Download AP WH revised syllabus

AP® World History
Syllabus
1Credit
Course # 892/2109420
Brian Larkin
Email: [email protected]
Course Overview:
AP World History is for the exceptionally studious high
school student who wishes to earn college credit in high
school through a rigorous academic program. This class
approaches history in a nontraditional way in that it looks at
the common threads of humanity over time—trade,
religion, politics, society, and technology—and it
investigates how these items have changed and continued
over time in different places.
Specifically, the following AP World History themes will be used throughout the course
to identify these broad patterns and processes that explain change and continuity over
time.
The Five AP World History Themes:
Theme 1: Interaction Between Humans and the Environment
Theme 2: Development and Interaction of Cultures
Theme 3: State-Building, Expansion, and Conflict
Theme 4: Creation, Expansion, and Interaction of Economic Systems
Theme 5: Development and Transformation of Social Structures
Taking the AP World History exam is a requirement of the course.
Main Textbook:
Jerry H. Bentley, Herbert F. Ziegler. Traditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective on the
Past 5th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2003.
Outside Readings and Resources used in the course:
2002 AP World History Released Exam (College Board)
2003–2009 AP World History Essay Questions, Rubrics and Student Samples (AP Central)
*Cracking the AP World History Exam: Student Study Guide. Princeton Review, 2004.
Archaeology magazine http://www.archaeology.org
The Columbian Exchange (Crosby, Praeger, 2003)
Cultures in Motion: Mapping Key Contacts and Their Imprints in World History by
Stearns (Yale Press, 2001)
Guns, Germs and Steel by Diamond (Norton, 1999)
Readings in Ancient History: From Gilgamesh to Diocletian by Bailkey (DC Heath,
1992)
Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky (Penguin, 2002)
Maps of Time by David Christian (University of California Press, 2011)- Ch. 8, on origins of
agriculture.
Document-Based Assessment Activities for Global History Classes by Noonan
(J., Weston Walch, 1999)
DBQ Practice: 10 AP-Style DBQs (Williams, ed., Social Studies School Services,
2004)
Tastes of Paradise: A Social History of Spices, Stimulants and Intoxicants by
Schivelbusch (Vintage Books, 1993)
The Decline of the West by Oswald Spengler (Oxford University Press, 1926)
The World That Trade Created by Pomeranz and Topik (A.E. Sharpe, 1999)
Technology in World Civilizations by Pacy (M.I.T. Press, 1998)
Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces (1997)
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara W. Tuchman
World History Map Activities by Scott (J. Weston Walch Publisher, 1997)
Traditions and Encounter: a Global Perspective on the Past Website Companion by Jerry H.
Bentley (McGraw-Hill, 2011) [http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073385646/student]
Interactive maps, Graphs, Charts, Tables, Cartoons, Photo Images, and Documents for DBQs
Visual: Most images for analysis will originate from the textbook, readers, and
internet. Samples for analysis will include but are not limited to art, political cartoons,
and photos
Review workbook as set by the class.
Course Planner:
(“How did we get here?”)
Unit One: Foundations—c. 8000 BCE to 600 CE
Unit Theme divided into 2 sections:
Section 1 - Technological and Environmental Transformations to c. 600 B.C.E. – 5%
Section 2 - Organization and Reorganization of Human Societies c. 600 B.C.E. to c. 600
C.E. -15%
• Demography and disease
• Migration
• Patterns of settlement
• Technology
Supplemental Readings:
- The Epic of Gilgamesh
- The Judgments of Hammurabi
Key Concepts:
- Key Concept 1.1. Big Geography and the Peopling of the Earth
- Key Concept 1.2. The Neolithic Revolution and Early Agricultural Societies
- Key Concept 1.3. The Development and Interactions of Early Agricultural, Pastoral and
Urban Societies
1. World History in Place and Time
• Interaction of geography and climate with the development of human
society
• Major population changes resulting from human and environmental
factors
• Nature and causes of changes
• Continuities and breaks within the course—what “works” and doesn’t?
