APWH THEMES & SPICE

    The five course themes below present areas of historical inquiry that should be investigated at various points throughout the course and revisited as manifested in particular historical developments over time. These themes articulate at a broad level the main ideas that are developed throughout the entire span of the course. Each theme includes a list of related key topics as well as a description.

    The key concepts were derived from an explicit consideration of these themes, with the goal of making the themes more concrete for the course content within each historical period. This clear connection between themes and key concepts means students can put what is particular about 

one historical period into a larger framework. In this way, the themes 

facilitate cross-period questions and help students recognize broad trends 

and processes that have developed over centuries in various regions of the 

world.

Theme 1: Interaction Between Humans and the Environment

• Demography and disease

• Migration

• Patterns of settlement

• Technology

Theme 2: Development and Interaction of Cultures

• Religions

• Belief systems, philosophies, and ideologies

• Science and technology

• The arts and architecture

Theme 3: State-Building, Expansion, and Conflict

• Political structures and forms of governance

• Empires

• Nations and nationalism

• Revolts and revolutions

• Regional, transregional, and global structures and organizations

Theme 4: Creation, Expansion, and Interaction of Economic Systems

• Agricultural and pastoral production

• Trade and commerce

• Labor systems

• Industrialization

• Capitalism and socialism

Theme 5: Development and Transformation of Social Structures

• Gender roles and relations

• Family and kinship

• Racial and ethnic constructions

• Social and economic classes

    We use the acronym S.P.I.C.E. and complete SPICE charts to consistently make sure that we are referring back to these themes throughout every unit and textbook chapter.

S = Social Structures -Theme 5

P = Political State-Building - Theme 3

I = Interaction with the environment - Theme 1

C = Culture - Theme 2

E = Economics - Theme 4