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Viera High School
AP World History and Handbook/Syllabus
2011 - 2012
Mr. Gronich
EMAIL: [email protected]
[email protected]
Badantweb.com click AP
PHONE: 632-1770 (28100)
Edline (check often)
A.P. World History Overview and Course Description
NEW: This school year the College Board initiated the new frame work and test changes for AP World History. The changes
have been long in the works and long awaited as to address the demands of the huge scope and sequence of the course. This
syllabus mostly reflects those changes. However; information is expected throughout the school year to prepare you for the for
successful completion of the course and exam.
AP World History is a college level course created to offer academically well prepared and motivated students the opportunity
to immerse themselves in the processes that, over time, have resulted in the knitting of the world into a tightly integrated
whole. A.P. World History offers an approach that guides students through the steps a historian would take in analyzing
historical events and evidence worldwide. The course offers balanced global coverage with Africa, the Americas, Asia, and
Europe.
Students should come to this class with considerable analytical, research, and self disciplinary skills. Students will be reading,
discussing, and analyzing secondary and primary sources, as well as literary sources from the various cultures and time periods
explored. The course is designed to encourage self-direction and self-discipline. Discussion, position papers, lectures, and
student-led presentations will enhance the goals of the course to provide a rigorous and challenging curriculum. The lessons,
activities and rigor of this course will prepare the student for the Advanced Placement World History Exam in on May 13,
2011.
The textbook and the workload are comparable to an undergraduate course at a college or university. AP World History is a
yearlong course which covers 10,000 years of history. The class schedule will cover one chapter of the text per week. To
maintain this pace students are expected to come to class prepared to discuss the material and learn the skills necessary to be
successful on the AP Exam.
While the intended outcome is ultimately to pass the AP Exam, the goal of A.P. World History course is to develop a greater
understanding of the evolution of global processes and contacts, in interaction with different types of human societies. This
understanding is advanced through a combination of selective factual knowledge and appropriate analytical skills. The course
highlights the nature of changes, their causes and consequences, as well as comparisons among major societies. The course
examines human development from 8000 BCE to the present day. Periodization breaks this huge time frame into "big picture"
manageable units; each dealing with specific themes and skills.
What should I expect for this class?
The A.P. World History class is designed to give students an experience that is similar to what is expected in a college-oruniversity-style history course while receiving high school “help”. There will be an emphasis on reading the textbook and other
assigned readings. Additionally, there will be a strong emphasis on analytical/evaluative writing and the analysis of historical
writings and documents.
Do I have to take the national A.P. Exam? Does the exam cost any fees?
You are required to take the A.P. Exam. The county pays for the exam at no cost to the student. Earning a passing grade in the
course does not mean you will pass the A.P. Exam. The aim of the course is prepare the student with the skills and content to
do well on the exam. The national pass rate for 2010 was 49%.
Texts
Stearns, Peter N., et al. World Civilizations: The Global Experience. 4th ed.
AP version. New York: Pearson Longman, 2005. Textbook.
A variety of other primary and secondary sources will be used during the course. Check the instructor’s web site frequently for
electronic versions of those sources or links to relevant websites.
Course Supply List:
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3 ring binder
4 tabs with pockets
pen (blue or black)
pencils only
Highlighter
Set of color markers, pens or pencils
Pocket Dictionary
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personal 3 hole Punch
personal Stapler
Optional
Grading and Assessment criteria:
All essays are assessed based on the AP World History Rubric
1. Quizzes
2. End of Unit tests: multiple choice and written
3. DBQ assessment based on AP Rubric
4. Comparative assessment based AP Rubric
5. Continuity/Change assessment based on AP Rubric
6. Projects and presentations
7. Home Work
8. Participation
A formal DBQ, Change over Time and/or Comparative essay will be due at least once each grading period
Extra Credit opportunities will be given throughout each unit with specific pre determined criteria the student must meet to
earn credit. Extra credit is not a replacement for work not completed. Extra Credit must be pre approved
Late work: Late work is not accepted. Students must make arrangements with the instructor ahead of time if work is to be
turned in late.
Absences and student responsibility: Work assigned previous to a student absence is due the day of return. Work missed on a
day of an absence is due one day following each approved absence. Tests must be made up within a week of absence. It is the
student's responsibility to schedule time to make up tests or quizzes. It is the student's responsibility to keep current with the
class website, agenda and syllabus.
Tardiness: students who are not in their seat when the tardy bell rings are late to class. Habitual tardiness will not be tolerated.
Multiple tardies will result first in a verbal warning, second in detention and communication with a parent, then a referral to the
dean of students.
Course Requirements
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Attend class daily, arriving on time.
