AP US History — Unit 1: Period 1: 1491–1607

What AP US History Unit 1 covers

The College Board Course and Exam Description breaks Unit 1 into 12 topics:

1. 1.2 Native American Societies Before European Contact
2. 1.3 European Exploration in the Americas
3. 1.4 Columbian Exchange
4. Spanish Colonization
5. and Forced Migration
6. 1.5 Labor
7. Slavery
8. and Caste in the Spanish Colonial System
9. 1.6 Cultural Interactions Between Europeans
10. Native Americans
11. and Africans
12. 1.7 Causation in Period 1

AP US History Unit 1 practice questions

• Before Europeans arrived, the Americas held hundreds of distinct societies — from nomadic bands of 20 to cities of 20,000. What's the most accurate claim about pre-contact Indigenous peoples?

  Indigenous peoples were extraordinarily diverse. They organized into different societies based on environment — some nomadic, some agricultural, some urban. There was no single "Native American" way of life.

• A crop first cultivated around 5000 BCE in central Mexico eventually spread north and transformed entire societies — enabling cities, trade networks, and social hierarchies. What was it?

  Maize (corn). It enabled permanent settlements because reliable food surpluses freed people from constant foraging, which in turn made trade networks, irrigation, specialized labor, and social hierarchies possible.

• A settlement in the Mississippi River Valley housed 10,000–20,000 people, featured massive earthen mounds, and was the largest pre-contact city north of Mexico. What was it?

  Cahokia. Its scale reveals a complex society with organized labor, social hierarchies, religious traditions, and extensive trade networks reaching from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.

• The Ute of the Great Basin moved constantly in small bands, while Cahokia housed 20,000 in permanent cities. Both existed before 1492. What single factor explains why their societies looked so different?

  Environment. The dry Great Basin couldn't support agriculture, so peoples there developed mobile, nomadic lifestyles. The fertile Mississippi Valley had the soil and river access to support permanent farming settlements of thousands.

• In the Northeast, multiple Indigenous nations formed an alliance with a council of representatives to settle disputes and facilitate trade. What was it?

  The Iroquois Confederacy. Also called the Haudenosaunee, it united the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca nations under a representative council that prevented warfare between members.

• Cherokee women tended crops; power and property passed through the mother's line, not the father's. What's this inheritance system called — and how does it contrast with European norms?

  Matrilineal — inheritance and authority pass through the mother's line. European norms were patriarchal: men controlled property and political power. Many Indigenous societies gave women significantly more social and political influence.

• Pacific Northwest peoples like the Chinook didn't farm at all — yet they built permanent settlements and complex societies. How?

  Rich natural resources — fish, elk, and marine life — provided such abundant food that agriculture wasn't necessary. Groups like the Chinook and Chumash sustained permanent, complex societies through hunting, fishing, and gathering alone.

• Societies along the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys built massive earthen structures requiring coordinated labor from thousands. What are these structures, and what do they reveal?

  Mound structures, built by Mississippian cultures including the Hopewell. They reveal organized labor, religious traditions, social hierarchies, and the ability to mobilize large workforces for public projects.

+ 43 more AP US History cards in the app.

Key terms in Unit 1

These 3 terms show up in the Unit 1 cards. Each one links to its definition in the AP US History key-term reference.

• Columbian Exchange
• Encomienda
• Mercantilism