Download COURSE TITLE: AP WORLD HISTORY Meeting Times

COURSE TITLE: AP WORLD HISTORY
Meeting Times: This course runs for 36 Weeks, meeting every other school day for 85
minutes on an alternating block schedule. However, since the AP World History exam is in mid-May, we will
complete the textbook in 31 weeks, or approximately 75 class meetings.
Course Description: The AP program in World History is designed to provide students with critical
thinking skills and factual knowledge necessary to analyze and conceptualize problems and materials in World
history. The course includes the study of political institutions, social and cultural developments, diplomacy, and
economic trends in history. The program prepares students for intermediate and advanced college courses by
providing challenging curricular experiences that equate to the demands made by full-year introductory college
courses. Students should learn to assess historical materials from a variety of perspectives- their relevance to a
given interpretive problem, their reliability, and their importance - and to weigh the evidence and interpretations
presented in historical scholarship. An AP World History course should enable students to develop skills
necessary to acquire information,
develop and present information in well-reasoned ways, construct new knowledge and use valid information
appropriately to make conclusions and to present reasons and evidence clearly and persuasively. Students are
required to complete an enormous amount of reading, writing, and performance tasks. Projects and culminating
activities are expected of each student. Students taking the Advanced Placement AP World History course are
expected to take the Advanced Placement exam. Students will not receive weighted grades for the course unless
they complete the AP examination.
Course Purpose and Goals:
a. Philosophy: Varied teaching and learning experiences should provide students with multiple opportunities to
discover the numerous ways in which human beings acquire and use knowledge of historical events. The study
of history should involve inquiry, active construction of knowledge,
interactive discourse, well-reasoned arguments that show reflective and critical thinking, and real life
applications. Opportunities to acquire knowledge should not be limited and rigid; rather they should reflect the
fluid and changing nature of knowledge and understanding. Additionally, the resources available should
reinforce the numerous modes of information available. Textbooks, reference materials, atlases, historical
documents, media resources, Internet, museums, historical societies, and libraries are essential resources for the
course. Teaching and learning experiences should seek to actively involve students, individually and as a group,
allowing students to develop skills as independent or collective
thinkers and participants.
b. Goals: The AP course trains students to:
Analyze and interpret a wide variety of primary sources
Analyze documentary material, maps, and graphic events, statistical tables, and works of art that address
historical concepts
Develop skills in writing notes, reading and studying information, using historical technical vocabulary,
writing interpretive essays such as document-based questions (DBQ), and writing analytical thematic
essays and research papers
Classify, interpret, summarize and evaluate information that supports decision-making
Conceptualize unfamiliar categories of information, determine the validity of arguments, and develop models
to explain historical events or ideas
Express and advocate reasoned convictions with clarity and precision
c. Comparison between standard World History course and AP college level course: The AP college level
course is designed to provide the student with learning experiences equivalent to that obtained in most college
introductory World History courses. Students will be exposed to historical content and use the perspective of
time to explore causes and effects of events in the past. This course is challenging and rigorous and requires a
great deal of discipline in order to be successful. Skills in reading and deciphering are necessary as students are
required to complete numerous readings, analyze and interpret documents and events, practice writing
analytical and interpretive essays, and complete research and major study of pictorial and graphic materials.
Frequent quizzes and outside assignments are to be expected. Students must master a broad body of historical
knowledge and be able to apply analytical skills of evaluation, cause and effect, and compare and contrast to
understand historical scholarship.
Chronological and conceptual organization: This AP World History course is taught
chronologically under the umbrella of six main historical eras. (Course schedule is explained later in this
syllabus.) Part One, From Hunting and Gathering to Civilizations, pre-history up to 1000 B.C.E. is covered
succinctly in Chapter 1. Part Two, The Classical Period, 1000 B.C.E. to 500 C.E. focuses on the classical
civilization of China (Chapter 2), the classical civilization of India (Chapter 3), and the classical civilizations of
Greece and Rome (Chapter 4), followed by Chapter 5, which compares and contrasts these four classical
civilizations with an emphasis on their diversities and declines. Part Three, The Postclassical Period, 500-1450,
comprises nine chapters, chapters 6-15. Chapter 6 is The Rise and Spread of Islam, Chapter 7 is Abbasid
Decline and the Spread of Islamic Civilization to South and Southeast Asia, and Chapter 8 is African
Civilizations and the Spread of Islam. Chapter 9 is Byzantium and Orthodox Europe and Chapter 10 is A New
Civilization in Western Europe. Chapter 11 is The Americas on the Eve of Invasion. Chapter 12 is
Reunification and Renaissance in Chinese Civilization: The Era of the Tang and Song Dynasties; Chapter 13
continues the Chinese focus with The Spread of Chinese Civilization: Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Chapter 14
centers on The Last Great Nomadic Challenges: From Chinggis Khan to Timur, while Chapter 15 finishes the
postclassical period with The West and the Changing Balance of World Power. Part Four, The Early Modern
Period: The World Shrinks, 1450-1750, comprises seven chapters, chapters 16-22. Chapter 16 is The World
Economy, Chapter 17 The Transformation of the West 1450-1750, and Chapter 18 depicts The Rise of Russia.
Chapter 19 focuses on Early Latin America, Chapter 20 on Africa and Africans in the Age of the Slave Trade,
while Chapter 21 centers on The Muslim Empires of the Ottomans, the Safavids, and the Mughals. Chapter 22
ends Part Four with Asian Transitions in an Age of Global Change. Part Five, The Dawn of the Industrial Age,
1750-1914, comprises five chapters, chapters 23-27. Chapter 23 is The Emergence of Industrial Society in the
West, 1750-1914 while Chapter 24 follows the spread of industrialization outside of Europe though dominated
by Europeans with Industrialization and Imperialism: The Making of the European Global Order. Chapters 2527 further the study of industrialization outside of Europe: Chapter 25 is The Consolidation of Latin America,
1830-1920; Chapter 26 is Civilizations in Crisis: The Ottoman Empire, The Islamic Heartlands, and Qing
China; and Chapter 27 is Russia and Japan: Industrialization Outside the West. Part Six, The Newest Stage of
World History: 1914-Present comprises nine chapters, chapters 28-36, to end the textbook. Chapter 28 is World
War I and the Crisis of the European World Order, Chapter 29 is The World Between the Wars: Revolutions,
Depression, and Authoritarian Response, while Chapter 30 is A Second Global Conflict and the End of The
European World Order. Chapter 31 is Western Society and Eastern Europe in the Decades of the Cold War.
Chapter 32 is Latin America: Revolution and Reaction into the 21st Century, Chapter 33 is Africa, The Middle
East, and Asia in the Era of Independence, and Chapter 34 is Rebirth and Revolution: Nation-Building in East
Asia and The Pacific Rim. The final two chapters are Chapter 35's The End of the Cold War and the Shape of a
New Era and Chapter 36's Globalization and Resistance.
Themes: This course uses the five themes listed in the AP World History Course Description as the threads
for structuring the course and for encouraging students to think conceptually and focus on historical continuity
and change over time. These themes help students think like a historian, to relate the details of names, dates and
places in a probing analysis of some of history's "big picture" stories. The acronym SPICE (see below) will
provide the foundation for much of our historical analysis. These fives overarching themes are:
(S)ocial: how societies develop and change by gender, family, race, ethnicity
(P)olitical: how societies organize locally, regionally, and globally
(I)nteraction with the environment: how and why societies migrate and settle
(C)ultural: how belief systems, the arts, and science/technology develop and transform societies
(E)conomic: how societies create, develop, expand, and interact internally and externally
Course Format and Policies:
AP World History is a college course taught in high school. Students who pass College Board’s AP United
States History exam can earn college credit, depending on the individual college concern. Therefore, the reading
load for this course is considerable and the course moves fast. For example, our textbook is 877 pages, not
counting appendix or index. There are 36 chapters and we will complete all 36 chapters by the end of the third
quarter. Since there are approximately 66 class meetings in the first three quarters, that means 30 chapters will
be covered in two days, while 6 chapters will be covered in one day. (The first 9-10 class meetings at the start of
the 4th quarter are used to review for the mid-May exam.)
