AP World UNIT 2 REVIEW (Everything you NEED to KNOW!)

Summary

Unit 2 of AP World History, covering the period from 1200 to 1450, focuses on the networks of exchange that connected various states and empires. These networks, including the Silk Roads, the Indian Ocean Network, and the Trans-Saharan Trade, facilitated not only economic interactions but also significant cultural diffusions. Technological and commercial innovations, such as the use of paper money and new maritime tools, spurred the expansion of these networks, leading to the rise and fall of cities and states. This period also saw the spread of religions, technological inventions like gunpowder, and unfortunate events like the Bubonic Plague. The Mongol Empire, by establishing a massive land-based empire, played a key role in enhancing these connections globally.

Highlights

• Key focus of Unit 2 is on global connections from 1200-1450, emphasizing networks of exchange. 📜
• Silk Roads linked East and West with luxury goods like silk and porcelain—and a bit of cultural flair! 🐫
• Indian Ocean Trade utilized monsoon winds to ship spices and textiles—Mother Nature powered! 🌬️
• Trans-Saharan Trade boosted wealth with gold and empires like Mali atop the leaderboard. 💰
• Innovations like the magnetic compass and caravanserai made trading journeys safer and more efficient. 🧭
• The expansive Mongol Empire ensured the safety of traders and grew exceptionally wealthy without partaking in trade. 🏇
• Mongol Empire facilitated unprecedented communication and cooperation across Eurasia. 🤝
• Cultural diffusion was rife—Islam, Buddhism, and languages blended like never before. ✨
• The Bubonic Plague rode the trading routes, showcasing the downsides of connectivity. ⚠️

Key Takeaways

• Unit 2 uncovers the webs of global connections from 1200 to 1450, highlighting the bonds between big empires. 🌍
• Silk Roads, Indian Ocean Trade, and Trans-Saharan Trade were the highways for goods, ideas, and sometimes germs! 🚉
• Advancements in technology and commerce turned the world into a bustling hub of exchange and transformation. 🔧
• Empires like the Mongols were the OG network facilitators, making sure trades were smooth and safe. 🛡️
• The rise of big cities came with booming trade routes, yet some fell due to these connections. 🌆❌
• The era was not only about sharing goods but also beliefs, tech, and unfortunately, diseases. 🤝🦠

Overview

Unit 2 of AP World History dives into the buzzing network of exchanges from 1200 to 1450. We're talking about the Silk Roads, Indian Ocean, and Trans-Saharan Trade, which were the robust veins of economic and cultural interaction. These routes not only saw merchants hustling with goods but also sermons and ideas crossing borders like wildfire.

Advancements in commercial and transportation technologies during this period were game-changers. We had the innovation of paper money and the magnetic compass to aid sea voyagers, making it easier and safer to navigate the world. Empires rose to power like the magnetic fields they studied, but with trade also came the inevitable rise and fall of cities and states.

