Introduction to 3.3 Empires--Belief Systems:
This topic is going to force you to reconsider the role of religion. Here, Empires will need to look at religion in terms of 'geopolitics' (how places interact with one another). By analyzing religious maps of the period, one can see how the potential for conflicts arising from the belief systems alone*. Without any political borders, it's easy to see how conflicts between Ottomans & Safavids or Spanish (Catholics) & Native Americans or the Northern Europeans and the Southern Europeans could surface. Notice that several of the religions from earlier in history have now fractured… there are 3 major branches of Christianity. There are even more divisions than this just Christian, but the AP seems content with keeping Buddhism and Hinduism as monolithic belief.
*look at the religious map of the world at the bottom of this page