Unit 10.1 · c. 1750

Unit 10.1: The World in 1750

I. Unit Framing: Why 1750?

The NYS curriculum starts the Regents content at 1750 because that year functions as a hinge. By 1750 the world was already deeply interconnected through global trade, dominated not by Europe alone but by several powerful empires across Eurasia, and organized around belief systems and political structures that had been in place for centuries. The next 250 years are the story of how that pre-modern equilibrium was broken apart and reorganized by revolution, industrialization, imperialism, and total war.

This unit is therefore the baseline. Every later unit asks you to compare what came after to what existed in 1750. If you understand the four pillars of this unit (belief systems, major empires, economic systems, and political systems) you have the frame of reference the rest of the course requires.

Strategic insight: The Regents exam consistently rewards students who can recognize that in 1750 the most powerful empires in the world were Asian (Qing China, Mughal India, Ottoman Empire, Tokugawa Japan), not European. This is the single most important conceptual move in the unit because it sets up the dramatic reversal during industrialization and imperialism.

Essential question for this unit: How did belief systems, political structures, and economic systems organize the world in 1750, and what tensions within that order made later transformation possible?

II. Major Belief Systems

Seven belief systems shaped the world in 1750. The Regents tests these in two ways. First, stimulus-based questions ask you to identify a belief system from a quotation of its core teachings. Second, comparison questions ask you to identify what beliefs share or differ. You need core teachings, geographic distribution, and one or two distinctive features for each.

1. Christianity

Type: Monotheistic, Abrahamic, founded ~30 CE by followers of Jesus of Nazareth
Core texts: Bible (Old and New Testaments)

Central teachings: Jesus as son of God and savior, salvation through faith, Ten Commandments, love of neighbor, resurrection and eternal life
Major split: Catholic vs. Protestant after the Reformation (Martin Luther, 1517). Eastern Orthodox had split earlier in 1054.
Geography in 1750: Europe, the Americas (through colonization), parts of Africa, growing presence in Philippines
Political significance: The Pope held substantial political power in Catholic Europe. The Reformation broke the religious unity of Western Europe and helped justify new political identities (e.g., Henry VIII and the Church of England).

2. Islam

Type: Monotheistic, Abrahamic, founded 622 CE by the Prophet Muhammad in Arabia
Core text: Qur'an (also Quran or Koran), believed to be the direct word of Allah revealed to Muhammad
Five Pillars: Shahada (declaration of faith), Salat (five daily prayers), Zakat (almsgiving), Sawm (fasting during Ramadan), Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca)
Major split: Sunni vs. Shia, originating in a 7th-century dispute over succession to Muhammad. Sunni became the majority worldwide; Shia became the majority in Persia (modern Iran).
Geography in 1750: North Africa, Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia (under Mughal rule), Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia), parts of sub-Saharan Africa via trans-Saharan trade
Political significance: Three major Islamic empires dominated in 1750: Ottoman (Sunni), Safavid (Shia, in decline), and Mughal (Muslim ruling Hindu majority).

3. Judaism

Type: Monotheistic, the oldest Abrahamic faith, founded by Abraham roughly 2000 BCE
Core text: Torah (first five books of Hebrew Bible), Talmud (rabbinic commentary)
Central teachings: Covenant between God and the Jewish people, Ten Commandments, ethical monotheism, importance of law (Halakha) and study
Geography in 1750: Diaspora communities throughout Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and trade networks. Significant communities in Poland, Lithuania, the Ottoman Empire, and Spain (before the 1492 expulsion).
Political significance: Jews lived as minority communities, often subject to restrictions on land ownership, professions, and movement. The millet system in the Ottoman Empire offered relatively more autonomy than most of Christian Europe.

4. Hinduism

Type: Polytheistic (though many Hindus understand multiple deities as expressions of one ultimate reality, Brahman). One of the oldest living religions, no single founder.
Core texts: Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana, Mahabharata
Central concepts: Dharma (moral duty), karma (consequences of actions across lives), samsara (cycle of rebirth), moksha (liberation from samsara), reincarnation
Social structure: Caste system (varna), historically organized into four major castes plus Dalits ("untouchables"). Birth determined caste and shaped occupation, marriage, and social mobility.
Geography in 1750: Concentrated in South Asia, particularly the Indian subcontinent. The Mughal Empire ruled a Hindu-majority population.
Major deities to recognize: Brahma (creator), Vishnu (preserver), Shiva (destroyer)