Under the mighty shield of Mongol rule, these exchanges blossomed. The Pax Mongolica saw burgeoning trade, cultural transfers, and even the spread of gunpowder glory across lands. However, this connectivity also brought the dreaded Bubonic Plague – a grim reminder of how travel can carry dangers unseen. It's a vivid session of highs and lows, power and plagues, creating a truly unmissable chapter in human history.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to AP World History Unit 2 In this chapter, the focus is on AP World History Unit 2, covering the period from 1200 to 1450. The emphasis is on the connections between various states and empires through networks of exchange, also known as trading routes. The chapter aims to illustrate how these networks played a crucial role during this historical period.
• 00:30 - 02:00: Networks of Exchange Overview The 'Networks of Exchange Overview' chapter discusses the broader implications of trade routes such as the Silk Roads, the Indian Ocean Network, and the Trans-Saharan Trade. These routes weren't just about the movement of goods; they played crucial roles in the dissemination of religion, languages, and technology, illustrating the significance of cultural diffusion alongside economic interactions. The chapter posits that understanding these networks requires awareness of their shared general developments before delving into the specifics of each network.
• 02:00 - 05:30: Silk Roads This chapter discusses the major networks of exchange, particularly the Silk Roads, during the period 1200 to 1450. It highlights the geographical expansion of these networks, noting that while they existed long before 1200, their range and influence grew significantly during this period. Additionally, the resource is part of a larger AP World History review guide, which provides comprehensive study materials and practice resources.
• 05:30 - 08:30: Indian Ocean Network During this period, the Indian Ocean network increased in geographic scale, enhancing connections among states in the region. Innovations in commerce and technology expanded the range of these networks. This increased connectivity facilitated the growth of wealth and power among participating states. Consequently, powerful states and cities emerged, while others collapsed. These dynamics were prevalent across all major exchange networks.
• 08:30 - 11:30: Trans-Saharan Trade Network The chapter discusses the distinct features of various trade routes, focusing on the Silk Road. It explains that the Silk Road was a network that stretched across Eurasia, primarily facilitating the trade of luxury goods such as Chinese silk and porcelain. These items were preferred because the journey was long and arduous, making it impractical to carry common items that didn't sell for a premium. A common proverb among Silk Road merchants emphasized the importance of trading in goods that brought high returns.
• 11:30 - 14:30: Cultural and Environmental Effects The chapter discusses the expansion of trade routes and its effects on cultural and environmental factors. It highlights how the growing demand for luxury items such as porcelain and silk led to increased production by artisans in China, India, and Persia. As a result, peasants in the Yi River delta reduced food production to focus on creating luxury goods for trade. Although risky due to the non-edible nature of these goods, the chapter hints at reasons why this shift was not as detrimental as it might seem.
• 14:30 - 15:00: Mongol Empire The chapter on the Mongol Empire discusses the innovations that were crucial for the empire's expansion, especially focusing on transportation technologies with an emphasis on Caravan Sarai. These were inns and guest houses located along the Silk Roads approximately a day's journey apart, which provided safety for merchants transporting luxury goods, thus protecting them from theft. Additionally, Caravan Sarai served as cultural melting pots, bringing together merchants from diverse backgrounds and facilitating cultural exchange.

