ETS
ADVANCED PLACEMENT OUTLINE
FOR WORLD HISTORY
I.
Foundations
A.
Basic features of
world geography
1.
Location of
continents
2.
Location of oceans, seas, and major rivers
3.
Location of key political units prior to 1000 (Roman Empire at its
height, `Abbasid caliphate, Sudanic kingdoms of Ghana and Nubia, Chinese empire
[Han and Tang dynasties], Byzantine Empire, Mayan civilization)
B.
Definitions of
basic economic systems
1.
Agricultural,
pastoral, and foraging societies and their demographic characteristics
2.
Basic
characteristics of economic structures including technological patterns
C.
Crises of late
antiquity (third to eighth centuries)
1.
Movements of
peoples (Huns, Germans, Arabs)
2.
Collapse of
empires (Han China, loss of European portion of the Roman Empire)
3.
Emergence of new
empires and political systems (Tang China, Arab caliphates, Byzantine Empire,
early European and Japanese feudal systems)
D.
Key cultural and
social systems
1.
Basic features of
major world belief
systems prior to 1000 and where each belief system applied by 1000
a)
Buddhism
b)
Christianity
c)
Confucianism
d)
Daoism
e)
Hellenism
f)
Hinduism
g)
Islam
h)
Judaism
i)
Polytheism
E.
Major
developments in the arts and sciences
F.
Basic
characteristics of social structures as they developed by 1000
1.
The caste system
2.
The nature and
location of major slave systems
3.
Confucian social
hierarchy
4.
Patriarchal
family structures and trends
G.
Principal
international connections that had developed between 700 and 1000
1.
Missionary
outreach (Buddhist, Christian, and Islamic)
2.
Leading
international trading patterns (Middle Eastern, Chinese, East European,
trans-Saharan)
3.
The role of
nomadic groups in Central Asia
4.
The impact of
Bantu migrations in Africa
H.
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?
II.
1000 - 1450
A.
Questions of
periodization
1.
Nature and causes
of changes in the world history
framework leading up to 10001450 as a period
2.
Continuities and
breaks within the period (e.g., the impact of the Mongols)
B.
Interregional
networks
1.
Development and
shifts in an interregional network of trade, technology, cultural exchange, and
communication
C.
Nature of
philosophy and knowledge
D.
China's internal
and external expansion
1.
The importance of
the Song economic revolution
2.
Chinese influence
on Japan and its limits
E.
The Islamic world
1.
The role of Islam
as a unifying cultural force in Eurasia and Africa;
2.
Islamic impact on
the Sudanic kingdoms and East Africa; the Delhi Sultanate
3.
The impact of
migrations and religious reform movements in expanding Islamic society
4.
The impact of
Islam on the arts and sciences
F.
Changes in
Christianity
1.
Restructuring of
European society, including the growth of central monarchies in the west
2.
Role of Arab
thought in the twelfth-century "Renaissance" in the west
3.
The division of
Christendom into Eastern and Western Christian cultures
G.
Non-Islamic
Africa
1.
Great Zimbabwe
H.
Demographic and
environmental changes
1.
Impact of the
nomadic migrations on Afro-Eurasia (Mongols, Turks, and Arabs)
2.
Migration of
agricultural peoples (e.g., European peoples to east/central Europe)
3.
Consequences of
plague pandemics in the fourteenth century
I.
Amerindian
civilizations
1.
Toltec and Mayan
2.
Aztec
3.
Inca
J.
Diverse
interpretations
1.
What are the
issues involved in using cultural areas rather than states as units of analysis?
2.
What are the
sources of change: nomadic migrations versus urban growth?
3.
Was there a world
economic network in this period, and how does it compare with the world
economic system that emerges in the next period?
III.
1450 - 1750
A.
Questions of
periodization
1.
Continuities and
breaks, causes of changes from the previous period and within this period
B.
Change in global
interactions, trade, and technology
C.
Knowledge of
major empires and other political units and social systems
1.
Aztec, Ottoman,
Inca, Ming, Qing (Manchu), Portugal, Spain,
2.
Russia, France,
England, Mongol, Tokugawa, Mughal, characteristics of African empires in general
but knowing one (Kongo,
3.
Benin, Oyo, or
Songhay) as illustrative
4.
Territorial and
commercial aspects of the above
5.
Gender and empire
(gender systems at the elite level, alliances, women and households in politics)
6.
Slave systems and
slave trade
D.
Demographic and
environmental changes: diseases, animals, new crops, and comparative population
trends
E.
Cultural and
intellectual developments
1.
Scientific
Revolution
2.
The Enlightenment
3.
Comparative
global causes and impacts of cultural change
4.
Neoconfucianism
5.
Major
developments and exchanges in the arts (e.g., Mughal)
F.
Diverse
interpretations
1.
What are the
debates about the timing and extent of European predominance in the world
economy?
IV.
1750 - 1914
A.
Questions of
periodization
1.
Continuities and
breaks, causes of changes from the previous period and within this period
B.
Changes in global
commerce, communications, and technology
1.
Changes in
patterns of world
trade
2.
Industrial
Revolution (transformative effects on and differential timing in different
societies; mutual relation of industrial and scientific developments;
commonalities)
C.
Demographic and
environmental changes (migrations, end of the Atlantic slave trade, new
birthrate patterns; food supply)
D.
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)
E.
Political
revolutions and independence movements; new political ideas
1.
Latin American
independence movements
2.
Revolutions
(United States, France, Haiti, Mexico, China)
3.
Rise of
nationalism, nation-states, and movements of political
reform
4.
Overlaps between
nations and empires
5.
Rise of democracy
and its limitations: reform; women; racism
F.
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)
G.
Diverse
interpretations
1.
What are the
debates over the utility of modernization theory as a framework for interpreting
events in this period and the next?
2.
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?
3.
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?
V.
1914 - Present
A.
Questions of
periodization
1.
Continuities and
breaks, causes of changes from the previous period and within this period
B.
The World
Wars, the Cold War, nuclear weaponry, international organizations, and their
impact on the global framework
1.
globalization of
diplomacy and conflict
2.
global balance of
power
3.
reduction of
European influence
4.
the League of
Nations
5.
the United
Nations
6.
the Non-Aligned Nations
C.
New patterns of
nationalism, especially outside of the West
1.
the interwar
years
2.
decolonization
3.
racism
4.
the Holocaust
5.
genocide;
6.
new nationalisms,
including the breakup of the Soviet Union
D.
Impact of major
global economic developments
1.
the Great
Depression
2.
technology
3.
Pacific Rim
4.
multinational
corporations
E.
New forces of
revolution and other sources of political innovations
F.
Social reform and
social revolution
1.
changing gender
roles
2.
family structures
3.
rise of feminis
4.
peasant protest
5.
international
Marxism
G.
Internationalization
of culture and reactions
1.
Developments in
global and regional cultures
2.
Interactions
between elite and popular culture and art
3.
Global cultural
forces and patterns of resistance
a)
consumer culture
b)
religious
responses
H.
Demographic and
environmental changes
1.
migrations
2.
changes in
birthrates and death rates
3.
new forms of
urbanization; deforestation
4.
green/environmental
movements
I.
Diverse
interpretations
1.
Is cultural
convergence or diversity the best model for understanding increased
intercultural contact in the twentieth century?
2.
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?