Good behavior is required. Behave in a way that promotes a strong learning environment.
Actively participate in class and complete all assignments thoroughly.
Make up work when absent--contact instructor and send assignments electronically if possible;
make prior arrangements for planned absences
Complete all work promptly.
Keep a well-organized and complete notebook for the entire year; bring to class daily. Use your
notebook to study for tests. Ask for help if your notebook is incomplete.
Being responsible for keeping track of the syllabus, website and agenda for important information.
Ask instructor for help if needed; I am committed to supporting your efforts!
Challenge yourself to work hard and maintain high standards.
Prepare to take the A.P. test in May.
Badantweb.com Click AP - badantweb.com is our class website. All course work for the week is posted on the
weekly agenda. All HW, longer term assignments, test, projects are also posted. Class notes, outlines, resources,
rubrics are all posted on this site.
Edline - Use Edline to check your grades!!! It is your responsibility to keep all work. Should there be a grade
discrepancy it is your responsibility to demonstrate your given grade. This year new technologies will be available
for Edline. You will be notified and trained how to make the most this new technology.
Note Book/Supplies - It is the student's responsibility to keep and maintain a well organized note book. Students
must have at least a 3 ring binder. Well organized students with their own proven method of organization may set
up note books how they see fit. Those who are organizationally unsure must have a note book with 4 tabs with
pockets. There should be a section for general notes, specific notes, vocabulary and miscellaneous work. Pockets
should include storage for handouts, work handed back, and miscellaneous work. Students must keep stock with
paper and all required supplies. Due to the nature of the course and the AP exam, all work must be kept by grading
period and unit of study and not thrown away.
Outside Reading Assignment For A.P. World History
Outside reading is a required component of A.P. World History. It is essential that students are exposed to higher levels of
learning. Students will read historical fiction and nonfiction historical analysis to help accomplish this goal.
List of Approved Books for outside readings
# Reading List Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart (Africa);Study Guide for Things Fall Apart;Characters for Things Fall Apart
Manditory 1st quarter for everyone
# Alegria, Ciro. Broad and Alien is the World (Peruvian Indians)
# Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism
# Bagdasarian, Adam. Forgotten Fire (Armenian Holocaust)
# Bridal, Tess. Tree of Red Stars (mid-late 20th Uruguay) Set in Uruguay in the 1960's, charts the toll of political events on a
young woman and those close to her, as their democracy is gradually taken over by a military dictatorship.
# Chang, Jung. Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China (20th Century China)The forces of history and the exceptional talents
of this young writer combine to produce a work of nonfiction with the breadth and drama of the richest, most memorable
fiction classics.
# Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Highly Recommended
# Dunn, Ross E.; The Adventures of Ibn Battuta : A Muslim Traveller of the 14th Century
# Hersey, John. Hiroshima On August 6, 1945 Hiroshima was destroyed by the first atomic bomb ever dropped on a city. This
book tells what happened on that day, told through the memoirs of survivors.
# Hibbert, Christopher. The Great Mutiny, India 1857
# Kingsolver,Barbara. The Poisonwood Bible(mid-late 20th Congo/Zaire)
# Lavathes, Louise, When China Ruled the Seas, (14th Century China) When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the
Dragon Throne 1405-1433
# Lewis, Bernard; What Went Wrong: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response
# James McCelellan and Harold Dorn Science and Technology in World History
# McNeill, William. Plagues and Peoples A classic study of the role of disease in world history.
# Malamud, Bernard. The Fixer (Russian anti-Semitism)
# Markandaya, Kamala Nectar in a Sieve (India); Study Guide ; Character Study A woman in poverty struggles to find
happiness in changing India. Mandatory 2nd quarter
# Perrin, Noel. Giving up the Gun: Japan's Revision to the Sword 1543-1879
# Robbins, David. War of the Rats (WWII Stalingrad snipers)
# Seal, Jeremy. A Fez for the Heart (20th Century Turkey)
# Solzhenitsyn, Alexander. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (Russia)
# Tsao Hsueh-Chin, Dream of the Red Chamber.
The AP World History Course Framework
The course is divided into five chronological periods.
* 8,000 BCE to 600CE
* 600 to 1450
* 1450 to 1750
* 1750 to 1914
*1914 to the present
Themes
A.P. World History highlights six overarching themes that will receive approximately equal attention throughout the
course beginning with the Foundations section:
1. Impact of interaction among major societies (trade, systems of international exchange, war, and diplomacy).
2. The relationship of change and continuity across the world history periods covered in this course.
3. Impact of technology and demography on people and the environment (population growth and decline, disease,
manufacturing, migrations, agriculture, weaponry).
4. Systems of social structure and gender structure (comparing major features within and among societies and assessing
change).
