Unit 2 Introduction:
The second unit in AP Modern World History is all about the 'inter-connectivity' of the 1200-1450 period. The world was about to become a truly global network as different regions in the following period (Unit 3: 1450-1750) began to interact. However, in Unit 2, the Afro-Eurasian world was already pretty well connected by the Silk Roads, Trans-Saharan Trade Routes, and Indian Ocean Trade Routes. This unit focuses on the effects of these Networks of Exchange. How they influenced the movements of religions, goods and services, and people. New powerful cities emerge where trade routes flourish; empires turn commerce into new state-building projects; and new technology will transform and connect a hemisphere that was once silent and cloistered.
2.1
The Silk Road
1200-1450
2.4
Trans-Saharan Trade Routes
1200-1450
2.7
Comparison of Economic Exchange
1200-1450
2.2
The Mongol Empire/Making of the Modern World
1200-1450
2.5
Cultural Consequences of Connectivity
1200-1450
2.3
Exchanges in the
Indian Ocean
1200-1450
2.6
Environmental Consequences of Connectivity
1200-1450
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: WHAT YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO AT THE END OF UNIT 2, NETWORKS OF EXCHANGE:
A/E. Explain the causes and effects of growth of networks of exchange after 1200.
B. Explain the process of state building and decline in Eurasia over time.
C. Explain how the expansion of empires influenced trade and communication over time.
D. Explain the significance of the Mongol Empire in larger patterns of continuity and change.
F. Explain the effects of the growth of networks of exchange after 1200.
G. Explain the role of environmental factors in the development of networks of exchange in the period from c. 1200 to c. 1450.
H. Explain the causes and effects of the growth of trans-Saharan trade.
I. Explain how the expansion of empires influenced trade and communication over time.
J. Explain the intellectual and cultural effects of the various networks of exchange in Afro-Eurasia from c. 1200 to
c. 1450.
K. Explain the environmental effects of the various networks of exchange in Afro-Eurasia from c. 1200 to c. 1450.
L. Explain the similarities and differences among the various networks of exchange in the period from c. 1200 to c. 1450.