5. Buddhism

Type: Non-theistic philosophical and religious tradition founded ~500 BCE by Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) in northern India
Central teachings: Four Noble Truths (life involves suffering; suffering is caused by desire; suffering can end; the path to ending suffering is the Eightfold Path) and the Eightfold Path (right understanding, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, concentration)
Key concepts: Nirvana (liberation from suffering), Middle Way (between asceticism and indulgence), karma, reincarnation, no caste distinctions
Two major branches: Theravada (more conservative, dominant in Southeast Asia) and Mahayana (more devotional, dominant in East Asia, includes Zen and Pure Land variants)
Geography in 1750: Spread along Silk Road from India to Central Asia, China, Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia. Largely displaced in India by Hinduism and Islam by 1750.

6. Confucianism

Type: Ethical and philosophical system, not strictly a religion. Founded by Confucius (Kong Fuzi) ~500 BCE in China.
Core text: Analects (collected sayings of Confucius)
Central teachings: Filial piety (respect for parents and ancestors), ren (humaneness), li (proper ritual and conduct), social harmony through right relationships
Five Relationships: Ruler to subject, father to son, husband to wife, elder brother to younger brother, friend to friend. Each carries reciprocal duties.
Political significance: Foundation of the Chinese civil service exam system, which selected officials by merit (in theory) based on mastery of Confucian texts. Spread throughout East Asia (Korea, Vietnam, Japan).

Geography in 1750: China, Korea, Vietnam, parts of Japan. Defined the social fabric of Qing China.

7. Sikhism

Type: Monotheistic religion founded in the Punjab region (modern India/Pakistan) ~1500 CE by Guru Nanak
Core text: Guru Granth Sahib
Central teachings: One God, equality of all people, rejection of caste, service to humanity, the importance of honest work and sharing
Distinctive features: Khalsa community, the Five Ks worn by initiated Sikhs (uncut hair, comb, steel bracelet, sword, special undergarment), turban for men
Geography in 1750: Concentrated in Punjab. By 1750, Sikhs were organizing politically against Mughal rule and would establish the Sikh Empire under Ranjit Singh in the early 1800s.

Comparison move for the exam: If a stimulus asks you to identify shared features across multiple belief systems, recognize the Abrahamic trio (Christianity, Judaism, Islam) shares monotheism, ethical commandments, and an origin in the Middle East. The Indian-origin trio (Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism) shares concepts of karma and rebirth (though Sikhism modifies these). Confucianism is the outlier as an ethical system organized around social roles rather than deity.

III. Major Empires and Political Entities

In 1750 the world was organized into a small number of large empires and a larger number of states. The key insight is that the most economically and militarily powerful empires of 1750 were in Asia, not Europe. European wealth had grown through New World silver and the Atlantic trade, but European political reach into Asia was still limited to trading posts and coastal enclaves.

Asian Empires (the dominant powers of 1750) Ottoman Empire

Capital: Istanbul (formerly Constantinople, captured 1453)
Territory in 1750: Anatolia (Turkey), the Balkans, the Levant, Egypt, much of North Africa, parts of the Arabian Peninsula and Mesopotamia
Religion: Sunni Islam (ruling), with substantial Christian and Jewish populations governed under the millet system, which allowed religious communities self-rule on internal matters
Government: Sultan held absolute authority. Janissary corps served as the elite military.
Peak: Suleiman the Magnificent (r. 1520-1566)
By 1750: Already showing signs of decline. Loss of military edge after the failed Siege of Vienna (1683). Would later be called "the sick man of Europe."

Mughal Empire (India)

Capital: Delhi (later Agra)
Territory in 1750: Most of the Indian subcontinent
Religion: Muslim ruling class governing a Hindu majority
Key emperors to know: Akbar the Great (r. 1556-1605, religious tolerance, abolished jizya tax on non-Muslims, built religious dialogue); Shah Jahan (built the Taj Mahal); Aurangzeb (r. 1658-1707, reimposed jizya, persecuted Hindus and Sikhs, expanded but destabilized the empire)
By 1750: In rapid decline after Aurangzeb. Provincial governors had become effectively independent. British East India Company was establishing dominance in Bengal. The Battle of Plassey in 1757 would mark the effective beginning of British rule.

