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Credit Sprint / Study guides / World History Unit 9

Credit Sprint's Guide to AP® World History, Unit 9: Globalization, c. 1900 to the present

AP® weight 8–10%

Advances in technology, communication and trade have tightened the links among peoples. Globalization brought growth and cultural exchange, and also inequality, environmental harm, migration and new debates over identity and sovereignty.

Drivers of globalizationTechjets, internetcontainers TradeWTO, firmssupply chains Effectsgrowth, migrationclimate, pandemics A more connected world

What you need to know

  • The Green Revolution used high-yield seeds, fertilizers and irrigation to increase food production, especially in India and Mexico, but it raised costs and environmental concerns.
  • Medicine and public health improved life expectancy, with vaccines and antibiotics reducing disease. Pandemics such as the 1918 influenza, HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 showed how quickly disease spreads in a connected world.
  • Transportation and communication, such as jet planes, container ships, the internet and mobile phones, linked markets and people, while multinational corporations and organizations such as the World Trade Organization shaped trade.
  • Environmental change became a global issue. Climate change, deforestation and pollution led to agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, but nations disagreed on responsibility.
  • Migration increased as people moved for work, safety and family. Refugees fled war and persecution, and debates over immigration shaped politics in many regions.
  • Resistance to globalization included nationalism, religious fundamentalism and protest movements. Women's rights movements and the spread of human rights ideas also affected societies worldwide.

Exam traps

Watch forGlobalization is not new. Earlier networks such as the Silk Roads were global in their time, but the modern pace and scale are much greater.
Watch forTechnology often has mixed effects. The Green Revolution raised yields and also raised debts and environmental concerns.
Watch forDo not treat resistance to globalization as one movement. Its forms include economic, cultural and religious responses.

Key terms

  • Globalization: The growing connection of economies, cultures and people across the world.
  • Green Revolution: The use of high-yield crops, fertilizers and irrigation to raise food output from the 1940s onward.
  • Multinational corporation: A company that operates in many countries, often shifting production to places with lower costs.
  • World Trade Organization: An international body created in 1995 to set rules for trade and settle disputes.
  • European Union: A political and economic union of European states with a single market and, for many, a shared currency.
  • NAFTA: A trade agreement among the U.S., Canada and Mexico that began in 1994.
  • Outsourcing: The practice of moving production or services to other countries to lower costs.
  • Containerization: The use of standard shipping containers that cut the cost of moving goods across the world.
  • Internet: A global computer network that transformed communication, trade and culture.
  • Pandemic: An outbreak of disease spreading across many countries, such as the 1918 flu, HIV/AIDS and COVID-19.
  • Climate change: A long-term warming of the planet driven mainly by fossil fuel use.
  • Kyoto Protocol: A 1997 treaty that set emissions targets for developed countries.
  • Paris Agreement: A 2015 pact in which nearly all countries pledged to limit global warming.
  • Deforestation: The clearing of forests for farming, logging or development, which harms ecosystems.
  • Refugee: A person who flees their country to escape war, persecution or disaster.
  • Diaspora: A population living outside its homeland that keeps cultural ties.

Practice questions

Five of the 32 Unit 9 questions in Credit Sprint. Every choice is explained in the app.

1. The Green Revolution of the mid-20th century raised food output mainly through
  1. the banning of fertilizer to protect the soil
  2. high-yield crop varieties, fertilizers, pesticides
  3. a return to hand tools and traditional seed varieties
  4. the abolition of private farming in every country
Show answer

high-yield crop varieties, fertilizers, pesticides. Scientists like Norman Borlaug developed wheat and rice varieties that boosted yields in Mexico, India and elsewhere, though they required costly inputs.

2. The 'Asian Tigers' (South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong) achieved rapid growth by
  1. relying entirely on oil exports
  2. export-oriented industrialization
  3. abandoning education to focus on farming
  4. closing their economies to trade
Show answer

export-oriented industrialization. They moved from textiles to electronics and steel, tied into global supply chains and grew quickly from the 1960s to the 1990s.

3. Which of the following best explains the rapid growth of megacities in Asia, Africa and Latin America since 1950?
  1. Cities shrank as people returned to subsistence farming
  2. Rural people migrated to cities seeking jobs
  3. Foreign armies relocated most of the population to cities
  4. Governments forbade people from living in the countryside
Show answer

Rural people migrated to cities seeking jobs. Cities like Lagos, Mumbai and Sao Paulo grew faster than housing and infrastructure, producing informal settlements as well as new economic centers.

4. Feminist and women's rights movements in the late 20th century achieved which kind of change?
  1. Expanded legal rights, access to education
  2. The removal of women from the workforce
  3. The complete end of gender inequality worldwide
  4. A ban on women voting in democracies
Show answer

Expanded legal rights, access to education. Global conferences such as the UN's Beijing conference in 1995 pressed governments to address gender inequality, though progress varied widely.

5. The creation of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank at Bretton Woods (1944) aimed to
  1. stabilize exchange rates, provide loans
  2. to enforce a trade ban on communist states
  3. to abolish national currencies
  4. to lead military occupations of Germany and Japan
Show answer

stabilize exchange rates, provide loans. These institutions supported a postwar economic order centered on the U.S. dollar, and critics later argued that loan conditions harmed some developing countries.