AP World History: Modern, AP exams, 12–15%

Unit 3: Land-Based Empires (c. 1450 to c. 1750)

Unit 3 concentrates on the expansion and administration of the great land-based empires, including the Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals, Manchu Qing, and Russia. The recurring question is how rulers acquired territory and then held it through bureaucracy, taxation, and religious legitimation. Comparison across empires is the essential skill.

Position: 3 of 9 units
Published weighting: 12–15% in the official framework
Topics covered: 5 topics in this guide

What is covered

Topics inside this unit.

These topics describe the scope students most often review for this part of AP World History: Modern. Treat them as a study checklist rather than an exhaustive list of what a single exam form can sample.

Empires expand: Gunpowder weaponry, military organization, and the conquests that built the Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal, Qing, and Russian states.
Imperial administration: Bureaucracies, tax-collection systems, the devshirme, and salaried elites used to centralize control.
Legitimizing power: Monumental architecture, art patronage, religious titles, and tribute as tools of political legitimacy.
Belief systems and religious conflict: The Sunni-Shia divide, Mughal religious policy, and the Protestant Reformation and Catholic response in Europe.
Comparison of land-based empires: Similar strategies of expansion and administration alongside real differences in religion and social structure.

Study tips

How to practice Land Empires.

Section-specific guidance that follows from how this material is usually tested.

Build a five-column empire chart with expansion, administration, legitimation, religion, and decline.
Practice comparison essays that name a similarity and a difference with specific evidence for each.
Give this unit substantial time; it sits in the highest weighting band along with Units 4 through 6.

Where this fits

Unit 3: Land-Based Empires (c. 1450 to c. 1750) is 3 of 9 units in the AP World History: Modern guide, and it carries a published weighting of 12–15% in the official framework. Use the full guide to balance it against everything else you have to review.

Back to the AP World History: Modern guide Official exam information

Sample Land Empires questions

Practice questions, not yet expert-reviewed

Original practice questions written to the published framework for this section. No expert has reviewed them, and they are not taken from any official exam. Try each one before you open the answer.

Question 1Foundational
Which empire captured Constantinople in 1453 and made the city its capital?
1. AThe Ottoman Empire
2. BThe Safavid Empire
3. CThe Mughal Empire
4. DThe Russian Empire
Show answer
Answer: A. The Ottoman Empire
Mehmed II used massive gunpowder artillery to breach the walls, ending the Byzantine Empire and giving the Ottomans a capital that commanded trade between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. The Safavid Empire is the tempting distractor because it rose in the same era, but it was based in Persia and never held Constantinople.
Key insight: Gunpowder weapons let several land empires expand quickly in the same century, which is why they are compared as a group.
Question 2Foundational
Which land-based empire of South Asia was founded by Babur in 1526 after his victory over the last sultan of Delhi?
1. AThe Mughal Empire
2. BThe Safavid Empire
3. CThe Qing Empire
4. DThe Delhi Sultanate
Show answer
Answer: A. The Mughal Empire
Babur, a Timurid prince with field artillery and mobile cavalry, defeated the Delhi sultan at Panipat and founded a dynasty that ruled much of the subcontinent for two centuries. The Delhi Sultanate is the tempting distractor because it governed the same region, but it was the state Babur overthrew.
Key insight: Every land empire in this unit began with military conquest and then faced the harder problem of administration.
Question 3Intermediate
Which Ottoman institution conscripted Christian boys from the Balkans, converted them to Islam, and trained them for military and administrative service to the sultan?
1. AThe devshirme
2. BThe mit'a
3. CThe zamindar system
4. DThe civil service examination
Show answer
Answer: A. The devshirme
The devshirme produced janissary soldiers and senior officials whose loyalty ran to the sultan rather than to a hereditary nobility, which strengthened central control. The zamindar system is the tempting distractor because it also staffed an empire, but zamindars were Mughal landholding tax collectors usually drawn from existing local elites.
Key insight: Land empires held together by creating elites who owed their entire position to the ruler.
Question 4Intermediate
Which religious division separated the Ottoman Empire from the Safavid Empire and fueled repeated warfare between them?
1. AThe Sunni and Shia division within Islam
2. BThe split between Catholics and Protestants
3. CThe divide between Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism
4. DThe divide between Hinduism and Jainism
Show answer
Answer: A. The Sunni and Shia division within Islam
The Safavids made Twelver Shiism the state religion of Persia while the Ottomans claimed leadership of the Sunni world, and each used religion to legitimize rule and justify war on the other. The Catholic and Protestant split is the tempting distractor because it produced comparable religious warfare, but that conflict divided Europe rather than these two empires.
Key insight: Religion in this unit is a tool of legitimacy first and a cause of war second.
Question 5Advanced
Which Mughal emperor abolished the jizya tax on non-Muslims and promoted religious accommodation at his court?
1. AAkbar
2. BAurangzeb
3. CBabur
4. DShah Jahan
Show answer
Answer: A. Akbar
Akbar ended the tax on non-Muslims, married into Rajput ruling families, and sponsored debates among scholars of different faiths in order to bind a largely Hindu population to Mughal rule. Aurangzeb is the tempting distractor because his religious policy is equally famous, but he moved in the opposite direction and reimposed the jizya in the later seventeenth century.
Key insight: Rulers of religiously diverse empires chose between accommodation and enforcement, and both choices carried political costs.

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Unit 3: Land-Based Empires (c. 1450 to c. 1750)