AP World History: Modern Notes - Units 1&2

As revised in 2019–2020, the AP World History: Modern exam now covers a much shorter time period than it used to, testing only material from 1200 c.e. to the present. In the following AP World History: Modern notes for Units 1&2, we give an overview of what happens in the first period covered by the exam, and highlight key events according to the six overarching themes that form the heart of the AP World History: Modern course: Governance, Cultural Developments and Interactions, Technology and Innovation, Economic Systems, Social Interactions and Organizations, and Humans and the Environment.

These AP World History: Modern notes for Units 1&2 should be used to supplement what you’re learning in your AP class. More study notes and tips can be found in our latest AP World History: Modern Premium Test Prep Book and on our AP World History Podcast.

AP World History: Modern - Overview of Units 1&2

The period between 1200 and 1450 was a time of growing political consolidation, technological aptitude, and socioeconomic and cultural sophistication. World population continued to rise, and regional and transregional exchanges increased in scale and frequency. Even though the world was not as interconnected as it would later become, it was moving swiftly and steadily toward interaction on a truly global scale.

4 Things to Know About AP World History: Modern Units 1&2

1. Across the globe, many centralized states and empires emerged, often taking advantage of innovative techniques of governance. Effective bureaucracies allowed them to administer diverse populations and mobilize resources over great distances. New military methods and technologies—including the invention of gunpowder—made large-scale conquest and imperial expansion easier. Cities played a larger role as hubs for political leadership, economic activity, and cultural and artistic dynamism. Increasingly organized religions, along with shared artistic and cultural traditions, fostered social cohesion and a stronger sense of identity.

3. Another central trend of this age was greater connectivity, thanks to the continued development of regional and interregional trade routes and networks of communication. Although the Americas remained isolated, vibrant systems of interaction linked the various civilizations of Africa and Eurasia. Trade, technological transfer, and cultural and religious diffusion all marked this era. Migration and the movement of nomadic peoples—such as the Vikings, Bantu, and Mongols—accelerated all of these processes.

4. Economically, increased productive capacity became the norm in most parts of the world. While agriculture remained the largest sector of the economy by far, the growth of trade steadily boosted the importance of commerce. Social hierarchies and labor systems adapted to these new realities, in some cases allowing for greater flexibility and mobility, but in others becoming more coercive, especially where forms of serfdom and slavery were concerned.

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AP World History: Modern - Broad Trends in Units 1&2

Governance, 1200-1450

State-building during these years reached new levels of complexity and sophistication. Most forms of governance remained nonrepresentative, with monarchies and oligarchies most common.

In many cases, classical regimes—starting in the 200s c.e. and continuing through the 1000s c.e., depending on the area in question—collapsed, leading to one of several outcomes. Sometimes, new states quickly took their place, using some of the old states’ traditional sources of legitimacy (including patriarchal authority, religious backing, and the support of landowning elites) but blending them with innovative governing techniques. Examples include Byzantium and the post-Han dynasties in China. Other times, decentralization followed, giving rise to feudalism, most famously in medieval Europe and Japan. Another alternative was for dramatically new forms of governance to appear, such as the Islamic caliphates, the Mongol khanates, and the city-state systems in East Africa, Southeast Asia, the Americas, and Italy.

On a related note, one of the central questions of this era is whether civilizations at this time are better studied as nation-states (countries as formally defined political entities, in the modern sense of the word) or cultural spheres (defined less by political boundaries and more by ethnic similarities, shared traditions, or government by a larger imperial power). The answer depends on the specific region.

Europe 

• Feudal monarchies vs. experiments with city-state rule (Venice, Novgorod)
• Papal-imperial struggle and the medieval ideal of Christendom
• Mongol rule over Russia (Golden Horde)
• Centralization in Byzantium (Constantinople) vs. fall to Ottoman conquest (1453)

Middle East

• Abbasid Caliphate (Baghdad) peaks in 800s and fragments after 900s
• Dar al-Islam and “circle of justice”
• Sharia law
• Mongol Il-Khanate (mid-1200s to mid-1300s)
• Ottoman Empire (1299–1922) and conquest of Byzantium (1453)

Africa

• Ghana (ca. 800–1200)
• Mali (Timbuktu, mid-1200s–1600s; Mansa Musa in 1300s)
• Hausa kingdoms
• Ethiopia
• Great Zimbabwe (ca. 1000–1400)
• Swahili city-states

