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See how UWorld can help you connect global themes across time. Try free AP World History practice questions and exam-style MCQs with detailed answer explanations.
Question
Based on the map and your knowledge of world history, which of the following could be inferred about Central Asian cities on the map?
- They were under the control of Ottoman rulers
- They had a majority foreign population
- They supplied coerced laborers to the Yuan Dynasty
- They were centers for cultural exchange
As Afro-Eurasian trade networks expanded, cities located along the overland trade routes provided vital support for merchants. Typically, merchants did not travel the entirety of a trade route like the Silk Road; instead, they traveled between cities to meet other merchants in hopes of conducting trade. Consequently, the increase in trade along the Silk Road promoted the growth of powerful trading cities in Central Asia.
Cities such as Samarkand became important trading centers because of their favorable locations along established trade routes. Such cities were typically filled with caravansaries that provided merchants with sleeping accommodations, stables, and areas for trade.
Many large trading cities in Central Asia became centers of cultural exchange due to their locations between the East and West. In Central Asia, trade led to the spread of Buddhism and Islam and the exchange of technical innovations, architectural adaptations, and scientific knowledge.
(Choice A) The Ottoman Empire eventually controlled much of the Middle East, not Central Asia.
(Choice B) Despite large trading cities attracting significant foreign populations, foreigners generally made up a small, temporary portion of the inhabitants of these cities.
(Choice C) There is little evidence to suggest that Samarkand or Kabul supplied coerced laborers to the Yuan Dynasty.
Things to remember:
As trade networks expanded, large trading cities in Central Asia rose in importance due to their geographic locations between the East and West. In these cities, cultural exchange enabled the transfer of technical innovations, architectural adaptations, and scientific knowledge.
Passage
Question
The scene depicted in the scroll is best understood in the context of which of the following wider Song Dynasty developments?
- The decline of dynastic power
- The diffusion of religious traditions
- The expansion of a commercial economy
- The decline of neo-Confucianist thought
In the 960s, after a turbulent era of political fragmentation known as the Five Dynasties period, the Song Dynasty consolidated rival kingdoms under its banner. During Song rule, China underwent massive population growth due to technological advances in food production. As a result of this rapid growth, Song China became the most urbanized country in the world, with millions living in cities.
The urbanization contributed to the expansion of a commercial economy under the Song Dynasty. In this famous Song painting, the artist illustrated this expansion by depicting a thriving marketplace inside a city gate. Goods are shown being bought from merchant storefronts and loaded onto camels and donkeys to be transported outside the city for sale.
Financial institutions (such as banks) created by the Song Dynasty furthered the commercialization of the economy by issuing paper money. This made it possible for consumers to exchange currency for goods anywhere in China, ensuring that the country's market economy continued to thrive. By the 13th century, the Song Dynasty had made China into one of the strongest economies in Eurasia.
(Choice A) The Song Dynasty had a vibrant, strong, and long-lasting economy and ruled parts of China for over 300 years. The image above does not show dynastic decline.
(Choice B) Although belief systems such as Buddhism and Confucianism spread throughout Asia during this period, the diffusion of religious traditions is not shown in the painting.
(Choice D) Neo-Confucianist thought advanced rather than declined during the Song Dynasty.
Things to remember:
The Song Dynasty saw a rapid growth in population and urbanization that contributed to an increase in commercialization. As a result, China's economy became one of the strongest in Eurasia.
Question
Which of the following directly enabled the establishment of the empire that produced the image?
- The collapse of the tribute system in Mesoamerica under the stress of internal rebellions
- The prohibition of cannibalism and infanticide in Mesoamerica during Spanish colonial rule
- Prolonged drought as a result of climate fluctuations in the fifteenth century
- Rapid territorial expansion in Mesoamerica due to aggressive military campaigns during the fifteenth century
In 1325, a small band of nomadic people from northern Mexico—the Mexica—migrated south to the Valley of Mexico. They arrived in the wake of the Toltec Empire's collapse, which had created a power vacuum in the valley. The Mexica established their capital, Tenochtitlan, in the shallow waters of Lake Texcoco, where their new neighbors were warring for dominance.
During this early period the Mexica, a warlike people, acted as mercenaries for powerful groups in the valley such as the Alcohua and Tepanac. War gave the Mexica wealth and respect, and by the 15th century the Mexica dominated an alliance composed of the peoples of the Valley of Mexico. Through a series of aggressive military campaigns, the Mexica-led alliance established the Aztec Empire.