AP World UNIT 2 REVIEW (Everything you NEED to KNOW!) Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 all right buckle up cuz I'm about to help you cram everything you need to know about AP World History unit 2 right into your brain fold so if you're ready to get them brain cows milked let's get to it first let me just drop the big picture on you we're still in the time period 1200 to 1450 and we're still considering many of the same States and Empires that we got cozy with in unit one but here in unit 2 the whole emphasis is on how all these various states were connected to one another through networks of exchange and I know it would be easier just to call these Networks trading routes because that's exactly what they were but the AP World History overlords aren't interested in making things easy for you so we call
• 00:30 - 01:00 them networks of exchange because not only were Merchants carrying goods for sale across these routes but they also brought their religion and their languages and their technology and so the point to remember here is that these networks did not only create the occasion for economic interaction across the world but just as importantly they facilitated cultural diffusion and transfers as well now there are three major networks of exchange that you need to get familiar with the Silk Roads the Indian Ocean Network and the transar and train and before we get into the details of each you need to know a few General developments that apply to all of them but hey before I tell you what they I
• 01:00 - 01:30 should mention that this video is part of a larger resource called the AP World History heimler review guide and if you're feeling spicy you should check it out in the link below it's got whole unit review videos like this one that are not here on YouTube note guides to follow along practice questions practice exams and answer keys for all of it it is the fastest way to study for your class and for your exam in May so you know have a look and now back to General developments among the major networks of exchange first in the period 1200 to 1450 the geographical range of all these networks expanded and to be clear all three of these networks existed for a long time before for 1200 but the thing
• 01:30 - 02:00 to remember is that during this time each of these networks increased in Geographic scale and that led to further connections among states in this part of the world second the range of these networks expanded due to Innovations and Commercial practices and technological innovations you might have no idea what those words mean but put it in your pocket and we'll come back to it third The increased connectivity between these places caused various states to grow wealthy and Powerful due to their participation in these networks and fourth The increased interconnectivity caused the rise of powerful states and cities while also causing the collapse of others okay so that's what all the major networks of exchange have in
• 02:00 - 02:30 common so now let's talk about some of the distinct features on each route and I reckon we ought to start with the Silk Road now this network stretched across eurasion it was mainly luxury goods that were traded along these routes and the big ones to remember are Chinese silk and Porcelain now the reason the Silk Road Merchants specialize in trading luxury goods is because it was expensive and arduous to travel from one side of the stinking world to the other and it didn't make sense to carry more common items that wouldn't sell for a premium and that reality was illustrated by a common proverb among Silk Road Merchants namely if it don't make the boom boom I
• 02:30 - 03:00 ain't got the room room to carry it on my camel that's just a rough translation anyway the expansion of these routes during this period reflected the growing demand for these luxury items and so that increased demand caused an increase in the production of these Goods by Chinese Indian and Persian Artisans so for example the focus on the production of luxury goods for distant markets LED peasants in the Yi River delta to scale back on food production in order to produce more luxury goods destined for trade across the Silk Roads and that was kind of a risky move because you know you can't eat porcelain you can't eat silk but I'll show you why that didn't matter that much in a moment now you're
• 03:00 - 03:30 also going to need to know a few of the innovations that facilitated the expansion of these networks and they fall into two categories first were Innovations in transportation Technologies and you only need to know one of these namely the Caravan Sur these were a series of ins and guest houses that sprang up along the Silk Roads about a Day's Journey apart additionally the Caravan Sarai provided safety along the Route I mean don't forget that these Merchants were mainly hauling luxury goods across these routes and so that meant they were targets for theft but just as important Caravan Sarai brought Merchants from all different cultures and backgrounds together and that created the occasion
• 03:30 - 04:00 for significant transfers whether it was cultural or technological all right the second development that caused the expansion of the Silk Roads were Innovations of commercial practices and that just means buying and selling things became way easier and here you need to know two of those practices first was the development of money economies and wasn't the fresh heck does that means well a money economy uses paper money to facilitate exchange unlike a barter economy which uses Goods as currency and this was first developed in China and the development of money economies was huge for facilitating trade I mean think about it metal-based money is heavy in merchant selling luxury Goods would be none too happy
• 04:00 - 04:30 about hauling that money all across Asia but with the introduction of paper money to facilitate trade a merchant could deposit bills in one location and then withdraw that same amount in another location thus increasing the ease of travel and the security of transaction and if you want a term for this and I know you do the Chinese called it the flying money system and then another commercial practice that expanded trade was the introduction of new forms of credit again the Chinese pioneered this but eventually this practice spread all the way to Europe where they introduced banking houses to handle all these exchanges there a merchant could present a bill of exchange which had the name name of a merchant and the amount of
• 04:30 - 05:00 money owed to him and then he would receive that amount of money from the banking house kind of like using a check but you know now that I'm saying that I'm realizing that you Apple paying venmo using youngans probably don't even know what a check is so just you know ask your grandparents they'll tell you all about it but the point is these commercial Innovations May getting paid a lot easier and that led to an increase in trade along the Silk Roads okay now the last thing you need to know about the Silk Roads is that this increase in trade led to the rise of powerful trading cities that grew and flourish precisely because they were located along these routes and there are several you could know but you need to know one
