AP World Exam: Periodization

Ming Admiral Zheng He leads Chinese expeditions throughout the Indian Ocean

The Portuguese, Dutch, British, French, and Spanish form colonies in the Americas

Japanese agricultural workers spread throughout the Pacific

During the Cold War, the democratic United States and the authoritarian communist Soviet Union emerged as superpowers

Mestizo and mulatto classes develop in the Americas

Spanish and Portuguese influence declines in Asia

Land empires like the Russians and the Manchu begin dramatic expansions

Technologies like the compass and astrolabe encouraged long-distance trade

European colonists expose Native Americans to endemic diseases like smallpox

New ship designs, like the carrack, caravel, and fluyt, make maritime exploration possible

The bubonic plague spreads along trade routes

The Zulu kingdom forms to resist European colonization in Africa

Industrialism spreads to Russia, Japan, and the United States

Japan and Western states gained more territories, like German colonies going to Britain and France as mandates

European governments adopt mercantilist policies to protect their economies

The Spanish sponsor the first Columbian voyages

Europeans use force to take African colonies, such as the Belgians in the Congo

The global share of manufacturing shifts to be in Europe and the United States' favor

German and Italian nationalist movements lead to the formation of new nations

The Manchus conquer China and form the Qing Dynasty

Public discontent and economic weakness in communist countries led to the collapse of the Soviet Union

The Xhosa Cattle-killing movement challenges European colonialism in Africa

Turkic and Arabic languages spread widely throughout the Muslim world

African state systems form in Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, and Mali

The middle class forms

Railroads, steamship, and canals make transportation easier

The growth of the plantation economy in the Americas caused a demand for more slaves

Anti-immigration policies such as the White Australia and Chinese Exclusion acts are passed

The British try to force open China's market to sell opium

After the Great Depression, governments began to take a more active role in economic life, like fascist economies

Horses, pigs, and cattle are introduced to the Americas by Europeans

Leaders like Nasser in Egypt & Indira Gandhi in India took on a strong role in guiding economies to promote development

Movements to redistribute land, advocating communism or socialism, developed in Vietnam, Ethiopia, and Iran

Enlightenment philosophies encourage people to challenge political and social orders

Travelers such as Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo wrote about their travels

In communist China, the government controlled the economy through the Great Leap Forward, with repressive policies

International organizations, including the United Nations, formed with the goal of maintaining world peace

Creole elites move into power positions in Spanish America

Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa become British Settler colonies

Slavery is abolished in most of the Western hemisphere

New forms of credit, paper money, and banking houses led to the creation of money economies

The Aztec and Inca political systems are formed in the Americas

Diseases emerged as new epidemics and threats to human populations, such as the Spanish Flu, Ebola, and HIV

The steam engine and internal combustion engine offer more energy use to humans

The release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere led to debates about the nature and causes of climate change

Works of monumental architecture, like the Taj Mahal and Palace of Versailles, are built

The Sunni-Shi'a split in Islam is intensified by the Ottoman-Safavid conflict

Popular and consumer culture became more global, such as reggae, Bollywood, Facebook, BBC, and World Cup soccer

The U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, sought to protect the rights of children, women, and refugees

The Industrial Revolution begins in Europe

Britain officially took colonial control over India

Leaders like Pinochet in Chile, Thatcher in the UK, and Deng in China encouraged free-market economic policies

The devshirme system is introduced in the Ottoman empire as a means of social mobility

Workers unions began to form in industrialized states

The "second industrial revolution" leads to developments in electricity and precision machinery

The first total wars led to increased levels of wartime casualties

American colonial subjects in North America, Haiti, and Latin America rebel for independence

World War I was caused by imperialist expansion, competition for resources, regional conflicts, and an alliance system

Okra and rice are brought to the Americas by African slaves

Proxy wars were fought in states such as Korea, Angola, and Nicaragua

The French Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen is written

The Soviet Union government controlled the national economy through the Five Year Plans, often with repressive policies

Russia had a communist revolution

The Japanese start borrowing extensively from China, including Confucianism

Military technology and tactics such as the atomic bomb and fire-bombing led to increased levels of wartime casualties

The rise of fascist and totalitarian regimes resulted in aggressive militarism of Nazi Germany under Hitler causing WW2

The United Fruit Company, a US corporation, begins operations in Central America

Social Darwnist sentiments develop to justify imperialism

Meiji Japan emerges

Mary Wollstonecraft writes A Vindication of the Rights of Women

Decentralized feudal governments come to power in Japan and various European countries

The factory system develops, concentrating labor in a single location

Concepts of liberalism, socialism, and communism are defined

The Mongol khanates form in Asia

Energy technologies, including the use of nuclear power, increased the production of material goods

Adam Smith lays the foundations for modern capitalism

Syncretic religions such as Sikhism are formed

The Atlantic trade begins, involving the movement of people, goods, and cultures

The rise of extremist groups in power led to genocide and ethnic violence, like in the Holocaust, Armenia, and Cambodia

The Ashanti attempt to resist encroaching European influence in Africa

New forms of forced labor, including mit'a and serfdom are introduced

The Mexican Revolution led to land reform in Mexico

Encomienda and hacienda systems are introduced to subjugate Native Americans

The Protestant Reformation splits the Christian Church in Europe

Diasporic communities of Muslim merchants begin popping up in the Indian Ocean region

Some movements used violence against civilians in an effort to achieve political aims, like Shining Path and al-Qaeda

American silver begins circulating throughout the global economy

The Ottoman and Qing empires collapsed due to a combination of internal and external factors

The Dutch colonize Indonesia

New modes of communication, like radio, and transportation, like air travel reduced the problem of geographic distance

The redrawing of some political boundaries led to the creation of new states like India, Pakistan, Israel, and Cambodia

Chinese and Indians are used as indentured servants by Europeans

Omani and European merchants compete for control in the Indian Ocean

Leaders like Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela, promoted the practice of nonviolence

Asian & African nationalist leaders independence by negotiating, rebelling, or challenging imperial boundaries

The Portuguese construct their global trading post empire

Responses to globalization included anti-IMF and anti-World Bank activism