AP World History Exam Study Guide
Latest 2022 Rated A
Civilization ✔✔An ambiguous term often used to denote more complex societies but sometimes
used by anthropologists to describe any group of people sharing a set of cultural traits.
Foragers ✔✔People who support themselves by hunting wild animals and gathering wild edible
plants and insects.
Cuneiform ✔✔A system of writing in which wedge-shaped symbols represented words or
syllables. It originated in Mesopotamia and was used initially for Sumerian and Akkadian but later
was adapted to represent other languages of western Asia. Because so many symbols had to be
learned, literacy was confined to a relatively small group of administrators and scribes.
History ✔✔The study of past events and changes in the development, transmission, and
transformation of cultural practices.
City-state ✔✔A small independent state consisting of an urban center and the surrounding
agricultural territory. A characteristic political form in early Mesopotamia, classical Greece,
Phoenicia, and early Italy.
Culture ✔✔Socially transmitted patterns of action and expression. Material _____ refers to
physical objects, such as dwellings, clothing, tools, and crafts. _____ also includes arts, beliefs,
knowledge, and technology.
Agricultural Revolution/Neolithic Revolution-When? ✔✔The change from food gathering to food
production that occurred between 8000 and 2000 B.C.E., independently in various parts of the
world. This also includes the domestication of plants and animals.
,Paleolithic ✔✔The period of the Stone Age associated with the evolution of humans. It predates
the Neolithic period.
Neolithic ✔✔The period of the Stone Age associated with the ancient Agricultural Revolution (s).
It follows the Paleolithic period.
Mohenjo-Darro ✔✔Largest of the cities of the Indus Valley civilization. It was centrally located
in the extensive floodplain of the Indus River in contemporary Pakistan. Little is known about the
political institutions of Indus Valley communities, but the large scale of construction at Mohenjo-
Daro, the orderly grid for streets, and the standardization of building materials are evidence of
central planning.
Name the 4 river valleys where civilization began. ✔✔1) Mesopotamia, 2) Egypt, 3) Pakistan, 4)
northern China
What are the characteristics of civilization? ✔✔1) Cities that serve as administrative centers, 2) a
political system based on control of defined territory, 3) specialization, 4) status based on wealth,
5) monumental buildings, 6) a writing system, 7) long distance trade, and 8) major advancements
in science and art.
Loess ✔✔A fine, light silt deposited by wind and water. It constitutes the fertile soil of the Yellow
River Valley in northern China. Because _____ soil is not compacted, it can be worked with a
simple digging stick, but it leaves the region vulnerable to devastating earthquakes.
Daoism ✔✔Chinese school of thought, originating in the Warring States Period with Laozi.
Daoism offered an alternative to the Confucian emphasis on hierarchy and duty. Daoists believe
that the world is always changing and is devoid of absolute morality or meaning. They accept the
world as they find it, avoid futile struggles, and deviate as little as possible from the Dao, or "path"
of nature.
, Legalism ✔✔An authoritarian political philosophy that came to be called ____. These thinkers
believe human nature is essentially wicked and that people behave in an orderly fashion only if
compelled by strict laws and harsh punishments.
Confucius ✔✔Western name for the Chinese philosopher Konzi (551-479 B.C.E.). His doctrine
of duty and public service had a great influence on subsequent Chinese thought and served as a
code of conduct for government officials.
Mandate of Heaven ✔✔Chinese religious and political ideology developed by the Zhou, according
to which it was the prerogative of Heaven, the chief deity, to grant power to the rule of China and
to take away that power if the ruler failed to conduct himself justly and in the best interests of his
subjects.
Shang ✔✔The dominant people in the earliest Chinese dynasty for which we have written records
(ca. 1750-1045 B.C.E.). Ancestor worship, divination by means of oracle bones, and the use of
bronze vessels for ritual purposes were major elements of _____ culture.
Hittites ✔✔A people from central Anatolia who established an empire in Anatolia and Syria in the
late Bronze Age. With wealth from the trade in metals and military power based on chariot forces,
the _____ vied with New Kingdom Egypt for control of Syria-Palestine before falling to
unidentified attackers ca. 1200 B.C.E.
Hatshepsut ✔✔Queen of Egypt (r. 1473-1458 B.C.E.). She dispatched a naval expedition down
the Red Sea to Punt (possibly northeast Sudan or Eretria), the faraway source of myrrh. There is
evidence of opposition to a woman as ruler, and after her death her name and image were
frequently defaced.
Akhenaten ✔✔Egyptian pharaoh (r. 1353-1335 B.C.E.) He built a new capital at Amarna, fostered
a new style of naturalistic art, and created a religious revolution by imposing worship of the sun-
Latest 2022 Rated A
Civilization ✔✔An ambiguous term often used to denote more complex societies but sometimes
used by anthropologists to describe any group of people sharing a set of cultural traits.