Qing Dynasty (China)

Capital: Beijing
Founded: 1644, when the Manchu people from northeast Asia conquered Ming China
Territory in 1750: All of China proper plus Manchuria, Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Tibet. Largest land empire in Chinese history.
Government: Emperor with mandate of heaven, Confucian bureaucracy selected by civil service exams
Key emperors: Kangxi (r. 1661-1722) and Qianlong (r. 1735-1796) presided over the height of Qing power
Economy: Self-sufficient agricultural economy. China dominated global trade because European demand for tea, silk, and porcelain ran one way; China wanted little from Europe except silver.
Policy: Increasingly isolationist. Foreign trade restricted to a single port (Canton/Guangzhou) under the Canton System. This isolation would later become a vulnerability.

Tokugawa Japan

Period: Tokugawa Shogunate, 1603-1868
Capital: Edo (modern Tokyo)
Government: Feudal. The emperor was a ceremonial figure; real power was held by the shogun. Below the shogun, daimyo (regional lords) controlled domains using samurai retainers.
Social hierarchy: Rigid four-tier class system: samurai, peasants, artisans, merchants. Mobility between classes was forbidden.
Policy: Sakoku (the "closed country" policy). After 1635, almost all foreign contact was forbidden. Trade was restricted to a small Dutch outpost at Dejima in Nagasaki harbor and limited Chinese and Korean exchange.
Significance: Two and a half centuries of internal peace and economic development. This created the conditions that allowed Japan to industrialize rapidly after being forced open in 1853-54 by Commodore Perry.

European Powers France (under Bourbon dynasty)

Government: Absolute monarchy. Louis XIV (r. 1643-1715, "the Sun King") epitomized European absolutism. His palace at Versailles was the model for centralized royal power.
Famous quote: "L'etat, c'est moi" (I am the state), attributed to Louis XIV
By 1750: Louis XV ruled. France was wealthy and culturally dominant but financially strained from wars and the lifestyle of the court. Tensions that would produce the French Revolution were accumulating.

Britain

Government: Constitutional monarchy after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Parliament held real power; the monarch was constrained by law. This was the major exception to European absolutism.
Key document: English Bill of Rights (1689) established parliamentary supremacy, right to petition, free elections
Empire: Thirteen colonies in North America, Caribbean sugar islands, growing influence in India through the East India Company, dominance of Atlantic slave trade

Russia (Romanov dynasty)

Government: Absolute monarchy under the Tsar
Peter the Great (r. 1682-1725): Westernized Russia. Toured Europe in disguise to learn shipbuilding and technology. Built St. Petersburg as a "window to the West." Forced nobles to adopt Western dress and shave their beards. Modernized the military and government.
Catherine the Great (r. 1762-1796): Continued westernization, expanded Russian territory south to the Black Sea and west into Poland, corresponded with Enlightenment thinkers but maintained serfdom and absolutism

Spain

Empire: Massive American empire (Mexico, Central America, most of South America, the Philippines)
Economic system: Extracted silver from mines like Potosi (Bolivia) using forced indigenous labor (mita system) and enslaved Africans. Used the encomienda system to grant Spanish colonists labor rights over indigenous people.
By 1750: Declining. Spanish silver had fueled European inflation and eventually flowed to China to pay for Asian goods.

African States

By 1750 the Songhai Empire (which had been the dominant West African empire) had fallen (1591, conquered by Morocco). West Africa was organized into smaller kingdoms including Ashanti (Gold Coast), Dahomey, and Oyo. The Atlantic slave trade was reshaping coastal African societies, enriching some kingdoms (often by raiding their neighbors) and depopulating others.

Comparison Table: Major Empires in 1750

<table> <tr> <th> Empire </th> <th> Government </th> <th> Dominant Religion </th> <th> Economy </th> <th> Status in 1750 </th> </tr> <tr> <td> Ottoman </td> <td> Sultanate (absolute) </td> <td> Sunni Islam (millet system) </td> <td> Trade hub between Asia and Europe </td> <td> Declining from peak </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Mughal </td> <td> Emperor (absolute) </td> <td> Islam ruling Hindu majority </td> <td> Agriculture, textiles, spices </td> <td> Rapid decline </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Qing </td> <td> Emperor with Confucian bureaucracy </td> <td> Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism </td> <td> Self-sufficient, silk and tea exports </td> <td> Peak power, isolationist </td> </tr> </table>