Most students are overwhelmed at first with all this reading because few high school students have experienced
a college level class. DO NOT BECOME DISCOURAGED! The best advice from past AP students has not
changed in years: KEEP UP WITH THE READING!
There will be a reading assignment and a corresponding written assignment for each and every class. In
order to cover the maximum amount of material with the least amount of stress, sharing is definitely
encouraged. Form study groups and work on assignments together. However, if you are in a study group, make
certain that you are working on each and every question and that everyone carries their own load. Copying of
another student’s reading outline, objectives, or essays is strictly forbidden. You will earn a zero for any
assignment found to be plagiarized. With the second incident of plagiarism, I will ask the principal and the
counselor to remove you from AP World History.
Time management is an essential skill for this class, and you must take the responsibility for budgeting your
time. As you become accustomed to the course format and texts, things will fall into place and become more
manageable. It is important to not get discouraged. Do not quit if your grade the first quarter is lower than what
you are used to earning. This is entirely normal for almost all students taking their first
Advanced Placement course.
I can be available before school, during seminar, during lunch, and after school. Students who need extra
help simply need to ask. Students are reminded of this often during class.
This is a college level course. As with college, late work is not accepted without a valid excuse. Students
absent for extracurricular activities must pick up their homework before their absence and turn all homework in
BEFORE their departure.
Weighted grade policy: Students who take AP courses must take the AP examination for that course in order
to receive a weighted grade.
Textbooks, Materials and other Resources:
Required textbook:
1. Stearns, P. (2007). World Civilizations: The Global Experience, 5th Edition. New York: Pearson
2. Stearns, P. (2007). AP Test Prep Series: AP World History. New York: Pearson.
Supplementary Materials:
2. Document Based Questions in World History. Evanston, Illinois: The DBQ Project.
3. Maier, D. & Roupp, H. (2000). Treasures of the World: Literature and Source Readings for World History.
Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman Company.
4. Barzun, J. (2000). From Dawn to Decadence, 1500 to the Present: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life. New
York: HarperCollins Publishers.
5. Spodek, H. (2001). The World's History. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
6. Diamond, J. (1999). Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
7. Hoxie, F, ed. (1998). Indians in American History. Harlan Davidson
8. Williams, E. (1984). From Columbus to Castro: The History of the Caribbean. New York: Vintage Books.
7. Primary Source: Documents in Global History. (2008). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson.
9. World History Unfolding: A Mindsparks DBQ & Essay Writing Program, World History, Ancient Times1500. (2002). Fort Atkinson, WI: Highsmith Inc.
10. World History Unfolding: A Mindsparks DBQ & Essay Writing Program, WorldHistory, 1500-The Present.
(2002). Fort Atkinson, WI: Highsmith Inc.
11. World History Historical Outline Map Book. (1993). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:
Prentice-Hall, Inc.
COURSE CONTENT: TOPICS AND ASSESSMENTS:
*PART ONE, FROM HUNTING AND GATHERING TO CIVILIZATIONS, UP TO 1000 B.C.E.,
CHAPTER 1, TWO CLASS PERIODS:
KEY CONCEPTS:
1. BIG GEOGRAPHY AND THE PEOPLING OF THE EARTH
2. THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION AND EARLY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES
3. THE DEVELOPMENT AND INTERACTIONS OF EARLY AGRICULTURAL, PASTORAL
AND URBAN SOCIETIES
TOPICS:
1: Locating World History: environment, time, and diverse interpretations
2. Developing agriculture and technologies: types of early societies, nature of village settlements, impact of
agriculture, pastoralism, introduction of metal use, wheels, new weapons, domestication of animals for food and
transportation, beginning of urban planning
3. Basic features of early civilizations: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus Valley, and Shang Dynasty
a. record-keeping: cuneiform, hieroglyphs, alphabets
b. religious beliefs: Vedic, Hebrew monotheism, Zoroastrianism
c. literature: Rig Veda and/or Epic of Gilgamesh
d. architecture: temples, defense systems, sanitation and public works projects
READINGS: Spodek, I-8-I-16; Diamond, 13-32; Stearns, 2-31
LECTURES:
1. Human life in the Era of Hunters and Gatherers
2. Human life before agriculture
3. The Neolithic Revolution
4. The emergence of civilization
COLLEGE BOARD FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS FROM PAST EXAMS:
1. There are no past College Board DBQ or essay questions for Part 1.
STEARNS' AP TEST PREP SERIES FREE-RESPONSE QUESTION:
1. To what extent was the Neolithic revolution responsible for the development of early civilizations?
DOCUMENT-BASED QUESTIONS IN WORLD HISTORY (THE DBQ PROJECT):
1. There are no DBQs for Part 1.
WORLD HISTORICAL MAP OUTLINE EXERCISES: (Before the critical thinking question below is
attempted, students will first complete an outline map and answer two brief map analysis questions.)
1. Early Civilizations: From studying the map, what can the student conclude was a critical factor in the location
and growth of early civilizations?
2. Ancient Egypt: Was the geography of Egypt more of a help or a hindrance in its expansion?
3. Ancient Middle East: What relationship do you see between the outline of the Fertile Crescent and
Hammurabi's Empire?
4. Assyrian and Persian Empires: What factors allowed the Persian Empire to extend farther than earlier Middle
Eastern civilizations?
PROJECTS:
1. Read Spodek's The World Through Historians' Eyes, focusing particularly on the analysis entitled History
and Identity and Historical Revision. Next read Diamond's Yali's Question. Explain why or why not you believe
Diamond is arguing for a historical revision of world history.
2. Pretend you are a Sumerian and you want some nearby villages to unite and build a system of canals and
levees. Write out a speech to convince these villages to do this.
WORLD HISTORY UNFOLDING, ANCIENT TIMES TO 1500:
1. Evaluating Evidence & Primary Source Documents, Lesson #1. All sources used in this lesson are found in
the Mindsparks booklet/transparency sets entitled Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient China, Ancient Egypt and
Ancient India.
*PART TWO, THE CLASSICAL PERIOD, 1000 B.C.E. TO 500 C.E.,
CHAPTERS 2-5, SEVEN CLASS PERIODS:
KEY CONCEPTS:
1. THE DEVELOPMENT AND CODIFICATION OF RELIGIOUS & CULTURAL TRADITIONS
2. THE DEVELOPMENT OF STATES AND EMPIRES
3. EMERGENCE OF TRANSREGIONAL NETWORKS OF COMMUNICATION & EXCHANGE
TOPICS:
1. Mesoamerica (Teotihuacan & Maya city-states) and Andean South America (Moche); Persian Empires; Qin
and Han Empire; Maurya and Gupta Empires; Greek city-states; Roman Empires
2. Classical civilizations: major political developments and administrative institutions; techniques to project
military power; importance of the city; production of food; elite loyalty systems; social and gender structures
with the dominance of patriarchy; trading patterns (Silk Road, Trans-Saharan, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean);
distinctive artistic expression; environmental damage due to deforestation/desertification/soil erosion/silted
rivers; frontier tensions (Han, Gupta, and Romans); new communication technologies centered on domesticated
pack animals); new maritime technologies (lateen, dhow); changes in farming and irrigation techniques; effects
of disease on empires;
3. Belief systems and influence on regional and local culture: Polytheism, Hinduism, Judaism, Confucianism,
Daoism, Buddhism, Christianity
4. Late Classical period: collapse of empires, movements of peoples, interregional networks by 600 C.E.
READINGS: Stearns, 32-119
LECTURES:
1. Patterns in Classical China
2. Classical Chinese Political Institutions, Religion, and Culture
3. Classical Chinese Economy and Society
4. Patterns in Classical India
5. Classical Indian Political Institutions, Religion, and Culture
6. Classical Indian Economy and Society
7. The Persian Tradition in Classical Greece and Rome
8. Patterns of Greek and Roman Political Institutions, Religion, and Culture
9. Economy and Society in the Mediterranean
10. Toward the Fall of Rome
11. Decline in Classical China and India
12. Decline and Fall in Rome
COLLEGE BOARD FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS FROM PAST EXAMS:
1. 2004 AP DBQ: Based on the following documents, analyze the responses to the spread of Buddhism in
China. What additional kind of document(s) would you need to evaluate the extent of Buddhism's appeal in
China?
