AP World History Course Syllabus Description of Course The AP World History course is designed primarily to prepare students for college level course work. Advance Placement World History challenges students to think and perform at high academic levels. AP World History covers events throughout history, from 8000 BCE to the present day. This course is truly a world history course with a balanced approach to the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Students taking this course will use a variety of methods to address the information and themes required of the course. Essay writing is a large part of the course, as well as primary and secondary source analysis. Students, through a variety of assignments will be prepared to take the AP World History Exam in May, of which a passing score will earn college credit. Regardless, all students will complete work that will prepare them for success after high school. The benefits beyond the potential of college credit are tremendous. Students will obtain a solid foundation in content as well as skills in researching, note taking, analyzing primary and secondary sources, making inferences, generalizing, drawing conclusions, and presenting knowledge and analyzing information and making historical connections. Unit Information There are six main time periods in the AP World History Course that are broken into 19 key concepts. Time Period/Unit and Date Range Period 1 Technological and Environmental Transformations to c. 600 B.C.E. Period 2 Organization and Reorganization of Human Societies 600 B.C.E. to c. 600 C.E. Period 3 Regional and Transregional Interactions c. 600 C.E. to c. 1450 20% Period 4 Global Interactions c. 1450 to c. 1750 20% Percentage of Key Concepts Course 5% 1.1 Big Geography and the Peopling of the Earth 1.2 The Neolithic Revolution and Early Agricultural Societies 1.3 The Development and Interactions of Early Agricultural, Pastoral and Urban Societies 15% 2.1 The Development and Codification of Religious and Cultural Traditions 2.2 The Development of States and Empires 2.3 Emergence of Transregional Networks of Trade 20% 3.1 Expansion and Intensification of Communication and Exchange Networks 3.2 Continuity and Innovation of State Forms and their Interactions 3.3 Increased Economic Productive Capacity and its Consequences 20% 4.1 Globalizing Networks of Communication and Exchange 4.2 New Forms of Social Organization and Modes of Production
Period 5 Industrialization and Global Integration 1750 to c. 1900 20% Period 6 Accelerating Global Change and Realignments 1900 to the Present 20% 4.3 State Consolidation and Imperial Expansion 20% 5.1 Industrialization and Global Capitalism 5.2 Imperialism and Nation State Formation 5.3 Nationalism, Revolution, and Reform 5.4 Global Migration 20% 6.1 Science and Environment 6.2 Global Conflicts and Their Consequences 6.3 New Conceptualization of Global Economy, Society and Culture Course Themes Theme 1: Interaction Between Humans and the Environment Demography and disease Migration Patterns of settlement Technology Theme 2: Development and Interaction of Cultures Religions Belief systems, philosophies, and ideologies Science and technology The arts and architecture Theme 3: State Building, Expansion, and Conflict Political structures and forms of governance Empires Nations and nationalism Revolts and revolutions Regional, transregional, and global structures and organizations Theme 4: Creation, Expansion, and Interaction of Economic Systems Agricultural and pastoral production Trade and commerce Labor systems Industrialization Capitalism and socialism Theme 5: Development and Transformation of Social Structures Gender roles and relations Family and kinship Racial and ethnic constructions
Social and economic classes Textbooks and Other Course Materials World Civilizations: The Global Experience, Fourth ed. *Instructor has access to current edition Authors: Peter Stearns and Michael Adas Publisher: Pearson/Longman 2005 The Human Record: Volumes I and II Authors: Alfred J. Andrea and James H. Overfield Publisher: Houghton Mifflin, 2005 Secondary Sources Shaffer, L. 194 "Southernization" Headrick, Daniel 1996. "Botany, Chemistry, and Tropical Development" "Did Women Have a Renaissance?" Women, History and Theory: The Essays of Joan Kelly Unit I Periods 1 and 2 Period 1 Technological and Environmental Transformations to c. 600 B.C.E. Themes Addressed: Interaction Between Humans and the Environment, Development and Interaction of Cultures, State Building, Expansion, and Conflict, Creation, Expansion, and Interaction of Economic Systems, Development and Transformation of Social Structures Specific Concepts and Big Ideas Covered Movement of Early People Neolithic Revolution Pastoralism and impact on human societies Emergence of Early Civilizations o Mesopotamia (Tigris Euphrates River Valleys) o Egypt (Nile River Valley) o Indus River Valley o Shang (Yellow River Valley) o Olmecs (Mesoamerica) o Chavin (Andean South America) Development of early tools, economic systems, improvements in agriculture Development of Culture, including trade, religions, empire building, art, and record keeping in the early civilizations Social and gender structures Trade: o Egypt and Nubia o Mesopotamia and Indus Valley New Religious Beliefs o Vedic Religion
