AP U.S. History Crash Course, Book + Online

Get a Higher Score in Less Time

Larry Krieger

• Publisher: Research & Education Association
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780738612690
• eBook ISBN: 9780738689258
• Edition: 5
• Topic: Study Aids
• Subtopic: Education General

AP® U.S. History Crash Course® - updated for today's 2025-2026 digital exam!

Get a Higher Score in Less Time!

At REA, we invented the quick-review study guide for AP® exams. More than a decade later, REA’s Crash Course® remains the top choice for AP® students who want to make the most of their study time and earn a high score.

Here’s why more AP® teachers and students turn to REA’s AP® U.S. History Crash Course® than any other study guide of its kind:

Targeted Review - Study Only What You Need to Know. REA’s all-new 5th edition addresses all the latest test revisions. Our Crash Course® is based on an in-depth analysis of the revised AP® U.S. History course and exam description and sample AP® test questions. We cover only the information tested on the 2025-2026 digital exam, so you can make the most of your valuable study time.

Expert Test-taking Strategies and Advice. Written by a veteran AP® U.S. History teacher, the book gives you the topics and critical context that will matter most on exam day. Crash Course® relies on the author’s extensive analysis of the test’s structure and content. By following his advice, you can boost your score.

Practice questions – a mini-practice test in the book, a full-length practice exam online. Are you ready for your exam? Try our focused practice set inside the book. Then go online to take our full-length practice exam. You’ll get the benefits of timed testing, detailed answers, and automatic scoring that pinpoints your performance based on the official AP® 2025-2026 exam topics – so you can count down with confidence to test day.

When it’s crunch time and your Advanced Placement® exam is just around the corner, you need REA’s Crash Course® for AP® U.S. History!

UNIT 1

PERIOD 1

1491 – 1607

KEY CONCEPTS

KEY CONCEPT 1.1

As native populations migrated and settled across the vast expanse of North America over time, they developed distinct and increasingly complex societies by adapting to and transforming their diverse environments.

KEY CONCEPT 1.2

Contact among Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans resulted in the Columbian Exchange and significant social, cultural, and political changes on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

Chapter 3

A NEW WORLD

I.

THE FIRST AMERICANS

A.ARRIVAL AND DISPERSAL

1.The earliest North American residents crossed a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska between 15,000 and 30,000 years ago.

2.Following large game animals, these Asian immigrants gradually spread through North and South America, reaching the tip of South America by 9000 BCE.

B.NORTH AMERICAN CULTURAL REGIONS

1.Pacific Northwest

a.The abundant natural resources of the Pacific Northwest supported a relatively dense population. Rivers teemed with salmon and other fish providing an easily available source of nutritious food. The thick forests provided wood for housing and boats.

b.Tribes such as the Haida collected shellfish from the beaches and hunted the ocean for whales, sea otters, and seals.

c.The Kwakiutl celebrated their abundance by carving magnificent totems that included symbols of ancestral spirits.

2.Desert Southwest

a.The Southwest challenged Native Americans with a much drier climate than that of the Pacific Northwest.

b.The Pueblo built settlements near the Rio Grande and its tributaries. The Hopi lived near cliffs that could be easily defended. They collected rainwater in rock cisterns and carefully parceled it out to their fields and to families living in clusters of houses called pueblos.

c.People throughout the region lived in multi-story houses made of adobe. They coaxed crops of maize (corn), beans, melons, and squash from sun-parched, but fertile, soil.

3.The Great Plains

a.The Great Plains are flat open grasslands extending from the Rockies to the Mississippi River. Hot, dry summers followed cold, snowy winters. Huge buffalo herds roamed across the vast grasslands.

b.The Pawnee planted corn, squash, and beans. Once the plants were strong enough to survive, the entire tribe packed up for the spring buffalo hunt. While on the hunt, the Pawnee lived in portable houses made of buffalo skin called tepees.

4.Eastern Woodlands

a.Hardwood forests dominated the land stretching from the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River in the north to the Gulf of Mexico in the south. It was said that a squirrel could travel from Tennessee to New York without ever touching the ground.

b.Tribes such as the Creek, Choctaw, and Powhatan cleared the forest and built villages. They blended hunting and gathering with agriculture based upon the cultivation of maize, squash, and beans.

c.John White created a detailed engraving of Secotan, an Algonquian village on the Pamlico River in present-day North Carolina. White depicted a complex society living in a permanent agricultural settlement. The villagers devoted two fields to tobacco but saw no need to construct a defensive fence.

5.Common Characteristics

a.The early peoples of North America lived in families that were part of larger clans. They lived in village communities, divided labor by gender, and shared a strong sense of spirituality.

b.The early peoples did not develop wheeled vehicles, waterwheels, or a tradition of private property rights. Native Americans viewed land and water as communal possessions that could not be owned or traded.

Don’t neglect to study these cultural regions. They can be used to generate a short-answer question asking you to describe how geographic conditions influenced the culture of Native Americans prior to the arrival of European explorers.

II.

THE SPANISH CONQUEST

A.CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

1.Columbus hoped to discover a new trade route to Asia.

2.He saw no reason to respect or learn about the customs of the Native Americans he encountered. Instead, Columbus proposed to Christianize the indigenous peoples, seize their mineral wealth, and exploit their labor.

B.THE CONQUISTADORES

1.Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztec Empire in 1521.

2.Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca Empire in 1533.

3.Both Cortés and Pizarro overthrew rulers who led centralized governments.

4.Advanced metal weapons, horses, ruthless tactics, and diseases such as smallpox, influenza, and measles enabled the Spanish conquistadores to topple the Aztec and Inca empires.

III.

THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE

A.INTRODUCTION

1.The Columbian Exchange refers to the exchange of plants, animals, and germs between the New World and Europe following the discovery of America in 1492.

2.New World crops included maize (corn), tomatoes, and potatoes. In addition, New World mines provided a steady supply of gold and silver. For example, the fabulously rich Potosi mines (in modern-day Bolivia) produced 200 tons of silver a year for two centuries.

3.Old World crops included wheat, sugar, rice, and coffee. In addition, Europeans introduced horses, cows, chickens, and pigs into the New World.

B.IMPACT ON EUROPE

1.New World foods transformed European society by increasing agricultural yields and improving diets, thus stimulating population growth.

2.The Columbian Exchange generated a profitable trans-Atlantic trade that helped spark European economic development by facilitating the shift from feudalism to capitalism.

C.IMPACT ON NATIVE AMERICANS

1.Old World diseases decimated the Native American population. Demographers estimate that the Native American population plummeted by 90 percent or more in the first century of contact with Europe.

2.This demographic collapse enabled the Spanish to more easily gain control over Native American lands.

IV.

CHARACTERISTICS OF NEW SPAIN

A.INTRODUCTION

1.The Spanish established a New World empire in order to spread their Roman Catholic faith and extend the king’s wealth and power.

2.Spain created a rigid and highly centralized New World government controlled by the crown in Madrid.

B.THE ENCOMIENDA SYSTEM

1.An encomienda was a license granted by the Spanish crown to royal officials to extract labor and tribute from native peoples living in specified areas. For example, