AP World History: Modern cheat sheet

Song China (960–1279) used Confucian civil-service exams, paper money, movable-type printing, and gunpowder; Neo-Confucianism reinforced patriarchal family authority.

The Abbasid Caliphate fragmented after the 1258 Mongol sack of Baghdad; Islamic scholarship in Cairo, Córdoba, and Samarkand preserved Greek texts and advanced algebra and medicine.

The Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526) introduced Islam and Persianate administration to northern India while competing with the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire in the south.

Mali's wealth rested on trans-Saharan gold and salt; Mansa Musa's 1324 hajj and Timbuktu's mosques and manuscripts display its Islamic connections.

The Aztec Empire used tribute and human sacrifice to legitimize power in Mesoamerica; the Inca used mit'a labor and quipu records to govern the Andes.

European feudalism decentralized power among lords and vassals; the manorial system tied peasants to land, while the Catholic Church held extensive authority.

In Japan, the Kamakura shogunate and samurai code (bushidō) coexisted with the emperor's ceremonial role; feudalism persisted into the Tokugawa era.

Buddhism spread from India to China, Korea, and Japan (Mahayana, Chan/Zen), while Hinduism consolidated in South India under Chola and Vijayanagara patronage.

Silk Roads carried silk, horses, Buddhism, and plague; caravanserai and camel caravans lowered travel costs across Central Asia.

Indian Ocean trade depended on monsoon winds; lateen sails and dhow ships enabled bulk trade in spices, textiles, and porcelain through Malacca and Calicut.

Trans-Saharan caravans exchanged West African gold and slaves for North African salt; Islam spread to Ghana, Mali, and Songhai.

The Mongol Empire (1206–1368) established Pax Mongolica, protected trade routes, and connected China and Persia, but its collapse fragmented overland trade.

The Black Death (1347–1351) traveled along trade routes, killing perhaps one-third of Europe's population and disrupting labor systems.

Swahili city-states such as Kilwa and Mombasa linked East African gold and ivory to Indian Ocean markets and blended Bantu and Islamic culture.

Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo illustrate increased cross-cultural travel and the exchange of geographical knowledge along trade networks.

The Ming voyages of Zheng He (1405–1433) demonstrated Chinese naval power before the state turned toward isolation and focused on internal trade.

Gunpowder empires-Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal-centralized power by using cannon and firearms to overcome mounted aristocracies.

The Ottoman devshirme recruited Christian boys for the Janissaries and bureaucracy, creating a loyal slave elite dependent on the sultan.

The millet system let non-Muslim communities manage personal law and taxes, preserving religious diversity while asserting Ottoman sovereignty.

Safavid Iran established Twelver Shi'ism as the state religion, distinguishing itself from Sunni Ottoman rivals and fostering Persian cultural florescence.

Mughal emperors Akbar and Aurangzeb combined military conquest, zamindar revenue collection, and religious policies ranging from tolerance to reimposition of jizya.

Qing China (1644–1912) preserved the civil-service exam and Confucian order while the Eight Banners secured Manchu military dominance.

Russia's Romanov tsars expanded eastward for fur and warm-water ports, enserfing peasants and using Orthodox Christianity to legitimize autocracy.

Tax farming and coerced labor such as corvée financed land empires, but local elites often retained autonomy.

The Columbian Exchange moved maize, potatoes, and tomatoes to Afro-Eurasia and wheat, horses, and smallpox to the Americas, causing demographic collapse.

Portugal's caravel and lateen sail enabled voyages around Africa; Vasco da Gama's 1498 route to India challenged Muslim Indian Ocean trade.

Spain's encomienda and repartimiento forced Native labor; the mita system supplied Potosí silver, which flowed to Manila and China via the galleon trade.

The Atlantic slave trade transported roughly 12 million Africans; the Middle Passage and plantation economies produced sugar, tobacco, and cotton for European markets.

Joint-stock companies such as the Dutch and English East India Companies pooled capital and secured monopolies, laying groundwork for colonial rule in Asia.

Mercantilism held that national power depended on bullion and favorable trade balances, encouraging colonies and tariffs.

The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) divided new lands between Spain and Portugal, while later conflicts redistributed colonial holdings.

The casta system ranked colonial society by race and origin; peninsulares, creoles, mestizos, and enslaved Africans occupied different legal statuses.

Enlightenment thinkers Locke, Rousseau, and Montesquieu argued for natural rights, social contracts, and separation of powers, inspiring revolutionary leaders.