o Hebrew Monotheism o Zoroastrianism Illustrative Examples o Iron Weapons (new weapons) o Horseback Riding (transportation) o Ziggurats and Temples (Architecture) o Elaborate Weaving (Art) o Cuneiform Period 2 Organization and Reorganization of Human Societies 600 B.C.E. to c. 600 C.E. Themes Addressed: Interaction Between Humans and the Environment, Development and Interaction of Cultures, State Building, Expansion, and Conflict, Creation, Expansion, and Interaction of Economic Systems, Development and Transformation of Social Structures Specific Concepts and Big Ideas Covered Spread and Codification of Religion o Jewish Monotheism o Core beliefs of the Vedic Religions and transformation into Hinduism New Belief systems: Daoism, Confucianism, Buddhism and Christianity including gender roles, cultural traditions Classical Empires: Greece and Rome (illustrative example) including art, architecture, cultural developments, core ideas in Greco Roman philosophy and science Development of Classical States and Empires (political unity, location, names, administrative institutions, military power, social structure, gender and family structure o Southwest Asia (Persia) o East Asia (Qin and Han) o South Asia (Maurya and Gupta) o Mediterranean region (Phoenicia, Greek city0states, Roman Empires) o Mesoamerican, Teotihuacan, Mayan city states) o Andean South America (Moche) Transregional Trade (600 BCE 600 CE): new technologies, maritime technologies, diffusion of culture along trade routes o Eurasian Silk Roads o Trans Saharan caravan routes o Indian Ocean sea lanes o Mediterranean sea lanes Illustrative Examples o Influence of Daoism on Chinese culture using metallurgy o Ancestor veneration in Africa o Indian Epics (literature) o Greek architecture o Sassanid Persian Empire o Administrative Institutions in Persia o City of Rome as a center of trade, public performance, political administration o Rents and Tributes as a way to produce food and rewards for the elite classes o Environmental damage from soil erosion of the Classical Civilizations o External problems between the Romans and their northern and eastern neighbors
Textbooks Chapters: 1 5 Additional Sources (Primary, Secondary and Literature) Hammurabi s Code The Epic of Gilgamesh Student Activities: Comparative Chart: Early Religions Primary Source Analysis (APPARTS) Hammurabi s Code of Law Comparative Thematic Chart: Early Civilizations Writing Assessment: Compare and Contrast Essay Early Civilizations, 2006 COT Released Exam. Multiple Choice Assessment Reading and response questions to Epic of Gilgamesh Thesis statement development Thematic reading notes: Interactions Between Humans and the Environment Change over time/continuity thematic chart: technology and gender relations in earl civilizations Unit 2: Period 3 Regional and Transregional Interactions c. 600 C.E. to c. 1450 Themes Addressed: Interaction Between Humans and the Environment, Development and Interaction of Cultures, State Building, Expansion, and Conflict, Creation, Expansion, and Interaction of Economic Systems, Development and Transformation of Social Structures Specific Concepts and Big Ideas Covered Trade Routes and the growth of trading cities o Silk Roads o Mediterranean Sea o Trans Saharan Sea o Indian Ocean basins Trade Routes in Mesoamerica and Andes Commercial growth as a result of trade Expansion of Empires o China o Byzantine Empire o Muslim Caliphates o The Mongols Illustrative Example: Swahili city states as an example of new trading cities. Silk and cotton and slaves as luxury items. Camel saddles as an illustrative example of caravan trade. New forms of credit using bills of exchange. Use of paper money and the Hanseatic League. Including: Labor, gender relations, trade, agriculture. The Movement and Peoples including environmental and linguistic effects o Expansion of long distance trade o Migration of Bantu speaking peoples o Migrations of Polynesians o Illustrative examples: spread of Bantu languages, Scandinavian Vikings and their use of longships Cross Cultural Exchanges through the new networks of trade and communication o Illustrative Examples: Chinese merchant communities in Southeast Asia (disaporic
