AP World History: Modern

 

 

AP World History:
Modern
Concept Outline

The concept outline for AP World History: Modern presents the course content organized
by key concept rather than in sequential units. The coding that appears in the AP World
History: Modern Course and Exam Description, Effective Fall 2019 corresponds to the
organization of the course content found in this conceptual outline.

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Period 3: c. 600 C.E–c. 1450

 

— A deepening and widening of networks of human

Key Concept 3.1
interaction within and across regions contributed to cultural, technological,
and biological diffusion within and between various societies.

n Improved commercial practices led to an increased volume of trade and expanded
the geographical range of existing trade routes—including the Silk Roads, trans-
Saharan trade network, and Indian Ocean—promoting the growth of powerful new
trading cities.

n The Indian Ocean trading network fostered the growth of states.

n The growth of interregional trade in luxury goods was encouraged by innovations
in previously existing transportation and commercial technologies, including the
caravanserai, forms of credit, and the development of money economies as well as
the use of the compass, the astrolabe and larger ship designs.

n The economy of Song China flourished as a result of increased productive
capacity, expanding trade networks, and innovations in agriculture and
manufacturing.

n The expansion of empires—including the Mongols—facilitated Afro-Eurasian trade
and communication as new people were drawn into their conquerors’ economies
and trade networks.

n The expansion of empires—including Mali in West Africa—facilitated Afro-

Eurasian trade and communication as new people were drawn into the economies
and trade networks.

n The expansion and intensification of long distance trade routes often depended on
environmental knowledge, including advanced knowledge of the monsoon winds.
The growth of interregional trade was encouraged by innovations in existing
transportation technologies.

n Muslim rule continued to expand to many parts of Afro-Eurasia due to military

expansion, and Islam subsequently expanded through the activities of merchants,
missionaries, and Sufis.

n In key places along important trade routes, merchants set up diasporic communities
where they introduced their own cultural traditions into the indigenous cultures and,
in turn, indigenous cultures influenced merchant cultures.

n As exchange networks intensified, an increasing number of travelers within

Afro–Eurasia wrote about their travels.

n Increased cross-cultural interactions resulted in the diffusion of literary, artistic,

and cultural traditions, as well as scientific and technological innovation.

Chinese cultural traditions continued, and they influenced neighboring regions.

Buddhism and its core beliefs continued to shape societies in Asia and included
a variety of branches, schools, and practices.

Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and the core beliefs and practices of these religions
continued to shape societies in Africa and Asia.

Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism, and their core beliefs and practices, continued
to shape societies in South and Southeast Asia.

Christianity, Judaism, Islam and the core beliefs and practices of these religions
continued to shape societies in Europe.

n There was continued diffusion of crops and pathogens, with epidemic diseases,

including the bubonic plague, along trade routes.

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AP World History: Modern Concept Outline© 2019 College Board Period 3: c. 600 C.E–c. 1450

Key Concept 3.2
continuity, innovation, and diversity in various regions.

— State formation and development demonstrated

n As the Abbasid Caliphate fragmented, new Islamic political entities emerged, most
of which were dominated by Turkic peoples. These states demonstrated continuity,
innovation, and diversity.

n Empires and states in Afro-Eurasia and the Americas demonstrated continuity,
innovation, and diversity in the 13th century. This included the Song Dynasty
of China, which utilized traditional methods of Confucianism and an imperial
bureaucracy to maintain and justify its rule.

n State formation and development demonstrated continuity, innovation, and

diversity, including the new Hindu and Buddhist states that emerged in South and
Southeast Asia.

n Europe was politically fragmented and characterized by decentralized monarchies,

feudalism, and the manorial system.

n Empires collapsed in different regions of the world and in some areas were

replaced by new imperial states, including the Mongol khanates.

n In the Americas and in Africa, as in Eurasia, state systems demonstrated
continuity, innovation, and diversity, and expanded in scope and reach.

n Muslim states and empires encouraged significant intellectual innovations and

transfers.

n Interregional contacts and conflicts between states and empires, including the

Mongols, encouraged significant technological and cultural transfers, including
during Chinese maritime activity led by Ming Admiral Zheng He.

— Changes in trade networks resulted from and stimulated

Key Concept 3.3
increasing productive capacity, with important implications for social and
gender structures and environmental processes.

n Demand for luxury goods increased in Afro–Eurasia. Chinese, Persian, and Indian
artisans and merchants expanded their production of textiles and porcelains for
export; manufacture of iron and steel expanded in China.

n The fate of cities varied greatly, with periods of significant decline and periods
of increased urbanization buoyed by rising productivity and expanding trade
networks.

n The economy of Song China became increasingly commercialized while continuing

to depend on free peasant and artisanal labor.

n Europe was largely an agricultural society dependent on free and coerced labor,

including serfdom.

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AP World History: Modern Concept Outline© 2019 College Board
Period 4: c. 1450–c. 1750

 

— The interconnection of the Eastern and Western

Key Concept 4.1
Hemispheres, made possible by transoceanic voyaging, transformed trade and
had a significant social impact on the world.

n 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 global wind and currents patterns—
all of which made transoceanic travel and trade possible.

n New state-supported transoceanic maritime exploration occurred in this period.