2. 2006 AP essay: Analyze the cultural and political changes and continuities in ONE of the following
civilizations during the last centuries of the classical era: Chinese, 100 C.E. to 600 C.E.; Roman, 100 C.E. to
600 C.E.; and Indian, 300 C.E. to 600 C.E.
3. 2007 AP DBQ: Using the documents, analyze Han and Roman attitudes toward technology. Identify one
additional type of document and explain briefly how it would help your analysis.
4. 2010 AP essay: Analyze similarities and differences in methods of political control in TWO of the following
empires in the Classical period: Han China (206 B.C.E. to 220 C.E.), Mauryan/Gupta India (320 B.C.E. to 550
C.E.), and Imperial Rome (31 B.C.E. to 476 C.E.)
STEARNS' AP TEST PREP SERIES FREE-RESPONSE QUESTION:
1. In what ways did the three philosophical movements of classical China shape its civilization?
2. Compare and contrast the classical civilizations of India and China.
3. Compare and contrast the Greek, Confucian, and Hindu ethical systems.
4. Compare and contrast the collapses of the Roman Empire and Han China.
DOCUMENT-BASED QUESTIONS IN WORLD HISTORY (THE DBQ PROJECT):
1. Classical Athens and Han China: How Great Were the Differences?
WORLD HISTORICAL MAP OUTLINE EXERCISES: (Before the critical thinking question below is
attempted, students will first complete an outline map and answer two brief map analysis questions.)
1. Ancient India: How do the Himalaya Mountains contribute to making the northern plains India's most fertile
region?
2. Ancient China: What attitudes about themselves might people develop if their civilization is isolated?
3. Ancient Greece: Compare the geographical strengths and weaknesses of Athens and Sparta as political rivals
for dominance in Greece.
4. Empire of Alexander the Great: How did Alexander's conquests help Hellenistic civilization?
5. Roman Empire to 117 C.E.: How did Roman policies encourage the growth of trade? Was Rome correct in
allowing its provinces to retain a large degree of autonomy?
6. Spread of Christianity: How did the physical geography of the Roman Empire aid the spread of Christianity?
Into which regions outside the borders of the Roman Empire did Christianity spread?
7. Early Empires in India: Why did most invaders of India tend to lose much of their identity and become
absorbed into Indian culture?
8. Early Empires of China: Compare and contrast the empire-building methods of Chinese and Roman rulers.
How did the physical geography of the two regions affect the empires that were created?
PROJECTS:
1. Evaluate in an analytical essay what exactly is "classical" about the Classical Age? Is it reasonable to lump
the various world civilizations of China, India, Greece and Rome into one 1500-year term (1000 B.C.E. to 500
C.E.) and place them under one huge umbrella known as the Classical Period? Compare and contrast the
arguments for and against this periodization, listing three arguments against and three arguments in favor.
2. Plot a chart showing the advantages and disadvantages of the various writing scripts of classical Chinese,
Mesopotamian cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphics and early alphabetic scripts.
3. Create a chart comparing the ancient Greek Olympics and the modern Olympics. Compare the sports
included, selection of athletes, benefits to athletes and the significance of the Olympics to the society as a
whole.
4. Design a newspaper front page telling the story of the Spartacus slave uprising.
5. Create a chart about the development of various Indo-European languages.
WORLD HISTORY UNFOLDING, ANCIENT TIMES TO 1500:
1. Analyzing Visual Sources, Lesson #2. All sources used in the lesson can be found in the MindSparks
booklet/transparency sets entitled Christendom: After Rome's Fall: Christendom; The High Middle Ages; India:
The Mauryas to the Mughal Empire; Civilizations of Africa and the Americas; and Clan, Emperor, Shogun:
Japan in the Middle Ages
2. Analyzing the Question, Lesson #3. All sources used in the lesson can be found in the MindSparks
booklet/transparency set entitled Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.
*PART THREE, THE POST-CLASSICAL PERIOD, 500-1450,
CHAPTERS 6-15, 18 CLASS PERIODS:
KEY CONCEPTS:
1. EXPANSION AND INTENSIFICATION OF COMMUNICATION AND EXCHANGE NETWORKS
2. CONTINUITY AND INNOVATION OF STATE FORMS AND THEIR INTERACTIONS
3. INCREASED ECONOMIC PRODUCTIVE CAPACITY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
TOPICS:
1: Questions of periodization
a. nature and causes of changes
1. labor organizations: patriarchy, class and caste structures, new coerced labor
2. peasant revolts
b. emergence of new empires
1. diffusion of scientific and technological traditions, such as return of Greek philosophy to Europe
2. innovations stimulated agricultural production in many regions (rice varieties, terracing)
c. continuities and breaks with the period
2. The Islamic world
a. rise and role of Islam
1. Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia
b. Islamic political structures
c. arts, sciences and technologies
1. transfer due to Crusades
3. Interregional networks and contacts
a. trade (especially luxury goods), technology and cultural exchange
1. Trans-Sahara trade (adoption of camels)
2. Indian Ocean trade
3. Silk routes (caravan)
b. missionary outreach of major religions
c. contacts between major religions
d. impact of Mongol empires
e. new forms of credit and state-sponsored commercial growth
f. diffusion of languages and new foods
4. China's internal and external expansion
a. Tang and Song economic revolutions
b. Chinese influence on surrounding areas
1. Chinese merchant communities
2. Marco Polo
3. Neoconfucianism
c. arts, sciences and technologies
5. Development in Europe
a. restructuring of European institutions
b. division of Christendom
6. Patterns in the Amerindian world
a. Maya
b. Aztec
c. Inca
7. Demographic and environmental changes
a. impact of nomadic migrations
b. consequences of plague epidemics in 14th century
READINGS: Stearns, 120-341
LECTURES:
1. Pre-Islamic Arabian World
2. The Umayyads
3. The Mosque as a Symbol of Islamic Civilization
4. Islamic Heartlands in the Abbasid Eras
5. The Coming of Islam to South Asia and Southeast Asia
6. Diversity and Similarities of African Societies
7. The Swahili Coast of East Africa
8. Peoples of the African Forest and Plains
9. The Byzantine Empire
10. Russia Turns to Christianity
11. Western Culture in the Postclassical Era
12. The Decline of the Medieval Synthesis
13. Postclassical Mesoamerica
14. Aztec Society in Transition
15. The Other Peoples of the Americas
16. Sui-Tang Rebuilding of the Empire
17. Tang Decline and Song Rise
18. Japan in the Imperial Age
19. Korea: Between China and Japan
20. The Making of Vietnam
21. In the Orbit of China: East Asia
22. The Mongol Empire of Chinggis Khan
23. The Mongol Interlude in Chinese History
24. The Rise of the West and Renaissance Culture
COLLEGE BOARD FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS FROM PAST EXAMS:
1. 2005 AP essay: Compare and contrast the political and economic effects of Mongol rule on TWO of the
following regions: China, Middle East, and Russia.