5. Cultural and intellectual developments and interactions among and within societies.
6. Changes in functions and structures of states and in attitudes toward states and political identities (political culture),
including the emergence of the nation-state (types of political organization).
The themes serve throughout the course as unifying threads, helping you to put what is particular about each period or
society into a larger framework. The themes also provide ways to make comparisons over time.
Habits of Mind or Skills
The A.P. World History course addresses habits of mind or skills in two categories: 1) those addressed by any rigorous
history course, and 2) those addressed by a world history course.
Four Habits of Mind are in the first category:
• Construction and evaluating arguments: using evidence to make plausible arguments.
• Using documents and other primary data: developing the skills necessary to analyze point of view and to interpret
information.
• Developing the ability to assess issues of change and continuity over time.
• Enhancing the capacity to handle diversity of interpretations through analysis of context, bias, and frame of
reference.
Three Habits of Mind are in the second category:
* Seeing global processes over time and space while also acquiring the ability to connect global developments to
global ones and to move through levels of generalizations from the global to the particular.
* Developing the ability to compare within and among societies, including comparing societies' reactions to global
processes.
* Developing the ability to assess claims of universal standards yet remaining aware of human commonalities and
differences; putting culturally diverse ideas and values in historical context, not suspending judgment but
developing understanding
Every part of the A.P. World History Examination assesses habits of mind as well as content. For example, in the multiplechoice section, maps, graphs, artwork, and quotations are used to judge students' ability to assess primary data, while other
questions focus on evaluating arguments, handling diversity of interpretation and making comparisons among societies,
drawing generalizations and understanding historical context. In the essay section of the examination, the document-based
question (DBQ) focuses on assessing students' ability to construct arguments; use primary documents; analyze point of view,
context and bias; and understand the global context. The remaining two essay questions focus on global patterns over time
and space and comparisons within and among societies. In order for the student to be fluent in demonstrating the above skills
and thought processes of Habits of Mind, the student will extensively practice throughout each grading period and
demonstrate mastery of three different written assessments at least once per grading period. Each of the these assessments
appear on the AP World History Exam.
1. Document Based Question Essay
2. Continuity/Change Over Time (CCOT)
3. Comparative Essay
Historical Thinking Skills
1. Crafting Historical Arguments from Historical Evidence
Historical Argumentation
Historical thinking involves the ability to define and frame a question about the past and to address that question through the
construction of an argument. A plausible and persuasive argument requires a clear, comprehensive and analytical thesis,
supported by relevant historical evidence — not simply evidence that supports a preferred or preconceived position.
Additionally, argumentation involves the capacity to describe, analyze and evaluate the arguments of others in light of
available evidence.
Appropriate Use of Relevant Historical Evidence
Historical thinking involves the ability to identify, describe and evaluate evidence about the past from diverse sources
(including written documents, works of art, archaeological artifacts, oral traditions and other primary sources), with respect to
content, authorship, purpose, format and audience. It involves the capacity to extract useful information, make supportable
inferences and draw appropriate conclusions from historical evidence while also understanding such evidence in its context,
recognizing its limitations and assessing the points of view that it reflects.
2. Chronological Reasoning
Historical Causation
Historical thinking involves the ability to identify, analyze and evaluate the relationships between multiple historical causes
and effects, distinguishing between those that are long-term and proximate, and among coincidence, causation and
correlation. Patterns of Continuity and Change over Time Historical thinking involves the ability to recognize, analyze and
evaluate the dynamics of historical continuity and change over periods of time of varying length, as well as relating these
patterns to larger historical processes or themes.
Periodization
Historical thinking involves the ability to describe, analyze, evaluate and construct models of historical periodization that
historians use to categorize events into discrete blocks and to identify turning points, recognizing that the choice of specific
dates privileges one narrative, region or group over another narrative, region or group; therefore, changing the periodization
can change a historical narrative. Moreover, the particular circumstances and contexts in which individual historians work
and write shape their interpretation and modeling of past events.
3. Comparison and Contextualization
Comparison
Historical thinking involves the ability to describe, compare and evaluate multiple historical developments within one society,
one or more developments across or between different societies, and in various chronological and geographical contexts. It
also involves the ability to identify, compare and evaluate multiple perspectives on a given historical experience.
Contextualization
Historical thinking involves the ability to connect historical developments to specific circumstances of time and place, and to
broader regional, national or global processes.
4. Historical Interpretation and Synthesis
Interpretation
Historical thinking involves the ability to describe, analyze, evaluate and create diverse interpretations of the past — as
revealed through primary and secondary historical sources — through analysis of evidence, reasoning, contexts, points of
view and frames of reference.
