FOUNDATIONS: C. 8000 B.C.E.–600 C.E. 6 WEEKS (19–20%)
What students are expected to know:
Major Developments
- Locating world history in the environment and time
Environment
Interaction of geography and climate with the development of human society
The environment as historical actor
Demography: major population changes resulting from human and environmental
Factors
Time
Periodization in early human history
Nature and causes of changes associated with the time span
Continuities and breaks within the time span; e.g., the transition from river
valley civilizations to classical civilizations
Diverse interpretations
What are the issues involved in using “civilization” as an organizing principle
in world history?
What is the most common source of change: connection or diffusion versus
independent invention?
What was the effect of the Neolithic Revolution on gender relations?
- Developing agriculture and technology
Agricultural, pastoral, and foraging societies and their demographic
characteristics (Africa, the Americas, Europe, and Asia)
Emergence of agriculture and technological change
Nature of village settlements
Impact of agriculture on the environment
Introduction of key stages of metal use
- Basic features of early civilizations in different environments: culture, state, and social structure. In addition, students should know enough about two early civilizations to compare them.
Mesopotamia
Egypt
Indus Valley or Harrapan civilization
Shang or Huang He (Yellow River) valley civilization
Mesoamerica and Andean South America
- Classical civilizations
Major political developments in China, India, the Mediterranean, and Mesoamerica
Social and gender structures
Major trading patterns within and among classical civilizations; contacts with adjacent regions
Arts, sciences, and technology
- Major belief systems
Basic features and locations of major world belief systems prior to 600 C.E.
Polytheisms
Hinduism
Judaism
Confucianism
Daoism
Buddhism
Christianity
- Late classical period (200 C.E.–600 C.E.)
Collapse of empires/states (Han China, western portion of the Roman Empire, Gupta)
Movements of peoples (Bantu, Huns, Germans, Polynesians)
Interregional networks by 600 C.E.: trade and the spread of religions
Major Comparisons and Analyses: Examples
Compare major religious and philosophical systems including some underlying similarities in cementing a social hierarchy, e.g., Hinduism contrasted with Confucianism
Compare the role of women in different belief systems—Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, and Hinduism
Understand how and why the collapse of empire was more severe in western
Europe than it was in the eastern Mediterranean or in China
Compare the caste system to other systems of social inequality devised by early and classical civilizations, including slavery
Compare societies that include cities with pastoral and nomadic societies
Compare the development of traditions and institutions in major civilizations, e.g., Indian, Chinese, and Greek/Roman
Describe interregional trading systems, e.g., the Silk Roads
Compare the political and social structures of two early civilizations:
Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus Valley, Shang, and Mesoamerica and Andean South America
Analyze the role of technologies in the growth of large state structures
Examples of the types of information students are expected to know contrasted with examples of what students are not expected to know for the multiple-choice section:
Nature of the Neolithic revolution, but not characteristics of previous stone ages, e.g., Paleolithic and Mesolithic
Economic and social results of the agricultural revolution, but not specific dates of the introduction of agriculture to specific societies
Nature of patriarchal systems, but not specific changes in family structure within a single region
Importance of the introduction of bronze and iron, but not specific inventions or implements
Political structure of classical China (emperor, bureaucracy), but not specific
knowledge of dynastic transitions, e.g., from Qin to Han
Greek approaches to science and philosophy, including Aristotle, but not details about other specific philosophers
Diffusion of major religious systems, but not the specific regional forms of
Buddhism or Aryan or Nestorian Christianity
600 C.E.–1450 7 WEEKS (22%)
What students are expected to know:
Major Developments
- Questions of periodization
Nature and causes of changes in the world history framework leading up to 600 C.E.–1450 as a period
Emergence of new empires and political systems (e.g., Umayyad, ‘Abbasid,
Byzantium, Russia, Sudanic states, Swahili Coast, Tang, Song, and Ming
China, Delhi Sultanate, Mongol, Turkish, Aztec, Inca)
Continuities and breaks within the period (e.g., the effects of the Mongols on international contacts and on specific societies)
- The Islamic world
The rise and role of Dar al-Islam as a unifying cultural and economic force in Eurasia and Africa
Islamic political structures, notably the caliphate
Arts, sciences, and technologies
- Interregional networks and contacts
Development and shifts in interregional trade, technology, and cultural exchange
Trans-Sahara trade
Indian Ocean trade
Silk Roads
Economic innovations (e.g., Tang, Song, and early Ming China, Swahili Coast trade, economic systems in the Americas)
Missionary outreach of major religions
Contacts between major religions, e.g., Islam and Buddhism, Christianity and Islam
Impact of the Mongol empires
- Political systems and cultural patterns
East Asia
China’s expansion
Chinese influence on surrounding areas and its limits (Japan, Vietnam, and Korea)
Change and continuities in Confucianism
The Americas
Apex and decline of the Maya
Rise of the Aztec
Rise of the Inca
Restructuring of Europe
Decentralization—medieval society
Division of Christianity
Revival of cities
Africa
Sudanic empires (Mali, Ghana, Songhay)
Swahili coast
South Asia and Southeast Asia
Delhi Sultanate
Vietnam
Arts, sciences, and technologies
- Demographic and environmental changes
Impact of migrations on Afro-Eurasia and the Americas (e.g., Aztecs, Mongols, Turks, Vikings, and Arabs)
Consequences of plague pandemics in the fourteenth century
Growth and role of cities (e.g., the expansion of urban commercial centers in Song China and administrative centers in Africa and the Americas)
- Diverse interpretations
What are the issues involved in using cultural areas rather than states as units of analysis?
