AP WORLD HISTORY SYLLABUS
Academic Year: 2015-2016
DEPARTMENT: History and Social Science
TEACHER: Murvin Auzenne
TEXTS:
Stearns, Peter N., et.al. World Civilizations: The Global Experience. AP Edition DBQ Update
5th ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2009.
A variety of other primary and secondary sources that will be provided in class.
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
World History is the study of people—past and present, and the various interactions which shape their physical and cultural
environments. With a cursory introduction to mankind in its early hunter-gatherer stage, emphasis is placed on mankind as it moves
from simpler to more complex ways of social and political organization, economic exchange, technological innovations, and the
impact these have on mankind’s various interactions. More than mere facts, history is a continuous story of humanity expressed both
orally and in written form. It is the search not only for identity, but also for an explanation of how we have gotten to where we are.
AP World History is a course designed to focus attention on the “big” picture within manageable groupings of time. It provides the
student with the opportunity to discern various patterns as expressed via mankind’s social, political, and economic interactions, and
how the ‘worldview’ is expressed through art, architecture, religion, and the ever expanding realm of technological innovations.
Based on a global perspective of the world, this course will concentrate on the interactions amongst people—and between peoples—
from ca. 8000 BCE to the present, and will allow for description and analysis of the impact of these encounters. Following the
chronological framework of periodizations provided by AP Central, this course will emphasize the five overarching AP World History
themes. Such an approach will provide the student opportunities—via both primary and secondary sources—to develop a greater
understanding of the broad patterns and processes that explain change and continuity over time.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Interaction between humans and the environment
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Demography and disease
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Migration
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Patterns of settlement
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Technology
Development and interaction of cultures
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Religions
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Belief systems, philosophies, and ideologies
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Science and technology
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The arts and architecture
State-building, expansion and conflict
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Political structures and forms of government
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Empires
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Nations and nationalism
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Revolts and revolutions
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Regional, trans-regional, and global structures and organizations
Creation, expansion and interaction of economic systems
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Agricultural and pastoral production
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Trade and commerce
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Labor systems
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Industrialization
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Capitalism and socialism
Development and transformation of social structures
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Gender roles and relations
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Family and kinship
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Racial and ethnic constructions
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Social and economic classes/castes
COURSE EXPECTATIONS:
AP World History is a reading and writing intensive course; thus, a strong emphasis is placed on critical reading and writing skills.
This course is considered to be the equivalent of a full-year introductory college level course. As such, it is important that you are
aware of the responsibilities this course will demand of you. In comparison to a college prep level course, AP World History has:
 An accelerated pace and more sophisticated content
 More reading and daily discussions of the readings
 More rigorous assessment and evaluation
 Greater demands on writing
 Discussion of controversial topics
 Tested materials not always covered in class
 More personal responsibility for time management and keeping up with the work load
SKILL DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES:
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
1) Read, take notes on, and analyze readings from the textbook, or other secondary sources as well as primary sources.
2) Analyze and interpret a wide variety of primary sources—documents, maps, statistical tables, works of art, cartoons, etc.
3) Participate in class discussion on issues and topics from the readings and lectures in meaningful ways.
4) Develop map skills and an awareness of world regions and the locations of major geographical landforms in order to better
understand the development of cultures and cross-cultural interactions.
5) Debate questions about human commonalities and differences and the historical context of culturally diverse ideas and
values.
6) Think comparatively, considering human commonalities and differences, and see global patterns and processes over time and
space.
7) Create and critique historical interpretations as well as synthesize historical evidence in order to construct plausible and
persuasive arguments.
8) Write document-based essays in which historical material—both primary and secondary—is evaluated with respect to
purpose, point-of-view, context, bias, etc. in order to develop an argument based on the relevant historical evidence.
9) Write thematic essays addressing issues of change and continuity over time—both within and between cultures—as well as
being able to compare and differentiate amongst peoples and groups across space and time.