Empire

<table> <tr> <th> Empire </th> <th> Government </th> <th> Dominant Religion </th> <th> Economy </th> <th> Status in 1750 </th> </tr> <tr> <td> Tokugawa Japan </td> <td> Shogunate (feudal) </td> <td> Shinto, Buddhism, Confucianism </td> <td> Closed economy, internal trade </td> <td> Stable, isolated </td> </tr> <tr> <td> France </td> <td> Absolute monarchy </td> <td> Catholic </td> <td> Mercantilist, colonial </td> <td> Wealthy but financially strained </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Britain </td> <td> Constitutional monarchy </td> <td> Protestant (Anglican) </td> <td> Mercantilist, trade-based </td> <td> Rising power </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Russia </td> <td> Tsarist absolute monarchy </td> <td> Eastern Orthodox </td> <td> Agricultural, serfdom </td> <td> Westernizing and expanding </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Spain </td> <td> Absolute monarchy </td> <td> Catholic </td> <td> New World silver, mercantilist </td> <td> In decline </td> </tr> </table>

Government

Dominant Religion

Economy

Status in 1750

IV. Economic Systems: Trade, Mercantilism, and the Atlantic World

The economy of 1750 was already global. Goods, people, and diseases moved across oceans in patterns established by the Columbian Exchange and the Atlantic slave trade, organized under the European economic theory of mercantilism.

The Columbian Exchange

Beginning with Columbus in 1492, sustained contact between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres triggered a vast biological and cultural exchange. By 1750 the effects had reshaped diets, demographics, and economies on every inhabited continent.

From the Americas to the rest of the world: corn (maize), potatoes, tomatoes, cacao (chocolate), tobacco, vanilla, beans, peppers, sweet potatoes, turkeys, syphilis

From Europe/Africa/Asia to the Americas: wheat, rice, sugarcane, coffee, citrus fruits, bananas, horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens, and diseases (smallpox, measles, influenza, typhus)

Demographic catastrophe: Old World diseases, especially smallpox, killed an estimated 80-90% of the indigenous population of the Americas in the centuries after 1492. This was one of the largest demographic collapses in human history. It is also why African slavery became central to the New World economy: indigenous labor had been decimated.

Notice how the Columbian Exchange illustrates the enduring issue of interconnectedness. The Irish potato dependency that would cause the 1840s famine, Italian tomato sauces, Chinese sweet potatoes, and African cassava are all downstream effects of the Exchange.

Atlantic Slave Trade and the Triangular Trade

Between 1500 and 1800, approximately 12 million Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic in the largest forced migration in history. The Atlantic slave trade was a central feature of the 1750 economy.

The triangular trade pattern

Leg 1 (Europe to Africa): Manufactured goods (guns, textiles, rum) shipped from European ports to West African coasts and exchanged for enslaved people
Leg 2 (Africa to Americas, the Middle Passage): Enslaved Africans transported across the Atlantic in horrific conditions, with mortality rates of 15-20% on each voyage
Leg 3 (Americas to Europe): Raw materials produced by enslaved labor (sugar, tobacco, cotton, indigo) shipped back to Europe

The trade enriched European port cities (Liverpool, Nantes, Bristol, Lisbon), built fortunes in the Americas, and generated capital that would later fuel the Industrial Revolution. It also devastated

African societies, distorted West African political development, and created the demographic foundation of slavery in the Americas.

Enduring issue: The Atlantic slave trade is the central case study for two enduring issues: power and abuse of power (the dehumanization of enslaved people for economic gain) and inequality (the racial hierarchies it produced and continues to shape). Maria should be able to deploy this case study in any essay touching either issue.

Mercantilism

Mercantilism was the dominant European economic theory from roughly 1500 to 1800. The core idea: a nation's wealth was measured by its stock of gold and silver, and the way to accumulate gold and silver was to export more than you import (favorable balance of trade).

Implications of mercantilism

Colonies existed to enrich the mother country. Colonies were required to buy manufactured goods from the mother country and to sell raw materials to the mother country at controlled prices.
Government intervention in the economy. States granted monopolies (like the British East India Company), imposed tariffs on imports, and built navies to protect trade routes.
Wars over trade. European powers fought repeatedly over colonies, trade routes, and access to slave markets. The Seven Years' War (1756-1763) was effectively the first global war, with theaters in Europe, North America, the Caribbean, India, and West Africa.
Tension with American colonies. Mercantilist restrictions on the Thirteen Colonies (Navigation Acts) would help spark the American Revolution. Adam Smith would attack mercantilism in The Wealth of Nations (1776), arguing for free trade.

