AP World History — land-based empires: religion, legitimacy and rule, 1450-1750

Unit 3 of AP World History: Modern, Land-Based Empires, is one of the heavier units of the course, and much of it is about one question: how did rulers between 1450 and 1750 turn conquest into lasting authority? This material works on the answers the course framework emphasizes: belief systems, administration and the display of power.

Religion comes first. You study the Protestant Reformation, starting from one of Luther's ninety-five theses quoted in a public-domain translation, the Catholic response through the Council of Trent and the Jesuits, and the way the Peace of Augsburg put religion in the hands of princes. You examine the Ottoman-Safavid rivalry, where a struggle for territory was sharpened by the divide between Sunni and Shia Islam, and the Mughal emperor Akbar's decision to abolish the jizya and bring Hindu elites into his government. You meet Sikhism, founded by Guru Nanak in the Punjab, and follow its clash with later Mughal emperors, and you see how Askia Muhammad used Islam to legitimize his rule in Songhai.

Administration and control come next: Mughal mansabdars and zamindars, Peter the Great's westernizing reforms and the deepening of serfdom in Russia, the Tokugawa alternate attendance system that kept the daimyo under watch, and monumental building from Versailles to the Taj Mahal and Isfahan. The quiz ends with an invented decree to read and interpret, the kind of short source the exam uses to open a set of questions.

The material offers four formats. The quiz has twelve questions with explanations that say why each wrong option fails. The flashcards cover the key terms from the Council of Trent to sankin-kotai. The written work has eight open questions to answer by hand, several asking you to compare two empires, which is the skill Unit 3 most often tests in short-answer and essay questions. In the oral exam you explain and compare these methods of rule aloud, one question at a time, with brief feedback at the end.

It complements the other AP World History materials in this category, which cover the role of gunpowder and the Qing dynasty; use it during the unit or in spring review before the May exam.

  • Explain the causes of the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic response
  • Describe how rulers used religion to legitimize and strengthen their states, from Augsburg to Isfahan
  • Explain the Ottoman-Safavid rivalry and Akbar's religious policy
  • Describe Mughal, Russian and Tokugawa methods of administration and control of elites
  • Compare how different land-based empires built legitimacy

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the College Board AP World History: Modern course framework, Unit 3 (Land-Based Empires, 1450-1750): empires' expansion, administration and belief systems, and comparison. The Luther thesis is quoted from an English translation published in 1915 (public domain); the decree is invented for practice.

Sample question

In 1517 Martin Luther circulated ninety-five theses for debate. One of them, in an English translation published in 1915, asks: "Why does not the pope, whose wealth is to-day greater than the riches of the richest, build just this one church of St. Peter with his own money, rather than with the money of poor believers?" Which practice was Luther's thesis most directly criticizing?

See the answer

The sale of indulgences to raise money for rebuilding St. Peter's Basilica in Rome

The thesis attacks the use of money from ordinary believers to build St. Peter's; that money was being raised by selling indulgences, the practice that set off Luther's challenge and the Protestant Reformation. Tithes, princely seizures of church land (which came later, often as a result of the Reformation) and imperial taxes are not what the thesis names.

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