What are the sources of change: nomadic migrations versus urban growth?
Was there a world economic network in this period?
Were there common patterns in the new opportunities available to and constraints placed on elite women in this period?
To what extent was Dar al-Islam a unified cultural/political entity?
Major Comparisons and Analyses: Examples
Compare the role and function of cities in major societies
Analyze gender systems and changes, such as the effects of Islam
Analyze the interactions between Jews, Christians, and Muslims
Compare developments in political and social institutions in both eastern and western Europe
Compare Japanese and European feudalism
Compare European and sub-Saharan African contacts with the Islamic world
Analyze the Chinese civil service exam system and the rise of meritocracy
Examples of the types of information students are expected to know
contrasted with examples of what students are not expected to know for the
multiple-choice section:
Arab caliphate, but not the transition from Umayyad to ‘Abbasid
Mamluks, but not Almohads
Feudalism, but not specific feudal monarchs such as Richard I
Land management systems, but not the European three-field system
Crusading movement and its impact, but not specific crusades
Viking exploration, expansion, and impact, but not individual explorers
Mongol expansion and its impact, but not details of specific khanates
Papacy, but not particular popes
Indian Ocean trading patterns, but not Gujarati merchants
Neoconfucianism, but not the specific contribution of Zhu Xi
1450–1750 6 WEEKS (19–20%)
What students are expected to know:
Major Developments
- Questions of periodization
Continuities and breaks, causes of changes from the previous period and within this period
- Changes in trade, technology, and global interactions; e.g., the Columbian
Exchange, the impact of guns, changes in ship building, and navigational devices
- Knowledge of major empires and other political units and social systems
Aztec, Inca, Ottoman, China, Portugal, Spain, Russia, France, Britain, Tokugawa, Mughal
Characteristics of African kingdoms in general but knowing one (Kongo, Benin, Oyo, Dahomey, Ashanti, or Songhay) as illustrative
Gender and empire (including the role of women in households and in politics)
- Slave systems and slave trade
- Demographic and environmental changes: diseases, animals, new crops, and comparative population trends
- Cultural and intellectual developments
Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment
Comparative global causes and impacts of cultural change (e.g., African contributions to cultures in the Americas)
Major developments and exchanges in the arts (e.g., Mughal, the Americas)
Creation of new religions (Vodun, Zen, Sikhism, Protestantism)
- Diverse interpretations
What are the debates about the timing and extent of European predominance in the world economy?
How does the world economic system of this period compare with patterns of
interregional trade in the previous period?
Major Comparisons and Analyses: Examples
Compare colonial administrations
Compare coercive labor systems: slavery and other coercive labor systems in the Americas
Analyze the development of empire (i.e., general empire building in Asia,
Africa, Europe, and the Americas)
Analyze imperial systems: a European seaborne empire compared with a land-based Asian empire
Compare Russia’s interaction with two of the following (Ottoman Empire,
China, western Europe, and eastern Europe)
Compare Mesoamerican and Andean systems of economic exchange
Examples of the types of information students are expected to know
contrasted with examples of those things students are not expected to know
for the multiple-choice section:
Extent of Ottoman expansion, but not individual states
Slave plantation systems, but not Jamaica’s specific slave system
Institution of the harem, but not Hurrem Sultan
Relations between the Kongo and Portugal, but not individual rulers
Tokugawa Japan’s foreign policy, but not Hideyoshi
Importance of European exploration, but not individual explorers
Characteristics of European absolutism, but not specific rulers
Protestant Reformation, but not Anabaptism or the Huguenots
1750–1914 6 WEEKS (19–20%)
What students are expected to know:
Major Developments
- Questions of periodization
Continuities and breaks; causes of changes from the previous period and within this period
- Changes in global commerce, communications, and technology
Industrial Revolution (transformative effects on and differential timing in different societies; mutual relation of industrial and scientific developments; commonalities)
Changes in patterns of world trade
- Demographic and environmental changes (migrations; end of the Atlantic slave trade; new birthrate patterns; food supply; medicine)
- Changes in social and gender structure (Industrial Revolution; commercial and demographic developments; emancipation of serfs/slaves; tension between work patterns and ideas about gender; new forms of labor systems)
- Political revolutions and independence movements; new political ideas
United States and Latin American independence movements
Revolutions (France, Haiti, Mexico, China)
Rise of nationalism, nation-states, and movements of political reform
Rise of democracy and its limitations: reform; women; racism
- Rise of Western dominance (economic, military, political, social, cultural and artistic, patterns of expansion; imperialism, colonialism, and neocolonialism) and different cultural and political reactions (dissent; reform; resistance; rebellion; racism; nationalism; impact of changing European ideologies on colonial administrations)
- Patterns of cultural and artistic interactions among societies in different parts of the world (African and Asian influences on European art; cultural policies of Meiji Japan)
- Diverse interpretations
What are the debates about the causes and effects of serf and slave emancipation in this period, and how do these debates fit into broader comparisons of labor systems?