V. Political Systems: Absolutism and Its Alternatives

Absolutism

Absolutism is the political theory that the monarch holds unlimited sovereign power, often justified by divine right (the doctrine that the king's authority comes directly from God). In 1750 most European states were absolutist, as were the major Asian empires.

Characteristics of absolutist rule

Monarch holds executive, legislative, and judicial power
Standing army loyal to the monarch
Centralized bureaucracy that bypasses regional nobility
Control of the church or alliance with the state religion
Heavy taxation to support court, military, and infrastructure
Lavish royal courts that displayed and concentrated power (Versailles is the archetype)

Key absolutist rulers to know

Louis XIV of France (r. 1643-1715): The model absolute monarch. Built Versailles. Centralized French government. Pursued aggressive foreign wars. Revoked the Edict of Nantes (1685), persecuting French Protestants (Huguenots).
Peter the Great of Russia (r. 1682-1725): Combined absolutism with westernization. Forced modernization on a reluctant nobility.
Frederick the Great of Prussia (r. 1740-1786): "Enlightened despot" who modernized Prussian administration, expanded religious tolerance, and corresponded with Voltaire while maintaining absolute power
Catherine the Great of Russia (r. 1762-1796): Another "enlightened despot" who patronized Enlightenment thinkers but cracked down on serfs and dissent

The Constitutional Alternative: England

England was the great exception to European absolutism. The English Civil War (1642-1651), the execution of Charles I (1649), and especially the Glorious Revolution (1688) established that the monarch was subject to law. The English Bill of Rights of 1689 codified parliamentary supremacy, free elections, the right to petition, no taxation without representation, and limits on standing armies. This set up the political framework that would inspire Enlightenment thinkers (especially Locke) and later the American Revolution.

The setup for what's coming: Notice the tension already visible in 1750. Absolutist rulers concentrated power in a single sovereign. Enlightenment thinkers (whom we will study in Unit 10.2) would argue that legitimate government rests on the consent of the governed. The contradiction between these two ideas would explode in the French Revolution. Unit 10.1 is the setup, Unit 10.2 is the conflict.

VI. Themes and Takeaways

Theme 1: The Asian-Centered World

The Eurocentric narrative that Europe "discovered" and dominated the world is wrong for 1750. The wealthiest, most populous, and most technologically sophisticated empires in 1750 were Asian. European wealth depended on access to Asian goods (tea, silk, porcelain, spices) and on silver extracted from the Americas. The dramatic reversal in the next 150 years requires you to first appreciate that it was not inevitable.

Theme 2: Belief Systems as Political Infrastructure

Religion in 1750 was not separate from politics. The Pope made and unmade kings. The Caliph and Sultan claimed religious authority. The Chinese emperor held the Mandate of Heaven. Mughal rulers had to navigate Hindu-Muslim relations. The relationship between religious belief and political legitimacy is one of the most testable patterns in this unit.

Theme 3: Global Interconnection

The world of 1750 was already a system. Spanish silver flowed to China. African slaves produced Caribbean sugar consumed in Britain. Indian cotton clothed European armies. American potatoes fed European peasants. When questions on the test ask about interconnectedness or cultural diffusion, this is the foundation case.

Theme 4: Coexisting Forms of Inequality

Every major society in 1750 was sharply unequal but along different axes. European societies had feudal class systems and rising bourgeoisie tensions. Mughal India had caste plus religious hierarchies. Tokugawa Japan had its rigid four-tier system. Plantation societies in the Americas were built on racial slavery. The forms differed; the structural inequality was universal.

Theme 5: The Limits of Absolutism

Absolute monarchs claimed unlimited power but in practice faced constant constraints: nobles to placate, taxes to collect, wars to fund, religious factions to manage. The grandeur of Versailles can obscure that European absolutism was a high-wire act. England's constitutional model was already an alternative on offer.

Connecting to Enduring Issues

This unit feeds five of the eleven enduring issues most heavily. Maria should be able to cite specific 10.1 examples for each.