Synthesis
Historical thinking involves the ability to arrive at meaningful and persuasive understandings of the past by applying all of
the other historical thinking skills, by drawing appropriately on ideas from different fields of inquiry or disciplines and by
creatively fusing disparate, relevant (and perhaps contradictory) evidence from primary sources and secondary works.
Additionally, synthesis may involve applying insights about the past to other historical contexts or circumstances, including
the present.
The AP Exam & Preparations To Succeed
About the Exam
The three-hour-and-five-minute exam includes a 55-minute multiple-choice section and a 130-minute free-response section.
Section I: Multiple-Choice The 70 multiple-choice questions cover world history from the Foundations period up to the
present. Several questions are cross-chronological but, for the most part, the subject breakdown is: Roughly each unit is 20%.
Unlike other multiple-choice tests, random guessing can hurt your final score. While you don't lose anything for leaving a
question blank, one quarter of a point is subtracted for each incorrect answer on the test. If you have some knowledge of the
question and can eliminate one or more answers, it's usually to your advantage to choose what you believe is the best answer
from the remaining choices.
Section 2: Written Assessment There are three free-response questions. You'll write a document-based essay (DBQ), a
change-over-time essay, and a comparative essay. Each essay is counted equally toward your final grade.
Please pay close attention to the directive
score.
words in the essay questions. Ignoring directives will result in a lower exam
• Analyze: determine their component parts; examine their nature and relationship
• Assess/evaluate: judge the value or character of something; appraise; evaluate the positive and negative points; give an
opinion regarding the value of; discuss the advantages and disadvantages of
• Compare: examine for the purpose of noting similarities and differences
• Contrast: examine in order to show dissimilarities or points of difference
• Describe: give an account of; tell about; give a word picture of differences
• Discuss: talk over; write about; consider or examine by argument or from various points of view; debate; present the
different sides of
• Explain: make clear or plain; make clear the causes or reasons for; make known in detail; tell the meaning of
Document-Based Essay Question (DBQ) - The student will analyze source materials and develop an essay based on those
materials. Your goal: a unified essay that integrates your analysis of four to ten given documents with your treatment of the
topic. Comparative topics on the major themes will provide one of the focuses of the DBQs, including comparative questions
about different societies in situations of mutual contact. The DBQ begins with a mandatory 10-minute reading period. Then
you'll have 40 minutes to write the essay.
The source materials are chosen for two reasons: the information they convey about the topic and the perspective they offer on
other documents used in the section. There is no one perfect DBQ answer; a variety of approaches and responses are possible
depending on your ability to understand the documents and, ultimately, judge their significance. Remember: You'll most fully
understand some of the documents when you view them within the wider context of the entire series.
Almost on a daily basis throughout a grading period and through the year, students will engage in studying primary and other
source documents including text and visual material. Class work and home work assignments be given weekly to develop skills
needed to ultimately write a well written DBQ essay. The daily use of historical materials also will help you practice using
evidence to make effective arguments. You also will become expert at identifying point of view, context, and bias in these
sources.
A formal DBQ will be required at least once per grading period. First semester essays are to be done at home and turned in on
assigned due dates. Opportunities for peer review and whole class lessons to improve essays will be offered before essays are
due. By the second semester DBQ essays will focus on organizing, writing and completing a DBQ within the time constraints
for AP Exam. Follow up student, peer review, whole class and teacher assessment will be used to help the student be prepared
for the exam and thus writing on a true college level.
• Refer to individual documents within the framework of the overall topic.
• Use all or all but one of the documents.
• Discuss the materials in reference to the question -- don't just summarize them
• Cite documents by naming the author and/or by naming the document number.
Also, remember:
• There are no irrelevant or deliberately misleading documents.
• Put your analytic skills to work and demonstrate that you understand context, bias, and frame of reference regarding the
documents' sources and the authors' points of view. Group documents in a variety of ways (e.g. according to their
ideas or points of view); suggest reasons for similarities or differences in perspective among the documents; and
identify possible biases or inconsistencies within documents.
• You'll be asked to explain the need for additional documents that would help you answer the question more
completely. You may also have to discuss which points of view are missing from the given documents. Since the
DBQ focuses on historical skills within a world history framework, remember to place documents chronologically,
culturally, and thematically.
• You're not expected to know the author or topic of all the DBQ documents, or to include information outside of the
documents.
Continuity/Change over Time and Comparative Free Response Essays.
Continuity/Change-Over-Time (CCOT) Essay The change-over-time essay focuses on large global issues such as
technology, trade, culture, migrations, or biological developments. It covers at least one of the periods in the course outline and
one or more cultural areas. You'll have 40 minutes to write the essay. It's recommended that you spend five minutes planning
and/or outlining your answer before you begin writing. You may be able to choose different cases to illustrate your point.
