AP World History Syllabus
Mr. Wells
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course, as designed by College Board, expands upon the traditional World History curriculum by
extending both the years of history covered as well as the depth and complexity of analysis. In addition
to assessing the interactions between various cultures and changes that occur across different time
periods, A.P. World History also includes an analytical writing component for the students.
The course is designed to increase the students’ understanding of history content through a
combination of factual, course content and key, necessary analytical skill(s). The course, while
rigorous in content, is also a skills-based course that focuses on writing historically. The students’ A.P.
exam score is derived from equal parts essay scores and multiple choice score, making a
comprehensive approach to both sections key throughout the school year.
The content is world history from 8000 B.C.E. to the present. The course will be truly global, focusing
on the connections between world civilizations throughout history, and will give students a clear
understanding of today’s interconnected world. Time management is CRUCIAL to the success of all
students in A.P. World History.
To access College Board’s A.P. World History course description, please go to:
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/sub_worldhist.html
Main Texts
Bentley, Thomas E ; Ziegler Herb.F., Traditions & Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past,
McGraw-Hill, Fourth edition, 2008
Possible Supplemental Essays
Beaujard, Philippe. “From Three Possible Iron-Age World-Systems to a Single Afro-Eurasian WorldSystem.” Journal of World History. 21.1 (March 2010): 1-43.
Bentley, Jerry H. “The New World History.” A Companion to Western Historical Thought. Lloyd Kramer
and Sarah Maza. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2002. 393-416.
Christian, David. “Silk Road or Steppe Roads? The Silk Roads in World History.” Journal of World
History. 11.1 (Spring 2000): 1-26.
Daryaee, Touraj. “The Persian Gulf Trade in Late Antiquity.” Journal of World History. 14.1 (Mar 2003):
1-16.
Diamond, Jared. “Intra-Island and Inter-Island Comparison.” Natural Experiments of History. Jared
Diamond and James A. Robinson. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011. 120-141.
Flynn, Dennis O. and Arturo Giráldez. “Born with a ‘Silver Spoon’: The Origin of World Trade in 1571.”
Journal of World History. 6.2 (Fall 1995): 201-221.
Kirch, Patrick V. “Controlled Comparison and Polynesian Cultural Evolution.” Natural Experiments of
History. Jared Diamond and James A. Robinson. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011. 15-52.
Manning, Patrick. “Homo sapiens Populates the Earth: A Provisional Synthesis, Privileging Linguistic
Evidence.” Journal of World History. 17.2 (Jun 2006): 115-158.
McKeown, Adam. “Global Migration, 1846-1940.” Journal of World History. 15.2 (Jun 2004): 155-189.
Northrup, David. “Vasco da Gama and Africa: An Era of Mutual Discovery, 1497-1800.” Journal of World
History. 9.2 (Fall 1998): 189-211.
Nunn, Nathan. “Shackled to the Past: The Causes and Consequences of Africa’s Slave Trades.” Natural
Experiments of History. Jared Diamond and James A. Robinson. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press, 2011. 142-184.
Shaffer, Lynda. “Southernization.” Journal of World History. 5.1 (Spring 1994): 1-21.
Strayer, Robert. “Decolonization, Democratization, and Communist Reform: The Soviet Collapse in
Comparative Perspective.” Journal of World History. 12.2 (Fall 2001): 375-406.
Course Overview
Weekly Schedule
The structure of the course is set up to encourage greater historical thinking skill development through
content.
 Monday is typically a day for skill building, such as crafting historical arguments from historical
evidence (thesis development, essay structure), chronological reasoning, comparison and
contextualization, historical interpretation and synthesis (document analysis), test review, or note-taking
strategies. Most Monday activities will be based on an analysis of the weekly Friday exams.
 Tuesday begins with a small multiple-choice reading quiz, followed by the Doing World History
activity; student notes are scored during the activity. If students pass the quiz with eighty percent or
higher, they receive full credit on the multiple-choice section of the test on Friday.
 Wednesday/Thursday. Students will present their Doing World History posters, read/analyze/discuss
documents or supplemental essays, and write essays within the forty-minute time period. Teacher lecture
on focus content, or a graphic organizer organized around the content, will be presented.
 Friday is a test day. Tests begin with multiple-choice, short answer, identifications, thesis development,
and some document interpretation. Later in the year, the number of multiple-choice is increased and the
short answers are replaced with a full essay, either a comparison or continuity-change over time.