2. 2009 AP essay: Analyze continuities and changes in patterns of interaction along the Silk Roads from 200
B.C.E. to 1450 C.E.
3. 2011 AP essay: Analyze similarities and differences in the rise of TWO of the following empires: A West
African Sudanic Empire (Mali or Ghana or Songhay), Aztec Empire, and Mongol Empire.
STEARNS' AP TEST PREP SERIES FREE-RESPONSE QUESTION:
1. Explain the reasons for the rapid rise and spread of Islam.
2. To what extend did urban quality of life mirror political developments during the Abbasid Empire?
3. In what ways did Islam influence sub-Saharan African culture?
4. In what ways was Vladimir's conversion to Christianity a key event in eastern European history?
5. Describe the ways in which Christianity shaped postclassical European culture.
6. To what extent were the Incas and Aztecs similar?
7. How did the position of women change during the Tang and Song dynasties?
8. Compare the role of the elites of Japan, Korea, and Vietnam in the process of Sinification. How did
borrowing from China evolve along with their own political and cultural traditions?
9. In the course of their expansion, did the Mongols abandon their nomadic lifestyle?
10. The postclassical period saw the rise and fall of the Mongol Empire. What trading and cultural links
emerged to replace the role of the Mongols in international affairs?
DOCUMENT-BASED QUESTIONS IN WORLD HISTORY (THE DBQ PROJECT):
1. The Mongols: How Barbaric Were the "Barbarians"?
2. The Black Death: How Different Were Christian and Muslim Responses?
3. The Aztecs: What Should History Say?
WORLD HISTORICAL MAP OUTLINE EXERCISES: (Before the critical thinking question below is
attempted, students will first complete an outline map and answer two brief map analysis questions.)
1. Early Kingdoms in Africa: Why did three powerful kingdoms (Songhay, Ghana, Mali) grow up in roughly
the same area in West Africa? How did their geographic location affect the growth of important city-states in
eastern Africa?
2. Early Civilizations in the Americas: How did the geographic location of early empires in the Americas differ
from that of early empires in Africa, the Middle East, and East Asia?
3. Charlemagne's Empire: How did the partition of Charlemagne's Empire contribute to the emergence of
feudalism?
4. Europe in the Middle Ages: What effect did increased trade have on the economic and political roots of
feudalism?
5. Europe at the Time of the Crusades: What reasons other than religious might have motivated Europeans to try
to take the Holy Land from the Muslims?
6. Byzantine Empire: Compare the boundaries of the Roman Empire in 500 with those of the Byzantine Empire
in 565. How would you explain the similarities and differences?
7. Islamic Empire: Why was Islam able to spread so widely so quickly?
8. Mughal Empire in India: What relationship can you see between the physical geography of India and the way
the Mughal Empire expanded between 1526 and 1707?
9. Mongol Empire about 1294: How did geography make it difficult to main control of the Mongol Empire?
10. Ancient Japan: How was the location of Japan both an obstacle to foreign influence and an invitation to that
influence?
11. Renaissance Italy about 1494: Why was trade so important to the economies of Italian city-states? What
political and cultural heritage were they heirs to?
PROJECTS:
1. In the Islamic world, Christians and Jews did not enjoy equal rights with Muslims. However, tolerance was
shown to them and they had a good deal of control over their own religious and cultural lives. A few of them
could rise to positions of real importance. One example of this was Moses ben Miamun, better known as
Maimonides. Read more about Maimonides and create a timeline of his life, travels, and accomplishments.
2. The nomadic warriors of the steppe were the first to tame the horse and learn to ride it. How did they do this?
What other uses did they make of the horse? Create a colorful bulletin board display on the role of the horse
among the Eurasian steppe nomads.
3. Create a timeline showing the key interactions between Islam and Christian Europe during the Middle Ages.
Combine your timeline with a map showing the key places these contacts took place.
4. Rivers in Africa were key geographical features. Of particular importance was the Niger River. Learn more
about it and the ancient cities that grew up near it or that depended on it in some way. Create a map and use it
in a brief talk to the class.
5. Great Zimbabwe was linked in trade to the East African coastal cities. Learn more about one of these cities
and find out when it was first established. Learn more about its role in the Indian Ocean trading system. Find
out in what ways it might have had trade dealings with Great Zimbabwe. Address these issues in a brief essay
on the history of the city you choose to study.
6. The importance of the Brahmin priests grew out of the Vedic Age. As ritual sacrifice became more and more
complex, the Brahmins became indispensable. Learn more about the role of Brahmin priests in early Hinduism.
Then learn more about the role of Roman Catholic priests in Europe's Middle Ages. Compare their role with
that of the Brahmin priests. Write a brief essay on what you find out.
7. Learn more about Buddhist monasteries. Find out what life in a Buddhist monastery was like. How were the
early Buddhist monks different from and how were they similar to the monks in Christian monasteries in
Europe in the Middle Ages? Write an essay explaining what you find.
8. The Chinese invented gunpowder. One commonly held myth about the Chinese is that they never used
gunpowder for military purposes. Give a brief talk to the class about the discovery of gunpowder by the
Chinese and the uses they made of it, both military and non-military.
9. In 1274 and 1281 the fierce Mongols, who had just conquered China, tried to invade and conquer Japan.
Learn more about these two great invasions and in a brief talk to the class summarize what happened. Also
explain how these events help to show the influence of the sea on Japan and its history.
10. The city of Heian (today's Kyoto) was organized as a copy of the Chinese Tang capital of Chang'an. Learn
more about both cities. Create diagrams of the cities as part of a bulletin board display on these two capitals
and their importance to each society.
11. Learn more about Kabuki from its origins to the 19th century. Organize a brief talk or slide presentation on
this history.
WORLD HISTORY UNFOLDING, ANCIENT TIMES TO 1500:
1. Developing a Thesis Statement, Lesson #4. All sources for this lesson can be found in the MindSparks
booklet/transparency sets entitled Christendom: The High Middle Ages; India: The Mauryas to the Mughal
Empire; and Clan, Emperor, Shogun: Japan in the Middle Ages.
2. Outlining and Planning the Essay Structure, Lesson #5. All sources for this lesson can be found in the
MindSparks booklet/transparency sets entitled Christendom: The High Middle Ages; India: The Mauryas to the
Mughal Empire; and Clan, Emperor, Shogun: Japan in the Middle Ages.
3. Writing the Introductory Paragraph, Lesson #6. All sources for this lesson can be found in the MindSparks
booklet/transparency sets entitled Christendom: The High Middle Ages and The Rise of Islam.
4. Writing and Linking Support Paragraphs, Lesson #7. All sources for this lesson can be found in the
MindSparks booklet/transparency set entitled Civilizations of Africa and the Americas.
5. Writing a Strong Conclusion, Lesson #8. All sources for this lesson can be found in the MindSparks
booklet/transparency sets entitled Christendom: The High Middle Ages; India: Ancient Greece; Clan, Emperor,
Shogun: Japan in the Middle Ages and Nomads of the Steppes
*PART FOUR, THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD, 1450-1750,
CHAPTERS 16-22, 14 CLASS PERIODS:
KEY CONCEPTS:
1. GLOBALIZING NETWORKS OF COMMUNICATION AND EXCHANGE
2. NEW FORMS OF SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND MODES OF PRODUCTION
3. STATE CONSOLIDATION AND IMPERIAL EXPANSION
TOPICS:
1. Questions of periodization
a. continuities and breaks
1. trade networks brought prosperity and economic disruption to the trading regions of the Indian Ocean,
Mediterranean, Sahara, and overland Eurasia.
