AP World History — South Asia, the Americas, Africa and Europe, 1200-1450

The first unit of AP World History: Modern, The Global Tapestry, asks you to know how states were built and held together across the whole world between about 1200 and 1450, not only in East Asia and along the Silk Roads. This material covers the regions that exam questions and essay prompts regularly bring in for comparison: South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Africa and Europe.

In South Asia you look at the Delhi Sultanate, a Muslim ruling elite governing a largely Hindu population, and at Vijayanagara, the southern Hindu kingdom that arose as the Sultanate pushed south yet recruited Muslim cavalry and traded with Muslim merchants. In Southeast Asia, Majapahit shows a maritime state built on control of sea lanes and tribute from island rulers. In the Americas you compare the Mexica (Aztec) tributary empire centered on Tenochtitlan with the Inca state, which moved labor rather than goods through the mit'a, built roads and terraces, and kept records on quipus. In Africa you study Great Zimbabwe and the gold trade, the Swahili city-states such as Kilwa where Bantu language and culture met Islam and Indian Ocean commerce, and Ethiopia's Solomonic dynasty, which grounded its rule in Christianity. In Europe you work on decentralized feudal power, serfdom and the manor, the slow strengthening of monarchies and towns, and the long-term effects of the Crusades.

The quiz mixes knowledge questions with source-based ones built on short invented documents, the way the exam asks you to read a source and connect it to a broader development. The flashcards fix the key terms: chinampas, mit'a, quipu, tribute, serfdom, Kilwa, Lalibela and more. The written work gives eight open questions to answer by hand, several of them comparisons, which is the reasoning skill Unit 1 most often tests. The oral exam lets you explain and compare these states aloud, one question at a time, with brief feedback at the end.

Use it after studying Unit 1 in class, or as review before the unit test and in the spring before the May exam, alongside the other AP World History materials in this category, which cover Song China, the Mongols and Mali.

  • Explain how the Delhi Sultanate and Vijayanagara built and legitimized states in South Asia
  • Compare Mexica tribute with Inca mit'a labor as ways of drawing resources from subjects
  • Describe how Great Zimbabwe, the Swahili city-states and Ethiopia drew on trade and religion
  • Characterize feudal and manorial Europe and the long-term effects of the Crusades
  • Connect a short source to the broader development it illustrates

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the College Board AP World History: Modern course framework, Unit 1 (The Global Tapestry, c. 1200-1450): developments in South and Southeast Asia, state building in the Americas, Africa and Europe. All sources quoted in questions are invented for practice.

Sample question

Which statement best describes the administrative strategy of the Delhi Sultanate in governing its largely Hindu population?

See the answer

The Sultanate relied on a small Muslim elite that often allowed local Hindu elites to maintain administrative roles.

The Delhi Sultanate was a minority Muslim ruling elite. To maintain control, they often utilized existing local power structures and Hindu administrators, as they lacked the manpower to replace all local governance.

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