Doing World History
 Students will develop written questions based on the text reading for the week.
 Students, in a small group, will then develop an illustration of the concepts in the question and present
these concept-maps to the class.
Main Text
Students will be asked to take notes out of the main text, Traditions and Encounters. Students will be
taught at least two different methods throughout the year, but each method will incorporate three distinct
elements:
1. Note-taking consisting of a thesis, main section ideas, and evidence.
2. Doing World History questions, which consist of five questions:
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Big Picture – Looking at the main points of the overall chapter
Comparison – Seeing the similarities and differences in two or more major elements
Diffusion – Movement of a concept/item/group
Syncretism – Movement of an external item that then combines with an internal item to develop
something new
 Common Phenomena – Two or more societies/groups/people developing a similar response to a
similar problem without connections
3. SPICE Reflection, using the five themes to write how the chapter illustrates each theme




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Social – Development and Transformation of Social Structures
Political – State Building, Expansion and Conflict
Interaction – Interaction Between Humans and the Environment
Cultural – Development and Interaction of Cultures
Economic – Creation, Expansion and Interaction of Economic Systems
Essay Development
 Students will be give instruction in the three main essay types throughout the first semester, and
practice on these types using exam-tested questions.
 Students will begin with an expository style essay with in-depth discussion of thesis development,
structure, and evidence.
 Students will then work through a DBQ, Comparison, and Continuity/Change Over Time essays in
that order.
 In the second semester, students will write one of the three essays every Wednesday in rotation, for
approximately twelve weeks.
Document Project
Students will keep a document notebook throughout the year. Documents are part of the main text and will
be made up of text, visual, and quantitative sources. For example, students may analyze the following
documents from Period 1: to 600 BCE:
 Map showing the Global Dispersion of Humankind
 Willendorf Venus and Jomon Figures
 Aboriginal Rock Drawings
 Stories from the Dreamtime
 Chart comparing writing in ancient civilizations
 Epic of Gilgamesh
 Law Code of Hammurabi
Students will analyze each document using four different methods:
Read and Interpret the document using SOAPStone (Speaker-Occasion-Audience-Purpose-Subject-tone)
and through annotation
 Develop a Point-of-View statement, which shows the Speaker, their Identity, their Belief, Why they
believe that way, and a Tonal adverb
 Categorize the document using SPICE (five themes)
 Analyze a possible Missing Voice or Document (someone that is in support or opposition to the pointof-view presented in the document)
Supplemental Reading Groups
Students will organize a reading group that will come together and participate in activities centered on the
supplemental readings.
 Groups will consist of four members
 Group members will share responsibilities of interpretation and development of questions
 Questions will consist of Level 1, 2, and 3 questions (content, interpretation, extension)
 Most supplemental reading activities will be through the groups
Grading:
COURSE GRADES: Overall Course Grading Scale
100 – 89.5% = A+, A, A89.4 – 79.5% = B+, B, B79.4 – 69.5% = C+, C, C69.4 – 60% = D+, D, D59.9% and below = F
Course Category Weights / Distribution
Tests, Quizzes & Timed Writing = 60%
Homework & Class Work = 40%
Course Outline
The course follows the periodization set-up by the curriculum framework.
Traditions and Encounters follows a slightly different periodization, which will give the class an
opportunity to discuss how and why the author uses a different schema than the framework.
*The supplemental readings and the unit essay prompt may change from what is currently listed.
Unit 1 – to 600 BCE
Traditions & Encounters
Key Concepts
Content Focus
Supplemental
Unit Essay
Activities
Chapters 1-6
Human Migration, Agricultural Revolution, Comparative Civilizations
1.1 – Big Geography and the Peopling of the Earth
1.2 – Neolithic Revolution and Early Ag Societies
1.3 – Development and Interactions of Early Ag, Pastoral and Urban
Societies
Migrations into Australia and Oceania
Agricultural Development in Papua New Guinea, Americas, Huang He
Mesopotamia and Egypt
Bentley – “New World History”
Manning – “Homo Sapiens”
Beaujard – “Iron-Age”
Analyze the technological and environmental transformations that took
place in the development of human societies to 600 BCE.
Students will develop a comparative graphic organizer that shows the
similarities and differences between the early “cultural hearths” using
SPICE (curricular themes).
