AP World History Syllabus
Program objective:
The AP World History course is an academic, yearlong course with an emphasis on non-Western
history. The course relies heavily on college-level texts, primary source documents, and outside
readings. Students will be required to participate in class discussions, and in group and individual
projects. A special emphasis will be given to historical writing through essay and document-based
questions (DBQ). In addition, objective exams, simulations, and integrated computer-technology
assignments will also be given.
Six APWH Themes
1. The dynamics of change and continuity across the world history periods covered in this course,
and the causes and processes involved in major changes of these dynamics.
2. Patterns and effects of interaction among societies and regions: trade, war, diplomacy, and
international organizations.
3. The effects of technology, economics, and demography on people and the environment
(population growth and decline, disease, labor systems, manufacturing, migrations, agriculture,
weaponry).
4. Systems of social structure and gender structure (comparing major features within and among
societies, and assessing change and continuity).
5. Cultural, intellectual, and religious developments, including interactions among and within
societies.
6. Changes in functions and structures of states and in attitudes toward states and political
identities (political culture), including the emergence of the nation-state (types of political
organization).
Texts
Brun, Forman, and Brodsky. Reviewing Global History and Geography. NYC, NY: Amsco,
2003.
Diamond. Guns, Germs, and Steel. NYC, NY: Norton, 1999.
Ellis & Esler. World History, Connections to Today. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall,
2001.
Kishlansky. Sources of World History: Readings for World Civilization. Albany, NY:
West/Wadsworth, 1999.
Lunger. Global History and Geography, Readings and Documents. NYC, NY: Amsco.
Reilly. Worlds of History: A Comparative Reader. NYC, NY: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2004.
Course Requirements:
Students will participate in the following types of evaluations:
 Multiple-choice quizzes & tests
 Essay writing & analysis: comparison essay, document based question essay, changeover-time essay
 State Building Summit
 Reform and Reaction Simulation
 Primary source analysis
 Journal review
At the completion of the AP World History course, students will be able to:
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Construct and evaluate arguments: use evidence to make plausible arguments
Use documents and other primary data: develop the skills necessary to analyze point of view,
context, and bias, and to interpret information;
Develop the ability to assess issues of change and continuity over time;
Enhance the capacity to handle diversity of interpretations through analysis of context, bias,
and frame of reference.
See global processes over time and space while also acquiring the ability to connect local
developments to global ones and to move through levels of generalizations from the global to
the particular;
Develop the ability to compare within and among societies, including comparing societies'
reactions to global processes;
Develop the ability to assess claims of universal standards yet remaining aware of human
commonalities and differences; putting culturally diverse ideas and values in historical
context, not suspending judgment but developing understanding.
Develop a global perspective to help organize and select information;
Refine and extend their habits of comparison to help build meaning; and
Acquire the contextualizing habit to help promote understanding of so many new and
challenging ideas.
Grading Policy:
Process: 33%, including: Quizzes, Homework, Classwork, Participation
Projects: 33%, including: Summer essays, Comparative, DBQ, Change-over-time essays,
Research project(s), End-of-year cumulative project
Performance: 34%, including: Tests
Course outline:
The AP World History course is designed to focus on seeing the ‘big picture’ as it relates to world
history and answer essential questions relating to the course of study.
The course studies patterns and impact of interaction among major societies; the relationship of
change and continuity across world history; the impact of technology and demography on people
and the environment; systems of social structure and gender structure; cultural and intellectual
developments and interactions among and within societies; changes in functions and structures of
states and in attitudes toward states and political identities.
Unit 1 – Foundations, 8000BCE – 600CE
6 weeks allotted for this unit of study
Essential questions for Foundations include: what are the changes and continuities from
8000BCE to 600CE; how does a civilization assert and legitimize authority; how does syncretism
impact the spread of religions; what was the impact of trade during the classical period’ and what
causes empires to fall?
Topics
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Classical societies, including: Greece, India, Rome, China
Spread of religions, including: Buddhism, Christianity, Jewish Diaspora, Hinduism
Role of trade in classical societies, including: Silk road, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean Sea
Fall of classical societies, including: Han, Rome, Gupta
Major student work assignments:
1. Analysis and class discussion of Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, & Steel. (This was
assigned summer reading) Focus questions include: What is Yali’s question? Why
does history unfold differently on different continents? Why did humans bother to
leave Africa at all and go to such far away places as Australia and the Americas?