Course Outline:
The AP World History course is divided into six distinct chronological periods. In each period, major social, political, economic, and
cultural—technology, religion, art and architecture, ideologies, etc.—developments will be examined in conjunction with the five
themes of AP World History listed above. In addition, various “period” markers will be identified and examined via class discussion
in an attempt to give greater meaning to the arbitrary periodizations utilized by the course. Each unit will utilize lecture, discussion,
primary and secondary source interpretation, documentary and artifact-based materials, and analytical essays in order to identify and
extrapolate upon the various cause and effect relationships found within each of the periodizations.
UNIT 1—Technological and Environmental Transformations (8000 BCE to 600 BCE)
The Foundations Period
Stearns, Part I: Chapters 1 and 2 [ 4 weeks ]
Brief: The AP World history course begins with an introduction to human habitats, organization, and technological accomplishments
of Paleolithic peoples. Emphasis is placed on artifacts that demonstrate an innovative process in mankind’s use of fire, an increasingly
complex stone and bone technology, as well as an evolving ability to cognitively express an awareness of both physical and metaphysical forces –e.g. the Lascaux cave paintings, and regional rock art and body painting as evidenced in Africa, Eurasia, Australia,
and the Americas. The greater portion of this unit will focus on developments as they occur in the Neolithic period—with its evidence
of the first agricultural communities—and in the later ‘metal’ periods with the rise of urban centers which demonstrate a growing use
of specialization and its companion, a division of labor. An emphasis will be placed on initial successes of hunter-gatherer societies
capable of adapting to a myriad of environments and the tendency for a small number of these societies to create more complex,
settled food-producing river valley civilizations. The challenges, successes and failures of early civilization—located in the Middle
East, northeast Africa, India, and China—provide the students with the first opportunity for comparing/contrasting characteristics of
civilization, and for identifying potential social, political, and economic patterns that will accompany civilization into the classical
period.
Topics for Discussion:
1. Locating world history in time and space
2. The Paleolithic Age as characterized by the spread of human population and the cultural developments of human societies
3. The Neolithic Revolution with its development of agriculture and pastoralism, and the growth of innovative technologies
4. Basic features of early civilizations: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus, Shang, Olmec, and Andean South America
Unit 2—Organization and Re-organization of Human Societies: 600 BCE to 600 CE
The Classical World [5 weeks]
Stearns, Part II: Chapters 3 – 6
Brief: The organization and re-organization of human societies runs from approximately the seventh century BCE to the sixth century
CE. The three major classical civilizations that will be studied are China, India, and the Mediterranean civilizations of Greece and
Rome—with a brief detour in regards to the classical Maya. Although there was some contact between these societies, for the most
part they existed and developed separately—demonstrating characteristics of a world where large empires/civilizations served as
“cores”, while the large expanses of territory in between are dominated by various categories of nomadic peoples. Thus,
developments within each of these civilizations, rather than contacts between them, mark this phase of world history. As these
empires expand, experience conflict and, eventually, decline and collapse, the classical period will come to an end.
Topics for Discussion:
1. The rise and decline of Classical civilizations socio-politically, culturally, and economically: China, India, Greece, Persia, Rome,
Maya, and Teotihuacan
2. The growing interaction between large empires/civilizations and the peripheral nomadic/migrating peoples
3. Accomplishments of Classical civilizations: technologies developed, intellectual developments, the movement of peoples, interregional networks of trade and the resultant cultural diffusion
Unit 3—Regional and Trans-regional Interactions: 600 CE to 1450
The Post-Classical World [ 4 weeks]
Stearns, Part III: Chapters 7 – 16,
Brief: This period begins after the fall of the major Classical civilizations and with the rise of Islam and the Islamic Caliphates,
considered to be the first true global civilization. This era can best be described as a time of expanding zones of encounter and
exchange. One of the most striking developments of this period is the formation of more regular connections among major societies in
Asia, Africa and Europe. Characteristics of the Post-Classical world are: the spread of Islam and Arabic influence; the expansion of
civilization into new regions of the world like Sub-Saharan Africa, Northern and Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Americas;
the rise of great world religions and the creation of a network of trade and cultural diffusion that includes virtually all parts of the Old
World, except for Oceania. This period will come to an end in the 15 th century with the assimilation or expulsion of the Mongols and
the decline in Arab power and Islamic unity on the one hand, and the ascendancy of a new civilization in Europe and the resurgence of
Chinese civilization under the Ming on the other—each of which contribute to a change in world patterns once again.