Students will read and analyze selections from Bentley’s “New World
History” focusing on historical method. Students will develop
questions as well as developing a comparative chart of the differing
methods discussed in the article.
Students will read and analyze selections from Manning’s “Homo
Sapiens” which uses linguistic evidence of the migration of humanity.
Students will develop questions as well as mapping the diffusion of
humanity based on the linguistic evidence presented. Students will also
focus on Manning’s assertion on how to make linguistic evidence
“historical.”
Students will read and analyze selections from Beaujard’s “Iron-Age”
which uses anthropological evidence to demonstrate an Iron-Age world
system. Students will develop questions as well as mapping the trade
networks that are evident in Afro-Eurasian areas from 1000-750 BCE,
750-350 BCE, and 350-1 BCE. Students will later compare these maps
with Janet Abu-Lughod’s map of the world system of the thirteenth
century and write an argument that supports the world systems theory.
Connects to Bentley’s discussion and the overall curricular theme of
trade and communications.
Unit 2 – 600 BCE to 600
CE
Traditions and Encounters
Key Concepts
Content Focus
Supplemental
Unit Essay
Activities
Unit 3 – 600 CE to 1450
Traditions and Encounters
Key Concepts
Content Focus
Chapters 7-12
Comparative Empires, Comparative Belief Systems, Comparative
Hierarchies
2.1 – Development and Codification of Religious and Cultural
Traditions
2.2 – Development of States and Empires
2.3 – Emergence of Transregional Networks of Communication and
Exchange
Han and Rome
Christianity and Buddhism
African and American Variations
Kirch – “Controlled Comparison”
Daryaee – “Persian Gulf”
Analyze the factors that shaped human societies from 600 BCE to 600
CE.
Students will develop a comparative graphic organizer that shows the
similarities and differences between the belief systems (Daoism,
Confucianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism,
Christianity) using SPICE (curricular themes).
Students will develop a comparative graphic organizer that shows the
similarities and differences between the empires and hierarchies using
SPICE (curricular themes).
Students will read and analyze selections from Kirch’s “Controlled
Comparison” which uses anthropological evidence of linguistics and
social hierarchy to show changes in the spread of Polynesian people.
Students will develop questions and chart the different regions
discussed: Hawai’i, Marquesas, Mangaia. Students will also use a map
of Oceania to show movements of people, ideas, and customs.
Students will read and analyze selections from Daryaee’s “Persian
Gulf” which demonstrates early connections between Southwest and
East Asia through a variety of evidence, including coins. Students will
use their questions to present a whole-class Socratic Seminar.
Additional information should incorporate prior supplemental readings
(Manning, Beaujard) as well as anticipate future discussions about
Islam and interregional networks of exchange.
Students will compare the periodization schemes used by the curricular
framework and the main text, in particular the dates 500 and 600.
Chapters 13-22
Networks of Trade and Communication, Islam, Mongols
3.1 - Expansion and intensification of Communication and Exchange
Networks
3.2 – Continuity and innovation of State Forms and Their Interactions
3.3 – Increased Economic Productive Capacity and Its Consequences
Pastoral People – Xiongnu, Arabs, Masai, Mongols
Sea, Silk, and Sand Roads – Afro-Eurasia and Indian Ocean
Supplemental
Unit Essay
Activities
Unit 4 – 1450 to 1750
Traditions and Encounters
Key Concepts
Content Focus
Supplemental
Unit Essay
Activities
China and the World
Europe on the Rise – Byzantium and Christianity
The World in the 15th Century – Americas, China, Islamic World
Christian – “Silk Road”
Shaffer – “Southernization”
Analyze the changes and continuities in regional and trans-regional
interactions in the period 600 to 1450.
Students will develop a comparative graphic organizer that shows the
similarities and differences between the Sea, Silk, and Sand Roads
using SPICE (curricular themes).
Students will read and analyze selections from Christian’s “Silk Road”
which attempts to place the Silk Road into historical perspective.
Students will develop questions and map the routes illustrated in
Christian’s article, as well as the items traded.
Students will read and analyze selections from Shaffer’s
“Southernization” which shows the impact of Indian economy, culture,
and society on Afro-Eurasia/world. Students will map the movement of
these ideas and their impact.
