Periodization
A unique feature of the Advanced Placement World History course is its division into six periods. It is
important for you to familiarize yourself with these periods; the ability to compare and contrast
societies, events, and trends within periods will be necessary skills to master the multiple-choice
questions as well as the comparative and document-based questions on the AP examination. You will
also need to analyze the impact of interactions among societies. Likewise, a grasp of the changes and
continuities (those things that stayed the same) between periods is important to success on the
multiple-choice, the continuity and change-over-time, and document-based questions on the exam.
The six AP World History periods are:
• Period 1 Technological and Environmental Transformations (to c. 600 BCE)
• Period 2 Organization and Reorganization of Human Societies (c. 600 BCE to c. 600 CE)
• Period 3 Regional and Transregional Interactions (c. 600 CE to c. 1450)
• Period 4 Global Interactions (c. 1450 to c. 1750)
• Period 5 Industrialization and Global Integration (c. 1750 to c. 1900)
• Period 6 Accelerating Global Change and Realignments (c. 1900 to the present)
Notice that dates in AP World History use the designations BCE (Before the Common Era) and CE
(Common Era). These designations correspond to BC and AD, respectively.
AP World History Themes
In each of these six periods, there are five broad themes that the course emphasizes. These are:
• Human-environmental interaction: disease and its effects on population, migration, settlement
patterns, and technology
• Cultural development and interaction: religions, belief systems, and philosophies; science and
technology; and the arts and architecture
• State-building, expansion, and conflict: political structures and forms of government; empires;
nations and nationalism; revolts and revolutions; and regional, transregional, and global
organizations and structures
• Creation, growth, and interaction of economic systems: agriculture and pastoralism, trade and
commerce, labor systems, industrialization, and capitalism and socialism
• Development and change in social structures: gender roles, family and kinship relations, race and
ethnicity, and social and economic class structures
Civilization Versus Society
Another consideration in the AP World History course is the role of societies as well as civilizations.
Historians commonly define a civilization as a cultural group that displays five characteristics:
• Advanced cities
• Advanced technology
• Skilled workers
• Complex institutions (examples: government, religion)