communities), Ibn Battuta (Interregional traveler), Islam in Sub Saharan Africa (diffusion of literary, artistic, and cultural traditions), The spread of printing and gunpowder technologies from East Asia into the Islamic empires and Western Europe (diffusion of science and technology) The spread of epidemic diseases (Black Death) through trade and military conquests. Illustrative example: new rice varieties in East Asia Collapse and reconstitution of empires: Byzantine, Sui, Tang and Song. Illustrative examples: land owning elites (traditional sources of power) New methods of taxation (innovations) o New forms of government, Mongol Khanates, feudalism in Europe and Japan. Illustrative examples: Abbasids (Islamic States), City states in the Americas and East Africa, Persia traditions that influenced Islamic states. Networks of city states in the Maya region, Aztec and Inca Interregional conflicts and contacts o Examples of technological and cultural transfers: Tang China and Abbasid, Across Mongol Empires, Crusades Innovation in Agriculture and early industrial production o Chinampa field system o Increased demand for Afro Eurasian products o Increase production in China, Persia and India (textiles, porcelain) Changing roles in cities, decline for some, rise in significance for others: o Decline in urban areas due to: invasions, disease, decline in agricultural productivity o Revival: end of invasions, safe and reliable transport, warmer temperatures, increased agricultural productivity, more labor Textbook Chapters: 6 15 Additional Sources Map Analysis Questions: Viking Invasions of the 9 th and 10 th centuries Student Activities Writing Objective: 2005 Comparison (released exam, Mongol Rule), 2009 COT (released exampatterns of interactions along silk roads) Thematic Reading Notes: Development and Interaction of Culture APPARTS Graphic Organizer: Systems of Labor Map: Viking Invasions of the 9 th and 10 th centuries analysis questions Change overtime/continuity thematic chart: trade in the Indian Ocean Period 4 Global Interactions 1450 1750 Themes Addressed Interaction Between Humans and the Environment, Development and Interaction of Cultures, State Building, Expansion, and Conflict, Creation, Expansion, and Interaction of Economic Systems, Development and Transformation of Social Structures Specific Concepts and Big Ideas Covered Overseas expeditions o Chinese expeditions into the Indian Ocean (Zheng He) o Portugal
o Spain o Search for new routes to Asia o Oceania and Polynesia o Illustrative Examples of new technology: Astrolabe, Caravels Causes and Effects of the Columbian Exchange o Mercantilism o Commercialization of the new global economy o Trade to and from the Americas o Atlantic system o Cash crops (Maize as a cash crop; illustrative example) o Atlantic slave trade (illustrative example: Cattle as a domesticated animal and rice brought by African slaves) o Changes in crop diversity o European Colonization o Population Changes Spread of existing religions o Spread of Islam o Spread of Islam to Africa o Spread of Christianity (reformation) o Spread of Christianity to East Africa o Spread of Buddhism within Asia o New forms of religion o Illustrative example: Sikhism in South Asia Culture o Renaissance art in Europe o Growth of literacy (Illustrative example: Kabuki) Systems of Labor o Need of Peasant labor (illustrative example: Frontier settlements in Russian Siberia) o Growth of African slave trade, planation economy o Growth of coerced labor in the Americas (Encomienda and hacienda systems in Latin America New social hierarchies o Creole elites in Spanish America o Daimyo in Japan o Demographic changes in Africa due to slave trade o Smaller size of European families o Demographic changes in Latin America (impact of Creole s on Latin America) State Consolidation and Imperial Expansion o Art as a form of political power (monumental architecture) o Aztec practice of human sacrifice o Ottoman treatment of non Muslim subjects o Chinese examination systems as an example of rulers creating centralized control o Tribute and tax farming as a method of raising revenue Imperial Expansion o Growth of Land Empires Manchus Mughals Ottomans
Russians o Maritime Empires Portuguese Spanish Dutch French British o Competition Piracy in the Caribbean Ottoman Safavid Conflict Peasant uprisings (local resistance) Textbooks Chapters: 6 15 Additional Sources (Primary, Secondary and Literature) Jerry H Bentley, The Spread of World Religions Map: Chinese Naval Expeditions 1405 1433 European Overseas Exploration 1430 s 1530 s Linda Shaffer, Southernization "Did Women Have a Renaissance?" Women, History and Theory: The Essays of Joan Kelly Student Activities: Create a map and analyze Columbian Exchange route and items Writing Assessment: 2005 COT (social and economic transformations in Atlantic World), 2011 COT (Rise of Two empires) Map Comparison: European and Chinese Explorations Comparison Chart: Maritime Empires Thematic Reading Notes: Creation, Expansion, and Interaction of Economic Systems Cause and Effect Chart: Columbian Exchange Read and summarize arguments from "Southernization" Read, complete graphic organizer: "Did Women Have a Renaissance?" o Class discussion and activity answer the following questions o Students compare the appropriateness of 1450 and 1750 as threshold dates for the early modern period in history o Students are asked to evaluate the label medieval and postclassical: to the time period 500 and 1450 Lecture, followed by Socratic Seminar Discuss the findings of anthropologists and linguists on examining the migrations of Bantu and Polynesian speaking peoples. Students will address language, architecture, development of language Change and continuity chart thematic chart : disease and demography before and after the Columbian Exchange Period 5 Industrialization and Global Integration 1750 1900 Themes Addressed: Interaction Between Humans and the Environment, Development and Interaction of Cultures, State Building, Expansion, and Conflict, Creation, Expansion, and Interaction of Economic