What are the debates over the nature of women’s roles in this period? How do these debates apply to industrialized areas, and how do they apply in colonial societies?
What are the debates over the causes of European/British technological innovation versus development in Asia/China?
Major Comparisons and Analyses: Examples
Compare the causes and early phases of the Industrial Revolution in western Europe and Japan
Compare the Haitian and French Revolutions
Compare reaction to foreign interference in the Ottoman Empire, China, India, Southeast Asia, and Japan
Compare nationalism in the following pairs: China and Japan, Egypt and Italy, Pan Africanism and the Indian Congress Movement
Explain forms of Western intervention in Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia
Compare the roles and conditions of elite women in Latin America with those in western Europe before 1850
Examples of the types of information students are expected to know
contrasted with examples of what students are not expected to know for the
multiple-choice section:
Causes of Latin American independence movements, but not specific protagonists
The French Revolution of 1789, but not the Revolution of 1830
Meiji Restoration, but not Iranian Constitutional Revolution
Boxer Rebellion, but not the Crimean War
Suez Canal, but not the Erie Canal
Muhammad Ali, but not Isma’il
Marxism, but not Utopian socialism
Social Darwinism, but not Herbert Spencer
Women’s emancipation movements, but not specific suffragists
1914–PRESENT 6 WEEKS (19–20%)
What students are expected to know:
Major Developments
- Questions of periodization
Continuities and breaks; causes of changes from the previous period and within this period
- War and peace in a global context (the World Wars; colonial soldiers in the First World War; the Holocaust; the Cold War; nuclear weaponry; and international organizations and their effects on the global framework, e.g., globalization of diplomacy and conflict; global balance of power; reduction of European influence; the League of Nations, the United Nations, the Nonaligned Nations)
- New patterns of nationalism (fascism; decolonization; racism, genocide; the breakup of the Soviet Union)
- Effects of major global economic developments (e.g., the Great Depression in Latin America; technology; Pacific Rim; multinational corporations)
- New forces of revolution and other sources of political innovations
- Social reform and social revolution (changing gender roles; family structures; rise of feminism; peasant protest; international Marxism; religious fundamentalism)
- Globalization of science, technology, and culture
Developments in global cultures and regional reactions, including science and consumer culture
Interactions between elite and popular culture and art
Patterns of resistance including religious responses
- Demographic and environmental changes (migrations; changes in birthrates and death rates; new forms of urbanization; deforestation; green/environmental movements; rural to urban shifts)
- Diverse interpretations
Is cultural convergence or diversity the best model for understanding increased intercultural contact in the modern world?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of using units of analysis for the modern world, such as the nation, the world, the West, and the developing world?
Major Comparisons and Analyses: Examples
Compare patterns and results of decolonization in Africa and India
Pick two revolutions (Russian, Chinese, Cuban, Iranian) and compare their effects on the roles of women
Compare the effects of the World Wars on areas outside of Europe
Compare legacies of colonialism and patterns of economic development in two of three areas (Africa, Asia, and Latin America)
Analyze nationalist ideologies and movements in contrasting European and colonial environments
Compare the different types of independence struggles
Examine global interactions in cultural arenas (e.g., reggae, art, sports)
Analyze the global effects of the Western consumer society
Compare major forms of twentieth-century warfare
Assess different proposals (or models) for economic growth in the developing world and the social and political consequences
Examples of the types of information students are expected to know
contrasted with examples of what students are not expected to know for the
multiple-choice section:
Effects of global wars, but not specific battles in the World Wars
Cultural and political transformations resulting from the wars, but not French political and cultural history
Authoritarian regimes, but not Mussolini’s or Vargas’s internal policies
Feminism and gender relations, but not Simone de Beauvoir or Huda Shaarawi
The growth of international organizations, but not the history of the ILO
Colonial independence movements, but not the resolutions passed by the Indian National Congress
The issue of genocide, but not Cambodia, Rwanda, or Kosovo
The internationalization of popular culture, but not the Beatles