STEP 4
PERIOD 1 Technological and Environmental Transformations (to c. 600 BCE)
PERIOD 2 Organization and Reorganization of Human Societies (c. 600 BCE to c. 600 CE)
PERIOD 3 Regional and Transregional Interactions (c. 600 CE to c. 1450)
PERIOD 4 Global Interactions (c. 1450 to c. 1750)
PERIOD 5 Industrialization and Global Integration (c. 1750 to c. 1900)
PERIOD 6 Accelerating Global Change and Realignments (c. 1900 to the present)
PERIOD 1
CHAPTER 5 The World History Environment and Periodization
CHAPTER 6 Development of Agriculture and Technology
CHAPTER 7 Structure of Early Civilizations
CHAPTER 5
IN THIS CHAPTER
Summary: Before we begin to consider the scope of the human story, we must first consider the stage on which the story unfolds: the land and the oceans themselves. The Advanced Placement World History course divides the globe into a number of regions that include the following: East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, Southwest Asia (the Middle East) and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, North America, Latin America, and Oceania. The map overleaf illustrates the location of these regions. Keep in mind that political boundaries among nations may vary considerably throughout the different periods of history.
Key Terms
An asterisk (*) denotes items listed in the glossary .
civilization*
climate*
cultural diffusion*
independent invention
monsoon*
steppe*
Oceans and Seas
The history of the world did not occur in land areas alone; the oceans and seas also have their own stories to tell. Vast migrations of both ancient and modern peoples took place across the waterways of the world; plants, animals, and diseases were exchanged; and competition arose among explorers seeking new lands and merchants pursuing profits. A few points to understand when studying the oceans are:
• The Arctic Ocean, the smallest of the world’s oceans, is packed in ice throughout most of the year. Extremely difficult to navigate, it is the location of the famed northwest passage sought by early European explorers. The passage is barely usable because of its ice-bound condition.
• The Indian Ocean, the third largest of the oceans, has seen extensive trade since the people of the Harappan civilization sailed through one of its seas, the Arabian Sea, to trade with Sumer. Throughout history the Indian Ocean has seen Malay sailors and Chinese, Muslim, and European traders use the ocean’s monsoon winds to guide their expeditions through its waters. Africa also was drawn into this trade. Oftentimes, commercial activity in the Indian Ocean produced intense rivalries, especially among the Dutch, Portuguese, and Muslim sailors in the seventeenth century.
• The Atlantic Ocean became the scene of exchange between the Eastern and Western hemispheres after the voyages of Columbus produced an encounter among European, African, and American peoples. The Caribbean Sea saw the meeting of the three cultures on the sugar plantations of the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. The Mediterranean Sea, joined to the Atlantic Ocean, saw the glories of early Middle Eastern and Greco-Roman civilizations. Northern European societies traded in the waters of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.
• The Pacific Ocean, the world’s largest, is dotted with islands that witnessed the ancient voyages of the Polynesian peoples of Oceania. The Bering Sea was the route of the earliest inhabitants of the Americas into those continents. Societies of East and Southeast Asia communicated with one another by means of the Sea of Japan and the South China and East China seas. The Manila galleons of the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries joined Latin America, the Philippine Islands, and China in trade. World wars saw the use of Pacific islands for strategic purposes.
The chart below illustrates some of the political units and physical features of various world regions.
Periodization
A unique feature of the Advanced Placement World History course is its division into six periods. It is important for you to familiarize yourself with these periods; the ability to compare and contrast societies, events, and trends within periods will be necessary skills to master the multiple-choice questions as well as the comparative and document-based questions on the AP examination. You will also need to analyze the impact of interactions among societies. Likewise, a grasp of the changes and continuities (those things that stayed the same) between periods is important to success on the multiple-choice, the continuity and change-over-time, and document-based questions on the exam. The six AP World History periods are:
• Period 1 Technological and Environmental Transformations (to c. 600 BCE)
• Period 2 Organization and Reorganization of Human Societies (c. 600 BCE to c. 600 CE)
• Period 3 Regional and Transregional Interactions (c. 600 CE to c. 1450)
• Period 4 Global Interactions (c. 1450 to c. 1750)
• Period 5 Industrialization and Global Integration (c. 1750 to c. 1900)
• Period 6 Accelerating Global Change and Realignments (c. 1900 to the present)
Notice that dates in AP World History use the designations BCE (Before the Common Era) and CE (Common Era). These designations correspond to BC and AD, respectively.
