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AP World History-Essential
Questions to Know
FOUNDATIONS UNIT (8000BCE-1000CE)
1. What does civilization mean?
2. How is the term "civilized" misused?
3. Compare and contrast the terms "civilized," "barbarians,"
and "inferior peoples."
4. Describe the culture of Paleolithic hunting and gathering
societies.
5. What is the difference between hunting and gathering
societies and intensive hunting and gathering societies?
6. Where were the first sedentary agricultural communities
established? How are the first sites connected to the
spread of sedentary agriculture?
7. How did the Neolithic agrarian revolution transform the
material life and social organization of human
communities?
8. What is the importance of private property in civilization?
9. What is the connection between irrigation systems and
civilization?
27. What do we know about the status of women in each
civilization?
28. How does the percentage of the earth inhabited by
civilizations compare to that for migratory societies?
What is the reason for the difference?
29. Define the two principal types of human ecological
adaptation.
30. Define the two intermediary patterns of human ecological
adaptation.
31. What are the types of pastoral nomadism and where are
they located geographically?
32. Discuss pastoral nomadic social organization.
33. What was the nature of nonmilitary relationships
between nomads and civilizations?
34. What was the nature of the military relationships
between nomads and civilizations?
35. Why were nomads unable to generate civilizations of
their own?
36. What were the political, social, and economic
consequences of the period of the Warring States?
37. Describe Confucius's political philosophy.
10. Why did the earliest civilization emerge in Mesopotamia?
38. What changes in Confucius's political philosophy were
made by his disciples?
11. How did the Sumerians politically organize early
Mesopotamia?
39. Describe the Daoist alternative to Confucian political
philosophy.
12. What factors defined civilization in Sumerian culture?
40. What was the significance of the Qin dynasty?
13. Why were cities important in Mesopotamian civilization?
41. Discuss the impact of Sunzi's political philosophy.
14. Was writing indispensable to civilization?
42. How did the Han institutionalize Confucian political
philosophy?
15. What are some of the great social losses associated with
civilization?
16. What was the form of political organization in ancient
Egypt?
17. What other early centers of civilization developed in the
Middle East and Africa besides Mesopotamia and Egypt?
18. In what ways was Harappan civilization like
Mesopotamian civilization?
19. What is the evidence for an autocratic form of
government in Harappan society?
20. What were the causes for the decline of Harappan
society?
21. What impact did the Aryan migration have on the level of
Harappan civilization?
22. How was Aryan society organized?
23. What was the nature of the formative Chinese agricultural
system?
24. What was the nature of the political organization of Shang
China?
25. What was the social organization of Shang China?
26. What was the relationship between Shang religion and
the development of writing?
43. Discuss the status of each of the following groups during
Han times: scholar-gentry, women, peasants, merchants,
artisans.
44. How does Greek civilization compare and contrast to
other civilizations?
45. Define a polis. How did the polis change between 800
and 400 B.C.E.?
46. How did Greek city-states work together? Why were they
often separate?
47. Compare the political structure of Hellenistic Greece to
that of the Greek world before 400 B.C.E.
48. What was the function of philosophy in Greek culture?
49. What, according to the authors, were the principles of
Greek culture?
50. Why was the Greek economy so market-oriented?
51. Discuss the role of slavery in Greek economic and social
life.
52. Discuss the status of women in society. What effect did
class position have on women's roles?
53. Compare and contrast Roman civilization to Greek
civilization.
54. Describe the republican constitution of Rome.
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55. How did the territorial expansion of the republic affect
the society and politics of Rome?
56. Compare and contrast Greek and Roman culture.
57. Describe the constitution of the Roman Empire.
58. Compare and contrast Greek and Roman social
organization.
59. Why did Christianity spread within the Roman empire?
60. How did the status of women in the Roman empire
compare with women's position in other contemporary
empires?
61. What was the legacy of the Roman empire to successor
Western civilizations?
62. What were the fundamental patterns of Indian
civilization?
63. What were the sources of pre-imperial brahmanic
authority?
64. How was the caste system organized?
65. How did the rise of Buddhism represent a challenge to the
brahmans?
66. Compare and contrast the organization of the Maurya and
Gupta empires.
67. What were the keys to the brahmans' recovery in India?
68. Compare the status of women in classical India with other
contemporary societies.
69 Compare and contrast the civilizations of the Americas
with those of the Old World.
70. How did humans get to the Americas?
71. Discuss the origins of sedentary agriculture and staple
crops in the Americas.
72. What were the similarities and differences among the
Olmec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, Maya, and Toltec
civilizations of Mesoamerica?