Cultural diffusion: Columbian Exchange, spread of Islam along trade routes, spread of Buddhism along Silk Road • Power and abuse of power: Atlantic slave trade, absolutist monarchies, Aurangzeb's persecution of non-Muslims • Inequality: Caste system, slavery, feudal class systems, the Tokugawa class hierarchy • Interconnectedness: Triangular trade, silver flowing from Americas to China, Indian Ocean trade • Conflict: Mughal-Sikh tensions, European wars over colonies, Ottoman expansion into Europe

VII. Key Terms and People to Memorize

These are the highest-priority terms for Unit 10.1. Maria should make a flashcard for each.

Terms

Absolutism: political doctrine that a monarch holds unlimited sovereign power
Divine right of kings: doctrine that royal authority comes from God and the monarch is accountable only to God
Mercantilism: economic theory that national wealth is measured by gold and silver reserves and built through favorable trade balances
Columbian Exchange: transfer of plants, animals, people, and diseases between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres after 1492
Triangular trade: three-leg Atlantic trade pattern connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas
Middle Passage: the brutal trans-Atlantic leg of the slave trade
Encomienda: Spanish system granting colonists the right to extract labor and tribute from indigenous Americans
Mita: Spanish forced labor system used in the Andes, particularly in silver mines
Millet system: Ottoman policy allowing religious minorities self-rule on internal matters
Sakoku: Tokugawa Japan's policy of national seclusion
Mandate of Heaven: Chinese doctrine that the emperor rules with divine authority that can be withdrawn if he rules badly
Dharma: Hindu and Buddhist concept of moral duty or righteous conduct
Karma: the principle that actions in this life affect future incarnations
Caste system: hereditary social hierarchy in Hindu society
Five Pillars of Islam: the five core practices required of Muslims
Filial piety: Confucian virtue of respect for parents, elders, and ancestors
Bourgeoisie: the urban merchant and professional class, rising in importance in 1750
Serfdom: system in which peasants were legally bound to land and to a lord; persisted in Russia and Eastern Europe

People

Louis XIV: French absolute monarch, built Versailles, archetype of European absolutism
Peter the Great: Russian tsar who westernized Russia
Catherine the Great: Russian empress, enlightened despot who expanded Russian territory
Frederick the Great: Prussian king, enlightened despot
Akbar the Great: Mughal emperor known for religious tolerance
Aurangzeb: later Mughal emperor whose Islamic policies destabilized the empire
Suleiman the Magnificent: Ottoman sultan at the empire's peak
Kangxi and Qianlong: Qing emperors during the dynasty's height
Confucius: Chinese philosopher whose ethics shaped East Asian governance
Guru Nanak: founder of Sikhism
Martin Luther: German monk whose 1517 Ninety-Five Theses launched the Protestant Reformation

VIII. Typical Regents Questions and Topics

Based on past exams from 2019 through 2025, the Regents has asked about Unit 10.1 in a few predictable ways. Maria should recognize each format and have a strategy.

Question Format 1: Identify the Belief System from a Quote

A passage from a sacred text or a description of practices is presented. Maria must identify the religion or philosophical system.

Example stimulus pattern: "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is His messenger. Pray five times a day facing Mecca. Give alms to the poor. Fast during the holy month. Make pilgrimage to Mecca once in your lifetime if able."

Strategy: Look for distinctive vocabulary. "Mecca," "Allah," "Five Pillars" signals Islam. "Nirvana," "Four Noble Truths," "Buddha" signals Buddhism. "Filial piety," "Five Relationships," "Analects" signals Confucianism. "Reincarnation" plus "caste" or "dharma" usually points to Hinduism (Buddhism shares reincarnation but rejects caste).

Question Format 2: Identify the Empire or Ruler

A description of policies or actions is presented; Maria must identify the empire or ruler.

Example stimulus pattern: "The emperor abolished the jizya tax on non-Muslims, took Hindu wives, encouraged religious dialogue between Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and Sikhs, and built a new capital at Fatehpur Sikri."

Strategy: Akbar is the answer because of religious tolerance plus the Mughal context. Versailles plus centralization signals Louis XIV. Building St. Petersburg plus westernization signals Peter the Great. Sakoku and shogunate signal Tokugawa Japan.

Question Format 3: Cause and Effect on the Columbian Exchange

Questions ask about effects of the exchange on specific regions.

Common correct answers: Potatoes increased European population. Old World diseases caused massive indigenous mortality. Horses transformed Plains Indian societies. New crops (cassava, corn) eventually changed African and Asian diets. The exchange spurred slavery as indigenous labor collapsed.

Question Format 4: Identify Mercantilism

Stimulus may be a quote from a French finance minister or a description of trade policy.