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.

n 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.

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.

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

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

n 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 mosquitoes 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.

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AP World History: Modern Concept Outline© 2019 College Board Period 4: c. 1450–c. 1750

Afro–Eurasian fruit trees, grains, sugar, and domesticated animals were brought
by Europeans to the Americas, while other foods were brought by enslaved
persons from Africa.

Populations in Afro–Eurasia benefitted nutritionally from the increased diversity
of American food crops.

n In some cases, the increase and 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.

The Protestant Reformation marked a break with existing Christian traditions
and both the Protestant and Catholic reformations contributed to the growth of
Christianity.

Political rivalries between the Ottoman and Safavid empires intensified the split
within Islam between Sunni and Shi’a.

Sikhism developed in South Asia in a context of interactions between Hinduism
and Islam.

— Although the world’s productive systems continued to be
Key Concept 4.2
heavily centered on agriculture, major changes occurred in agricultural labor,
the systems and locations of manufacturing, gender and social structures,
and environmental processes.

n 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.

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

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 demand for enslaved
labor in the Americas, leading to significant demographic, social, and cultural
changes.

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.

n 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.

n 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.

n Some notable gender and family restructuring occurred, including demographic

changes in Africa that resulted from the trade in enslaved persons.

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AP World History: Modern Concept Outline© 2019 College Board
Period 4: c. 1450–c. 1750

 

— Empires achieved increased scope and influence

Key Concept 4.3
around the world, shaping and being shaped by the diverse populations
they incorporated.

n Rulers continued to use religious ideas, art, and monumental architecture to

legitimize their rule.

n 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 different ethnic or religious
groups. In other cases, states suppressed diversity or limited certain groups’ roles
in society, politics, or the economy.

n Recruitment and use of bureaucratic elites, as well as the development of military

professionals, became more common among rulers who wanted to maintain
centralized control over their populations and resources.

n Rulers used tribute collection, tax farming, and innovative tax-collection systems to

generate revenue in order to forward state power and expansion.

n Imperial expansion relied on the increased use of gunpowder, cannons, and armed

trade to establish large empires in both hemispheres.

Europeans established new trading posts in Africa and Asia, which proved
profitable for the 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.

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

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

Land empires included the Manchu in Central and East Asia; the Mughal in
South and Central Asia; Ottoman in Southern Europe, the Middle East, and
North Africa; and the Safavids in the Middle East.

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

n Political and religious disputes led to rivalries and conflict between states.

n Economic disputes led to rivalries and conflict between states.

n State expansion and centralization led to resistance from an array of social,

political, and economic groups on a local level.

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AP World History: Modern Concept Outline© 2019 College Board Period 5: c. 1750–c. 1900

— The development of industrial capitalism led to increased
Key Concept 5.1
standards of living for some, and to continued improvement in manufacturing
methods that increased the availability, affordability, and variety of
consumer goods.

n A variety of factors contributed to the growth of industrial production and

eventually resulted in the Industrial Revolution, including:

Proximity to waterways; access to rivers and canals

Geographical distribution of coal, iron, and timber

Urbanization

Improved agricultural productivity

Legal protection of private property

Access to foreign resources

Accumulation of capital

n The development of machines, including steam engines and the internal

combustion engine, made it possible to take advantage of both existing and
vast newly discovered resources of energy stored in fossil fuels, specifically
coal and oil. The fossil fuels revolution greatly increased the energy available to
human societies.

n The development of the factory system concentrated production in a single location

and led to an increasing degree of specialization of labor.

n As the new methods of industrial production became more common in parts of

northwestern Europe, they spread to other parts of Europe and the United States,
Russia, and Japan.

n The “second industrial revolution” led to new methods in the production of steel,
chemicals, electricity, and precision machinery during the second half of the
19th century.

n The need for raw materials for factories and increased food supplies for the

growing population in urban centers led to the growth of export economies around
the world that specialized in commercial extraction of natural resources and the
production of food and industrial crops. The profits from these raw materials were
used to purchase finished goods.

n The rapid development of steam-powered industrial production in European

countries and the U.S. contributed to the increase in these regions’ share of global
manufacturing during the first Industrial Revolution. While Middle Eastern and
Asian countries continued to produce manufactured goods, these regions’ share in
global manufacturing declined.

n Trade in some commodities was organized in a way that gave merchants and

companies based in Europe and the U.S. a distinct economic advantage.

n Western European countries began abandoning mercantilism and adopting free
trade policies, partly in response to the growing acceptance of Adam Smith’s
theories of laissez-faire capitalism and free markets.

n The global nature of trade and production contributed to the proliferation of large-

scale transnational businesses that relied on new practices in banking and finance.

n Railroads, steamships, and the telegraph made exploration, development, and

communication possible in interior regions globally, which led to increased trade
and migration.

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AP World History: Modern Concept Outline© 2019 College Board