Within a hundred years, the Aztec Empire conquered most of Mesoamerica. Through rapid territorial expansion, the Empire increased its power through taxes, tribute, and trade. The city of Tenochtitlan grew, and the Aztecs recorded their accomplishments, rituals, and other empire inner workings in books known as codices.
(Choice A) Despite rebellions, the Mesoamerican tribute system grew as the Aztec Empire expanded.
(Choice B) The Aztec Empire was established prior to Spanish colonial rule, so there were no Spanish prohibitions that would have had any effect on the establishment of the Empire.
(Choice C) Although prolonged drought could have contributed to event portrayed in the image, drought was not a condition that enabled the establishment of the Aztec Empire.
Things to remember:
In 1325, the Mexica settled in the Valley of Mexico. Taking advantage of the power vacuum left by the collapse of the Toltec Empire, the Mexica formed the Aztec Empire and expanded it through aggressive military campaigns.
Passage:
Source 1
"Seizing Kankan in 1879, [Samory Touré*] imposed his authority on the whole of the Ouassoulou and the greater part of the Mandingo countries. He first came into contact with the French early in 1882 when he attacked Keniera, south-east of Siguiri….
[By] 1898 Samory's forces were driven out of Kong…. Samory had kept the whole of West Africa, from the Gold Coast to Sierra Leone and from the Niger to the forest of the Ivory Coast, in a ferment for twenty-four years, during sixteen of which he was in direct conflict with the French. With him the last major obstacle to the peace of French West Africa disappeared."
Kenneth Mason, British professor of Geography, 1943
Source 2
Question
Source 1 best exemplifies which of the following processes?
- The creation of long-term military alliances
- The creation of political systems that enslaved Africans
- The creation of an anticolonial movements
- The creation of organizations to challenge racial prejudice
Despite colonizing some coastal regions in the 17thcentury, France did not send territorial expeditions into Africa's interior until the Scramble for Africa. In West Africa, the French expeditions were met with local resistance. For example, in 1882, the French encountered Samory Touré, a war commander who had previously left the Toucouleur Empire to create his own state, the Wassoulou Empire.
Touré understood that French encroachment into the territory would result in the loss of power for himself and other Africans. As such, Touré and his troops used modern weapons obtained from the British to halt French advancements in 1882. This early resistance proved devastating for the French expeditionary force.
However, by 1886, losses to the French military forced Touré to surrender much of his Wassoulou territory to France through a treaty. Despite this treaty, Touré unified several tribal groups and tried forming alliances to regain his political authority and land. Through these efforts, which ultimately failed to push out France, Touré created an anticolonial movement against the French dominion in West Africa.
(Choice A) Touré's temporary alignment with the British and various tribal groups were short-term.
(Choice B) France was once involved in the slave trade and slavery, but both were abolished by 1879.
(Choice D) French colonization efforts in West Africa heightened racial prejudices, not the reverse.
Things to remember:
During the late 19thcentury, some Africans fought against European imperialist efforts. In West Africa, Samory Touré temporarily resisted French colonization attempts.
Source 1:
"The first major threat to Vietnam's existence as a separate people and nation was the conquest of the Red River Delta by the Chinese, under the mighty Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.–220 C.E.), in the second century B.C. At that time, and in later centuries, the expanding Chinese empire assimilated a number of small bordering nations politically and culturally. Although Vietnam spent 1,000 years under Chinese rule, it succeeded in throwing off the yoke of its powerful neighbor in the tenth century.
The Vietnamese did not, however, emerge unchanged by their millennium under Chinese rule. Although they were unsuccessful in assimilating the Vietnamese totally, the Chinese did exert a permanent influence on Vietnamese administration, law, education, literature, language, and culture. Their greatest impact was on the Vietnamese elite, with whom the Chinese administrators had the most contact. The effects of this Sinicization (Han-hwa) were much less intensive among the common people, who retained a large part of their pre-Han culture and language.
China's cultural influence increased in the centuries following the expulsion of its officials, as Vietnamese monarchs and aristocrats strove to emulate the cultural ideal established by the Middle Kingdom.* Even for the Vietnamese elite, however, admiration for Chinese culture did not include any desire for Chinese political control."
Source 2:
Barbara Leitch LePoer, American historian,Vietnam: A country study, 1989
Question
Based on the map and your knowledge of world history, which of the following could be best inferred about the Champa and Khmer regions on the map?