Systems, Development and Transformation of Social Structures Specific Concepts and Big Ideas Covered Factors leading to Industrialization o Europe s location o Geographical distribution of coal, iron and timber o Demographic changes and urbanization o Improved Agricultural productivity o Legal protection of private property o Rivers and canals o Foreign resources o Accumulation of capital Development of machines, factory system, specialization of labor Spread of Industrialization Second Industrial Revolution steel, chemicals, electricity Need for raw materials (Illustrative Example: Cotton: production and export) Textile production in India Rapid industrialization leads to need for new markets (attempts to open the Chinese markets by the British and French) Development of mining centers (Gold and diamond mines in South Africa) Expansion of financial markets (stock market) Economic changes (Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill) Large scale transnational businesses: HSBC Developments in Transportation o Railroads o Steamships o Telegraphs o Canals Global Capitalism o Marxism o Resistance to change in Qing China and Ottoman Empire o State Sponsored industrialism (economic reforms in Meiji Japan) Changing look of Society due to Industrialization o Social classes (growth of middle class) o Changes in family, gender roles, demographics o Changing look of cities due to rapid industrialization Growth of overseas Empires o British in India (example of states within existing empires) o Establishment of European colonies within Asia and the Pacific, decline of Spanish and Portuguese influence o Establishment of British and Dutch colonies o Establishment of Empires in Africa (Belgium Congo) o Settler Colonies (French in Algeria) o Imperialism in Africa o Economic Imperialism (British and US investing in Latin America) Imperialism and State Formation o Transformation of Meiji Japan o Anti Imperialism leads to the contraction of the Ottoman Empire (Semi Independence in
Egypt, French and Italian colonies in North Africa) o Illustrative Example: Hawai i o Spread of Nationalism (German nation) Nationalism, revolution and reform Rise and diffusion of Enlightenment beliefs o Voltaire o New ways of understanding of understanding the natural world o Importance of reason o Development of new politician ideas individual natural rights, and the social contract (Locke) o Influence of Enlightenment thinkers on historical documents American Declaration of Independence French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen Bolivar s Jamaica Letter o Effects of the Enlightenment, including expanding political rights, end of serfdom, end of slavery Discontent with imperial rule o The challenge of the Marathas to the Mughal subjects Rebellions American Revolution French Revolution Haitian Revolution Latin American independence Illustrative examples of causes and responses regarding rebellions o Slave rebellions o Boxer Rebellion o Taiping Rebellion o Self Strengthening Movement as an example of reforms] Spread of transnational ideologies and solidarities o Development of liberalism, socialism and communism o Demands for a change in women s rights (Mary Wollstonecraft s A Vindication of the Rights of Women Changes in demography and global migrations o Rise in global population due to improvements in medicine and food production o Movement of people due to industrialization and the relocation to cities o Continued reliance on coerced and semi coerced labor and subsequent migrations Slavery Chinese and Indian indentured servitude Convict labor Manual laborers (illustrative example) Japanese agricultural workers in the Pacific (illustrative example of seasonal migrants) Impact of migrations in the 19 th Century o New roles of women o Growth of ethnic enclaves (Indians in East and southern Africa, the Caribbean and Southeast Asia illustrative example of ethnic enclaves) o Racial and ethnic prejudice as an effect of increased migrations (The Chinese Exclusion Act) Textbooks Chapters: 16 26
