AP World Timeline
750-1258 : Abbasid Caliphate
Developments in Dar al-Islam (commonly tested) → notes on it
Islamic Empire with capital in Baghdad (modern day Iraq)
built around trade → used receipt and bill system
Abbasid Caliphate's decline led to rise of Turkic Muslim empires like the Seljuk Empire
960-1279 : Song Dynasty
Neo-Confucianism → emphasis on hierarchy & filial piety
women faced legal rights restrictions and social limitations, like foot binding.
Filial Piety (commonly tested) → practice of honoring one’s ancestors and parents, placed lowest importance to daughter in law
expansion of the imperial bureaucracy through merit-based bureaucratic jobs to maintain loyalty
economic Development through Champa rice, Grand Canal expansion & trade across Eurasia
1095-1291 : Crusades
military campaigns by European Christians to convert Muslims and non-Christians
1206-1526 : Delhi Sultanate
led to the spread of Islam in Southeast Asia
Rajput Kingdom resisted Muslim intrusion, maintaining Hindu influence
1206-1227 : Reign of Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan establishes Mongol Empire in 1206 (reign : 1206 - 1227)
unified the tribes in Mongolia to expand their authority over other societies
impact of Mongols :
Great diffusers of culture
Prevented Russia from culturally developing
World trade, cultural diffusion, global awareness grew as they spread through Europe, the als East, and Asia
ruthless fighters, organized and mobile
Importance of Trade in the Mongol Empire
establish by Han dynasty, also very influential to Mongol Empire
1215 : Magna Carta signed
right to a fair trial for citizens
1258 : Mongols overtook and destroyed Baghdad (end of the Abbasid Caliphate)
1279-1368 : Yuan Dynasty
the first foreign-ruled dynasty to commandeer all of China, led by Mongols
1299-1923 : Ottoman Empire
founded by Osman Bey as the Mongol Empire fell & expanded rapidly
Islamic, soldified rule over territory from Greece → Persia
adoption of gunpowder weapons crucial for expansion
devshirme → enslaved Christians from Balkans, converted them to Islam to form elite fighting force (Janissaries)
1324 : Mansa Musa's pilgrimage to Mecca
this pilgrimage introduced the wealth of Mali to the the rest of the Mediterranean
1325 : Tenochitlan founded
capital city of Aztec Empire → markets were established, commercialised
1325-1354 : Ibn Battuta's travels
travelled all over Dar al Aslam - > possible with trade routes
helped his readers understand the cultures across world
1346 - 1388: Black Death aka Bubonic Plague
Emerged in North China → spread rapidly across the Silk Roads and the Indian Ocean Trade routes
Middle East → Killed nearly 1/3 of their population
Europe → killed ½ of their population
very commonly shows up on the exam → notes
1368-1644 : Ming Dynasty
Came with the decline of Mongol rule in China
Established peace and order + expanded their borders with gunpowder
1405-1433 : Zheng He's voyages
Sent by the Ming Dynasty to go explore the Indian Ocean & enroll other states in China’s tributary system
1428-1521 : Aztec Empire - “Trade and Sacrifice”
Tenochtitlan: capital city (modern Mexico City) → more notes
Expansionist policy and professional, strict army
To secure their legitimacy as rulers → Mexica claimed heritage from older, more renowned Mesoamerican people
1438-1533 : Inca Empire - “My land is your land”
Expansionist - army, established bureaucracy, unified language, system of roads and tunnels
Established Mit’a System → required labor of everyone for a period of time each year to work on state projects
1440 : Swahili state-building flourishes
1440 : Printing press invented
Johannes Gutenberg → inventor
made books easy to produce and affordable, and literacy more accessible to everyone
1400s : Caravel invented in Europe
1441 : Start of Atlantic slave trade → notes on it
transporting between 10 and 12 million enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean
conditions were brutal, overcrowded, unsanitary
Period Two : 1450 to 1750
1453: Ottoman Empires conquers Constantinople
1450s-1480s: Russia breaks free from Mongol rule
1464-1591: Songhai Empire thrives (Islamic state)
1469: Birth of Sikhism
held onto significant doctrines from Islam & Hinduism
1491: Spain completes the Reconquista
Reconquista → effort to rid the Iberian Peninsula of Muslim rule