Chapters 23-28
Columbian Exchange, Imperial Expansion, Religion and Science
4.1 – Globalizing Networks of Communication and Exchange
4.2 – New Forms of Social Organization and Modes of Production
4.3 – State Consolidation and Imperial Expansion
Comparative Empires – Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Islamic
Economic Globalization
Renaissance and Reformation
Scientific Revolution
Northrup – “Vasco da Gama”
Flynn – “Silver Spoon”
Analyze the changes and continuities in the factors that fostered global
interactions from 1450-1750.
Students will develop a comparative graphic organizer that shows the
similarities and differences between the Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and
Islamic empires using SPICE (curricular themes).
Students will read and analyze selections from Northrup’s “Vasco da
Gama” which examines the African response to European
encroachment. Students will develop questions and chart the
historiography presented in the article, showing the changes in
historical thinking and the reasons for these changes.
Students will read and analyze selections from Flynn and Giráldez’s
“Silver Spoon” which examines the creation of a silver world trade
system. Students will use their questions to present a whole-class
Socratic Seminar. Additional information should incorporate prior
supplemental readings (Northrup, Christian, Beaujard) as well as
anticipate future discussions about globalization.
Students will compare the impact of Westernization, as illustrated in
Northrup and Flynn’s articles, with the impact of Southernization, as
illustrated in Shaffer’s article through a debate.
Unit 5 – 1750 to 1900
Traditions and Encounters
Key Concepts
Content Focus
Supplemental
Unit Essay
Activities
Unit 6 – 1900 to date
Traditions and Encounters
Key Concepts
Content Focus
Chapters 29-33
Atlantic Revolutions, Industrial Revolution, Gunpowder Empires,
Colonization
5.1 – Industrialization and Global Capitalism
5.2 – Imperialism and Nation State Formation
5.3 – Nationalism, Revolution and Reform
5.4 – Global Migration
Revolutions – United States, France, Haiti, Latin American
Industrial Development and Expansion
Internal Reform – China, Ottoman, Japan
Colonial Encounters in Africa and Asia
Diamond – “Intra-Island”
McKeown – “Global Migration”
Analyze the changes and continuities in global interactions that
affected world integration, 1750-1900.
Students will develop a comparative graphic organizer that shows the
similarities and differences between the Atlantic revolutions using
SPICE (curricular themes).
Students will read and analyze selections from Diamond’s “IntraIsland” which illustrates two comparative examples through a
geographers lens: border comparisons in Haiti and the Dominican
Republic and Polynesian comparisons with a focus on Rapa Nui.
Students will develop questions and develop a chart of methods used,
how they were employed in the study, and how they could be applied
to other situations. Students will be asked to show how the geographic
study could be applied to further historical situations. Students will also
be asked to make comparisons to Kirch’s article on Polynesia.
Students will read and analyze selections from McKeown’s “Global
Migration” which develops a framework of nineteenth-century
migration. Students will develop questions and focus on the articles
discussion of periodization of migration. Students will develop a clear
and identified periodization of migration patterns and apply the
framework to previous periods.
Chapters 34-40
World Wars, Communism, Independence, Globalization
6.1 – Science and the Environment
6.2 – Global Conflicts and Their Consequences
6.3 – New Conceptualizations of Global Economy, Society, and
Culture
Causes and Consequences of World Wars I and II
Genocide
Global Communism – Russia, China, Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin
America
Decolonization in Africa, Asia, Latin America
Globalization – Economic Development, Feminism, Democratization
Supplemental
Unit Essay
Activities
Nunn – “Shackled to the Past”
Strayer – “Decolonization”
Compare the process of global fragmentation and realignment in TWO
of the regions presented from 1900-date.
Students will develop a comparative graphic organizer that shows the
similarities and differences between global communism using SPICE
(curricular themes).
Students will develop a comparative graphic organizer that shows the
similarities and differences between decolonization in Africa, Asia, and
Latin America using SPICE (curricular themes).
Students will read and analyze selections from Nunn’s “Shackled to the
Past” which shows the relationship between slavery and economic
development. Students will develop questions and then use the
charts/graphs provided in the text, as well as the discussion of
methodology, to analyze the evidence.
Students will read and analyze selections from Strayer’s
“Decolonization” which focuses on the Soviet collapse. Students will
chart out the three different views on the collapse, developing an
argument, which demonstrates how one view is more convincing than
the others. Students will use their questions to present a whole-class
Socratic Seminar. Additional information should incorporate prior
supplemental readings (Nunn, McKeown, Northrup).