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Credit Sprint's Guide to AP® World History, Unit 1: The Global Tapestry, c. 1200 to c. 1450

AP® weight 8–10%

Around 1200, powerful states and cultures spread across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. China recovered under the Song, East Asia was shaped by Confucianism and Buddhism, the Islamic world connected three continents, and new empires rose in Africa, India and the Americas.

The nine units of AP World History11200–145021200–145031450–175041450–175051750–190061750–190071900–now81900–now91900–nowFour eras, nine units, 800 years

What you need to know

  • Song China (960–1279) reunified much of China. It had a huge population, a merchant economy, paper money, gunpowder, the compass and the printing press, and an examination system that chose officials by merit in Confucian learning.
  • Dar al-Islam was a vast zone of shared religion and law. The Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258) in Baghdad made it a center of science and trade. Its decline, followed by the Mongol sack of Baghdad in 1258, shifted power to successor states such as the Mamluks of Egypt.
  • Sub-Saharan Africa had many state systems. Mali and Songhai grew rich on the trans-Saharan gold and salt trade, and Mansa Musa's 1324 pilgrimage showed Mali's wealth. Swahili city-states such as Kilwa traded on the Indian Ocean, and Great Zimbabwe controlled a gold trade.
  • The Americas had large states without the same animals or iron tools used in Eurasia. The Aztec (Mexica) built Tenochtitlan on a lake and collected tribute. The Inca ruled the Andes with roads, terraces and the mit'a labor tax.
  • Feudalism in Europe and Japan tied warriors to land through personal loyalty. In Europe, lords, knights and serfs formed the manorial economy. In Japan, shoguns and samurai ruled while emperors held ceremonial authority.
  • Belief systems shaped governments. Confucianism stressed hierarchy and duty, Buddhism spread across Asia, Hinduism shaped South Asian society, Islam united law and faith, and Christianity divided into Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions.

Exam traps

Watch forDar al-Islam is a cultural and religious region, not one empire. It included many rival states.
Watch forDo not treat Africa as one place. Exam stimuli distinguish West African, East African and Central African states and trade systems.
Watch forFeudalism in Europe and Japan was similar in structure but not identical. Japanese samurai were bound by bushido and loyalty, and European knights by vassalage.

Key terms

  • Song dynasty: A Chinese dynasty (960 to 1279) known for commercial growth, paper money, gunpowder, the compass and a merit-based civil service.
  • Civil service examination: A test on Confucian classics used in China to select government officials by merit and spread elite culture.
  • Neo-Confucianism: A revival of Confucian thought that blended it with Buddhist and Daoist ideas and stressed moral duty and social order.
  • Footbinding: A Chinese practice among elite families that bound girls' feet, a sign of status that restricted women's mobility.
  • Abbasid Caliphate: The Islamic dynasty (750 to 1258) centered in Baghdad, a hub of trade, science and learning before the Mongol conquest.
  • House of Wisdom: A center of learning in Baghdad where scholars translated and extended Greek, Persian and Indian works.
  • Dar al-Islam: The vast region where Islam was the dominant faith and shaped law, trade and culture, though it was not one political state.
  • Mamluks: Former slave soldiers who ruled Egypt and Syria and defeated the Mongols at Ain Jalut in 1260.
  • Mali Empire: A West African empire that grew rich from gold and salt trade and was ruled by Mansa Musa in the 1300s.
  • Mansa Musa: The ruler of Mali whose 1324 pilgrimage to Mecca displayed his wealth and spread Mali's fame.
  • Timbuktu: A West African city in Mali and Songhai known for trade and Islamic scholarship, including a famous university.
  • Swahili Coast: The East African coast where Bantu and Arab cultures blended and trading cities such as Kilwa and Mombasa grew.
  • Great Zimbabwe: A southern African stone city that controlled the gold trade with the Indian Ocean.
  • Tenochtitlan: The Aztec capital built on a lake, with causeways and chinampas, home to hundreds of thousands of people.
  • Tribute system: A system in which a dominant state collected goods or labor from conquered or lesser peoples, used by the Aztecs and others.
  • Inca mit'a: A labor tax in which communities supplied workers for the Inca state's roads, farms and building projects.

Practice questions

Five of the 56 Unit 1 questions in Credit Sprint. Every choice is explained in the app.

1. Which development most helped the Song dynasty (960-1279) become the most commercialized economy of its time?
  1. Seizing gold and silver from newly conquered American colonies
  2. A strict ban on private merchants and on all overseas shipping
  3. A shift away from farming to a society based mainly on herding
  4. Faster-ripening Champa rice and a growing paper money system
Show answer

Faster-ripening Champa rice and a growing paper money system. New rice varieties raised harvests and supported dense populations, while paper money and credit made long-distance trade easier to carry out.

2. Which feature of the Mali Empire under Mansa Musa (r. 1312-1337) is best supported by historians?
  1. It was a small state that was cut off from the wider Muslim world
  2. It stayed a hunting society with no cities or centers of learning
  3. Its wealth rested on silver from mines in the Andes
  4. Its wealth came from controlling gold and trans-Saharan trade
Show answer

Its wealth came from controlling gold and trans-Saharan trade. Mali sat between the gold fields and the Saharan caravan routes, and Musa's pilgrimage to Mecca showed this wealth and raised its fame abroad.

3. The Byzantine Empire preserved which aspect of earlier civilizations after the fall of Rome in the west?
  1. The Latin language alone, since all Greek writings were destroyed
  2. Roman law, Greek learning
  3. Roman polytheism and the practice of worshipping the emperor as a god
  4. A weak government that left cities empty and trade at a standstill
Show answer

Roman law, Greek learning. The eastern Roman Empire continued for another thousand years, keeping legal codes like Justinian's and Greek texts that later influenced Europe and the Islamic world.

4. Which statement best explains the importance of Timbuktu in the 14th and 15th centuries?
  1. It was a colony founded by Portuguese traders for the slave trade
  2. It was a trading city and Islamic center of learning in West Africa
  3. It was the capital of the Aztec Empire in central Mexico
  4. It was a remote village that had no contact with distant regions
Show answer

It was a trading city and Islamic center of learning in West Africa. Located near the Niger River at the edge of the Sahara, it linked caravans carrying salt and gold and attracted scholars and libraries.

5. A historian wants to show that Chinese technology influenced medieval Europe. Which of these would be the best evidence?
  1. The spread of printing, gunpowder
  2. The adoption of Chinese civil service exams by every European king
  3. Chinese conversion to Christianity under Charlemagne's rule
  4. The use of Roman roads in northern China during the Tang period
Show answer

The spread of printing, gunpowder. These inventions moved west along trade routes and the Mongol-controlled lands, later transforming European warfare, navigation and literacy.