• 05:00 - 05:30 so let me introduce you to cashar it was located at the convergence of two major routes of the Silk Roads which before and after pass through exceedingly inhospitable terrain but cashar was built around a river and its Lush Valley made it an attractive stop for traveling merchants and it's trade along the Silk Road expanded so too did cashar grow and power and wealth okay now let's get into the details of the Indian Ocean Network just like the Silk Roads this Maritime Trade Network existed for centuries before 1200 but during this period the scope of these routes expanded significantly now what made trade along this network possible was a thorough understanding of monsoon winds and
• 05:30 - 06:00 really all you need to know about that here is that Indian Ocean Merchants developed an understanding over time that winds predictably blew in One Direction or the other depending on the season now in contrast with the Silk Roads a large bulk of what was traded along these routes included more common goods like textiles and spices and that's because the hull of a ship could hold way more cargo than you know the back of a camel but to be fair they also traded luxury goods along these routes but when contrasting these two routes that's the big difference so what caused the expansion of the Indian Ocean Network a fine question and again like on the Silk Roads the answer is Tech technological innovations and
• 06:00 - 06:30 Innovations and Commercial practices under technological innovations I'll give you three that you need to know first is the Improvement of the magnetic compass which helped Merchants know what direction they were going on that giant honking Ocean second was an improved astrola which was a tool for measuring the stars and then comparing them with Star Charts which helped them wreck in latitude and longitude which was not easy on that giant honking ocean and then third were new ship designs like the Chinese junk these were massive ships with enormous cargo holdes that could transport metric buttloads of goods across the ocean but then there were Innovations in commercial practices
• 06:30 - 07:00 that facilitated trade as well and these were essentially the same practices that were introduced on the Silk Roads practices like various forms of credit and then just like on the Silk Roads the expansion of the Indian Ocean Network fostered the growth of states and there are a lot of examples here but you only need to know one so meet the Swahili city state now this was a collection of independent city states along Africa's East Coast that acted as Brokers for goods originating from the African interior things like gold and ivory and enslaved people and by playing this role these city states grew significantly in power and wealth and then under the influence of Muslim merchants the Swahili States became Islamic and got connected to the larger trading world of
• 07:00 - 07:30 Dar al- Islam and that only increased their power and economic prosperity and then another effect of the expansion of these routes was the establishment of diaspora communities and since I'm guessing you don't throw words like that around in normal conversation let me Define it a diaspora Community is a settlement of ethnic people in a location other than their Homeland for example Arab and Persian communities were established in East Africa which led to intermarriage with the women there and I know that sounds really romantic but it was done to ensure that trading partners in different states were trustworthy anyway that cultural intermingling led to the further spread
• 07:30 - 08:00 of Islam and that in turn fostered the growth of the Swahili States in East Africa because of that influence an entirely new language emerged called Swahili which began as a mixture of native banto languages and Arabic words and finally one more example of cultural diffusion in the Indian Ocean Network came from our boy junga now there's a lot of notable things we could say about this guy not least the ginormous size of his Fleet but you don't need to know any of that what you need to know is that Jung ha was sent by China's Ming Dynasty to go throughout the Indian Ocean en rolling States in China's tributary system and he was pretty successful but even that secondary to the technological
• 08:00 - 08:30 and cultural transfers that occur because of his voyages for example China's Advanced Maritime technology especially in navigation tools and ship building methods were spread to the various places that junga visited and then the final major network of connection you need to know is the trans Saharan Trade Network over here in Africa just like the other major routes this network expanded during the period 1200 to 1450 and that was mainly due to Innovations in transportation technology the big one to know here is the new and improved camel saddle and yes Saddles were used for riding camels but more significantly Saddles were developed for transporting way bigger loads of cargo
• 08:30 - 09:00 across the desert and just like the other route's participation in this network led to the increasing wealth and power of various States and here you just need to know the Empire of mly now a big turning point for mly was the conversion of its leadership to Islam in the 9th century which again folded the state into the exceedingly prosperous Merchant Network throughout Dar Al Islam but by our period Molly grew stupid Rich through the trade of gold and by taxing Merchants traveling to basically all parts of West Africa and Molly's wealth and influence reached its highest point in the 14th century under the leadership of our boy Mansa Musa who further monopolize trade between the North and
• 09:00 - 09:30 the interior of the continent both increasing the wealth of Molly and facilitating the growth of existing trade networks okay now that you have a sense of what these individual networks were all about let's settle in and talk directly about the effects or Consequences of all this increasing connection during that time and those consequences basically fall into two categories cultural and environmental and just for poops and Giggles let's begin with cultural consequences the first cultural consequence was the transfer of religion or belief systems across these networks and here we could talk about the spread of Islam but we've already touched on that or we could talk about Hinduism spreading into southeast
• 09:30 - 10:00 Asia but since you only need to know one example let's make it Buddhism now recall from unit one that Buddhism originated in South Asia but here we need to emphasize that this belief system entered China via the Silk Roads carried by merchants and missionaries the second cultural consequence of connectivity included significant literary and artistic transfers across the world for example Islamic scholars in baghdad's House of Wisdom translated Greek and Roman Classics into Arabic and made extensive commentaries on them including their own developments in philosophy and medical practices these Works were then later transferred to Europe where they created the basis for