2. Developing Agriculture and Technology
• Agricultural, pastoral, and foraging societies and their characteristics
• Emergence of agriculture and other technological change
• Nature of villages
• Effects of agriculture on the environment and peoples
3. Basic Features of Early Civilizations in Different Environments
• Political and social structure of: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus, Shang,
Mesoamerican and Andean South America, Oceania/Australia, and Polynesia
4. Classical Civilizations
• Major political developments in China, India, and the Mediterranean
• Social and gender structures
• Major trading patterns within and among Classical civilizations
• Arts, sciences, and technology
5. Major Belief Systems
• Basic features of major world belief systems prior to 600 CE
• Physical place of each belief system by 600 CE: Polytheism, Hinduism,
Judaism, Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, Christianity
6. Late Classical period (200 CE to 600 CE)
• Collapse of empires (Han, Western Roman Empire, Gupta)
• Movements/migration of peoples (Huns, Germans)
• Interregional networks by 600 CE: trade and religious diffusion
Selected Unit Activities/Assessments
• Writing Workshop (Thesis statements and essay development)
Theme 1 – Students will develop a chart listing for each of the river valley civilizations:
the location, food sources, social roles, political structure and changes humans
made to the environment to suit their needs.
Theme 2 – Compare and Contrast the political and social structures of any two of the
following ancient civilizations: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Kush-Meroe, Indus Valley,
Shang China, Mesoamerica (Olmec, Mayan) Andean South America
• Students will read the chapters from Diamond and Christian and discuss the historians’
interpretations of the origins of agriculture.
Theme 1 – Compare and contrast the two Neolithic representations and describe their
possible purpose.
• Activity: using the textbook and the internet, students will explore how the findings
of archeologists have contributed to our knowledge of one of the following cultures:
Harappan, Shang, or Mesopotamia.
Unit Two: 600–1450
Unit Theme: Regional and Transregional Interactions c. 600 C.E. to c. 1450 – 20%
• Religions
• Belief systems, philosophies, and ideologies
• Science and technology
• The arts and architecture
Supplemental Readings or Reader (such as but not limited to):
Suetonius and Virgil
Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year
USA Today, “Experts predict next plague will come from animals” and “Plague emerges in
Grand Canyon” (The Hanta Virus and Legionnaires Disease)
The Concordat of Worms- The Trial of Martin Luther
Images of mosque architecture in Cordoba, and Timbuktu.
Topics for Discussion
• Neolithic Revolution
• Basic features of early civilizations: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Kush, Indus, Shang; Mesoamerican
and Andean
• How does a civilization interact with its environment?
Key Concepts:
• Key Concept 2.1. The Development and Codification of Religious and Cultural Traditions
• Key Concept 2.2. The Development of States and Empires
• Key Concept 2.3. Emergence of Trans-regional Networks of Communication and Exchange
1. The Islamic World
• The rise and role of Dar al-Islam in Eurasia and Africa
• Islamic political structures
• Arts, sciences, and technologies
 Comparison and contrast of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity
2. Interregional networks and contacts
• Development and shifts in interregional trade, technology, and cultural
exchange: Trans-Sahara trade, Indian Ocean trade, Silk routes
• Missionary outreach of major religions
• Contacts between major religions, e.g., Islam and Buddhism,
Christianity and Islam
• Impact of the Mongol empires
3. China’s Expansion
• The Tang and Song economic revolutions and the early Ming dynasty
• Chinese influence on surrounding areas and its limits
4. Developments in Europe
• Restructuring of European economic, social, and political institutions
• The division of Christendom into Eastern and Western cultures
5. Social, Cultural, Economic, and Political Patterns in the Amerindian World:
• Maya, Aztec, Inca
6. Demographic and Environmental Changes
• Causes and effects of the nomadic migrations on Afro-Eurasia
• Bantu migrations
• Consequences of the plague in the fourteenth century
• Growth and role of cities
Selected Unit Activities/Assessments
• Short Essay: Ancient Rome and Han China: How Great Were the Differences?
• Map Answer: refer to the maps on p. 202 & 279 in your text and show the major regions, cities,
and trading centers of the Roman Empire. Include the various peoples incorporated into
the empire. Using the Maps Write an essay that Compares and Contrasts the growth and
development of the Han and Roman Empires.
• Short Answer: What was the condition of Indian women during the Gupta Empire? What
important factors affected women’s lives?