Topics for Discussion:
1. Causes and effects of changes in the world history framework leading up to 600 CE – 1450
2. The rise of Islam and its social and economic impacts as it evolves from an ethnic-based religion to a world religion and core
civilization with strong economic ties in Asia, the Indian Ocean basin, and Africa
3. Inter-regional networks, increased cross-cultural interactions/diffusion, and technological and economic innovations as effects of:
the Silk Road, Indian Ocean trade, Trans-Sahara trade, and trade around the Mediterranean Sea
4. Political systems, cultural patterns, and technological innovations in: East Asia, the Americas, Feudal Western Europe, Byzantine Eastern Europe, East and West Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia
5. Demographic and environmental changes as effects of: migrations, expansion of militant nomadic groups, consequences of
plague pandemics, population growth, and the role of cities
Unit 4—Global Interactions: 1450 to 1750
The Early-Modern World [ 3 weeks]
Stearns, Part IV: Chapters 17 – 23,
Brief: A new era of world history begins with the interconnection of the western and Eastern Hemispheres between 1450 and 1750.
The balance of power between world civilizations shifted as the West became the more dynamic force due to developments caused by
the Renaissance, Reformation, the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment. New weaponry helped to form new or revamped
“gunpowder” empires, including the rising power centers of the Ottomans, Mughals, Safavids, Ming, and Russians—these in addition
to Western European powers. Contacts among civilizations, especially in commerce, increased. The West, initially led by Spain and
Portugal, won domination of most international trade routes and established settlements in the Americas, and peripherally in Asia and
coastal Africa. This period is strongly characterized by the emergence of the first global age as the world network, expanding well
beyond the Post-classical regional linkages, came to include the Americas and the South Atlantic basin. Popularly referred to today as
the “Columbian Exchange,” the resultant interactions would not only drastically alter the international commercial economy, but also
led to the expansion of coercive labor systems like serfdom—in Eastern Europe—and chattel slavery in the Americas. Perhaps most
importantly, the exchange of plants, animals, people, and diseases characterized a level of cultural diffusion that led to increased pop-
ulations and environmental changes world-wide. This period ultimately comes to an end in the mid-17th century as the West begins to
turn its attention to developing its industrial capacity and hegemony over the traditional civilizations found in Asia and Africa.
Topics for Discussion:
1. Causes and effects of changes in the world history framework leading up to 1450 – 1750
2. Cultural and intellectual changes—e.g. risk-taking—which allowed a relatively small number of Europeans to overcome two of
the New World’s most advanced civilizations—the Aztec and the Inca
3. Changes in trade, technology, commercial practices and global interactions: Columbian exchange, impact of guns, changes in
shipbuilding and navigation technology
4. Major maritime and land empires/kingdoms: Russia, Mughals, Ottomans, Safavids, Tokugawa Sho-gunate, Ming and Manchu,
Portugal, Spain, France, England, Netherlands, and African kingdoms
5. Social hierarchies and coercive labor systems of the major empires as well as effects of the slave trade and slave systems on West
Africa and the Americas
6. Demographic and environmental changes: diseases, animals, new food crops and cash crops, comparative population trends
Unit 5—Industrialization and Global Integration: 1750 – 1914
The Modern World [ 4 weeks ]
Stearns, Part V: Chapters 24-- 28
Brief: Between 1750 and 1914, world history was dominated by growing European imperialism. It was also an era of political
revolution—the American Revolution, the French Revolution, various revolutions in Latin America—as well as technological
revolution in the form of the Industrial Revolution. It was the Industrial Revolution which helped speed the Western world in its quest
for colonies, and would ultimately bring great changes to Western economics and society, transforming the West into dominant economic and military powers. The new technologies and inventions that came about because of the Industrial Revolution ensured that
no region could escape the possibility of extensive Western intervention. Previously able to resist the Western hegemons, by the end
of the 19th century Africa, Asia—India earlier, China later—and the Ottoman Empire were forced to come to terms with Western
institutions and values. The single non-Western exception to this pattern was Japan. It too would become an industrializing, imperialist force in its part of the world. By the end of the 19 th century, interconnections among all parts of the world intensified to an
unprecedented level. The many commercial and transportation changes brought about by industrialization and imperialism resulted in
huge shifts in world population, changes in labor systems and gender relations—introducing new competitive ideologies, and negative
developments in the relationship between humans and nature. This era will come to a close on the eve of World War I, a conflict that
so fundamentally weakened the Western world, it signals the beginning of the end to the West’s undisputed dominance.