The American Revolution (1776–1783) established a constitutional republic and declared independence from British mercantilism and taxation.

The French Revolution (1789–1799) overthrew the Bourbon monarchy, abolished feudal privileges, and spread nationalism and the Napoleonic Code.

The Haitian Revolution (1791–1804) was the only successful large-scale slave revolt, creating Haiti and frightening slaveholding empires.

Latin American independence (1810–1830) was led by creoles like Bolívar and San Martín, ending Iberian rule but leaving economic dependence and caudillo politics.

The Industrial Revolution began in Britain due to coal, capital, colonies, and agricultural productivity; steam power mechanized textiles and transport.

Industrialization created urban working classes, labor movements, and new ideologies-liberalism, socialism, and Marxism-that contested laissez-faire capitalism.

Reformers pushed for suffrage, abolition, and public education; Japan's Meiji Restoration (1868) adopted industrial and military reforms to avoid colonization.

Industrial powers sought raw materials and markets, driving imperialism in Africa and Asia; the Berlin Conference (1884–1885) set rules for African partition.

The Opium Wars (1839–1842, 1856–1860) forced China to open ports, cede Hong Kong, and legalize opium under unequal treaties.

The Sepoy Rebellion (1857) led Britain to rule India directly as the Raj, intensifying exploitation and racial segregation.

Social Darwinism and the 'civilizing mission' justified conquest by framing European dominance as natural and progressive.

The Suez Canal (1869) and steamships accelerated imperial control and trade; Britain occupied Egypt in 1882 to protect the route.

Indentured labor from India and China replaced enslaved workers on plantations after abolition, creating diaspora communities.

Colonial economies were restructured for export crops and minerals, creating dependency and underdevelopment, such as rubber in Congo and cotton in Egypt.

Anti-imperial resistance included the Boxer Rebellion (1899–1901) in China and the Mahdist uprising in Sudan.

World War I (1914–1918) began with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and was fueled by alliances, militarism, and imperialism.

Trench warfare, machine guns, and poison gas produced stalemate and mass casualties; total war mobilized economies and civilian populations.

The Treaty of Versailles (1919) imposed reparations and territorial losses on Germany, creating resentment that extremists later exploited.

The Russian Revolution (1917) brought the Bolsheviks to power, withdrew Russia from World War I, and established the Soviet Union.

The Great Depression (1929) destabilized democracies and contributed to the rise of fascism in Italy and Nazism in Germany.

World War II (1939–1945) began with Germany's invasion of Poland; Blitzkrieg, aerial bombing, and the Holocaust killed tens of millions.

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended World War II and inaugurated the nuclear age and superpower rivalry.

The Holocaust-Nazi genocide of six million Jews and others-exposed the consequences of racial ideology and state-organized mass murder.

The Cold War (1947–1991) pitted the United States and NATO against the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact, competing through ideology, arms, and proxy wars.

Containment guided U.S. policy: the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, and NATO sought to prevent communist expansion in Europe.

Decolonization after World War II created new states in Asia and Africa; India gained independence in 1947 amid partition into India and Pakistan.

The Non-Aligned Movement (1955 Bandung, 1961 Belgrade) offered newly independent states an alternative to superpower blocs.

Proxy wars in Korea (1950–1953), Vietnam (1955–1975), and Afghanistan (1979–1989) killed millions and devastated local societies.

The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) brought the world close to nuclear war, leading to arms-control agreements and a hotline.

The Berlin Wall (1961–1989) symbolized Cold War division; its fall preceded the collapse of Soviet satellite regimes and the USSR in 1991.

Postcolonial challenges included arbitrary borders, ethnic conflict, debt, and neocolonial economic dependence on former rulers.

Globalization intensified after 1945 and accelerated in the 1990s through trade agreements such as NAFTA and the WTO and through lowered tariffs.

Multinational corporations outsourced production to low-wage countries, creating global supply chains and new industrial centers in East Asia.

The Green Revolution spread high-yield crops and fertilizers, raising food production but increasing inequality and environmental damage.

Container shipping, jet travel, and the internet compressed distance and expanded trade, tourism, and cultural exchange.

Global migration increased, with remittances and diaspora communities linking sending and receiving countries.

International organizations such as the UN, IMF, World Bank, and WTO and NGOs addressed development, human rights, and environmental issues.

Global challenges include climate change, pandemics, terrorism, and financial crises, requiring multilateral responses.

Cultural globalization produced hybrid identities and backlash movements defending local traditions.