2. royal chartered European monopolies
2. Changes in trade, technology, and global interactions
a. the Columbian Exchange
1. new foods (potato, maize, okra, rice), new cash crops (sugar, tobacco)
2. new diseases (smallpox, measles, influenza)
3. horse/cow/pig brought to the Americas
b. impact of guns
c. changes in shipbuilding (caravels)
d. new navigational devices (astrolabe, revised maps)
1. Chinese Admiral Zheng He
2. Prince Henry’s School of Navigation
3. Spanish sponsorship of Columbus
4. Access to Asian trading
3. Major empires, other political units and social systems
a. Ottoman
1. treatment of non-Muslim subjects
2. devshirme
3. conflict with Safavids
b. China
1. Manchu policies towards Chinese
2. meritocracy via exam
3.land empire after Zheng He
c. Portugal
1. maritime empire
d. Russia
e. France
1. maritime empire
2. Thirty Years War
f. England
1. maritime empire
g. Tokugawa
1. samurai
h. Mughal
1. land empire
i. Benin
f. Songhay
1. promotion of Islam
4. Gender and empire
a. dependence of European men on SE Asian women for regional trade
b. smaller families in Europe
5. Slave systems and slave trade
a. coerced labor (indentured servitude, encomienda/hacienda/mita, chattel slavery)
b. intensification of peasant labor (Russia’s Siberian frontier, India & cotton, China & silk)
6. Demographic and environmental changes
a. new elites=new ethnic, racial, and gender elites (Manchus, Creoles, European gentry, port traders)
b. old elites challenged (European nobles, Japanese daimyos)
c. new ethnic/race classifications (mestizo, mulatto, creole) in Americas
d. food riots, samurai revolt, peasant uprisings
7. Cultural and intellectual developments
a. Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment
1. Voltaire, Rousseau, Locke, Montesquieu, Bolivar’s Jamaica Letter
b. Changes and continuities in Confucianism
1. Chinese emperors publicly support
c. Major developments in the arts
1. innovations in visual and performing arts (European Renaissance, Japanese wood-blocks)
2. expansion of literacy & literary forms (Shakespeare, Sundiata, Kabuki)
3. patronage of the arts used to legitimize political rule
READINGS: Axtell, 47-57; Stearns, 342-505
LECTURES:
1. West's First Outreach: Maritime Power
2. Western Conquerors: Tactics and Motives Toward a World Economy
3. The First Big Changes: Culture and Commerce, 1450-1650
4. Russia's Expansionist Politics Under the Tsars
5. Russia's First Westernization
6. Spaniards and Portuguese: From Reconquest to Conquest
7. Brazil: The First Plantation Colony
8. Multiracial Societies
9. The Atlantic Slave Trade
10. White Settlers and Africans in Southern Africa
11. The Ottomans: From Frontier Warriors to Empire Builders
12. The Shi'a Challenge to the Safavids
13. The Mughals and the Apex of Muslim Civilization
14. The Asian Trading World and the Coming of the Europeans
15. Ming China
16. Japan's Reunification and the First Challenge
COLLEGE BOARD FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS FROM PAST EXAMS:
1. 2003 AP essay: Describe and analyze the cultural, economic, and political impact of Islam on ONE of the
following regions between 1000 C.E. and 1750 C.E. Be sure to discuss continuities as well as changes. West
Africa, South Asia, and Europe
2. 2002 AP DBQ: Compare and contrast the attitude of Christianity and Islam toward merchants and trade from
the religions' origins until about 1500. Are there indications of change over time in either case, or both? What
kinds of additional documents would you need to assess the consequences of these attitudes on merchant
activities?
3. 2006 AP DBQ: Analyze the social and economic effects of the global flow of silver from mid-sixteenth
century to the early eighteenth century. Explain how another type of document would help you analyze the
effects of the flow of silver bullion in this period.
4. 2008 AP essay: Analyze the changes and continuities in commerce in the Indian Ocean region from 650 C.E.
to 1750 C.E.
5. 2009 AP essay: For the period 1500 to 1830, compare North American racial ideologies and their effects on
society with Latin American/Caribbean racial ideologies and their effects on society.
STEARNS' AP TEST PREP SERIES FREE-RESPONSE QUESTION:
1. Compare and contrast the goals of Europeans in the first phase of colonization. How did motives influence
the unrolling of exploration and colonization?
2. Compare the impact of the Protestant Reformation and the Scientific Revolution. What areas of life did each
affect, and how deeply did each add to the transformation of Europe?
3. What motivated Russian implementation of reforms inspired by Western Europe? What factors limited these
reforms?
4. How did the features unique to Iberian history influence development of Spanish and Portuguese colonies?
5. How did Europeans in Africa, in an era before outright conquest of the continent, impact African economy?
6. How do you account for the similarities between the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires?
7. Compare the balance between internal development and European influence in China, Japan, and the
Philippines. What factors made some countries more resilient and less susceptible to external pressure?
DOCUMENT-BASED QUESTIONS IN WORLD HISTORY (THE DBQ PROJECT):
1. What was the most importance consequence of the printing press?
2. What drove the sugar trade?
WORLD HISTORICAL MAP OUTLINE EXERCISES: (Before the critical thinking question below is
attempted, students will first complete an outline map and answer two brief map analysis questions.)
1. Europe About 1600: Based on the geographic distributions of Protestants and Catholics, would you say the
Protestant Reformation or the Catholic Reformation was most successful? Explain.
2. The World During the Age of Discovery: Is it correct to say that the European explorers shown on our map
"discovered" North and South America or the East Indies? Explain.
3. Claims in the Americas, 1700: Why were European nations interested in the Americas? Why did some areas
remain unexplored?
4. Europe After the Peace of Westphalia: How does studying the map help explain the comment that the Holy
Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire?
5. Ottoman Empire, 1566: Compare the Ottoman empire at its height with the Islamic Empire at its height.
Which seemed to be more powerful?
PROJECTS:
1. Read James Axtell's Colonial America Without the Indians: A Counterfactual Scenario (chapter 2 in editor
Frederick Hoxie's Indians in American History (1998) published by Harlan Davidson). Evaluate the author's
argument that United States and Canadian history would have been drastically different if European settlers
would have come to unoccupied territories. Analyze Axtell's three strongest arguments and his three weakest
arguments.
2. Imagine you are in Portugal as an ambassador from an Italian city-state. Prince Henry has just recently set up
his school for navigators. You believe it is important to let your sovereign back in Italy know what Prince
Henry is up to and its implications for the Italian city-states. To make your letter as realistic as possible, be sure
first to learn as much as you can about Henry and his school.
3. In the early 1400s, Chinese emperor Yonglo sent Admiral Zheng He on a voyage to southern Asia. Later
voyages journeyed as far as East Africa. After Yonglo's death in 1424, China ended all further voyages of
exploration. Why? How would history have been different had the Chinese continued their efforts at
exploration? Sum up your views in a brief talk in class.
4. Before 1789, the last Estates General met in 1614. What big changes had taken place in France and the world
since then? How might those changes have affected the views of each of the three estates in France? Discuss
these questions in class.
5. Even before Suleyman's reign (1520-1566), three events occurred whose effects, over time, would weaken
the Ottoman Empire: Columbus discovered America & Spain flooded world markets with gold and silver; The
Portuguese sailed to India around Africa; and the Safavid Dynasty arose in 1501. Write a brief essay explaining
the long-term impact of these three factors on the Ottoman Empire.
WORLD HISTORY UNFOLDING, 1500 to PRESENT:
1. Evaluating Evidence & Primary Source Documents, Lesson #1. All sources used in this lesson are found in
the Mindsparks booklet/transparency sets entitled The European Renaissance and Martin Luther and the
Reformation.
2. Analyzing Visual Sources, Lesson #2. All sources used in the lesson can be found in the MindSparks
booklet/transparency sets entitled The Age of Exploration and The British Empire in the Nineteenth Century.
3. Analyzing the Question, Lesson #3. All sources used in the lesson can be found in the MindSparks
booklet/transparency set entitled Science, Technology, and the Enlightenment.