Re-established christianity as the official religion of the region
1492: Columbus voyages to the "New World"
marks start of Spanish colonization and the Columbian Exchange → notes
1497: Portugal starts colonization of the Americas
1498 → Vasco da Gama reaches India
1501-1722: Safavid Empire emerges as the largest Shia empire
in conflict with the Sunni Ottoman Empire
1534: First enslaved Africans arrive in Americas
1517: Protestant Reformation starts
95 Theses, MLK (shows up commonly)
1526-1748: Mughal Empire rises
Notable rules : Akbar and Aurangzeb
Akbar → religious tolerance and supports the arts (1556-1605)
Aurangzeb → persecution of Hindus and Sikhs
ended when last ruler Bahadur Shah II was sent into exile
Increasing Bhakti Movement & Sufism → commonly tested (notes here)
1545: Discovery of silver at Potosi mine
Silver was KING
1550-1700: Scientific Revolution
1552: Russian Empire emerge
Ivan the Terrible→ shows up often, notes
1595: Invention of the Fluyt
responsible for half of all europe’s shipping tonnage
1600: British East India Company established
1600-1868: Tokugawa Japan
strict government that instituted a rigid social class model
national seclusion policy
1602: Dutch East India Company established
1607: Jamestown
British Virginia company → role in funding exploration projects
1632: Taj Mahal construction start
1643-1715: Louis XIV's absolute monarchy reigns in France
1687: Newton's Principia published
1688-1911: Qing Dynasty governs China → shows up commonly!
Manchu Empire → commonly tested
expulsion, division between Manchu & Han, isolationism
1689-1725: Peter the Great modernizes Russia
1689: Glorious Revolution (England)
1715-1789: The Enlightenment flourishes
effects : major revolutions, expansion of suffrage, abolition of slavery, end of serfdom, calls for women’s suffrage
enlightenment is tested often → notes
Montesquieu
this ends up being the reason for many changes in period 3
Period Three : 1750 to 1900
1756-1763 : 7 Years' War
1757 : Beginning of English colonization in India
1760-1789 : First Industrial Revolution → really good notes (read them!!)
main engine → the Steam Engine (effects of steam engine)
understand WHY Britain came first, new advancements
important people to know : Charles Darwin, Adam Smith, Karl Marx
factory act of 1883
1765-1783: American Revolution → notes
provided a template for other nations
tested often!! → role of enlightenment in American revolution
1789-1795: French Revolution→ notes
causes : Social Inequality between the estates, economic hardships, enlightenment, weak leadership, food shortages
1791-1804: Haitian Revolution
1792: Beginning of feminism
Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft published
became a symbol for the feminist movements
1799-1815: Napoleon’s reign in France
1806-1826: Latin American Revolutions
Simon Bolivar → enlightenment ideas
1815: Congress of Vienna
1839-1860: Opium Wars
Treaty of Nanjing → notes on opium war
1839-1876: Tanzimat Reforms
steps towards industrialisation in Egypt
1845-1849: Irish Potato Famine
widespread famine + many died → caused Irish immigration westward
1848: Communist Manifesto published
1848: Seneca Falls Convention
call for a constitutional amendment that recognized women’s right to vote
1850-1864: Taiping Rebellion
Qing dynasty began to weaken
1857: Sepoy Mutiny in India
failed ; British then made all of India a crown colony
1859: Suez Canal built by Britain in Egypt
1860s-1870s : Social Darwinism begins to take shape
tested often! → notes
1861: Russian serfs emancipated
1863: Emancipation Proclamation in USA
1865-1909: King Leopold rules the Congo
commits human rights crimes to get rubber
1868: Meiji Restoration
era of Japanese westernization - Japan became a world power
cause → after Matthew Perry demanded Japan open to trade with the US, Japan realized its technological inferiority and adopted Western technology for self-protection.
1870-1914: Second Industrial Revolution → notes
1871: unification of Germany under Otto Von Bismarck
1882 : Chinese Exclusion Act
1885: Berlin Conference
beginning of the "scramble for Africa".
1890s: European spheres of influence in China
Manchu Dynasty still had authority
1898: Spanish-American War
U.S. acquires Guam, Philippines, Cuba, and Puerto Rico.