• 10:00 - 10:30 a cultural Awakening known as the Renaissance which we're going to talk all about in unit four and then third under this heading were the transfer of scientific and technological innovation and arguably the most significant of these transfers was Gunpowder now this stuff was invented in China but through networks of exchange it spread to Muslim empires and then later Eastern European States encountered this explosive powder when the Mongols came knocking on their door trying to take over all their crap and once they figured out how to use this stuff to blow other people up the harnessing of gunpowder would fundamentally alter the balance of power across the world okay now the second consequence of of connectivity was the
• 10:30 - 11:00 rise and fall of cities and I'll give you an example of each a good example of the rise of cities is hongo in China it was situated at one end of China's Grand Canal which facilitated all kinds of trade and as a result hung Joe became increasingly wealthy and increasingly urbanized which is to say more and more people organized their lives around the city but other cities did not Faire as well as connections increased and that's because not only did merchants travel across these networks but so did military so for example Baghdad had the unfortunate opportunity to get utterly destroyed in 1258 by Mongol armies and we'll talk more about them in a moment and then the last cultural consequence
• 11:00 - 11:30 you need to know is that increased interconnectivity facilitated Travelers who wrote about their experiences and here it would be fun to talk about Marco Polo or Marjorie Kemp but since you only need to know one let me introduce you to ibben batuta he was a young Muslim scholar from Morocco who over the course of about 30 years traveled all over Dar al- Islam and wrote detailed notes about the places that he visited and the people and the rulers that he met and the cultures that hosted him and all of his expansive travels were made possible because of trade routs now to be fair there were a lot of people that traveled around the Known World during this period but what makes iban Tuda important is that he actually wrote
• 11:30 - 12:00 about his travels which gave later Scholars a firsthand account of Life all over darl Islam okay now the second category of consequences of connectivity is environmental and here we'll talk about crops that were transferred and diseases that were transferred and an example of the transfer of crops over networks of exchange was Champa rice now remember that this new strain of rice was introduced to China via the Champa Kingdom who offered it to China as part of the tribute system when the Chinese harnessed this new grain It produced way more food for their growing population than was possible before and that led to even more population growth so never never forget more food equals more
• 12:00 - 12:30 babies and then second disease was transferred due to increasing connectivity and the granddaddy of all of them was the Bubonic plague this nasty disease first erupted in China in 1331 and though people didn't know it at the time it was carried by rats and fleas and those fleas unceremoniously attached themselves to camels and Merchants traveling along the Silk Roads and those rats found hidden corners and Merchant ships traveling along the Indian Ocean when you look at the spread of this disease it is almost entirely in line with trading routs and when the plague showed up it was uh deadly as heck and killed giant swats of the popul in the Middle East and Europe all
• 12:30 - 13:00 because of connectivity or maybe we could say all because of the Mongols and that leads us to our final section for the unit so let's talk about the Mongol Empire but wait if you're paying attention it's a little weird that we're talking about the Mongol Empire in a unit that's all about connectivity through trade networks like should we have talked about the Mongols in unit one when we were getting all cozy with the various states around the world well here's where I tell you that of all the juicy things we could talk about with respect to the Mongols the most important and juicest of them is that their giant stinking Empire facilitated all these connections that we've been talking about and they did it uh big time so you really only need to know
• 13:00 - 13:30 three things about the Mongols first as they established the largest land-based Empire of all time it replaced powerful Empires across Eurasia the Song Dynasty fell to the Mongols the Abbasid Empire in the Middle East fell to the Mongols and by the second half of the 14th century Mongols ruled this entire area through foron which is the term that describes States ruled by the con and the second thing you need to know is that under Mongol rued networks of exchange increase significantly for example throughout history the Silk Roads flourished the most when large Empires controlled the routes because they could provide safety and continuity along them and so in basically the entire territory over which the Silk
• 13:30 - 14:00 Roads fell under the Mongol control that is exactly what happened I mean the Mongols themselves produced no sellable Goods nor did they participate in long-distance trade but as the entire Eurasian world came under their domination they vigorously encouraged international trade and extracted great wealth as facilitators of Commerce on the Silk Road for example Mongols paid high prices for goods from other countries which encouraged trade and they took pains to increase the safety of merchants making the long tracks across those trading routes and because of this the Mongols also facilitated an unprecedented increase in Comm communication and cooperation across
• 14:00 - 14:30 their empire for example Persian and Chinese courts often work together and send emissaries and Artisans to each other because of these connections trade increased between both sides of the Mongol Empire and they both got plenty wealthy as a result and this big interconnected hugfest was made possible because of Mongol rule and that's why they call it the PA mongolica or the piece of the Mongols and then the final thing you need to know about the Mongols is that they facilitated significant technological and cultural transfer on the technological side Mongols created the conditions for the transfer of Greek and Islamic medical knowledge to Western Europe on the cultur side was the Mongol
• 14:30 - 15:00 adoption of the weager script now in the beginning the Mongols didn't have a written language but as they started conquering literate societies they decided to adopt the weager script from one of the Turkish Muslim groups they conquered in Central Asia this written language became common among all parts of their empire as the language of policy and diplomacy and exchange Okay click here if you want to get my AP World himler review guide which has everything you need to get an A in your class and a five on your exam and may click here to watch all my other videos for unit two if you need more help on any particular top and I'll catch you on the flipflop I'm lout