*PART FIVE, THE DAWN OF THE INDUSTRIAL AGE, 1750 TO 1914,
CHAPTERS 23-27, 10 CLASS PERIODS:
KEY CONCEPTS:
1. INDUSTRIALIZATION AND GLOBAL CAPITALISM
2. IMPERIALISM AND NATION-STATE FORMATION
3. NATIONALISM, REVOLUTION, AND REFORM
4. GLOBAL MIGRATION
TOPICS:
1. Questions of periodization
a. continuities and breaks
2. Global commerce, communications, and technology
a. changes in world trade
1. new consumer markets, voluntary and coercive
2. financial organizations developed and expanded (stock markets, insurance, gold standard)
3. transnational businesses (United Fruit, HSBC)
4. transoceanic empires in Asia and Pacific established (British, German, Dutch, French), while some
nations (British in India, Dutch in Indonesia) strengthen old colonies
5. empire-building via warfare and diplomacy in Africa (Britain in West Africa, Belgium in Congo)
6. economic imperialism (Opium Wars in China, US investments in Latin America
b. Industrial Revolution
1. Europe’s Atlantic Ocean location
2. distribution of coal, iron and timber; later steel, chemicals and electricity
3. urbanization
4. law and private property
5. sources of water for transportation and energy
6. accumulation of capital, individual and nation
7. mechanization and the factory system
8. one-resource production (cotton, sugar, meat, guano)
9. new transportation and communication (railroads, steamships, telegraphs, canals)
3. Demographic and environmental changes
a. decline of agricultural based economies
b. extraction industries (Mexican copper, South African gold, Bolivian silver)
4. Changes in social and gender structure
a. separation of genders: men work out of the home, women work in the home
b. cult of domesticity
c. smaller family size among urban middle class
d. Declaration of the Rights of Women and the Female Citizens
e. Seneca Falls Conference in 1848
5. Political revolutions and independence movements
a. Latin American independence movements
1. Simon Bolivar, Jose San Martin, Toussaint L’Overture
b. Revolutions
1. response to capitalism (socialism, Marxism, utopianism, anarchism)
2. resistance of Qing China and Ottomans to modernize (Tanzimat Rebellion)
a. Chinese dynasties end, Ottomans contraction in North Africa and the Balkans
3. American and French Revolutions
4. Indian Revolt of 1857 and Boxer Rebellion in China
c. Rise of nationalism and nation-states
1. state-sponsored industrialization (Meiji Japan, Egypt’s cotton, Russian railroads)
2. new communal identities (German nation, Filipino nationalism, Liberian nationalism)
d. Rise of democracy and its limitations
1. expansion of suffrage, public education, state involvement with health and pensions
2. Social Darwinism
3. hurdles for women’s suffrage
a. emergent feminism (Mary Wollstonecraft, Susan B. Anthony, Anna Pankhurst)
6. Patterns of cultural interactions among societies
a. global migration, increasingly movement to cities
b. coerced migration (slavery, Chinese/Indian servitude, convict labor)
c. ethnic enclaves (Chinese in SE Asia, Indians in Africa)
d. racism and regulation of migrants (Chinese Exclusion Act, White Australia Policy)
READINGS: Stearns, 506-635
LECTURES:
1. The Age of Revolution
2. The Consolidation of the Industrial Order
3. Diplomatic Tensions and World War 1
4. The Shift to Land Empires in Asia
5. Western Education and Rise of an African and Asian Middle Class
6. Capitalism and Colonialism
7. New Nations in Latin America Confront Old and New Problems
8. Latin American Economies and World Markets, 1820-1870
9. From Empire to Nation: Ottoman Retreat and the Birth of Turkey
10. Western Intrusions and the Crisis in the Arab Islamic Heartlands
11. Rise and Fall of the Qing Empire in China
12. Russia's Industrial Advance and Revolution
13. Japan's Transformation without Revolution
COLLEGE BOARD FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS FROM PAST EXAMS:
1. 2003 AP essay: Compare and contrast the roles of women in TWO of the following regions during the period
from 1750 to 1914: East Asia, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Western Europe.
2. 2002 AP essay: Analyze and compare the differing responses of China and Japan to western penetration in
the nineteenth century.
3. 2003 AP DBQ: Analyze the main features, including causes and consequences, of the system of indentured
servitude that developed as part of global economic changes in the nineteenth and into the twentieth centuries.
What additional kind of document(s) would help assess the historical significance of indentured servitude in this
period?
4. 2004 AP essay: Analyze the changes and continuities in labor systems between 1750 and 1914 in ONE of the
following areas: Latin American and the Caribbean, Russia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Be sure to discuss the
causes of the changes and the reasons for the continuities.
5. 2007 AP essay: Within the period from 1450 to 1800, compare the processes (e.g., political, social,
economic) of empire building in the Spanish Empire with the empire-building processes in ONE of the
following: Ottoman Empire or Russian Empire.
6. Compare the emergence of nation-states in nineteenth-century Latin America with the emergence of nationstates in ONE of the following regions in the twentieth century: Sub-Saharan Africa, The Middle East.
7. 2009 AP DBQ: Analyze African actions and reactions in response to the European Scramble for Africa.
Identify an additional type of document and explain how it would help in assessing African actions and
reactions.
8. 2010 AP DBQ: Analyze similarities and differences in the mechanization of the cotton industry in Japan and
India in the period from the 1880s to the 1930s. Identify an additional type of document and explain how it
would help your analysis of the mechanization of the cotton industry.
9. Analyze changes and continuities in long-distance migrations in the period from 1700 to 1900. Be sure to
include specific examples from at least TWO different world regions.
STEARNS' AP TEST PREP SERIES FREE-RESPONSE QUESTION:
1. What was the relationship between the French Revolution and the revolutions of 1848/9?
2. What were the main factors in changing European policies concerning their colonies in the 19th century?
3. What impacts of Spanish and Portuguese rule endured in Latin America in the post-colonial period?
4. Compare the Ottoman and Qing Empires under the pressure of Europeans. Consider the manner of foreign
intervention in each and the manner in which rulers of the two empires responded.
5. What pre-existing factors affected the impact of industrialization on the social, cultural and political
development of Russia and Japan?
DOCUMENT-BASED QUESTIONS IN WORLD HISTORY (THE DBQ PROJECT):
1. Female mill workers in England and Japan: how similar were their experiences?
2. How did colonialism affect Kenya?
WORLD HISTORICAL MAP OUTLINE EXERCISES: (Before the critical thinking question below is
attempted, students will first complete an outline map and answer two brief map analysis questions.)
1. Eastern Europe, 1796: What happened to Poland between 1772 and 1796? Which nation claimed the largest
part of Poland?
2. North America, 1783: Was the Mississippi River a logical western border for the USA? Why or why not?
3. Europe in 1812: Defend or refute the following statement: By 1812, Napoleon controlled Europe.
4. Europe after the Congress of Vienna: Did Congress of Vienna increase or decrease nationalism in Europe?
5. Europe about 1870: Based on the map, which nation do you think would be the strongest industrial power in
the late 1800s? Explain.
6. Growth of the USA, 1783-1853: Support or refute this statement: United States expansion to the Pacific was
inevitable.
7. Unification of Italy: In what way was Italy unified geographically before it was unified politically?
8. Unification of Germany: What neighboring states lost territory to the German Empire? Which was most
likely to seek revenge?
9. Ottoman Empire after 1815: During the 1800s, the Ottoman Empire was called "the sick man of Europe". In
which areas do you think the empire was most vulnerable?
10. The Balkans, 1878: How does this map illustrate the decline of the Ottoman Empire in the 1800s?
11. Imperialism in Africa, 1880-1914: Why were the European nations able to divide Africa among themselves?
12. The British in India, 1858: What generalizations can you make about the pattern of British acquisition in
India?