1899: United Fruit Company Established
played integer role in strengthening western rule in developing countries
1899-1901: Boxer Rebellion
Period Four : 1900 to Present
1906: Muslim League founded
supporters for a separate nation for the Muslims of India (Pakistan)
1910-1920: Mexican Revolution
peasant armies led by Poncho Villa and Emiliano Zapata → unsuccessful
1914-1918: World War 1
causes : militarism, alliances, imperialism, nationlism, assassination of Gavrilo Princip
“total war”, propoganda, trench warfare, Indian infantry
end → Paris peace conference, treaty of versailles
1915-1917: Armenian genocide
1917: Russian revolution of 1917
Russian citizens grew tired of Tsar regime
Bolsheviks
1917: Zimmerman telegram
a secret telegram between German diplomats saying Mexico could regain territory taken by US if they joined forces
led to widespread American support for getting involved in WWI.
1920: League of Nations founded
has weak points that make it disintegrate later
1925 : Reza Shah Pahlavi's rise initiated Westernization in Iran
jump to “Iranian Revolution” to see how this is related
1929-1933: Great Depression
1933: New Deal by FDR
infrastructure projects, retirement program
1939-1945: World War 2
1941-1945: The Holocaust (tested often)
desire to create a pure race
numerberg law, Auschwitz → notes
1941-1953: Stalin in power
Industrialisation of UUSR → Five Year Plan
Nationalism and it’s role in facism
1943-1978: Green Revolution (tested often)
New disease-resistant and high-yielding varieties of crops were being developed
1945-1950: Chinese Communist Revolution
1945: Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombing
1945: United Nations created
1946: Philippines
1947: Partition of India
Gandhi led peaceful protests for independence
Indian National Congress → notes
1947: Japanese Empire ends
1947: Truman Doctrine
containment
1947/1948 : Beginning of Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
1948 : World Health Organization established
1947-1991: Cold War
Motives
US (capitalism) & Soviet Union (communism) did not want each other to spread its influence beyond their borders
arms race & proxy wars, like in Korea and Vietnam
1948: Israel founded
1948-1959 : Berlin Blockade
1949: NATO established
a military alliance consisting of the United States and Western European countries
motive → provide collective defense against aggression and promote stability in the North Atlantic region
1950-1953: Korean War
1953-1959: Cuban Revolution
1955: Warsaw Pact
1955-1975: Vietnam War (commonly tested)
Communist North Vietnam launched an invasion on South Vietnam.
U.S. increased millitary support in South Vietnam as they feared a communist takeover in Vietnam would cause the rest of the region would become communist too
1955: Polio vaccine approved
1956: Khrushchev gains power in USSR
de-Stalinization
1958-1962: Great Leap Forward
Mao Zedong's idea to boost Chinese economy
Combined farmers into small communes to achieve Marxist state
1961: Dwight D. Eisenhower "military-industrial complex"
commonly tested
1961: Bay of Pigs
1962: Cuban Missile Crisis
1966-1976: Cultural Revolution in China
Withdrawal of Soviet support
Mao Zedong's attempt to stop influence of capitalism.
Shipped many off to countryside for "re-education".
1979: Iranian Revolution
overthrew the shah, due to dissatisfaction with modernisation
emerged wafs a new government that complied with the Islamic law (shariah)
Human rights advancements were reversed and women went back to traditional roles - Qu’ran became basis of legal system
1989: Tiananmen Square Massacre
1989: Fall of the Berlin Wall
1991: Fall of USSR → End of the Cold War
Early 1980s: Soviets send troops to Afghanistan under Marxist military leader Nur Muhammad Taraki.
1990 : Beginning of War in the Gulf → notes
Taliban, Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden
1990: Iraq invades Kuwait under Saddam Hussein's leadership to gain control of oil reserves.
Early 1991: United Nations sends forces to drive Iraqis out, leading to the Persian Gulf War.
UN liberates Kuwait and imposes severe limitations on Iraq’s military and economic activity, though Hussein remains in power for another decade.
1994 : NAFTA came into effect
eliminated most tariffs on products traded between Canada, Mexico and the US
2001: 9/11 terrorist attacks
Al Qaeda attacked US by hijacking 4 US planes and flying 2 of them into the World Trade Centre in New York, 1 into the Pentagon, and 1 into a field in Pennsylvania
Following this, US declares a war on terrorism and invades Afghanistan, removing the Taliban from power and killing Osama bin Laden, but Al Qaeda persists
2003 : coalition of countries, mostly US and Britain invaded Iraq to oust Hussein - Hussein was captured in December 2003 and a democratic government was formed in 2005