73. What were the major cultures of North America?
74. What was the nature of social organization within
Andean society?
75. Compare and contrast Andean and Mesoamerican
civilizations.
76. How did the diffusion of agriculture and iron metallurgy in
Africa demonstrate relationships to core civilizations?
77. What was the scope and nature of the migrations of the
Bantu-speaking peoples?
83. How did political instability affect China and India?
84. What are the causes for the fall of the western Roman
Empire?
85. What were the results of the fall of the western Roman
Empire?
86. Compare and contrast the doctrines of Buddhism and
Christianity.
87. How did the map of civilization alter as a result of cultural
diffusion after the disruption of the classical empires?
88. What was the fate of the nomadic invaders who
contributed to the downfall of the classical empires?
POST-CLASSICAL UNIT (1000-1450)
1. What was the nature of bedouin society before
Muhammad received his revelations?
2. How did Islam address the fundamental problems in
Arabian society?
3. How was the succession dispute over the office of caliph
finally settled?
4. What was the nature and extent of the Umayyad Empire?
5. What events led to the fall of the Umayyads?
6. How did the Abbasid Empire differ from the Umayyad
Empire?
7. What were the achievements of the Arab phase of Islamic
development ending in 750?
8. Did women in the Islamic world have more or less freedom
than women in other contemporary societies?
9. What were the causes for the weaknesses of the later
Abbasid Empire?
10. What was the position of women in the Abbasid Empire?
11. Describe the economy of the later Abbasid Empire.
12. Discuss theological developments within Islam during the
Abbasid Empire.
13. Discuss the stages of Islamic incursion into India.
14. To what extent were Muslims successful in converting
Indians to Islam?
15. What do the authors describe as the "common elements"
in African societies?
16. How did Islam originally enter Africa?
78. How did the western African state of Ghana rise to
prominence?
17. What were the Sudanic states and how were they
organized?
79. What were the similarities between the Celtic, Germanic,
and Slavic cultures of Europe?
18. How did Islam and the beliefs of indigenous societies fuse
among African peoples?
80. What was the nature of the indigenous culture of Japan
prior to the 5th century C.E.?
19. What was the connection between East Africa and Islam?
81. How did Japanese society change during the 5th and 6h
centuries C.E.?
82. What changes do the authors think necessary for
identifying a new period in world history?
20. Where did cultures in Africa develop that were not
impacted by Islam? What was the nature of their
organization?
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21. Why do the authors spend more time talking about
cultures introduced into Africa than indigenous African
cultures?
51. What was the overall impact of the Tang-Song era on
Chinese history?
22. What is the significance of the Byzantine Empire to the
civilization of Europe?
53. What led to the failure of the Taika reforms and what was
the political result?
23. Compare and contrast the development of civilization in
eastern and western Europe.
54. Describe the nature of Japanese government between the
Gumpei wars and the Onin war.
24. How does Orthodox Christianity differ from Roman
Catholicism?
55. What was the nature of Japanese society and economy
during the period of the daimyos?
25. Discuss the similarities in Byzantine and Chinese political
organization.
56. How was Sinification imposed on Korea and how did it
affect the social development of the country?
26. What are the reasons for the decline of the Byzantine
Empire?
57. What accounts for the cultural differences between
Vietnamese and Chinese?
27. How did the Byzantine Empire influence the development
of Russia?
58. What was the nature of Vietnamese government
following the expulsion of the Chinese?
28. How did Eastern Europe fall behind Western Europe in
terms of political development?
59. What were the common elements of Chinese culture
passed to all three of the satellite civilizations?
29. What defines the postclassical period in Western Europe?
60. How was East Asian civilization different from other
postclassical civilizations?
30. What were the signs of vitality in Western Europe?
31. Define manorialism and feudalism.
32. What developments in ninth and tenth-century Western
Europe pointed the way to political and economic
recovery?
33. Describe the various political units of Western Europe
between 1000 and 1400.
34. How was theology linked to classical rationalism during
the Middle Ages?
35. What were the signs of economic prosperity after 1000?
36. What were the political values of the Middle Ages?
37. What were the crises of the later Middle Ages?
38. What was the relationship of the Aztecs to the Toltecs?
39. What was the political and economic organization of the
Aztec empire?
40. What was the social organization of the Aztec empire?
41. What was the political and economic organization of the
Inca empire?
42. What was the social organization of the Inca empire?
43. How did the other Indian groups of the Americas differ
from the imperial cultures?
44. How were American societies different from European
society?
45. How did the Sui rise to power and why did they collapse?
46. In what way was the rise of the Tang associated with the
Confucian renaissance?