Did they decide that it was time to colonize the world? Were they driven by
curiosity about the unknown? Did they simply stumble and drift mindlessly from
place to place? None of the above? How did people adapt to their new
environments? Why was food production a “prerequisite for the development of
guns, germs and steel?” Where is the Fertile Crescent? Why is it called that? Why
do you think that we regard the Fertile Crescent as a great early center of farm
production, but we rarely think of it today in that way? What advantages did the
Fertile Crescent have that made it the earliest center we know of domestication
and food production? Why did agriculture never arise independently in some
places where it could have? Why in places did people turn to farming much
earlier in some places than others? Diamond states: The Austronesian expansion
“was among the biggest population movements in the last 6000 years.” How
would you briefly explain that statement? What does Diamond mean when he
says, “Before the recent overseas expansion of Europeans speaking IndoEuropean languages, Austronesian was the most wide-spread language family in
the world.” Where is Taiwan, and what is its importance in the history of the
spread of Austronesian-speaking peoples? What does Diamond mean by the
Austronesian “cultural package?” How can we use modern languages to
reconstruct some of the features of societies that existed 3000 to 4000 years ago?
2. Journal of GGS, summer map work, summer essays – introduction to DBQ &
comparative.
3. Comparative essay writing & analysis; peer analysis of essays; self-analysis; review &
analysis of released essays from previous AP exams.
4. Religions & philosophies project. Students to research & present findings on the major
religions & philosophies, including: Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism,
Judaism, Christianity, Islam*, Sikhism* (* while not a part of this Foundations Unit,
these are a natural fit into this project for continuity of this theme). Also presented are
humanism, agnosticism, and atheism.
5. Multiple choice test in AP format (length of questions, language incorporated, analysis of
content, number of distracters, etc.)
6. Journal containing: notes; homework; response to, and analysis of, primary source
documents.
Unit 2 – 600-1450 CE
6 weeks allotted for this unit of study
Essential questions for 600-1450 include: are the postclassical empires a recreation of the past
of something new; is decentralization a more positive or negative factor for a civilization; how
did migrations shape and influence societies; how did climate, technology and communication
change from 600 to 1450; how did the development and spread of Islam impact the political,
social, and economic structures of the period; is the “middle ages” or “dark ages” an accurate
term for the period; how did interaction influence the period; what was the impact of nomadic
migrations on settled societies; what are the causes and effects of shifts in global dominance; how
were gender roles shaped by religion; what was the economic, social, political and religious role
and impact of cities during this period; what were the changes and continuities from 600 to 1450?
Topics:
1. Political developments, including: “New Empire” (Tang, Arab Caliphates, Byzantine),
Decentralized states (India, Western Europe, Japan), Bantu migration and stateless
societies
2. Climate, Technology and Communication, including: Song Dynasty, Chinese Millennium
3. Nomadic Migrations and Empires, including: Turks, Mongols
4. Impact of Interaction, including: West African kingdoms, East African city-states,
Europe during the High Middle Ages, Crusades, Cross-cultural interactions, Long
distance trade, Missionary campaigns, Agricultural and technological diffusion, Plague,
Travelers (Ibn Battuta, Marco Polo)
5. Post Mongol and Plague Recovery, including: Europe, China
6. Religion and Gender Roles
7. Southernization
8. Role of cities
Major student work assignments:
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DBQ essay. Self-analysis; peer review; review of released AP exam essays.
Multiple choice exam
Introduction of change over time concepts (essays and projects)
Journal of notes, homework, response to, and analysis of, primary source documents.
Unit 3 – 1450-1750
7 weeks allotted for this unit of study (including Winter Break)
Essential questions for 1450-1750 include: how did the production and exploitation of a
commodity impact global developments; how do forced labor systems reflect the time and society
they take place in; how did the world change from an Asian centered economy to a global world
economy; how did global interaction affect state building; how did intellectual developments in
China and Europe shape their future courses; what were the changes and continuities from 1450
to 1750?