AP World History Themes
In each of these six periods, there are five broad themes that the course emphasizes. These are:
• Human-environmental interaction: disease and its effects on population, migration, settlement patterns, and technology
• Cultural development and interaction: religions, belief systems, and philosophies; science and technology; and the arts and architecture
• State-building, expansion, and conflict: political structures and forms of government; empires; nations and nationalism; revolts and revolutions; and regional, transregional, and global organizations and structures
• Creation, growth, and interaction of economic systems: agriculture and pastoralism, trade and commerce, labor systems, industrialization, and capitalism and socialism
• Development and change in social structures: gender roles, family and kinship relations, race and ethnicity, and social and economic class structures
Civilization Versus Society
Another consideration in the AP World History course is the role of societies as well as civilizations. Historians commonly define a civilization as a cultural group that displays five characteristics:
• Advanced cities
• Advanced technology
• Skilled workers
• Complex institutions (examples: government, religion)
• A system of writing or recordkeeping
Not all peoples on the earth live in cultural groups that meet these five criteria. Yet inhabitants of societies (cultural groups that do not satisfy all five characteristics of a civilization) also have made significant contributions to the course of world history. One example is that of the highland people of Papua New Guinea, many of whom lack a written language even today, yet who count among the earliest farmers in the world.
Independent Invention Versus Diffusion
Still another consideration in the Advanced Placement World History course is the question of whether cultural diffusion or independent invention is the more significant method of exchange. For example, in Chapter 6 of this study guide, you will read of the spread of agriculture throughout the globe. In this case, it is the task of the historian to investigate where agriculture arose independently, in addition to tracing its diffusion, or spread, through the migration of agricultural peoples. Also, contact of migratory peoples with one another was responsible for the exchange of ideas and technological inventions in addition to the knowledge of agriculture. Patterns of independent invention compared to those of cultural diffusion will remain a thread woven throughout the story of humankind.
Rapid Review
The Advanced Placement World History course is unique in its inclusion of both civilizations and societies in its narrative of global history. The division of the course into periods assists you in analyzing global events and trends throughout a specific era by considering comparison, changes, and continuities.
Review Questions
1 . Interactions between Muslims and Europeans during the seventeenth century are most commonly found in the
(A) Atlantic Ocean
(B) Arctic Ocean
(C) Indian Ocean
(D) Pacific Ocean
2 . An Advanced Placement World History region that can be classified as a cultural region is
(A) South Asia
(B) North America
(C) Latin America
(D) Southeast Asia
3 . The study of oceans in world history
(A) focuses on trans-Atlantic themes
(B) focuses on the commercial activities of elite classes
(C) has less impact on global history than the study of land masses
(D) coordinates with an emphasis on societies as well as civilizations
4 . An example of diffusion rather than independent invention is the
(A) Sumerian use of the wheel
(B) Mayan concept of zero as a place holder
(C) origin of the Greek alphabet
(D) cultivation of the banana in Southeast Asia
5 . Periodization in the Advanced Placement World History course
(A) begins with the rise of river valley civilizations in Period 1
(B) assists students in comparing societies and trends within periods
(C) is irrelevant to the content of document-based questions
(D) limits the study of continuities between historical periods
Answers and Explanations
1 . C The seventeenth century witnessed intense rivalry among Europeans and Muslims for trade dominance, especially in spices, in the Indian Ocean. The Atlantic Ocean (A) was the scene of interactions among Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans, whereas the Arctic Ocean (B) saw limited trade among various Inuit peoples. The Pacific Ocean (D) saw limited contacts between Europeans and Pacific Islanders as well as interactions among the Spanish, Chinese, Filipinos, and Indians of South America through the voyages of the Manila galleons.
2 . C Latin America embraces the political regions of Mexico, the Caribbean, and South America, with the unifying force a common heritage stemming from speakers of Romance languages. Mexico, for example, belongs politically to North America and culturally to Latin America. South Asia (A), North America (B), and Southeast Asia (D) are regions with commonly defined political boundaries.
3 . D The study of oceans embraces societies such as Polynesian islanders and Malay peoples in addition to accounts of civilizations. The Indian and Pacific Oceans as well as the Atlantic (A) involve accounts of rich cultural interactions including various social classes (B). Interactions across the ocean waters are no less vital to global history than those across land masses (C).
4 . C The Greek alphabet originated with the Phoenicians who, through trade, transmitted its knowledge to the Greeks. The Sumerians invented the wheel (A). The Mayans originated the concept of the place holder in the Western Hemisphere (B). Southeast Asia was an area of independent cultivation of the banana (D).
5 . B The organization of the Advanced Placement World History course by periods facilitates comparing societies and trends in those periods. Period 1 begins with the rise of global agriculture (A). Periodization assists students in analyzing the time periods addressed in document-based questions and organizing the study of continuities between time periods (C, D).