47. What accounts for the decline of the Tang dynasty?
48. In what way was the Song empire weaker than the Tang?
49. What were the aspects of economic prosperity during the
Tang-Song era?
50. Discuss the status of women during the Tang-Song era.
52. What innovations were made during the Tang-Song era?
61. What were the signs of decline in the Middle East and in
China?
62. What accounts for the relative rise of the West?
63. Describe the nature of the Italian Renaissance. In what
way was it a strictly Italian experience?
64. What was the nature of early Western exploration and
colonial patterns?
65. What accounts for the relative decline of civilizations
outside the world network?
66. Summarize the transitions taking place in world history
ca. 1400.
67. What was the nature of the military organization
established by Chinggis Khan?
68. What was the nature of the administration of the Mongol
empire under Chinggis Khan?
69. What was the impact of the Mongol conquest of Russia
and of the Islamic heartlands?
70. What was the impact of the Mongol conquest on Chinese
society and political structure?
71. What were the positive aspect of the Mongol conquests?
72. How did the conquests of Timur-i Lang contrast with
those of the Mongols?
EARLY MODERN UNIT (1450-1750)
1. What is the historical periodization of the major pattern
change in Western Europe? What are the major trends?
2. What are the major differences between the Italian
Renaissance and the Northern Renaissance?
3. What Protestant churches were established by the
Reformation? What was the nature of religious warfare?
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4. Do the religious differences between Europeans resemble
the arguments between different groups of believers in
the other major world religions?
5. Describe the causes and results of the commercial
revolution.
6. What was the scientific revolution? What were some
major discoveries?
7. What are the elements of absolute monarchy? Where did
absolute monarchs develop?
32. What were the similarities and differences between the
three Muslim empires?
33. What were the causes of Ottoman decline in the 17th
century?
34. What were the similarities and differences in the decline
of the Abbasid and Ottoman empires?
35. Compare and contrast the social and economic
organization of the Ottomans and Safavids.
36. Discuss the reasons for the failure of the Mughal dynasty.
8. What was the Enlightenment? How did it expand on the
scientific revolution?
37. What weaknesses were common to all of the Muslim
empires?
9. What technological innovations made the global
domination of the West possible?
38. Discuss the stages in the Portuguese exploration and
penetration of Africa.
10. Describe the early exploration of the world by the West.
39. Trace the changes in the volume of the Atlantic slave
trade between 1450 and 1850.
11. What was the Colombian exchange?
12. Define the terms "core area" and "dependent zone."
13. What areas remained outside the new global economy
prior to 1600? What areas were added in the
seventeenth century?
14. How did British and French North America differ from
other European colonies?
15. What were the results of the creation of a world
economy?
16. How did the Mongol occupation affect Russian
civilization?
17. What was the nature of Russian expansion under the
Ivans?
18. What was the impact of Westernization under Peter the
Great?
40. What was the demographic impact of the African slave
trade on the sub-Saharan region?
41. Discuss the arguments concerning the profitability of the
Slave trade.
42. How did the slave trade affect African state formation?
43. What was the Mfecane and how did it affect southern
Africa?
44. What was the social structure of American slave-based
societies?
45. Why did the slave trade come to an end?
46. What was the nature of the Asian sea trading network?
47. What did the Portuguese discover when they arrived at
Calicut and how did they respond?
19. What was the extent of Westernization under Catherine
the Great?
48. How were the Dutch able to displace the Portuguese and
how did their participation in the Asian trading network
differ from the Portuguese?
20. What was the nature of Russian serfdom?
49. Where did the Europeans establish tribute systems?
21. Why did Russia become economically dependent on the
West?
50. How successful were European Christian missionary
efforts by the early 1660s?
22. What is the basis for the culture of the Russian masses?
51. How did the Ming restore the traditional Chinese forms of
government?
23. What characteristics did Eastern Europe share with
Russia?
24. What aspects of Iberian society were transferred to the
New World?
25. What model for American colonization was established in
the Caribbean?
26. What was the nature of the exploitation of Indians in the
Americas?
27. Discuss the economy of the American colonies.
28. Discuss the nature of the Spanish system of government
in the American colonies.
29. How did the discovery of gold and diamonds change the
economic organization of Brazil?
30. Describe the social hierarchy of the American colonies.
31. What was the nature of the 18th-century reforms in
Portuguese and Spanish colonies?
52. Why did the Chinese withdraw from commercial
expansion?
53. What steps led to the restoration of the Japanese
shogunate?
54. Why did the Japanese resort to isolation as a response to
European expansion?