Recognition cues:

Phrases like "favorable balance of trade," "colonies must enrich the mother country," "tariffs to protect domestic industry," "accumulate gold and silver." If the passage describes restricting colonial trade or hoarding precious metals, the answer is mercantilism.

Question Format 5: Atlantic Slave Trade Effects

Questions on Middle Passage conditions, demographic effects on Africa, the economic basis of plantation colonies, or comparisons to other forms of unfree labor.

High-leverage facts: Roughly 12 million Africans were transported. Mortality on the Middle Passage was 15-20%. The trade enriched European port cities and helped fund the Industrial Revolution. It depopulated parts of West Africa and distorted African political development.

Question Format 6: Compare Two Empires

These tend to appear in CRQ sets. Maria may be asked to compare Ottoman millet policy with Mughal religious policy, or to compare absolutism in France with constitutional monarchy in Britain, or to identify a similarity between Tokugawa Japan and Qing China (both isolationist, both Confucian-influenced).

Strategy: Use the comparison table she memorized. Common comparison axes: government type, religious policy, attitude to foreign contact, economic basis.

Likely Constructed-Response Question topics

Compare how the Ottoman millet system and the Mughal Empire under Akbar managed religious diversity
Explain the cause-and-effect relationship between the Columbian Exchange and the Atlantic slave trade
Identify a turning point in the Mughal Empire (the reign of Aurangzeb is a likely focus)
Compare absolutism in France with constitutional monarchy in England
Explain how mercantilism shaped the relationship between European powers and their colonies

Likely Enduring Issues Essay material from Unit 10.1

If 10.1-era documents appear in the essay, they will almost certainly support these enduring issues.

Power and abuse of power: Atlantic slave trade, encomienda, absolutism, Aurangzeb's policies
Inequality: Caste, slavery, feudal classes, Tokugawa class system
Cultural diffusion: Columbian Exchange, spread of Islam, Confucian influence across East Asia
Interconnectedness: Global trade, silver flows, triangular trade

IX. Need-to-Know Points (Self-Test Checklist)

If Maria cannot answer these without looking, she is not ready for this unit. She should be able to give a one to two sentence answer to each.

Belief Systems

Name the seven belief systems and their geographic strongholds in 1750.
List the Five Pillars of Islam.
Explain the difference between Sunni and Shia Islam in one sentence.
Explain dharma and karma.
State the Four Noble Truths.
Describe the Confucian Five Relationships.
Distinguish Hinduism from Buddhism on at least two specific points.
Name the founder and central teaching of Sikhism.

Empires

Name the four major Asian empires in 1750 and one defining feature of each.
Identify Akbar's most important policy and explain why it mattered.
Explain why Aurangzeb's reign destabilized the Mughal Empire.
Describe the Canton System and what it reveals about Qing policy.
Explain sakoku and its consequences for Japan.
Identify what Versailles symbolized about French absolutism.
Explain what Peter the Great did and why it mattered.
Identify what made England politically distinctive in 1750.

Economic Systems

Define mercantilism in one sentence and give one example of a mercantilist policy.
Name three items that went from the Americas to the Old World and three that went the other way.
Estimate how many Africans were transported in the Atlantic slave trade and describe the Middle Passage.
Describe the triangular trade in one or two sentences.
Explain the demographic impact of European diseases on the Americas.

Political Systems

Define absolutism and divine right of kings.
Identify three characteristics of an absolutist state.
Name three absolute monarchs and one defining act of each.
Explain what the Glorious Revolution accomplished.
Name the document that established parliamentary supremacy in England and give its date.

X. Smart Assessments: Practice Questions

These mirror the actual Regents format. Answers and explanations follow each section. Maria should attempt them without notes first.

Multiple Choice Practice

Which feature was characteristic of the Mughal Empire under Akbar the Great?

(A) Strict enforcement of Islamic law on all subjects
(B) Toleration of religious diversity and dialogue between faiths
(C) Adoption of Christianity as the state religion
(D) Abolition of the caste system

"A nation's wealth is measured by the amount of gold and silver it possesses. To accumulate precious metals, a nation must export more than it imports and establish colonies that supply raw materials and purchase finished goods."

This passage best describes:

(A) Feudalism
(B) Capitalism
(C) Mercantilism
(D) Socialism

Which of the following best explains why Tokugawa Japan adopted the policy of sakoku?