Students will keep an ongoing year long track of changes in history through the use of annotated timelines and maps. the
student will construct both in class and for homework in all units and kept in the students note book for later study use.
Moreover, these timelines and maps will help one see global patterns and processes over time and space while also connecting
local developments to global ones and moving through levels of generalizations from the global to the particular. This skill will
be especially useful for writing the Change Over Time essay on the AP World History Exam and often is a major focus in
upper-level college courses in the social sciences as well as in the discipline of science.
About two or three times in each unit, we will conduct whole-class seminars where you will discuss diversity of interpretations
that historians present in your textbook and in other secondary sources such as articles given to you by the teacher or articles
and you find yourself.
Students will also participate in simulations and debates each grading period that challenge you to address questions about
human commonalities and differences and the historical context of culturally diverse ideas and values.
On all the work you create essays, maps, timelines etc. The student will written a thesis statement that generalizes the data you
presented. An easy thesis statement can be simply a comparison, a statement of the similarities and differences. Other thesis
statements will be more involved and complex.
Free Response Comparative (CC) Essay In the final free-response essay you'll answer a comparative question that focuses
on developments in two or more societies, and their interactions with each other or with major themes or events (e.g. culture,
trade, religion, technology, migrations). You'll have 40 minutes to write the essay. It's recommended that you spend five
minutes planning and/or outlining your answer before you begin writing. Scored based on AP Rubric
Students will be required to, on an ongoing basis, use a variety of mapping techniques to effectively compare/contrast political,
social and economic systems . Using this technique allowing the student a clear view of by being able to organize complex
relationships. This skill will be helpful in being able to effectively understand and complete the AP World History Exam Free
Response Comparative Essay. Comparative maps will be done for class work home work and assigned projects. A formal
Comparative essay will be required at least once each grading period. Like the DBQ and Change Over Time Essays by the
second semester focus will change to be able to work within the time constraints of the AP World History Exam.
Scoring the Exam: The multiple-choice section of the exam is worth 50%. The DBQ, CCOT and CC account for the
additional 50% of the final exam grade.
Syllabus for A.P. World History
Foundations: c. 8000 B.C.E.–600 C.E. (5 weeks)
Major Developments
1. Locating world history in the environment and time
A. Environment
1. Geography and climate: Interaction of geography and climate with the development of human
society
2. Demography: Major population changes resulting from human and environmental factors
B. Time – Periodization in early human history
1. Nature and causes of changes associated with the time span
2. Continuities and breaks within the time span
C. Diverse Interpretations
1. What are the issues involved in using “civilization” as an organizing principle in world history?
2. What is the most common source of change: connection or diffusion versus independent invention?
2. Developing agriculture and technology
Agricultural, pastoral, and foraging societies, and their demographic characteristics (Include Africa, the Americas, and
Southeast Asia.)
A. Emergence of agriculture and technological change
B. Nature of village settlements
C. Impact of agriculture on the environment
D. Introduction of key stages of metal use
3. Basic features of early civilizations in different environments: culture, state, and social structure
1. Mesopotamia , Egypt, Indus, Shang, Mesoamerica and Andean South America (Compare two)
4. Classical Civilizations
Major political developments in China, India, and the Mediterranean
A. Social and gender structures
B. Major trading patterns within and among Classical civilizations; contacts with adjacent regions
C. Arts, sciences, and technology
5. Major belief systems
Basic features of major world belief systems prior to 600 C.E. and where each belief system applied by 600
C.E.
A. Polytheism, Hinduism, Judaism, Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, Christianity
6. Late Classical period (200 C.E.–600 C.E.)
1. Collapse of empires (Han China, loss of western portion of the Roman Empire, Gupta)
A. Movements of peoples (Huns, Germans)
B. Interregional networks by 600 C.E.: Trade and religious diffusion
Major Comparisons and Snapshots
• Comparisons of the major religious and philosophical systems including some underlying similarities in cementing a
social hierarchy, e.g., Hinduism contrasted with Confucianism
• Role of women in different belief systems – Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, and Hinduism
• Understanding of how and why the collapse of empire was more severe in western Europe than it was in the eastern
Mediterranean or in China
• Compare the caste system to other systems of social inequality devised by early and classical civilizations, including
slavery
• Compare societies and cultures that include cities with pastoral and nomadic societies
• Compare the development of traditions and institutions in major civilizations, e.g., Indian, Chinese, and Greek
• Describe interregional trading systems, e.g., the Indian Ocean trade
Examples of What You Need to Know
• Nature of the Neolithic revolution, but not characteristics of previous stone ages.