- They were under the direct political control of Indian empires
- Their art and architecture were greatly influenced by Hinduism
- They frequently warred against the Dai Viet kingdom
- They were eventually annexed by the Song Dynasty
Indianization refers to deep and lasting changes that result from the spread of Indian culture to other countries. Throughout centuries of eastward maritime trade by Indian merchants and efforts by Hindu missionaries, Indian empires like Chola helped Indianize neighboring regions. For example, the spread of Hinduisminfluenced not onlyisland empires but also the Champa kingdomand the Angkor (Khmer) Empire on Southeast Asia's mainland.
The ongoing Indianization of these Southeast Asian areas greatly influenced the art and architecture of the Champa and Khmer regions. For instance, many statues and reliefs in both realms featured the likenesses of chief Hindu gods such as Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. In addition, architecture in Champa and Khmer often imitated the designs seen in India's Hindu temples.
(Choice A) Khmer and Champa were culturally influenced by Chola and other Indian empires but were not under their direct political control.
(Choice C) Champa frequently warred against the Dai Viet for centuries, but the Angkor (Khmer) Empire engaged in only one brief war against them.
(Choice D) The Song Dynasty never annexed the Champa or Khmer regions.
Things to remember:
Centuries of virtually uninterrupted Indianization in Southeast Asia greatly influenced art and architecture in the Champa and Khmer regions.
Passage
"[T]he value of St. Domingo is beyond calculation. That part of which belonged to France before the war, about one third of the island, and the least fertile, was more productive than all of the British West India islands together…. It was clear that if France could only hold St. Domingo as a colony…that alone would be worth all the colonies which the other European states possess….
There were three classes of men in the island: the whites, mulattoes*, and the blacks. Notwithstanding the levelling sentiments which prevailed in the French army, the garrisons of St. Domingo at first sided with the two former classes who were the proprietors against the claims of the blacks. The whites and the mulattoes afterwards quarreled among themselves and the French garrisons were too feeble to interfere….
When the continuance of war in Europe put it out of the power of France to send any reinforcements to St. Domingo, and the island appeared likely to become an English colony [in 1798], the republican troops were obliged to call in the aid of the blacks to repel the English. In order to make of [former] slaves' enthusiastic soldiers, no less a promise than that of liberty was held out to them. It was for liberty that they stood with fidelity to their posts, bravely met the dangers of battle, and without assistance from the mother country, defended the colony against the power of Great Britain…. "
"A Sketch of the War of St. Domingo," 1804
Question
The ethnic makeup of St. Domingo, as described in the passage, can best be used as evidence of which of the following?
- The development of an encomienda system as an alternative to slavery
- The economic tensions that gave rise to industrialization throughout the Caribbean
- The dependence on a plantation system that contributed to economic improvement for some mulattoes
- The emergence of ethnic tensions between Blacks and mulattoes who were fighting for the same economic benefits
Therewere three classes of men in the island: the whites, mulattoes, and the blacks. Notwithstanding the levelling sentiments which prevailed in the French army, the garrisons of St. Domingo at first sided with the two former classes who were the proprietors against the claims of the blacks. The whites and the mulattoes afterwards quarreled among themselvesand the French garrisons were too feeble to interfere…."
By the late 1700s, St. Domingo (Haiti) was the most economically productive European colony in the Caribbean. Haiti's enormous wealth was made possible by the plantation system, which relied on African slave labor. Over time, the forced migration of slaves created a unique ethnic and social situation. Most notably, it resulted in opportunities for economic improvement, including land and plantation ownership, for some mulattoes and former slaves (free people of color).
The population of colonial Haiti included three general social and ethnic groups:
- White plantation owners and overseers (5% of the population).
- Free people of color and mulattoes (7% of the population).
- Slaves (88% of the population).
Mulattoes and free people of color could become economically prosperous, but always held lower social status and power than White plantation owners and overseers. Prior to the Haitian Revolution, free people of color and mulattoes owned nearly one-third of Haiti's plantations and a quarter of its slaves. This enabled them to obtain a high level of economic freedom.
(Choice A) The encomienda system was an early form of coerced labor in Spanish America that used native labor and predated the slave trade.
(Choice B) The quote references plantation-based agricultural wealth and political conflicts, with no direct mention of shifts toward industrialization, which developed much later in the Caribbean, beginning in the late 19th century.
(Choice D) Tensions between mulattoes and Blacks weren't due to competition over the same economic benefits because mulattoes had access to economic benefits, such as education and property ownership, that Blacks did not.
Things to remember:
By the 18thcentury, the forced migration of slaves created the mixing of African and European cultures and peoples. Haitian mulattoes and free people of color were afforded a unique opportunity to own plantations and obtain a high level of economic prosperity.
