AP Word History All units

• Confucianism 1.1

  • Emerged in China, it attempts to create social order through loyalty and respect people
  • The best way to promote good government is to hire well-educated people (Junzi)
  • The Idea of Filial piety comes from Confucianism, it calls for respect by children for parents and other elders, also calls for woman to be less important than men
• Daoism 1.1

  • Daoists reflected on natural principles that govern the world to achieve harmony with nature
  • Central concept; dao (“the way” or “the way of nature”)
  • Humans should stop trying to achieve personal goals and live very simply in order to achieve harmony with nature
• Buddhism 1.1

  • Siddhartha Gautama-Founder, originated from India
  • Four Noble Truths: 
  • all of life involves suffering; 
  • desire causes suffering-
  • eliminate desire and you will eliminate suffering. 
  • Follow the Eightfold Path to end suffering
  • Goal: to achieve Nirvana (a state of spiritual independence).
  • Cultural diffusion responsible for spread of ideas- in Japan developed into Zen Buddhism; in China, Mahayana Buddhism
• Song Dynasty 1.1

  • Following the Tang dynasty; first emperor, Song Taizu, started a policy of distrust of military leaders - focused on civil service exams (based on Confucian philosophy), industry education, and the arts. 
  • Financial problems faced by the Song: bureaucracy too big. 
  • Military problems: scholar-bureaucrats’ limited military expansion led Song to military failures.
• Tech of Song Dynasty 1.1

  • Advances were made possible as a result of abundant food supplies. (Grand Canal)
  • High quality porcelain 
  • Stronger Iron and Steel
  • Military advances: Gunpowder
  • Printing technology
• Islam 1.2

  • Founded by Muhammad around the year 610 CE
  • Is the last of the major monotheistic religions to form
  • Muslims practice the 5 Pillars of Faith
  • Recite the Muslim profession of faith
  • Pray 5 times a day
  • Give money to the poor
  • Fast during the month of Ramadan
  • Take a pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj)
• Expansion of Islam 1.2

  • Rapid expansion in the century after Muhammad’s death was the work of early caliphs who spread the word through pilgrimages.
  • Between 633 and 718, Muslims took control of the Middle East, Northern Africa, parts of Europe and Northern India
  • Muslims allowed conquered people especially Christians and Jews to maintain their own religious practices but required those who did not convert to Islam to pay a tax.
• The Quran and Women 1.2

  • Improved the security of women in Arabian society: outlawed female infanticide and ruled that dowries go to brides (not husbands).
  • Described women as honorable individuals equal to men, not property.
  • Both the Qur’an and sharia emphasized male dominance: descent through the male line, male inheritance, strict control of women by male guardians.
  • Social customs were influenced by Islamic beliefs: men were permitted to take up to four wives (polygamy), women were veiled in public.
• Islam in Northern India

  • Muslims reached India by the mid 7th century 
  • Muslim merchants reached the northern and southern coasts of India; Islam was spread easily using connections established through relationships with Arabs and Persians prior to Muhammad.
  • Mahmud Ghazni, the Turkish leader in Afghanistan, destroyed hundreds of Hindu and Buddhist sites;
  • Buddhism declined in Northern India as a result of Islam
• Sufis 1.3


  Sufis succeeded in converting people in India, sub-Saharan Africa, and southeastern Asia to Islam
• Trade in Indian Ocean 1.3

  • Larger ships and improved commercial organization led to an increase in the quantity and quality of trade in the Indian Ocean basin.
  • Trade flourished because of understanding of monsoon winds and advancing technology
  • Important Indian ports: Cambay, Calicut, Quilon – way stations for traders from China and Africa.
  • East African city states: gold, iron, and ivory.
  • From China: silk and porcelain from India, pepper.
• Aztecs (Mexica)


  Migrated to central Mexico and established an empire based on military conquest; seized women and land from neighbors
• Aztecs


  • Settled on an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco in 1345
  • Built capital, Tenochtitlán, modern-day Mexico City
• Aztec farming system

  1. Shaped mud from lake floor into small plots of land that "floated" in the middle of the lake

  2. Developed a system of canals to irrigate in the dry season

  3. Grew beans, squash, maize, tomatoes, peppers, and chilies for exchange in the marketplace
• Aztecs were known as "the cannibal kingdom" for their widespread practice of human sacrifice
• Human sacrifice


  1. Done to appease Aztec gods

  2. Ripped human hearts out while person was still alive

  3. Performed at the top of a temple
• Incan Empire


  Empire based on military conquest in modern-day Peru
• Incan Empire


  • Expanded to a size of 2500 miles through conquest
  • Government led by military elite
  • Armies made up of conquered peoples
  • Forced people into submission by taking hostages
• Ghana 1.5

  • Primary state of West Africa: located between the Senegal and Niger rivers c. 750-1250
  • Ghana became increasingly important as a result of increased trans- Saharan trade (especially gold, salt and slaves)
  • Strengthened empire through taxation and control of gold trade; also traded ivory and slaves
  • In exchange for gold, Ghana received horses, cloth, manufactured goods, and salt
  • Islam spread to Ghana across trade routes
• Bureaucrats