• Economic and social results of the agricultural revolution, but not specific date of the introduction of agriculture to
specific societies
• Nature of patriarchal systems, but not changes in family structure within a single region
• Nature of early civilizations, but not necessarily specific knowledge of more than two
• Importance of the introduction of bronze and iron, but not specific inventions or implements
• Political heritage of classical China (emperor, bureaucracy), but not specific knowledge of dynastic transitions, e.g.,
from Qin to Han
• Greek approaches to science and philosophy, including Aristotle, but not details about other specific philosophers
• Diffusion of major religious systems, but not the specific regional forms of Buddhism or Aryan or Nestorian
Christianity
Primary Sources for Unit:
• Selection from Hammurabi’s Code
• Selection from The Epic of Gilgamesh
• The Hymn to the Nile
• Selection from The Republic
• Selection from the Classic of History (Shu Jing)
• Selection from Confucius’ Analects
• Selection from Ashoka’s Rock and Pillar Edicts
• Selection from Constantine’s Edict of Toleration
• Selection from The Art of War
• The Ten Commandments
• Setting in Motion the Wheel of the Law
• The Sermon on the Mount
600 C.E.–1450 (7 weeks)
1. Questions of periodization
A. Nature and causes of changes in the world history framework leading up to 600 C.E. – 1450 as a period
B. Emergence of new empires and political systems
C. Continuities and breaks within the period (e.g., the impact of the Mongols on international contacts and on
specific societies)
2. The Islamic world
The rise and role of Dar al-Islam as a unifying cultural and economic force in Eurasia and Africa
A. Islamic political structures, notably the caliphate
B. Arts, sciences, and technologies
3. Interregional networks and contacts
Development and shifts in interregional trade, technology, and cultural exchange
A. Trans-Sahara trade
B. Indian Ocean trade
C. Silk routes
D. Missionary outreach of major religions
E. Contacts between major religions, e.g., Islam and Buddhism, Christianity and Islam
F. Impact of the Mongol empires
4. China's internal and external expansion
The importance of the Tang and Song economic revolutions and the initiatives of the early Ming dynasty
A. Chinese influence on surrounding areas and its limits
5. Developments in Europe
Restructuring of European economic, social, and political institutions
A. The division of Christendom into eastern and western Christian cultures
6. Social, cultural, economic, and political patterns in the Amerindian world
Maya, Aztec, Inca
7. Demographic and environmental changes
Impact of nomadic migrations on Afro-Eurasia and the Americas (e.g., Aztecs, Mongols, Turks, Vikings, and
Arabs)
A. Migration of agricultural peoples (e.g., Bantu migrations, European peoples to east/central Europe)
B. Consequences of plague pandemics in the fourteenth century
C. Growth and role of cities
8. Diverse interpretations
What are the issues involved in using cultural areas rather than states as units of analysis?
A. What are the sources of change: nomadic migrations versus urban growth?
B. Was there a world economic network in this period?
C. Were there common patterns in the new opportunities available to and constraints placed on elite women in
this period?
Major Comparisons and Snapshots
• Japanese and European feudalism
• Developments in political and social institutions in both eastern and western Europe
• Compare the role and function of cities in major societies
• Compare Islam and Christianity
• Gender systems and changes, such as the impact of Islam
• Aztec Empire and Inca Empire
• Compare European and sub-Saharan African contacts with the Islamic world
Examples of What You Need to Know
• Arab caliphate, but not the transition from Umayyad to 'Abbasid
• Mamluks, but not Almohads
• Feudalism, but not specific feudal monarchs such as Richard I
• Manorialism, but not the three-field system
• Crusading movement and its impact, but not specific crusades
• Viking exploration, expansion, and impact, but not individual explorers
• Mongol expansion and its impact, but not details of specific khanates
• Papacy, but not particular popes
• Indian Ocean trading patterns, but not Gujarati merchants
Primary Sources for Unit:
Selection from • Corpus Juris Civilis
• Selection from The Qu’ran
• A Mirror for Princes
• Collection of Chinese poetry from the Tang and Song dynasty (Li Bao,etc.)