13. Ming and Manchu China: Which part of the Manchu empire was most attractive to Europeans in the 1800s?
14. East Asia to 1914: How would you explain the geographic location of foreign claims in East Asia and
Southeast Asia?
15. Latin America, 1828: Why did both the United Provinces of Central America and Great Colombia splinter
into several separate nations?
16. Caribbean Area, 1898-1917: Why has the United States historically been concerned about developments in
the Caribbean region?
17. Europe in 1914: How was the concentration of Central Powers in the center of Europe both an advantage
and a disadvantage during the war?
PROJECTS:
1. Industrial cities in England in the mid-1800s were not healthy places. Learn more about cholera and other
diseases that often swept through such cities, killing thousands. Also learn about the history of public health
efforts in England in the 1800s. Summarize your findings for the class and explain what public health reforms
were enacted and how effective they were in these cities of the 19th century.
2. In 1853, India's first train traveled 21 miles on a line connecting Bombay with Thana. This line was operated
by the Great Indian Peninsular Railway. Learn more about the early history of railroad building in India.
Prepare a map showing some of the earliest rail lines in India. Use your map in a brief presentation to the class.
3. In the Meiji period, new rulers began the rapid modernizing of Japan. Among other things, they abolished
the privileges of the samurai. Learn more about the samurai in Japan before and during the Meiji period.
4. Learn more about British relations with Egypt during the 1800s and the 1900s. Create a simple timeline
showing the key changes in British control over Egypt. Use the timeline in a brief talk to the class about the
slow and piecemeal way in which the British came to control Egypt as a colony.
5. Read more about the war between Japan and China in 1894/5. Find out what various European powers
involved in China at the time thought about Japan's victory. Based on what you learn, create a dialogue among
the six figures in the cartoon entitled John Stands Aloof from Punch magazine.
WORLD HISTORY UNFOLDING, 1500 to PRESENT:
1. Developing a Thesis Statement, Lesson #4. All sources for this lesson can be found in the MindSparks
booklet/transparency sets entitled The Global Impact of the Industrial Revolution and The British Empire in the
Nineteenth Century..
2. Outlining and Planning the Essay Structure, Lesson #5. All sources for this lesson can be found in the
MindSparks booklet/transparency sets entitled The French Revolution and Russia's Revolution and the World.
*PART SIX, THE NEWEST STAGE OF WORLD HISTORY, 1914 TO PRESENT,
CHAPTERS 28-36, 18 CLASS PERIODS:
KEY CONCEPTS:
1. SCIENCE AND THE ENVIRONMENT
2. GLOBAL CONFLICTS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES
3. NEW CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF GLOBAL ECONOMY, SOCIETY, AND CULTURE
TOPICS:
1. Questions of periodization
a. continuities and breaks
1. collapse of Ottoman, Russian, and Qing Empires
2. independence negotiated with British in India and Africa Gold Coast
3. armed struggle in Algeria, Vietnam, and Angola
4. international organizations (League of Nations, United Nations, International Criminal Court)
2. The World Wars, the Holocaust and the Cold War
a. improved military technology led to casualty increase
b. civilian wartime targets (Nanjing, Dresden, Hiroshima)
c. total war/mobilization of nation (draft, rationing, government control of industry/media)
d. sources of global conflict (imperialist expansion, competition for resources)
e. Cold War military alliances and proxy wars in Latin America, Africa, and Asia
f. war mentality challenged (antinuclear movement, Gandhi/King non-violence)
3. New patterns of nationalism
a. fascism in Germany and Italy, ultranationalism in Japan
b. Gandhi, Ho Chi Minh, and Nkrumah challenge empires
c. regionalism and ethnicity (Pakistan, Quebec, Biafra)
d. transnational identities (communism, Pan-Arabism, Pan-Africanism)
e. population resettlements (India/Pakistan, Israel/Palestine, post-WWI Middle East mandates)
4. Impact of major global economic developments
a. Great Depression
1. crisis exacerbated global tensions
2. government intervention (New Deal in USA, corporatist economy in Italy and Germany)
b. technology
c. Pacific Rim
1. Mao's Great Leap Forward
2. Asian Tigers (capitalism without democracy)
d. multinational corporations (Coca-Cola, Sony, Microsoft, various oil companies)
e. new economic institutions (IMF, World Bank, WTO)
f. regional trade agreements ( EU, NAFTA, ASEAN)
5. New forces of revolution and other political innovations
a. ethnic violence (Armenia, Holocaust, Cambodia, Rwanda)
b. Lenin and Mao
c. non-aligned movement
d. military dictatorships in Chile, Spain, Uganda
e. USA's new world order after Soviet collapse
f. arms build-up and trading
g. violent movements (IRA, ETA, Al-Qaeda)
h. free markets encouraged by leaders (Reagan, Thatcher, Deng)
i. liberation theology
6. Social reform and social revolution
a. psychology and Freud
b. humanitarian organizations (UNICEF, Red Cross, Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders)
c. protest movements (Greenpeace, Earth Day)
d. human rights movement (Women's rights, Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
e. exclusionary reactions (race riots, restrictions on citizenship/immigration, fundamentalism)
7. Globalization of science, technology, and culture
a. global cultures and regional reactions
1. Green Revolution
b. elite/popular culture and art
1. influenced by global conflicts (James Bond, Socialist Realism, video games)
2. sports (World Cup, Olympics, cricket)
3. music (reggae) and film (Bollywood)
c. patterns of resistance
d. demographic and environmental changes
1. global warming
2. poverty and disease (malaria, tuberculosis, cholera)
3. emerging diseases (HIV/AIDS, Ebola)
4. lifestyle diseases (diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer's)
5. birth control
6. land distribution in Africa, Asia, and Latin America
7. former colonialist migration (Algeria to France, Filipinos to USA, Asians to Britain)
e. new scientific paradigms
1. Einstein and theory of relativity
2. quantum mechanics
3. big bang theory
4. medical innovations (polio vaccine, antibiotics, artificial heart)
READINGS: Williams, 499-515; Stearns, 636-877
LECTURES:
1. Coming of World War 1 and the Failed Peace at Versailles
2. The Roaring Twenties and the Global Great Depression
3. The Authoritarian Response
4. Old and New Causes of a Second Global War
5. War's End and the Emergence of the Superpower Standoff
6. After World War 2: A New International Setting for the West
7. Culture and Society in the West
8. East Europe after WWII & A Soviet Empire
9. Latin America after WWII
10. Search for Reform and the Military Option in Latin America
11. Challenges of Independence in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East
12. Paths to Economic Growth and Social Justice
13. East Asia in the Postwar Settlements
14. Japan, Incorporated
15. The Pacific Rim: New Japans?
16. Mao's China and Beyond
17. Colonialism and Revolution in Vietnam
18. The End of the Cold War
19. Democratic Protest and Repression in China
20. Terrorism and New Disputes in a Single Superpower World
21. Globalization: Causes, Processes, Protests
22. The Global Environment
COLLEGE BOARD FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS FROM PAST EXAMS:
1. 2002 AP essay: Choose TWO of the areas listed below and analyze how each area's relationship to global
trade patterns changed from 1750 to the present. Be sure to describe each area's involvement in global patterns
around 1750 as your starting point. Latin America, East Asia, Eastern Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, The Middle
East, North America, South and Southeast Asia.
2. 2004 AP essay: Compare and contrast how the First World War and its outcomes affected TWO of the
following regions in the period from the war through the 1930s: East Asia, Middle East, South Asia (Indian
subcontinent).
3. 2010 AP essay: Describe and explain continuities and changes in religious beliefs and practices in ONE of
the following regions from 1450 to the present: Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America/Caribbean.