Passage
Source 1
Source 2
"In the last century or two, the ceremonial and ritual observances of the sun-worship at Cuzco* assumed extraordinary magnificence. The splendid temple was built of masonry, which, for the beauty and symmetry of its proportions and the accuracy with which the stones fitted into each other, is unsurpassed. The cornices, the images, and the utensils were all of pure gold. When the [Incan emperor] and his court were present at the ceremonies it must have been a scene of marvelous splendor….
From the ranks of the people, men and women were needed for many purposes of [the] state, each chosen from out of a [general public] household. First there were the shepherds.… Other youths were required as hunters, soldiers,chasquisor messengers, road-makers, builders, miners, artificers, and for the service of religion….
[P]art of that system was the policy of planting colonists, calledmitimaes,** especially in provinces recently conquered or supposed to be disaffected.… Vast numbers from recently conquered provinces were transported to localities where they would be surrounded by a loyal population, or to the eastern forests and unoccupied coast valleys.… This [Incan] colonizing policy served more than one purpose. Its most obvious effect was to secure the quiet and prosperity of recently annexed provinces. It also led to the increased well-being and comfort of the whole people, by the exchange of products.… A third important end secured by the system ofmitimaeswas the introduction of one language to be used throughout the whole empire…."
Clements R. Markham, British historian,The Incas of Peru, 1912
- L128026, modified L55456 by including the Incan road system
Question
The cultural impacts from the Incas' road system in South America during the period 1200–1450, as alluded to in the two sources, were most similar to the cultural impacts from which of the following?
- The Safavid Dynasty's control over the Mediterranean Sea's ports and trade network
- The Song Dynasty's colonization of Central and South Asia under various emperors
- The Abbasid Caliphate's takeover of the maritime trade network crossing the Indian Ocean
- The Mongol Empire's expansion across Asia
"[P]art of that system was the policy of planting colonists, called mitimaes, especially in provinces recently conqueredor supposed to be disaffected.… Vast numbers from recently conquered provinces were transported to localities where they would be surrounded by a loyal population, or to the eastern forests and unoccupied coast valleys.…"
Source 1shows that the Incas controlled theQhapaq Ñan, a vast road system that encouraged imperial communication and cross-cultural exchanges of ideas and customs throughout the empire. Although such exchanges weren't the network's primary intent,Source 2 suggests they occurred after conquered peoples and colonists (mitimaes) were relocated to distant Incan provinces.
Similarly, the Mongol Empire's expansion across Asia led to their control over the Silk Roads, which various khans expanded by developing the empire's postal relay system. The Mongols also restored old caravanserais and built new ones, encouraging commercial and cultural exchanges.
Each empire's overland network improved interregional communication, connected diverse groups, and facilitated cultural exchanges. Therefore, the Incas' road system produced cultural impacts that were most similar to the Mongol Empire's expansion across Asia and their resulting control over the Silk Roads.
(Choice A) The Safavids controlled some Central Asian trade routes, not Mediterranean ports or the Mediterranean trade network.
(Choice B) Although the Song maintained relations with various Central and South Asian states, the dynasty did not colonize those regions.
(Choice C) The Abbasids benefited from their merchants trading within the Indian Ocean trade network, but the caliphate never took over that network.
Things to remember:
The Incans and Mongols controlled vast interregional road systems, through which the empires encouraged interregional communication and cultural exchanges.
Passage
"India has called itself 'the world's largest democracy.' Paradoxically, it was the autocratic rule of the British that gave birth to the rule of the people. Democratization started when a group of concerned British citizens in India and well-to-do Indian professionals gathered in Bombay in 1885 to form a political debating society, the Indian National Congress.… In the face of British [stubbornness], the Congress soon became the leading organization within a broad-based freedom struggle that finally forced the British out in 1947. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi…was able to turn the Congress from an elite pressure group into a mass movement that mobilized hundreds of millions of people against the immorality of a foreign, nondemocratic system.…
Gandhi perfected nonviolent techniques for general strikes and civil disobedience, and coordinated demonstrations with mass publicity; the techniques that he popularized have played a part in later Indian and world politics.… He evolved a philosophy of political involvement as sacrifice for the good of the world and played the role of a holy man who was also a [cautious] politician….
In a move to undercut British industrial superiority, Gandhi encouraged a return to a communal, rustic life and village handicrafts as the most humane way of life. Finally, he railed against the segregation of the caste system and religious bigotry that reduced large minorities within India to second-class citizenship."