Topics for Discussion:
• Major Belief systems: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Confucianism,
• and Daoism; polytheism and shamanism
• Classical civilizations: Greece, Rome, China and India including migrations of the
• Huns, Germanic tribes
• Interregional networks by 600 CE and spread of belief systems
• Silk Road trade networks, Chinese model and urbanizations
Supplemental Readings:
The Gospel of Matthew and Saint Paul, epistle to the Romans
Excerpts from The Quran
Excerpts from The Four Noble Truths
Excerpts from the Analects
Unit Three: 1450–1750
Unit Theme: Global Interactions c. 1450 to c. 1750 – 20%
• Agricultural and pastoral production
• Trade and commerce
• Labor systems
• Industrialization
• Capitalism and socialism
Key Concepts:
• Key Concept 4.1. Globalizing Networks of Communication and Exchange
• Key Concept 4.2. New Forms of Social Organization and Modes of Production
• Key Concept 4.3. State Consolidation and Imperial Expansion
1. Changes in Trade, Agriculture, Technology, and Global Interactions
2. Knowledge of Major Empires and Other Political Units and Social Systems
• Ottoman, China, Portugal, Spain, Russia, France, England, Tokugawa, Mughal
• African empires: Kongo, Benin, Oyo, Songhay
• Gender and empire
3. Slave Systems and Slave Trade, Comparative Labor Studies
4. Demographic and Environmental Changes:
• Diseases, animals, new crops, pastoral production, and comparative population trends
5. Cultural and Intellectual Developments
• Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment
• Comparative global causes and effects of cultural change
• Changes and continuities in Confucianism
• Major developments and exchanges in the arts
Topics for Discussion:
• Transformations in Europe – Renaissance to Scientific Revolution
• Encounters and Exchange: Reconquista, Europe in Africa, Spanish in the Americas
• Encounters and Exchange: Portuguese and Indian Ocean Trade networks, Southwest
Asian trade networks and the Ming Slave trade/Rise of Qing
• Labor Systems in the Atlantic World—The Africanization of the Americas
• The Columbian Exchange in Atlantic and Pacific Context
• Expansion of Global Economy and Absolutism: Muslim, Tokugawa, and Romanov
empires
• Effects of the Atlantic Slave Trade on demography in West Africa, resistance to the
Atlantic slave trade, and expansion of Islam in sub-Saharan Africa
Selected Activities/Assessments
• Short Answer: The later Middle Ages was a period of great intellectual and artistic
achievement marked by what is often called the renaissance. What was the
Renaissance, and what were some of its most important and lasting cultural and artistic
achievements?
• Discussion: Does the label “Renaissance” apply to members of the lower classes in late
Medieval Europe? Are there other “Renaissances” in other parts of the world? If so, how
might this change our understanding of this term as a marker of a particular period in
time?
• Debate: Who was Christopher Columbus – hero or villain? Students will use primary
sources listed (see Supplemental Readings) to develop arguments for their case.
• Essay (Theme 4): Compare and Contrast any two coercive systems of labor: Caribbean
Slavery, Slavery in the English North American colonies, Slavery in Brazil, Spanish Mita
system in South America, West African slavery, Muslim slavery in South West Asia, India
Hindu castes, or East European serfdom.
• Essay (Theme 3): Compare the process of empire-building of one European and one
Afro-Asiatic empire (gun-powder empire): France, Portugal, Spain, England, Holland,
Russia, Austria or Prussia, Ottoman Empire, Safavid Empire, Mughal Empire, Ming
(Chinese) Empire, West African Forest State, West African Sahel State, Japan
Shogunate
• Essay (Theme 4): Analyze the changes and continuities in commerce in the Indian Ocean
region from 650 CE to 1750 CE
• Essay (Theme 2): Trace the intellectual and artistic transformation from 600 to 1750 in
any one region: East Asia; South Asia; Southwest Asia, Western Europe; Eastern Europe
• Class Discussion (Theme 5): Describe the disparities among the various social classes in
European urban society between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. Who were the
bourgeoisie? What conditions did the poorer classes endure?
Unit Four: 1750–1914
Unit Theme: Industrialization and Global Integration c. 1750 to c. 1900 – 20%
• Gender roles and relations
• Family and kinship
• Racial and ethnic constructions
• Social and economic classes
Key Concepts:
• Key Concept 5.1. Industrialization and Global Capitalism
• Key Concept 5.2. Imperialism and Nation—State Formation
• Key Concept 5.3. Nationalism, Revolution and Reform
• Key Concept 5.4. Global Migration
1. Changes in Global Commerce, Communications, and Technology
• Changes in patterns of world trade
• Causes and effects of the Industrial Revolution: political, economic,
social, environmental - (also see #3 below)
2. Demographic and Environmental Changes
• Migrations, the end of the Atlantic slave trade, new birthrate patterns,
food supply, Settlement patterns in Oceania/Australia with Colonial involvement
3. Changes in Social and Gender Structure, Especially as Related to the Industrial Revolution
4. Political Revolutions and Independence Movements and New Political Ideas
• Revolutions in the United States, France, Haiti, Mexico, China, Latin
America
• Rise of nationalism, nation-states, and movements of political reform
• Rise of democracy and its limitations
5. Rise of Western Dominance
• Imperialism
• Cultural and political reactions
Topics for Discussion
• European Enlightenment
• American, French, Haitian, and Latin American Revolutions
• Napoleonic Wars/Congress of Vienna/ Conservatism vs. Liberalism
• British Industrial Revolution
• De-Industrialization of India and Egypt
• Imperialism and Modernization
• Anti-Slavery, suffrage, labor movements, anti-imperialist movements, non• industrial reactions
• Reaction to industrialism and modernization
Supplemental Readings or Reader (such as but not limited to):
The United States Bill of Rights
The English Bill of Rights
Testimony for the Factory Act 1833
Chinese Footbinding, ed. Dr. Richard Cruz, et. al.