East (and Central) Asia

• Song dynasty (960–1279) in China
• Mandate of heaven and bureaucracy (civil service examinations)
• Yuan (Mongol) dynasty in China (1271–1368)
• Ming dynasty (1368–1644) in China
• Chagatai (Mongol) khanate in Central Asia (1200s–mid-1600s)
• Breakdown of Heian regime (794–1185) in Japan
• Feudalism in Japan (shogun and samurai daimyo, 1100s–1500s)

South (and Southeast) Asia and Oceania

• Post-Gupta disunity in India (ca. 600–1200)
• Incursions of Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526) vs. resistance of Hindu states (Vijayanagara Empire, Rajput kingdoms)
• Sinhalese dynasties in Sri Lanka
• Khmer Empire (800s–1400s) and Sukhothai kingdom (1200s–1400s)
• Srivijayan Empire (500s–1100s) and Majapahit (1293–1500)
• City-states in Southeast Asia (Malay sultanates, Melaka)

Americas 

• Mississippian culture (Cahokia, ca. 700–1500)
• City-states in Mesoamerica (legacy of Maya, ca. 250–900, and Toltecs, ca. 800s–1100s)
• Aztecs (Mexica) (Tenochtitlán, mid-1200s–1520)
• Andean city-states
• Chimú empire (Chan Chan, ca. 1000–1400)
• Incas (Cuzco, ca. 1300s–early 1500s)

Global and Interregional

• Islamic expansion into Africa and Asia (600s onward)
• Crusades (Christian Europe vs. Islamic Middle East, 1096–1291)
• Mongol conquests under Genghis Khan (early 1200s) and the Pax Mongolica

Cultural Developments and Interactions, 1200-1450

This era’s cultural trends were deeply affected by the global tendency toward greater interregional connectedness. Trade, migration, empire building, and cross-cultural mixing led to the diffusion of religious practices, intellectual trends, and artistic and architectural styles.

At the same time, individual regions experienced their own cultural changes and advancements. Be aware of this balance between cultural diffusion and independent innovation.

Whether they were imported from abroad or homegrown, the distinct characteristics of major cultures should be familiar to you, as should be the general developments that caused cultures to influence each other.

Europe

• Latin as regional language of religious and educated elite
• Papal ideal of Christendom vs. “great schism” between Roman
• Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy
• Scholasticism (partial reconciling of Christian doctrine with Greco-Roman thinkers like Aristotle and Plato)
• Renaissance humanism (revival of Greco-Roman learning)
• Universities
• Code of chivalry
• Intellectual impact of movable-type printing press (1430s+)
• Architecture (Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals, castle building)

Middle East

• Arabic as regional language of religious and educated elite (also note cultural importance of Persian)
• House of Wisdom in Baghdad and golden age of Islamic culture
• Madrasas as centers of learning
• The Arabian Nights and the Rubaiyat (Omar Khayyám)
• Sufi movement (poetry of Rumi and ’A’ishah al-Ba’uniyyah)
• Geometrical design in Islamic art

Africa

• Swahili as regional language in East Africa
• Spread of Islamic influences via war and trade
• Oral traditions (griots in West Africa)
• Sundiata epic (Mali, 1300s+)
• Sculpture, wood carving, weaving, metalworking
• Architecture (Great Zimbabwe city complex, mud-and-timber mosques of Timbuktu)

East (and Central) Asia

• Mandarin Chinese as classical language
• Diffusion of Buddhist and Daoist culture (Zen/Ch’an form of Buddhism)
• Impact of Neo-Confucianism
• Samurai culture and code of Bushido in Japan
• Architecture (pagodas, grid layout of cities, Great Wall of China, Beijing’s Forbidden City, Heian Shrine)

South (and Southeast) Asia and Oceania

• Sanskrit as classical language
• Indian epics
• Diffusion (and mingling) of Buddhist and Hindu cultures
• Bhakti movement
• Islam arrives in India
• Architecture (Angkor Wat, Borobudur)

Americas

• Polytheism (human sacrifice and pyramid building in Mesoamerica)
• Mayan hieroglyphs and calendar (concept of zero)
• Quipu (in Andes cultures)
• Architecture (Mississippian earth mounds, Mesoamerican pyramids, Machu Picchu, Inca Temple of the Sun)