4. 2005 AP DBQ: Analyze the issues that twentieth-century Muslim leaders in South Asia and North Africa
confronted in defining their nationalism. What additional document(s) would be most helpful in furthering your
analysis?
5. 2006 AP essay: Compare and contrast the goals and outcomes of the revolutionary process in TWO of the
following countries, beginning with the dates specified: Mexico, 1910; China, 1911; and Russia, 1917.
6. 2007 AP essay: Analyze major changes and continuities in the formation of national identities in ONE of the
regions listed below from 1914 to the present. Be sure to include evidence from specific countries in the region
selected: Middle East, Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa.
7. 2008 AP DBQ: Analyze factors that shaped the modern Olympic movement from 1892 to 2002. Identify and
explain what additional type of document(s) or sources would help you assess these factors.
8. 2011 AP DBQ: Analyze the causes and consequences of the Green Revolution in the period from 1945 to the
present. Identify and explain one additional type of document and explain how it would help your analysis of
the Green Revolution.
STEARNS' AP TEST PREP SERIES FREE-RESPONSE QUESTION:
1. Can the "Indian prototype" of independence be applied to Egypt?
2. How did 20th-century revolutionary movements differ from those of the 19th century?
3. How did World War II impact the European colonies in Asia and Africa? Are generalizations possible?
4. What were the key influences on Western cultural developments in the mid-20th century?
5. Compare and contrast any two Latin American countries on the basis of their approach to social and
economic problems in the late 20th century.
6. Compare and contrast nationalism in 20th-century Africa with 19th-century European nationalism.
7. What are the key factors in economic development in the Pacific Rim and east Asian nations?
8. What relationship exists between the emergence of the United States as a sole superpower and the spread of
democracy?
9. What is the place of nationalism in today's global culture?
DOCUMENT-BASED QUESTIONS IN WORLD HISTORY (THE DBQ PROJECT):
1. What were the underlying causes of World War 1?
2. Gandhi, King and Mandela: What made non-violence work?
WORLD HISTORICAL MAP OUTLINE EXERCISES: (Before the critical thinking question below is
attempted, students will first complete an outline map and answer two brief map analysis questions.)
1. Europe in 1918: How did World War I change the map of Europe?
2. The Middle East in the 1920s: In what ways was this region still the "crossroads of the world"?
3. The Soviet Union in the 1930s: What problems would the size and location of the Soviet Union present to its
government?
4. World War II in Europe and North Africa: What geographic factors helped the Soviet Union turn the tide
against Germany?
5. The Pacific Area in World War II: Why was the island hopping strategy of the Allies successful?
6. Europe after World War II: What historical events contributed to the Soviet Union's desire to control the
nations on its western borders?
7. Independence in Africa: What generalization can you make about the pattern of independence in Africa?
8. Arab-Israeli Conflict: Which areas are likely to remain disputed between Israel and its neighbors? Explain.
9. South Asia after World War II: Why was Pakistan a difficult nation to rule between 1947 and 1971?
10. East Asia after World War II: What might have caused the border disputes between the Soviet Union and
China?
11. The Korean War: Why was the Yalu River an important geographical and political feature during the
Korean War?
12. War in Southeast Asia: Why was it difficult for neighboring countries to remain uninvolved in the conflict
in Vietnam?
PROJECTS:
1. Read chapter 29, pages 499-515, The Future of the Caribbean, in Eric Williams' From Columbus to Castro:
The History of the Caribbean (1984), published by New York's Vintage Press. Williams argues that the
Caribbean nations alone cannot stand up to the globalization wave and that something akin to a Caribbean
European Union is needed. Using the successes or failures of the European Union as your guide, defend or
refute William's argument that this Caribbean European Union is viable.
2. Were the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki justified? As a class, learn more about each side of
this debate. Using facts and figures found in your research, conduct an in-class debate.
3. Prepare a brief talk about the pros and cons of Mao's Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.
4. Compare India today to India in 1947. Focus on these key measures: population, per-capita income, famine
dangers, agricultural development, major industries, urban growth environmental conditions, and level of
political freedom. Present your findings to the class.
5. Create a map and timeline bulletin board exhibit on African independence movements.
6. Critics of U.S. policy in Central and South America often label it "neo-colonialism". What do they mean by
this label? And how might those who disagree with that label describe U.S. Latin American policy? To find
out, locate articles about U.S. actions in issues of The Nation and Commentary magazines. Summarize the
views found in the two magazines.
7. The United Nations has grown enormously since it was created in 1945 to promote world peace and
cooperation. How has its growth affected its mission? To find out, various students will study one of the
following components of the UN and in a brief report explain its growth and effectiveness: The Security
Council, The General Assembly, The UN Human Rights Commission, UNESCO, UNICEF, and the UN
Development Program.
WORLD HISTORY UNFOLDING, 1500 to PRESENT:
1. Writing the Introductory Paragraph, Lesson #6. All sources for this lesson can be found in the MindSparks
booklet/transparency sets entitled The Age of Totalitarians and China and Japan in the Modern Age.
2. Writing and Linking Support Paragraphs, Lesson #7. All sources for this lesson can be found in the
MindSparks booklet/transparency set entitled The End of the Imperial Age.
3. Writing a Strong Conclusion, Lesson #8. All sources for this lesson can be found in the MindSparks
booklet/transparency sets entitled Islam and the West in the Age of the Ottomans and The Rise of the Modern
Middle East.
CALENDAR/SCHEDULE
PART ONE, first week of the school year, 2 class meetings.
PART TWO, first three weeks of September, 7 class meetings.
PART THREE, last week of September to Thanksgiving, 18 class meetings
PART FOUR, Thanksgiving to Christmas Break, 14 class meetings.
PART FIVE, January, 10 class meetings
PART SIX, February up to Spring Break (3 week in April), 18 class meetings
REVIEW, first 3 or 4 weeks before mid-May AP exam
CULMINATING PROJECTS, after AP exam until end of school year (2nd week of June)
GRADING SCALE:
90 -100 = A; 80 – 89 = B; 70 - 79 = C; 60- 69 = D; 59 or below =F
b. Weighted grades are calculated for students completing and taking the requisite exam of an AP course.
Unweighted Scale A=4 Weighted Scale A=5
Unweighted Scale B=3 Weighted Scale B=4
Unweighted Scale C=2 Weighted Scale C=3
Unweighted Scale D=1 Weighted Scale D=2
Unweighted Scale F=0 Weighted Scale F=0
Students' grades will be based on their performance on free-response questions (both essay and documentbased) taken from past AP World History exams, textbook reading outlines, quizzes, and various projects.
Students can expect a quiz on each of the thirty-six chapters of World Civilizations: The Global Experience, 5th
edition. All quiz questions directly relate to the reading outline, so the reading outline should be used both as a
pre-reading and during-reading comprehension aid, but also as the study guide for the quizzes. There will also
be three comprehensive tests per quarter. Quizzes and tests equal 40% of the entire grade. Free-response
questions equal 30% of the entire grade and are graded using the AP World History scoring guidelines. Most
free-response questions are taken from past AP United States History exams. Comparisons with class responses
and the student sample responses graded by the AP World History exam readers will be made after each freeresponse assignment so that students can better understand what constitutes an acceptable free-response answer
according to the AP World History standards. Extensive study and practice on both analyzing documents and
essay writing will occur in this class, supplemented regularly with the World History Unfolding DBQ and essay
writing program, and questions from both the AP Test Prep Series and The DBQ Project.
Completion of the textbook reading outlines is worth 25% of the final grade. The reading outlines
focus the student to detail information from the general outline found on the textbook's website.
Finally, an additional 5% of the grade comes from the completion of various student activity map exercises and
projects. Almost all of these map exercises and projects will take place in class; partner and group work will be
encouraged.
SUPPORT SERVICES
World History students may organize and participate in study groups, access the textbook companion
site, or discuss any World History topics with me, as needed.