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Unit 6: Consequences of Industrialization (c. 1750 to c. 1900): empire, economy, and migration in the industrial world

8 dot points across 8 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do historians explain the causes and effects of industrialization and the new imperialism?

Topic 6.8 Causation in the Imperial Age: applying the historical reasoning skill of causation to the consequences of industrialization, including imperialism, the global economy, and migration.
A focused answer to AP World History Topic 6.8, the causation reasoning skill applied to Unit 6: explaining how industrialization caused the new imperialism, the global division of labor, and mass migration, and how to structure a causation essay weighing causes and effects.
11 min answer →

What pushed and pulled millions of people to migrate across the industrial-age world?

Topic 6.6 Causes of Migration in an Interconnected World: the push and pull factors, both coerced and voluntary, that drove the great migrations of the industrial age, including industrial demand, transport, and labor systems.
A focused answer to AP World History Topic 6.6, explaining the causes of industrial-age migration: push factors like famine and poverty, pull factors like jobs and land, the role of steamships and railways, and the labor systems behind voluntary, indentured, and coerced migration.
11 min answer →

How did industrial powers dominate economies without always conquering them outright?

Topic 6.5 Economic Imperialism from 1750 to 1900: the ways industrial states used economic power, unequal treaties, and spheres of influence to dominate nominally independent regions like China, the Ottoman Empire, and Latin America.
A focused answer to AP World History Topic 6.5, explaining economic imperialism: how industrial powers dominated nominally independent regions through the Opium Wars and unequal treaties in China, spheres of influence, the Ottoman Empire's debt, and informal control over Latin American export economies.
12 min answer →

How did the great migrations of the industrial age reshape societies, cultures, and politics?

Topic 6.7 Effects of Migration: the demographic, cultural, social, and political effects of industrial-age migration, including diasporas, ethnic enclaves, changing gender roles, and nativist backlash.
A focused answer to AP World History Topic 6.7, explaining the effects of industrial-age migration: new diasporas and ethnic enclaves, changing gender roles in home and host societies, cultural exchange and new identities, and the nativist backlash including anti-immigration laws.
11 min answer →

How did industrialization reshape global production, trade, and the division of labor?

Topic 6.4 Global Economic Development from 1750 to 1900: the new global economy of industrialization, including the rise of export economies, the demand for raw materials, and a new international division of labor.
A focused answer to AP World History Topic 6.4, explaining the new global economy of the industrial age: rising demand for raw materials like cotton, rubber, and palm oil, the rise of export economies, the international division of labor, and the shift from coerced to wage and indentured labor.
12 min answer →

How did colonized and Indigenous peoples resist and respond to imperial expansion?

Topic 6.3 Indigenous Response to State Expansion from 1750 to 1900: the ways colonized peoples resisted, rebelled against, and adapted to imperial expansion, including direct rebellion, religious movements, and new states.
A focused answer to AP World History Topic 6.3, explaining how colonized and Indigenous peoples responded to imperialism: armed rebellions like the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the Boxer Rebellion, religious and resistance movements like the Ghost Dance and the Mahdist state, and new states like the Sokoto Caliphate and Cherokee Nation.
12 min answer →

What ideas were used to justify the new imperialism of the industrial age?

Topic 6.1 Rationales for Imperialism from 1750 to 1900: the ideologies, including nationalism, Social Darwinism, racism, and civilizing and religious missions, used to justify imperial expansion.
A focused answer to AP World History Topic 6.1, explaining the rationales used to justify imperialism: nationalism and great-power competition, Social Darwinism and scientific racism, the civilizing mission, and religious and economic motives.
12 min answer →

How did industrial states expand their empires across Africa, Asia, and the Pacific?

Topic 6.2 State Expansion from 1750 to 1900: the methods and patterns of imperial expansion, including the Scramble for Africa, the British Raj, and settler colonialism, enabled by industrial technology.
A focused answer to AP World History Topic 6.2, explaining how industrial states expanded their empires: the Scramble for Africa and the Berlin Conference, the British Raj in India, settler colonialism, and the role of industrial technology and weapons.
12 min answer →