Additional Sources (Primary, Secondary and Literature) Olaudah Equiano, Enslaved Captive The American Declaration of Independence The French Declaration of the Rights and Citizen Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women Student Activities: Cause and Effect chart: Industrialization Cause and Effect Chart: Enlightenment Comparative Chart: Revolutions Thesis statement development Comparison Statements Change over Time Analysis: Systems of Labor APPARTS Olaudah Equiano, Enslaved Captive Writing Assessment 2007 DBQ (attitudes Rome and Han China), 2009 DBQ (Scramble for Africa) Thematic Reading Notes Thematic Notes: Gender Relations Map Analysis: Spread of Industrialism Comparison chart: American and French documents Period 6: Accelerating Global Change and Realignments 1900 to the Present Themes Addressed: Interaction Between Humans and the Environment, Development and Interaction of Cultures, State Building, Expansion, and Conflict, Creation, Expansion, and Interaction of Economic Systems, Development and Transformation of Social Structures Specific Concepts and Big Ideas Covered Advances in science and new technology o New modes of communication and transportation o The theory of relativity (new scientific paradigms) o Green Revolution o Medical innovations (antibiotics as an illustrative example) o Energy sources such as oil and nuclear power Humans and the environment o Exploitation of earths resources o Global warming as a consequence o Pollution, deforestation, desertification Diseases, scientific innovations that led to demographic changes o Diseases associated with poverty o Malaria o HIV/AIDS o Alzheimer s Disease o Birth control and impact for women Improved military technology and new tactics o Atomic Bomb o Trench warfare o Nanjing (wartime casualties; illustrative example) Global Conflicts and their consequences Collapse of the older land based empires (Ottoman, Russian, Qing Empires; military defeat as an
external/internal factor) Negotiated independence of India from Britain Colonies who achieved their independence through armed struggle (Algeria and Vietnam from the French empire) Anti Imperialism and the dissolution of empires and restructuring of states o Nationalist leaders in Asia and Africa challenging imperial rule (Ho Chi Minh) o Regional, religious and ethnic movements (Biafra secessionist movement) o Transnational movements as a movement to unite people across national boundaries (Pan Africanism) Political changes, demographic and social consequences o Redrawing of old colonial boundaries population resettlements (Zionist Jewish settlement of Palestine) o Migration of former colonial subjects (South Asians to Britain) o Ethnic violence (The Holocaust, and Palestinians) Military Conflict o Sources of Global Conflicts Imperialist conquest by European and Japanese powers Competition for resources Ethnic conflict Rivalries between Germany and Great Britain Nationalist ideologies Economic crisis triggered by the Great Depression Shifts of power created by WWII and the Cold War o New military alliances (NATO, Warsaw Pact) o Dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War Opposition to the global conflicts o Picasso Guernica o Gandhi and his movement of non violence o Promotion of alternative to the economic, political and social orders The Anti Apartheid movement in South Africa o Promotion of military dictatorship in Chile, Spain and Uganda o IRA movement o Influence of global conflicts on culture: James Bond Economic challenges of the twentieth century o Government control of economies in the Soviet Union and china (The Great Leap Forward) o The Changing role of government due to the Great Depression (The Fascist corporatist economy) o Nasser s promotion of economic development in Egypt o Encouragement of free market economies (China under Deng Xiaoping) Growth of interdependent states, communities and individuals o International organizations (United Nations) o New economic institutions (International Monetary Fund) o Humanitarian organizations (Amnesty International) o Regional trade agreements (NAFTA) o Multinational corporations (Coca Cola) o Movements to protest inequality of environmental concerns (Greenpeace) Challenging previous held notions regarding race, class, gender, religion o Notion of human rights (UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
o New cultural identities and exclusionary reactions (Negritude cultural identities) o Xenophobia (exclusionary reactions) o New forms of spirituality (New Age Religions, Fundamentalist movements) Globalization of popular and consumer culture o Sports (Olympics) o Widespread diffusion of music and film (Bollywood) Textbooks Chapters: 27 36 Additional Sources (Primary, Secondary and Literature) WWI Propaganda Posters The Marriage Law of the People s Republic of China Global Snapshots: Cartogram of Global Warming, Satellite Photo of the Earth at Night, GDP per Capita Growth (1990 2000) Assia Djebar, Growing up in Algeria The Myth of Continents Student Activities: Photo Analysis: WWI Propaganda Posters SOAPS (speaker, occasion, author, purpose, subject) The People Speak (p. 822 in Stearns) SOAPS (speaker, occasion, author, purpose, subject) Women in Revolutionary Struggle (p. 881) Stearns) Writing Objective 2007 COT (national identities) 2011 DBQ (Green Revolution) Graphic Organizer: Sources of Global Conflicts Thematic Chart: Development and Transformation of Social Structures Cause and Effect: World War I and World War II Cause and Effect chart: Decolonization movements in Africa Thematic Change over time and Continuity chart: Labor 1900 present Map Analysis Questions: Global Conflicts (WWI, WWII, Cold War) Assignments for The Myth of Continents o Discussion and writing activity Evaluate the different cultural constructions of map making Map Analysis: Partition of Palestine