AP World History: Modern covers 1200 CE to present across 6 periods. These key terms are the people, empires, trade networks, and concepts that appear in DBQ documents, LEQ prompts, and MCQ stimulus materials — at the depth you need to argue with them, not just recognize them.
Period 1: 1200–1450
Mongol Empire — largest contiguous land empire; Pax Mongolica enabled trade along Silk Roads; destroyed Baghdad (1258), devastated Islamic scholarship; facilitated spread of plague. Silk Roads — overland and maritime trade networks; spread Buddhism, Islam, technology (printing, gunpowder), and disease. Mali Empire — West African kingdom; Mansa Musa's hajj (1324–25) displayed immense wealth, spread Islam; gold and salt trade. Song Dynasty China — technological innovations (gunpowder, compass, printing); commercial revolution; paper money. Indian Ocean Trade — dhow voyages, monsoon winds; Swahili coast, Arab merchants, Indian traders; spread Islam across Southeast Asia.
Period 2: 1450–1750
Columbian Exchange — transfer of crops (potatoes, maize to Europe; wheat, horses to Americas), diseases (smallpox decimated indigenous populations), and people. Atlantic slave trade — forced migration of 12+ million Africans; middle passage; triangular trade (manufactured goods → enslaved people → sugar/cotton → Europe). Ottoman Empire — controlled trade routes between Europe and Asia; devshirme system (Christian boys conscripted into Janissaries); declined as oceanic trade bypassed them. Mughal Empire — Muslim dynasty over largely Hindu population; Akbar's religious tolerance vs. Aurangzeb's persecution; Taj Mahal. European joint-stock companies — Dutch/British East India Companies; private profit + state power in colonialism.
Period 3: 1750–1900
Industrial Revolution — Britain first (coal, iron, steam); global spread uneven; created industrial proletariat, urbanization, pollution. Atlantic Revolutions — American (1776), French (1789), Haitian (1791–1804), Latin American (1810s–20s); spread Enlightenment ideals of liberty and equality. Social Darwinism — misapplication of evolution to justify European colonialism and racial hierarchies. Berlin Conference (1884–85) — European powers divided Africa; "Scramble for Africa"; bypassed African sovereignty. Meiji Restoration (1868) — Japan modernized selectively to resist Western colonization; industrialized and built empire.
Period 4: 1900–present
WWI causes (MAIN): Militarism, Alliance system, Imperialism, Nationalism. Russian Revolution (1917): Bolsheviks/Lenin; created Soviet communist state; Comintern spread revolution globally. Decolonization: Post-WWII independence movements in Asia and Africa; India (1947), Ghana (1957), Algeria (1962). Cold War: Bipolar world, nuclear deterrence, proxy wars (Korea, Vietnam, Angola); Non-Aligned Movement; détente. Globalization: WTO, multinational corporations, outsourcing; economic interdependence and inequality.
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