Chapter 6
Unit 2 World History
The Step Pyramid of El Castillo near current day Cancun Mexico. (From my personal files)
A reconstruction of a 13th Century Mongol Warrior from a Museum.(Creative Commons photo. Attribution to author and info can be found here)
This chapter is usually a favorite among students because of the content that they find here. As opposed to most chapters focused on East Asia, the students have a working knowledge of at least a couple of groups in this chapter and they usually enjoy hearing how much of their pop culture knowledge is wrong. While most chapters on East Asia center around China, this one covers some other civilizations at length. The Japanese are a favorite among students because of the rise of the Samurai in Japan. After that we cover the rise of the Mongol Empire, which captures the attention of students due to the questions over whether they were more barbaric than other conquerors in history. Students also get a renewed focus on women’s history in this unit. While most of it is still pretty negative, they do get to hear about the Trung sisters and their valiant fight against the Chinese. There is also a long conversation about the connections started with other cultures because of the spread of the Mongols in history.

Essential questions

The following questions are meant to be studied during the chapter as possible essay questions for your exam.
Please be ready for any of the following questions.
  1. Is this era in Chinese history the most unequal in terms of gender relations in the history we have covered so far? Why or why not?
  2. Should Genghis Khan be considered a great man for his actions, despite all the large scale massacres he committed in his life?
  3. What were the reasons that Muslim conquerors of India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan abandoned their usual peaceful coexistence with other faiths and instead treated the Hindu so poorly in comparison?
  4. Why do you believe Admiral Zheng He is considered an important enough person to be labeled the 14th most important person of the millennium by Life magazine?

Chapter Content

Use the following links to find the content you are interested in or use the search bar at the top right to look for specific concepts.

Tang Decline & The Rise Of The Song

China Backs Off Exploration

Japans Imperial Age

Invasion Of South Asia By The Muslims

The Empire Of Temujin

Creating The Empire

Later Mongol Empire

The Impact & Legacy Of The Yuan Dynasty

Class
Resources

The following are a list of helpful resources that can be used in studying for this chapter.

Class Notes

These are the notes that I use for class. All information found in these notes lead directly to the test so they should be used in studying if you want the correct answers. This can only be accessed by students logged into their school account.

Chapter Powerpoint

This link will lead you to the PowerPoint for this unit. Those who missed class can use this to catch up on what was taught in class and what specific concepts to focus on in your studying.

Exam Review

This is the review that should be used to prepare for the exam. All exam questions will be connected directly to this document. Students are expected to answer all questions and are encouraged to know the rest also.

Review Videos

The videos to the right are placed here so that you can find other ways to study if that is your desire. Crash course videos tend to work pretty well for this type of studying as many of the AP World students use them to prep for tests. Please feel free to click on any of the videos in this feed for more info.

This Chapter in the news

Many students don’t realize that history is being debated and rewritten daily. These are stories related to our chapter from the news.

Genghis Khan's Genetic Legacy

Genghis Khan is well known for having the most influential genetic legacy of all time. Now that DNA science is more prevalent, they are realizing that we should add to that list.