• Selection from Sci Shonagon’s The Pillow Book
• Selection from Eisai’s Drinking Tea for Long Life
• Selection from the Mayan Popol Vuh
• Ordinances of the Merchants
• Urban II’s Call for the Crusades
• Selection from Bahul ad-Din’s Saladin’s Courage and Steadfastness
• Selection from Ibn Battuta’s Travels in Africa
• Selection from Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali
• Selection from the Magna Carta
• Selection from The Travels of Marco Polo
1450-1750 (4 weeks)
Major Developments
1. Questions of periodization
A. Continuities and breaks, causes of changes from the previous period and within this period
2. Changes in trade, technology, and global interactions
3. Knowledge of major empires and other political units and social systems
. Ottoman, China, Portugal, Spain, Russia, France, England, Tokugawa, Mughal, characteristics of African empires in
general but knowing one (Kongo, Benin, Oyo, or Songhay) as illustrative
A. Gender and empire (including the role of women in households and in politics)
4. Slave systems and slave trade
5. Demographic and environmental changes: diseases, animals, new crops, and comparative population trends
6. Cultural and intellectual developments
. Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment
A. Comparative global causes and impacts of cultural change
B. Changes and continuities in Confucianism
C. Major developments and exchanges in the arts (e.g., Mughal)
7. Diverse interpretations
. What are the debates about the timing and extent of European predominance in the world economy?
A. How does the world economic system of this period compare with the world economic network of the
previous period?
Major Comparisons and Snapshots
• Imperial systems: European monarchy compared with a land-based Asian empire
• Coercive labor systems: slavery and other coercive labor systems in the Americas
• Comparative knowledge of empire (i.e., general empire building in Asia, Africa, and Europe)
• Compare Russia's interaction with the West with the interaction of one of the following (Ottoman Empire, China,
Tokugawa Japan, Mughal India) with the West
Examples of What You Need to Know
Below are examples of the types of information you are expected to know contrasted with examples of those things you are not
expected to know for the multiple-choice section.
• Neoconfucianism, but not specific Neoconfucianists
• Importance of European exploration, but not individual explorers
• Characteristics of European absolutism, but not specific rulers
• Reformation, but not Anabaptism or Huguenots
• Ottoman conquest of Constantinople, but not the Safavid Empire
• Siege of Vienna (1688–89), but not the Thirty Years' War
• Slave plantation systems, but not Jamaica's specific slave system
• Institution of the harem, but not Hurrem Sultan
Primary Sources for Unit:
• Selection from Bernal Diaz’s The True Story of the Conquest of Mexico
(Montezuma’s death)
• Selection from Bartoleme de Las Casas’ Brief Account of the Devastation
of the Indies
• Selection from Christopher Columbus’s journal—The First Voyage of
Christopher Columbus
• Letters from the King of the Kongo to the King of Portugal
• Selection from Tokugawa Iemitsu’s Exclusion of the Portuguese; Closed
Country Edict of 1635
• Selection from Yamaga Soko’s The Way of the Samurai
• Selection from Matteo Ricci’s Journal
• Selection from a Confucian Morality Book—Meritorious Deeds at No Cost
• Selection from Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince
• Selection from Martin Luther’s 95 Theses
• Selection from Peter the Great—Edict and Decrees—Learning from
Europe
• Selection from Cardinal Richelieu’s The Political Testament
• Selection from the English Bill of Rights
• Art from the Renaissance, the Mughals (miniatures), and Ming art, including porcelain
1750–1914 (5 weeks)
Major Developments
1. Questions of periodization
A. Continuities and breaks, causes of changes from the previous period and within this period
2. Changes in global commerce, communications, and technology
Changes in patterns of world trade
A. Industrial Revolution (transformative effects on and differential timing in different societies; mutual relation
of industrial and scientific developments; commonalities)
3. Demographic and environmental changes (migrations, end of the Atlantic slave trade, new birthrate patterns, food
supply)
4. Changes in social and gender structure (Industrial Revolution; commercial and demographic developments;
emancipation of serfs/slaves; and tension between work patterns and ideas about gender)
5. Political revolutions and independence movements; new political ideas
Latin American independence movements
A. Revolutions (United States, France, Haiti, Mexico, China)
B. Rise of nationalism, nation-states, and movements of political reform
C. Overlaps between nations and empires
D. Rise of democracy and its limitations: reform; women; racism
6. Rise of Western dominance (economic, political, social, cultural and artistic, patterns of expansion; imperialism and
colonialism) and different cultural and political reactions (reform; resistance; rebellion; racism; nationalism)
Impact of changing European ideologies on colonial administrations
7. Diverse interpretations
What are the debates over the utility of modernization theory as a framework for interpreting events in this
period and the next?
A. What are the debates about the causes of serf and slave emancipation in this period and how do these debates
fit into broader comparisons of labor systems?
B. What are the debates over the nature of women's roles in this period and how do these debates apply to
industrialized areas and how do they apply in colonial societies?
