Between 1450 and 1750 CE, rulers across Eurasia built land empires on a scale not seen before, using gunpowder weaponry to conquer and intricate bureaucracies to govern. The Ottomans took Constantinople in 1453 and pushed into Europe and the Arab world, while the Safavids established Shi'a Islam as their state religion in Persia and the Muslim Mughals ruled a vast Hindu-majority population in South Asia. In the Far East, the Manchu founded the Qing dynasty over Ming China. In Europe, the Protestant Reformation split western Christianity and drew the continent into a century of religious warfare. Across the world, from Japan to Peru, rulers turned to architecture, ritual, and religious authority to justify their rule.
This collection collates articles, definitions, and maps covering Unit 3: Land-Based Empires of the AP® World History: Modern curriculum, which accounts for 12–15% of the exam and around 8–11 class periods. It offers an overview for teachers and students alike, providing the materials needed to explore how rulers across Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas expanded their territories and legitimized their power.
Unit 3 covers four topics: 3.1 Empires Expand · 3.2 Empires: Administration · 3.3 Empires: Belief Systems · 3.4 Comparison in Land-Based Empires
Our encyclopedia's current coverage is strongest on the Ottoman Empire and the Protestant Reformation. We are still expanding our articles and have yet to cover the Safavid, Mughal, and Qing empires, as well as Sikhism in more detail.
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Ideas for Teachers
- Gunpowder and expansion: Ask students to read the article 1453: The Fall of Constantinople with a focus on Mehmed II's siege cannons. Then, have them write a paragraph explaining the technological factors behind the Ottoman expansion.
- Legitimation through architecture: Have your students compare Coricancha and Louis XIV of France via their respective articles. Let them identify how both a gold-lined sun temple and the palace at Versailles served the same political purpose.
- Divine right: Based on the respective articles, have your students compare and contrast the Inca claim to descent from the sun god with Louis XIV's belief in divine right. Discuss why rulers often reached for religious justification (and whether they still do).
- 95 Theses: Assign a short excerpt from the Martin Luther's 95 Theses article and have students identify the author's point of view, purpose, and historical context, as well as the intended audience of the document.
- Transformation of medieval Japan: Using the Edo Period and Samurai articles, ask students to discuss how the Tokugawa Shogunate turned a warrior class into salaried officials, and how rulers benefit from having such professionals on payroll.
- Trace a religious conflict to its settlement: Examining the Map of the Dominant Religions in Europe and reading the articles Thirty Years' War and Peace of Westphalia, have students map out how the Reformation led to decades of international warfare and how the 1648 settlement resolved this conflict.
Browse the collection below to find materials that fit your teaching style and feel free to adapt them to your students. Note that our articles are print-friendly and there is a PDF export button on each article page.
AP® and Advanced Placement® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, this collection.