Topics:
1. State Building, including: Islamic Empires (Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal), Incan Empire,
Songhai, Kongo, Spanish & French overseas expansion/empire, Qing dynasty, Russian
empire, Tokugawa shogunate
2. Impact of Trade, including: Trading post empires, Role and impact of silver, Role and
impact of sugar
3. Systems of forced labor, including: African slavery, Atlantic slave trade, Russian
serfdom, Encomienda system
4. Political and Intellectual Changes, including: Ming dynasty, Neoconfucianism,
Renaissance, Enlightenment
Major student work assignments:
1. Change over time project. Students to work in pairs to develop a ‘storybook’ explaining
the change over time to a given region of the world. Students then present their work to
the class, so that all students are exposed to all regions of the world. Time period: 6001750.
2. Change over time essay: introduction, self-analysis, peer review, analysis of released AP
exam essays.
3. Multiple choice exam
4. Journal of notes, homework, response to, and analysis of, primary source documents.
5. Midterm exam – “AP-like” test format: 50 multiple choice questions & choice of 2 out of
3 essays. Testing time 2 hours.
Unit 4 – 1750-1914
6 weeks allotted for this unit of study
Essential questions for 1750-1914 include: what are the causes and effects of major revolutions
of the period; what are the successes and failures of revolutionary movements; what were the
global implications of the Age of Revolutions; what were the political, social, and economic
effects of industrialization, both locally and globally; how did industrialization change daily life;
what were the motives of imperialism; how is imperialism connected to industrialization; how did
imperialism both help and hinder societies; what was the global impact and legacy of
imperialism; how did intellectual and economic changes affect emancipation movements; how
were gender roles affected by cultural, economic and intellectual developments of the period;
what were the major changes and continuities from 1750-1914?
Topics:
1. Revolutions and Independence Movements, including: Enlightenment Ideas, North
America, France, Haiti, Mexico, South America
2. Nationalism, including: German, Italian, Zionism
3. Industrialization, including: Causes, Effects, Development of socialism, Demographic
change, Gender roles, Effect on family
4. Imperialism, including: Motives, India, Africa, Southeast Asia, Japan
5. Reform Movements, including: Ottoman empire, Russia, China, Japan
6. Emancipation, including: Slavery, Serfdom, Changing roles of women
Major student work assignments:
1. Journal of notes, homework, response to, and analysis of, primary source documents.
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Multiple choice test
Industrial Revolution exercise
Imperialism exercise
Refining essay writing – DBQ, comparative, change-over time.
Unit 5 – 1914-present day
7 weeks allotted for this unit of study (including Spring Break)
Essential questions for 1914 – present include: as the nature of war changed, what were the
effects; what were the global effects of the global wars; how did the development of the bipolar
world shape world events; how did notions of identity change; what were the causes and effects
of this change; why did nationalism and identity cause ethnic conflict; how did the 20th century
revolutions differ from earlier revolutions; how does global interaction necessitate the formation
of political and economic international organizations; how did the spread of global processes,
such as technological changes, affect the environment; how does society reflect globalization;
what are the major changes and continuities from 1914 to the present?
Topics:
1. Global Wars, including: Causes of WW1, Global effects of WW1, Global depression,
Rise of fascist states, WW2, Origins of cold war
2. Independence Movements, including: India, Africa, Vietnam
3. Revolutions, including: Russia, China, Mexico, Iran
4. Ethnic Conflict and Genocide, including: Armenia, Cambodia, Rwanda
5. International Organizations, including: United Nations, European Union, Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries, North American Free Trade Agreement
6. Democratic Movements and Economic Change, including: China, India, Latin America,
Russia
7. Nationalist and Identity Movements, including: Zionism, Palestinian, Egypt, Vietnam,
South Africa, Islamic fundamentalism
8. Environmental issues
9. Societal Changes, including: changing gender roles, internationalization of culture
Major student work assignments:
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Journal
Multiple choice exam
Refining essay writing – DBQ, comparative, change-over-time
Global interaction exercise.
“Unit 6”: Review for AP test, end-of-year cumulative project, final exam
2 weeks for AP review / test prep
4 weeks allotted for end-of-year project and final exams
Major student work assignments:
1. Current events project – identifying and evaluating news articles on how they
apply to the six APWH themes covered in class.
2. Multiculturalism in cinema. Analysis of films as they relate to the six APWH
themes. Films to possibly include: Monsoon Wedding, Bend it like Beckham,
Whale Rider, Behind the Veil.
These two projects will be combined to form the students’ final exam.