Switch from East India Company to British Raj in India.
  • Century of Humiliation: Opium Wars, Taiping Rebellions, Sino-Japanese Wars, Boxer Rebellions in China.

Economic Domination

  • Banana Republics: US in Latin America
  • Opium Wars: British & French in China
  • Export Economies: Cotton, rubber, palm oil, guano.

Resistance to Empires

  • Sepoy Mutiny in India
  • Tupac Amaru in Peru
  • Cossa Cattle Killing Movement in South Africa.

Migrations

  • Cities growing (London, New York, Buenos Aires).
  • Push factors: Irish potato famine, Chinese Century of Humiliation.
  • Pull factors: Job opportunities.
  • Enclaves: Little Italy, Chinatown.
  • Restrictions: Chinese Exclusion Act, White Australia Policy.

Unit 7: 1900 to Present

  • Decline of Empires: Qing, Russians, Ottomans.

  • World War I:

    • Causes-Imperialism, Alliance, Nationalism (Serbian)
    • Total War: All resources for victory.
    • Propaganda: Media restrictions.
    • Military Tactics: Machine guns, gas, tanks, Zeppelins increasing casualties.

  • Interwar Period: Great Depression, continued imperialism, dictatorships (Italy, Spain, Germany).

  • World War II:

    • Aggression of Totalitarian States: Nazi Germany, Empire of Japan.
    • Atomic bombs ended the war in 1945.

  • Mass Atrocities: Holocaust, Armenian Genocide, Cambodian Genocide.

Unit 8

  • Cold War:
    • USA (Capitalism, Democracy) vs. USSR (Dictatorship, Communism).
    • Alliances: NATO (US), Warsaw Pact (USSR), Non-Aligned Movement.
    • Proxy Wars: US in Vietnam, USSR in Afghanistan.
    • China: Became communist; Mao Zedong's policies (Great Leap Forward).
    • Ended in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union.
  • Decolonization:
    • Anti-imperialist movements.
    • UN guaranteed self-determination.
    • Non-violence (Kwame Nkrumah, Gandhi) and violence (Algeria, Vietnam).
    • New borders led to conflict.
    • Economic growth in Tanzania, Egypt, India.

Unit 9

  • Globalization:

    • Technology: Planes, radio, cell phones, container ships.
    • Energy: Petroleum, nuclear, solar, wind.
    • Birth Control: Women's reproductive rights.
    • Green Revolution: Increased crop production.
    • Antibiotics & Vaccines: Prevented diseases.

  • Diseases: Alzheimer's, HIV/AIDS, Spanish Flu.

  • Environmental Impact: Greenhouse gases and climate change.

  • Economic Policies: Free market policies in China and Chile.

  • Regional Trade Networks: NAFTA, ASEAN.

  • Cultural Globalization: Bollywood, World Cup.

  • International Institutions: UN.