Global and Interregional

• Expansion of Islam’s cultural influence to Africa and Asia
• Buddhist and Hindu influences throughout Southeast, South, and
• East Asia
• Greek and Indian mathematics transferred to Islamic world and Europe
• Greek science and philosophy reintroduced to medieval Europe from Muslim Spain
• Arab-Chinese cultural transfer
• European-Islamic cultural transfer during Crusades
• Cultural transfer throughout Mongol Empires
• Interregional travel = Marco Polo (1200s),
• Ibn Battuta (1300s), Margery Kempe (1400s), Zheng He (1400s)

Technology and Innovation, 1200-1450

The global level of technological and scientific aptitude rose during these years. Many of the same factors that encouraged cultural development—trade, the movement of peoples, cross-regional conflict and cooperation—also drove scientific and technological innovation. There was much interplay between the two spheres, and sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish between them. Certain scientific insights, for example, are better categorized as abstract ideas than as practical applications. Architecture is the product of engineering, but many buildings are significant mainly as works of art. Whether to count such things as culture or technology sometimes requires judgment, whether one is studying this era or the ones to follow.

Europe

• Wheeled vehicles vs. saddles and pack animals (horses, oxen)
• Shipbuilding and navigation (cogs, carracks, caravels)
• Movable-type printing press (mid-1400s)
• Architecture (Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals, castle building)

Middle East

• Wheeled vehicles vs. saddles and pack animals (horses, oxen, camels)
• Camel saddle improved
• Expertise in medicine (impact of Ibn Sina’s Canon of Medicine)
• Expertise in astronomy (astrolabe improved 700s+)
• Expertise in mathematics (algebra, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi and trigonometry)
• Shipbuilding and navigation (dhow and lateen sail)

Africa

• Wheeled vehicles vs. saddles and pack animals (camels)
• Shipbuilding and navigation (monsoon winds + dhow and lateen sail)
• Architecture (Great Zimbabwe city complex, mud-and-timber mosques of Timbuktu)

East (and Central) Asia

• Horse collar and stirrup spread out from China
• Woodblock printing improved and movable-type concept invented in China
• Water mills and water clocks in China
• Gunpowder invented in China (800s–900s) and spread widely
• Shipbuilding and navigation (junk, stern rudder, magnetic compass)
• Architecture (pagodas, grid layout of cities, Great Wall of China, Beijing’s Forbidden City, Heian Shrine)

South (and Southeast) Asia and Oceania

• Wheeled vehicles vs. saddles and pack animals (horses and oxen)
• “Arabic” numerals, pi, and zero
• Shipbuilding and navigation (monsoon winds + dhow and lateen sail)
• Outrigger canoes (Polynesia)
• Architecture (Angkor Wat, Borobudur)

Americas

• Saddles and pack animals (llamas)
• Mayan hieroglyphs and calendar (concept of zero)
• Architecture (Mississippian earth mounds, Mesoamerican pyramids, Machu Picchu, Inca Temple of the Sun)

Global and Interregional

• Westward transfer of many technologies from China (horse collar, compass, printing)
• Influence of Greek and Indian mathematics on Islamic world and Europe
• Greek science and philosophy reintroduced to Europe from Muslim Spain
• Gunpowder acquired from China by Middle East and Europe (1200s)

Economic Systems, 1200-1450

A central trend during this period was greater interconnectedness among civilizations. Afro-Eurasia and the Americas remained isolated from one another, but within each of these large spaces, steadily growing networks of exchange spun strong webs of mutual influence—cultural, economic, technological, biological, and political—among varied and often distant regions. At the heart of this interaction was trade.

At the same time, economic productivity grew in most parts of the world, due typically to improved or innovative methods and technologies. The methods of intensive agriculture described elsewhere became more common. In addition, early forms of industrial production (sometimes called cottage industry or protoindustrialization) began to appear alongside traditional artisanry and craftsmanship.