Topics for Discussion:
1. Causes and effects of changes in the world history framework both leading up to, and continuing through the period 1750 -1914
2. Changes in global commerce, communications, transportation, and production technologies due to the Industrial Revolution
3. Demographic and environmental changes resulting from: impact of the Industrial Revolution on food, migrations, trade, birthrate, and medicine
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Changes in social and gender structure indicative of: impact of the Industrial Revolution on work, leisure, family, gender,
racism, and labor systems
Growth of “—isms”: socialism, liberalism, feminism
Causes and effects of political revolutions and independence movements: American, French, Haitian, Latin American, etc.
Rise of nationalism, nation-states, and movements of political reform
Patterns of cultural and artistic interactions among societies in different parts of the world
Unit 6—Accelerating Global Change and Re-alignments: 1914 to the Present
The 20th Century v
Stearns, Part VI: Chapters 29-37 [ 7 weeks ]
Brief: The closure we are in time to a historical period, the more daunting the task to objectively evaluate the events of that period.
So it is with the 20th century. Even so, certain changes from the previous period are apparent—more so than those things we may
perceive as continuous. The 20th century was a time in which new ideologies became key forces in the unfolding of events, or perhaps
old ideologies simply resurfaced in new ways. In any event, it was a time of competing, if not outright conflicting, worldviews. Two
destructive world wars, a decrease in Western population as a percentage of the world total—heavy migration from the peripheries to
the industrial cores further evidence this, and the loss of its pre-eminence economically in the face of Asian development is bringing
about a ‘repositioning’ of the West. Intensification of international contacts via modern transportation and communication systems is
making the world smaller, causing a synthesis politically, socially, and culturally. It is this that has become the hallmark of the 20th
century. Yet, not all are accepting of those innovations which have led to the creation of multinational corporations, international
economic and humanitarian organizations, and the globalization of culture via films/media, art, science, sports, and consumer goods.
One apparent backlash is taking the form of fundamentalism—presently confined for the most part to the Muslim world. In general,
the events of this period developed within the context of the Cold War, unprecedented military build-ups, de-colonization, complex
changes in the global economy, and the transformation from monarchies to democracy or authoritarian regimes.
Topics for Discussion:
1. Continuities and breaks: causes of changes both from the previous period and within this period
2. Globalization of advancements in science and technology, military movements, disease, economy, humanitarian organizations,
and culture
3. War and peace in a global context: World War I, World War II, the Holocaust, League of Nations, United Nations, Cold War,
non-violent peace movements, rise of terrorist organizations
4. Fall of empires and new patterns of nationalism: de-colonization, fascism, racism, genocide, ethnic violence, refugee
populations, authoritarian regimes, fundamentalism, terrorism
5. Effects of major global economic developments: Communism, consumerism, Depression, international economic organizations,
multinational organizations
6. Social reform and social revolution: changing gender roles, feminism, challenges to traditional social structures, new notions of
equality
7. Demographic changes due to rise in world population and migration patterns and subsequent changes in human relationship with
he environment: competition for resources, Green Movement, Green Revolution
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