Major Comparisons and Snapshots
• Compare the causes and early phases of the industrial revolution in Western Europe and Japan
• Comparative revolutions (compare two of the following: Haitian, American, French, Mexican, and Chinese)
• Compare reaction to foreign domination in: the Ottoman Empire, China, India, and Japan
• Comparative nationalism
• Compare forms of western intervention in Latin America and in Africa
• Compare the roles and conditions of women in the upper/middle classes with peasantry/working class in Western
Europe
Examples of What You Need to Know
Below are examples of the types of information you are expected to know contrasted with examples of those things you are not
expected to know for the multiple-choice section.
• Women's emancipation movements, but not specific suffragists
• The French Revolution of 1789, but not the Revolution of 1830
• Meiji Restoration, but not Iranian Constitutional Revolution
• Jacobins, but not Robespierre
• Causes of Latin American independence movements, but not specific protagonists
• Boxer Rebellion, but not the Crimean War
• Suez Canal, but not the Erie Canal
• Muhammad Ali, but not Isma'il
• Marxism, but not Utopian socialism
• Social Darwinism, but not Herbert Spencer
Primary Sources for Unit:
• The American Declaration of Independence
• The Declaration of the Rights of Men and The Declaration of the Rights
of Women
• Selection from Wollstonecraft’s Vindications of the Rights of Women
• Selection from Edward Jenner’s An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variole Vaccine
• Selection from the Records of the Maji Maji Rebellion
• Selection from Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Man’s Burden”
• Selection from Kangxi’s Self Portrait
• Selection from Lin Zexu’s Letter to Queen Victoria (opium)
• Selection from The Treaty of Nanjing
• Selection from Mitsui Takafusa’s Some Observations on Merchants
1914–Present (6 weeks)
Major Developments
1. Questions of periodization
A. Continuities and breaks, causes of changes from the previous period and within this period
2. The World Wars, the Holocaust, the Cold War, nuclear weaponry, international organizations, and their impact on the
global framework (globalization of diplomacy and conflict; global balance of power; reduction of European
influence; the League of Nations, the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Nations, etc.)
3. New patterns of nationalism (the interwar years; decolonization; racism, genocide; new nationalisms, including the
breakup of the Soviet Union)
4. Impact of major global economic developments (the Great Depression; technology; Pacific Rim; multinational
corporations)
5. New forces of revolution and other sources of political innovations
6. Social reform and social revolution (changing gender roles; family structures; rise of feminism; peasant protest;
international Marxism)
7. Globalization of science, technology, and culture
Developments in global cultures and regional reactions, including science and consumer culture
A. Interactions between elite and popular culture and art
B. Patterns of resistance including religious responses
8. Demographic and environmental changes (migrations; changes in birthrates and death rates; new forms of
urbanization; deforestation; green/environmental movements)
9. Diverse interpretations
Is cultural convergence or diversity the best model for understanding increased intercultural contact in the twentieth
century?
A. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using units of analysis in the twentieth century, such as the
nation, the world, the West, and the Third World?
Major Comparisons and Snapshots
• Patterns and results of decolonization in Africa and India
• Pick two revolutions (Russian, Chinese, Cuban, Iranian) and compare their effects on the roles of women
• Compare the effects of the World Wars on areas outside of Europe
• Compare legacies of colonialism and patterns of economic development in two of three areas (Africa, Asia, and Latin
America)
• The notion of "the West" and "the East" in the context of Cold War ideology
• Compare nationalist ideologies and movements in contrasting European and colonial environments
• Compare the different types of independence struggles
• Compare the impacts of Western consumer society on two civilizations outside of Europe
• Compare high tech warfare with guerrilla warfare
• Different proposals (or models) for third world economic development and the social and political consequences
Examples of What You Need to Know
Below are examples of the types of information you are expected to know contrasted with examples of those things you are not
expected to know for the multiple-choice section.
• Causes of the World Wars, but not battles in the wars
• Cultural and political transformations resulting from the wars, but not French political and cultural history
• Fascism, but not Mussolini's internal policies
• Feminism and gender relations, but not Simone de Beauvoir or Huda Shaarawi
• The growth of international organizations, but not the history of the ILO
• Colonial independence movements, but not the details of a particular struggle
• The issue of genocide, but not Cambodia, Rwanda, or Kosovo
• The internationalization of popular culture, but not the Beatles
• Artistic Modernism, but not Dada
Primary Sources for Unit:
• Selection from Wilfred Owen—Dulce et Decorum Est
• Selection from Woodrow Wilson—Fourteen Points
• The Balfour Declaration
• Selection from Lazaro Cardenas’s Speech to the Nation
• Selection of twentieth-century propaganda posters—World War I, Russian
Revolution, World War II, the Cultural Revolution, peace protests in the
nuclear world
• Selection from the Muslim Brotherhood’s Toward the Light
• Selection from James Aggrey’s Parable of the Eagle
• Selection from Gandhi’s Indian Home Rule