Foragers ✔✔People who support themselves by hunting wild animals and gathering wild edible
plants and insects.
Cuneiform ✔✔A system of writing in which wedge-shaped symbols represented words or
syllables. It originated in Mesopotamia and was used initially for Sumerian and Akkadian but later
was adapted to represent other languages of western Asia. Because so many symbols had to be
learned, literacy was confined to a relatively small group of administrators and scribes.
History ✔✔The study of past events and changes in the development, transmission, and
transformation of cultural practices.
City-state ✔✔A small independent state consisting of an urban center and the surrounding
agricultural territory. A characteristic political form in early Mesopotamia, classical Greece,
Phoenicia, and early Italy.
Culture ✔✔Socially transmitted patterns of action and expression. Material _____ refers to
physical objects, such as dwellings, clothing, tools, and crafts. _____ also includes arts, beliefs,
knowledge, and technology.
Agricultural Revolution/Neolithic Revolution-When? ✔✔The change from food gathering to food
production that occurred between 8000 and 2000 B.C.E., independently in various parts of the
world. This also includes the domestication of plants and animals.
,Paleolithic ✔✔The period of the Stone Age associated with the evolution of humans. It predates
the Neolithic period.
Neolithic ✔✔The period of the Stone Age associated with the ancient Agricultural Revolution (s).
It follows the Paleolithic period.
Mohenjo-Darro ✔✔Largest of the cities of the Indus Valley civilization. It was centrally located
in the extensive floodplain of the Indus River in contemporary Pakistan. Little is known about the
political institutions of Indus Valley communities, but the large scale of construction at Mohenjo-
Daro, the orderly grid for streets, and the standardization of building materials are evidence of
central planning.
Name the 4 river valleys where civilization began. ✔✔1) Mesopotamia, 2) Egypt, 3) Pakistan, 4)
northern China
What are the characteristics of civilization? ✔✔1) Cities that serve as administrative centers, 2) a
political system based on control of defined territory, 3) specialization, 4) status based on wealth,
5) monumental buildings, 6) a writing system, 7) long distance trade, and 8) major advancements
in science and art.
Loess ✔✔A fine, light silt deposited by wind and water. It constitutes the fertile soil of the Yellow
River Valley in northern China. Because _____ soil is not compacted, it can be worked with a
simple digging stick, but it leaves the region vulnerable to devastating earthquakes.
Daoism ✔✔Chinese school of thought, originating in the Warring States Period with Laozi.
Daoism offered an alternative to the Confucian emphasis on hierarchy and duty. Daoists believe
that the world is always changing and is devoid of absolute morality or meaning. They accept the
world as they find it, avoid futile struggles, and deviate as little as possible from the Dao, or "path"
of nature.
, Legalism ✔✔An authoritarian political philosophy that came to be called ____. These thinkers
believe human nature is essentially wicked and that people behave in an orderly fashion only if
compelled by strict laws and harsh punishments.
Confucius ✔✔Western name for the Chinese philosopher Konzi (551-479 B.C.E.). His doctrine
of duty and public service had a great influence on subsequent Chinese thought and served as a
code of conduct for government officials.
Mandate of Heaven ✔✔Chinese religious and political ideology developed by the Zhou, according
to which it was the prerogative of Heaven, the chief deity, to grant power to the rule of China and
to take away that power if the ruler failed to conduct himself justly and in the best interests of his
subjects.
Shang ✔✔The dominant people in the earliest Chinese dynasty for which we have written records
(ca. 1750-1045 B.C.E.). Ancestor worship, divination by means of oracle bones, and the use of
bronze vessels for ritual purposes were major elements of _____ culture.
Hittites ✔✔A people from central Anatolia who established an empire in Anatolia and Syria in the
late Bronze Age. With wealth from the trade in metals and military power based on chariot forces,
the _____ vied with New Kingdom Egypt for control of Syria-Palestine before falling to
unidentified attackers ca. 1200 B.C.E.
Hatshepsut ✔✔Queen of Egypt (r. 1473-1458 B.C.E.). She dispatched a naval expedition down
the Red Sea to Punt (possibly northeast Sudan or Eretria), the faraway source of myrrh. There is
evidence of opposition to a woman as ruler, and after her death her name and image were
frequently defaced.
Akhenaten ✔✔Egyptian pharaoh (r. 1353-1335 B.C.E.) He built a new capital at Amarna, fostered
a new style of naturalistic art, and created a religious revolution by imposing worship of the sun-