Library of Congress—Federal Research Division,India: A Country Study, 1995
Question
As described in the first paragraph, the political activity in India is best seen as an example of which of the following?
- Decreased cooperation in the Indian National Congress after the partitioning of India
- The dissolution of empires due to political challenges following the Second World War
- The Indian National Congress' desire to return to the rule of the British East India Company
- Gandhi's increased demands to protect the Indian caste system
"[A] group of concerned British citizens in India and well-to-doIndian professionals gathered in Bombay in 1885 to form a political debating society, the Indian National Congress.… In the face of British [stubbornness],the Congress soon became the leading organization within a broad-based freedom strugglethat finally forced the British out in 1947."
WWII exposed political and economic weaknesses in Britain and other colonial empires, as well as the desire for self-determination among colonized populations. Facing increased pressure to decolonize, Britain gradually granted independence to its colonies. In particular, the decolonization of India in 1947 eroded British power as it lost valuable territories, resources, and markets.
Like Britain, other colonial powers also faced liberation movements after WWII, leading to the independence of:
- Libya from Italy (1947).
- Indonesia from the Netherlands (1945–1950).
- Vietnam from France(1945–1954).
Therefore,the political activity in India described in the first paragraph is an example of the dissolution of empires due to political challenges following WWII.
(Choice A) The passage does not provide context for determining whether the Partition of India decreased cooperation in the Indian National Congress.
(Choice C) Leaders in the Indian National Congress desired independence, not a return to the rule of the British East India Company.
(Choice D) Gandhi opposed the Indian caste system.
Things to remember:
Following WWII, many former colonial empires dissolved in the face of independence movements in their colonies. The political activity in India against Britain is an example of the dissolution of empires after the war.
Passage
The following two excerpts are from a report by J. Geoghegan, under-secretary to the government of India:Note on Emigration from India,published in 1873.
Part II
"The four years 1856–1859 may be taken together. Emigration culminated in the year 1858, when 45,838 souls left India. The number in the following year was, however, little less,viz., 43,057. The increase was, as we may say, altogether due to Mauritius. Enquiry was made as to the cause, but with no definite result. I believe the sugar plantations were prosperous at the period, but it was shrewdly suspected that the [sepoy*] mutiny had much to [do with] it…. The annual average for the period was upwards of 31,000, of whom 27,000 to Mauritius, from all three ports, but chiefly Calcutta. In 1856, the West Indian colonies began again to draw upon Madras….
Of the emigrants from Calcutta the mass belongs to the lower agricultural and laboring castes of Hindus. But there is some mixture of all castes. Probably the emigration of 1857–1859 included many of the better castes whence the sepoy army used to be recruited."
Table of Destinations
Question
The emigration of Indian laborers discussed in the passage was most directly a result of which of the following?
- The influence of the global capitalist economy facilitated by Indians working on sugar plantations
- The rise of Indian nationalist political leaders as a reaction against the British Raj
- The success of domestic Indian businesses influenced by the British East India Company
- The action of Indian soldiers from garrisons loyal to Britain during the Sepoy rebellion
"Emigration culminated in the year 1858, when 45,838 souls left India. The number in the following year was, however, little less, viz., 43,057…. I believe the sugar plantations were prosperous at the period…. In 1856, the West Indian colonies began again to draw upon Madras…."
In the 1800s,Britaincontrolled islands in the Caribbean Sea and in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Many of these islands were dedicated to producing sugar, a highly desired and profitable product in the expanding global capitalist economy.
Enslaved Africans initially filled Britain's labor needs on sugar plantations. However, after Britain abolished slavery across its territories in 1833, British sugar-producing colonies turned to indentured servants from India.
Britain's profit-oriented goals drovethe resulting migration of India's indentured servants, who were often tricked into contracts that misrepresented the pay, work, and miserable conditions they would endure. Consequently, Indians became viewed as a submissive labor force,allowing Britain to maintain its position in the global capitalist economy.
(Choice B) Indian indentured servants' migrations were driven by Britain's profit-oriented goals, not Indian nationalist leaders' opposition to the British Raj.
(Choice C) Any successes by Indian-owned domestic businesses would have encouraged Indians to remain in India than to emigrate as indentured servants.
(Choice D) The author suggests that the emigration of Indian laborers resulted from the actions of disloyal Indian soldiers during the Sepoy Mutiny, not sepoys from loyal garrisons.
Things to remember:
After Britain abolished slavery, British sugar colonies relied on the labor of Indian indentured servants, whose grueling work helped Britain maintain its position in the global capitalist economy.
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