The United States Declaration of Independence
Karl Marx, Communist Manifesto
Selected Activities/Assessments
• Discussion: How did the spread of Social Darwinism in the 19th century influence
justifications for European imperialism?
• Essay: Trace the demographic shift from 1450 to 1914 in any one region: Latin America,
Western Europe, North America, Sub-Saharan Africa, or East Asia; or, Trace the
changes and continuities in world trade from 1450 to 1914 CE in any one of the following
regions: Latin America, North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Southwest
Asia, Sub-Saharan Arica, South Asia, East and Southeast Asia.
Unit Five: The twentieth century to the present.
(“Where are we?”)
Unit Theme: Accelerating Global Change and Realignments c. 1900 to the Present – 20%
• Political structures and forms of governance
• Empires
• Nations and nationalism
• Revolts and revolutions
• Regional, trans-regional, and global structures and organization
Key Concepts:
• Key Concept 6.1. Science and the Environment
• Key Concept 6.2. Global Conflicts and Their Consequences
• Key Concept 6.3. New Conceptualizations of Global Economy, Society and Culture
1. Wars and Diplomacy
• The World Wars, Holocaust, Cold War, international organizations
• Globalization of diplomacy and conflict
• Reduction of European influence
• League of Nations, United Nations, European Union, nonaligned nations.
2. Patterns of Nationalism
• Decolonization: its political, economic, and social causes and effects
• Genocide
• Rise and fall of the USSR
3. Effects of Major Global Economic Developments
• The Great Depression: political, social, and economic causes and effects
• Development of the Pacific Rim and multinational corporations
4. Social Reforms and Social Revolutions
• Changing gender roles; family structures; rise of feminism
• Marxism in its various forms
5. Globalization of Science, Technology, and Culture
• Developments in global cultures and regional reactions
• Patterns of resistance against technology
6. Demographic and Environmental Changes
• Migrations; explosive population growth; new forms of urbanization;
deforestation and environmental movements
Topics for Discussion
• World War I, Total War, and Reactions to the Fourteen Points
• Rise of Consumerism and Internalization of Culture
• Depression and Authoritarian Responses
• World War II and Forced Migrations
• United Nations and Decolonization
• Cold War, Imperialism, and the End of the Cold War
• The Information and Communication Technologies Revolution
Supplemental Readings or Reader (such as but not limited to):
Woodrow Wilson Fourteen Points
WWI propaganda posters (internet)
Benito Mussolini, The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism
The Decision to Drop the Atom Bomb
Yamaoka Michiko The Bombing of Hiroshima—1945
Tables showing variety of income and life expectancies around the world in 2000
(internet: CIA Fact Book)
Selected Activities/Assessments
• What do the WWI posters have in common, even though they are from different
countries? Analyze the images for their point of view and purpose.
• Essay: Compare and Contrast the impact and consequences of World War I on any
two regions: East Europe, Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa; or
Compare and Contrast the impact and consequences of World War II on the following
regions: Middle East, Oceania, Africa
• Discuss the different views on Globalization
• Compare the tables on income and life expectancies in 2000 and discuss possible
conclusions that might be drawn.
• Essay: Trace the transformation of warfare from 1750 to 2000 CE in any one region:
Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia, and Southeast Asia.
REVIEW, FINAL EXAM, and AP EXAM
Assessments:
Percent of Grade:
Quizzes: On readings from the textbook
15%
Homework: Assigned readings, with questions,
historical maps to label and color, etc.
15%
Essay-writing practice: Practice in writing, DBQ’s
Tests: Both chapter and Unit
70%
Selected Activities/Assessments
• Peer grading and discussion of AP Practice Exam
• Study Guide/Notebook (student created and containing materials used throughout the
year, such as maps, timelines, notes and previous essays)
Additional Information
1. Homework Assignments will be posted to: www.sjaweb.org
2. This Syllabus can be amended by the instructor.
3. 5 weeks prior to the AP exam – Saturday school will be used to review and practice.
Time and date TBA