Europe

• Revival and growth of European trade (Hanseatic League)
• Mediterranean trade network (role of Italian city-states and connections with trans-Saharan caravans and Silk Road)
• Crusades stimulate appetite for Asian goods
• Improved open-water navigation and Atlantic voyaging
• Intensive agriculture (wheat)
• Feudal manorialism (serfdom)
• Guilds (artisans and craftsmen)

Middle East

• Trans-Saharan caravans (Arab-Berber expertise with camels)
• Mediterranean trade network (connections with Silk Road and connections with Indian Ocean basin)
• Intensive agriculture (wheat)

Africa

• Indian Ocean trade network (Swahili city-states)
• Trans-Saharan caravans (Arab-Berber expertise with camels)
• Mediterranean trade network
• Salt, gold, ivory
• Arab trade in enslaved Africans

East (and Central) Asia

• Silk Road (briefly disrupted, then revived under Pax Mongolica and connections between Indian Ocean basin and Pacific trade)
• Grand Canal in China
• Intensive agriculture (rice)
• Nomadic pastoralism continues in steppe zone
• Silk, iron, steel, and porcelain industries in China
• Feudal landholding in Japan (serfdom)

South (and Southeast) Asia and Oceania

• Indian Ocean trade network
• Intensive agriculture (rice)
• Cotton industry in India
• Spices

Americas

• Intensive agriculture (potatoes, beans, corn/maize)
• Chinampa, waru waru, and terracing as techniques for growing crops
• Mit’a labor system in Andes (especially under Incan empire)
• Pastoralism and hunting-foraging remain common in many areas

Global and Interregional

• General rise in agricultural production (due to technological innovation and techniques of intensive agriculture)
• New trading cities and merchant classes
• Increased craft production
• Luxury goods fuel expansion of trade networks
• Minting of coins and printing of paper money
• Standardization of currencies, weights, and measures
• Credit and banking become more common
• Slavery, serfdom, and corvée become more common

Social Interactions and Organizations, 1200-1450

With population growth and economic productivity rising during this era, social structures and systems of labor management grew more complicated. Social stratification remained the norm, with old hierarchies and caste systems still in place and new ones emerging. The vast majority of people lived in the countryside and earned their keep by means of agriculture or herding.

On the other hand, the increased scale of trade led to greater urbanization and sparked more class diversification and social mobility. Trade and artisanry (craftsmanship) allowed more people to work in nonagricultural occupations and gave rise to different forms of labor organization. Patriarchy and gender inequity remained common and, in some cases, worsened due to cultural or religious trends.

Europe

• Serfdom (feudal manorialism) vs. free peasantry
• Peasant revolts in England, France, and elsewhere (1300s)
• Craftsmen and guilds
• Diaspora community (Jews) and anti-Semitism
• Money lending by Jewish diaspora (anti-Semitism)
• Witch hunts (Hammer of Witchcraft, 1400s)
• Christian doctrine and patriarchy

Middle East

• Islam and patriarchy (veiling, seclusion, polygamy)
• Jizya tax for subject nonbelievers (dhimmi)
• Millet system (religious communities) system in Ottoman Empire
• Devshirme (Ottoman slave-recruiting system)
• Military slaves (mamluks and janissaries)
• Diaspora community (Jews)

Africa

• Patriarchy (with some matriarchy and matrilinealism)
• Diaspora communities (merchants from Middle East and Indian Ocean basin)
• Arab slavers in North and East Africa
• Origins of Atlantic slave trade

East (and Central) Asia

• Diaspora communities (merchants along Silk Road)
• Neo-Confucianism and hierarchy (caste system)
• Neo-Confucianism and patriarchy (foot binding)
• Red Turban uprising in China (1300s)
• Samurai nobility and feudalism in Japan (serfdom)
• Samurai patriarchy

South (and Southeast) Asia and Oceania

• Diaspora communities (minorities throughout Indian Ocean trade network)
• Chinese merchant communities in Southeast Asia
• Hinduism and hierarchy (varna caste system)
• Hinduism and patriarchy (sati, seclusion)
• Islam and patriarchy (veiling, seclusion, polygamy)

Americas

• Mit’a labor system in Andes (intensifies under Inca)
• Ayllu clan system in Andes

Global and Interregional

• Persistence of caste systems in many regions
• Growth of artisan (craftsman) classes
• Growth of merchant classes
• Greater urbanization and trading cities
• Muslim merchant diaspora in Africa and Indian Ocean basin
• Jewish diaspora (Middle East, Europe, Silk Road, Indian Ocean basin)
• Slavery and serfdom become increasingly common
• Patriarchy continues or deepens