  Used a quipu (a variety of cords in different colors and lengths) to keep track of population, taxes, state property, and labor owed to the government
• Mali and Mansu Masa 1.5


  Found trans-Saharan trade more beneficial than Ghana; controlled and taxed almost all trade through West Africa; connected to North Africa through huge caravans
• Road system


  • Combined distance of approximately 9,500 miles
  • Used for trade and to disseminate information quick
• Ibn Battuta 1.5

  • Most celebrated Muslim traveler in the postclassical world; an Islamic scholar who kept a record of his travels throughout the Dar al-Islam
  • Traveled to India, the Maldive Islands, the Swahili city-states of East Africa, and the Mali Empire
  • Worked in government positions everywhere he went, usually as a advisor: supervised monetary affairs of the mosque and heard cases of law-strictly enforced Muslim standards of justice
• Mali rulers


  • Honored Islam
  • King Mansa Musa made a pilgrimage to Mecca (1324-1325) and brought with him a huge caravan of soldiers, attendants, subjects, slaves, and camels carrying gold
  • Built capital at Timbuktu
• Mansa Musa


  1. Built mosques to honor Islam

  2. Sent subjects to study under Muslim scholars
• Feudalism 1.6

  • Basic concept refers to the political and social order of medieval Europe;
  • Established by European nobles in an attempt to protect their lands and maintain order during a time of weak central power and frequent invasions .
  • Local lords had the power to administer local affairs, collect taxes, mobilize armed forces, and settle legal disputes.
• Feudalism in Europe 1.6

  • Code of Conduct-Europe: chivalry
  • Warriors-Europe: knight
  • Local Leaders-Europe: lords
  • In both societies, aristocratic women managed their respective households.
  • Ruler-Europe: king
• Feudalism in Japan 1.6

  • Code of Conduct- Japan: Bushido.
  • Warriors- Japan: samurai.
  • Local Leaders- Japan: daimyo.
  • In both societies, aristocratic women managed their respective households.
  • Ruler- Japan: emperor (really a figurehead; control rested with shogun).
• Feudal Society 1.6

  • Medieval society was usually divided into three classes: clergy, warrior, and worker
  • Clergy was usually dealt with according to church law and exempt from secular courts. 
  • Noble emphasized chivalry (an ethical code of behavior for nobles); required knights to pledge their allegiance to order, piety, and the Christian faith.
  • Aristocratic women embraced chivalry
• Influence of Christianity in Europe 1.6

  • Christianity held western Europe together as there was no central government
  • Provided many things to the people
  • Education (very limited)
  • Medicine
  • Food
  • Took care of the poor
  • Central to life on the Manor
• Silk Roads 2.1

  • Facilitated the exchange of goods, ideas, and disease
  • Southeastern Asia, China, and India traded silk and spices west to consumers in central Asia, Iran,Arabia, and Europe
  • Spices were important because they had numerous purposes (food preservation, flavoring, and pharmaceutical purposes)
  • Central Asia traded horses, jade
  • the route was revived in post-classical times, and Song and later by the Mongols
• Technology that facilitated trade in 1200-1450 2.1

  • Lateen Sail: allowed ships to sail against the wind
  • Sternpost Rudder: Used to steer ships
  • Magnetic Compass: Helped sailors know direction when in open waters
  • Camel Saddle
• Mongols 2.2

  • Ghengis Khan became leader of the Mongols in 1206
  • Mongols started training Christian boys to fight at a young age
  • Mongols used horses for speed when attacking as well as archery
  • Was the largest land empire in human history
• Golden Horde


  • Group of Mongols that overran Russia (1237-1241)
  • Also explored Poland, Hungary, and eastern Germany
  • Only collected taxes
• Hulegu

  Kublai's brother, conquered the Abbasid Empire in Persia and it became the IL-Kanate of Persia
• Mongol rule in Persia

  Deferred to local Persian authorities, who administered the il-khanate as long as they delivered taxes to the Mongols and maintained order
• Mongols ushered in a period known as the Pax Mongolica and revitalized trade on the Silk Roads
• Mongols effect 2.2

  • Increased trade
  • Spread bubonic plague
• Trade in Indian Ocean 2.3

  • Larger ships and improved commercial organization = to an increase in the quantity and quality of trade
  • rhythms of monsoons taken into account; larger ships able to go farther away from the coastline; warehouses built to store goods.
  • Trade conducted in stages because monsoons forced mariners to stay in ports for months waiting for favorable winds.
  • Important Indian ports: Cambay, Calicut, Quilon – way stations for traders from China and Africa.
  • East African city states traded gold, iron, and ivory.
  • From China, silk and porcelain; from India, pepper.
• Trans-Saharan Networks 2.4

  • growth in trade in luxury goods (silk, porcelain, textiles, spices, slaves)
  • due to these technologies: caravanserai, caravan organization, camel saddles, astrolabe, compass, larger ships, and credit systems