(A) Japan lacked the technology to engage in foreign trade
(B) Japan's leaders feared foreign influence, particularly Christianity, would destabilize the social order
(C) Japan had no goods that foreigners wanted to buy
(D) The Chinese emperor ordered Japan to close its ports

One major effect of the Columbian Exchange on the Americas was:

(A) Rapid population growth among indigenous peoples
(B) The introduction of crops that supported larger indigenous populations
(C) Massive depopulation of indigenous peoples due to disease
(D) The decline of African slavery in the New World

The Ottoman millet system most directly addressed which challenge of governing a large empire?

(A) Managing economic competition between guilds
(B) Maintaining religious diversity under a single sovereign

(C) Defending against Russian expansion
(D) Controlling the price of grain in Istanbul

Answer Key with Explanations

1. B. Akbar abolished the jizya tax on non-Muslims, took Hindu wives, and held dialogues between religious leaders. He is the canonical example of religious tolerance in Mughal history.
1. C. The emphasis on accumulating gold and silver, favorable balance of trade, and using colonies for raw materials and finished-goods markets is the textbook definition of mercantilism.
1. B. Tokugawa leaders saw the success of Christian missionaries in Japan and the European colonization of the Philippines as warnings. They expelled foreigners and banned Christianity to preserve the social order.
1. C. Smallpox and other Old World diseases killed 80-90% of indigenous Americans in the centuries after 1492. This is the most devastating effect of the Exchange.
1. B. The millet system allowed Christian and Jewish religious communities self-government on internal matters under Muslim rule. It is the standard Regents example of accommodating religious diversity in a pre-modern empire.

Short Constructed-Response Practice

Document A: "The merchants of Boston paid duties on tea imported from England, while England forbade them to buy tea more cheaply from the Dutch. The colonies were required to ship their tobacco only to British ports." Document B: "In 1776 a Scottish economist named Adam Smith argued in The Wealth of Nations that the wealth of a nation depended not on its gold reserves but on the productive labor of its people, and that free trade would enrich all parties." Question 1: Based on Document A, identify and explain one way mercantilism shaped the relationship between Britain and its colonies. Strong sample answer: "Mercantilism shaped the British-colonial relationship by requiring colonies to trade only with the mother country. Document A shows that colonists in Boston were forced to buy tea from Britain at higher prices and could not buy more cheaply from the Dutch. This protected British merchants and ensured that wealth from colonial trade flowed back to Britain rather than to rival nations." What earns the point: Name mercantilism, cite the specific evidence (Boston merchants required to buy from Britain), and explain the why (to ensure colonial wealth flows to the mother country). Question 2: Based on Document B, explain how Adam Smith's argument represented a break from mercantilism.

Strong sample answer:

"Adam Smith broke from mercantilism by arguing that national wealth came from productive labor rather than from accumulating gold and silver. Where mercantilism required strict government control of trade to maintain a favorable balance, Smith argued that free trade would enrich all parties. This challenged the foundational mercantilist assumption that one nation's gain in trade required another nation's loss."

Enduring Issues Essay Setup

Suggested issue from 10.1 material: Power and abuse of power

Sample documents she could expect: (1) a description of the Middle Passage, (2) a passage on Aurangzeb's persecution of Hindus and Sikhs, (3) a quotation from Louis XIV on royal authority, (4) a description of the encomienda system, (5) a later document such as a Universal Declaration of Human Rights excerpt for continuity-and-change framing

Thesis template: "Power and abuse of power is an enduring issue because throughout history, those who hold political or economic power have used it to exploit and dehumanize those without power. This issue is visible in the Atlantic slave trade, in absolutist monarchies that denied subjects basic rights, and in religious persecution by rulers, all of which produced lasting harm to entire peoples and shaped the modern world."

Extemp parallel: If Maria thinks of this as a three-minute extemp on "How has the abuse of power shaped global history?" she already knows the move. Open with the issue. State the thesis. Three body points, each anchored in a specific case (slave trade, absolutism, religious persecution). Close with continuity to the present.

Closing Note for This Unit

Unit 10.1 is the foundation. Maria should plan to spend her first study week here, returning briefly each subsequent week to reinforce the empire comparison table and the belief systems. If she can do the Need-to-Know checklist from memory and score 4 out of 5 on the multiple choice practice, she is ready to move to Unit 10.2: Enlightenment, Revolution, and Nationalism.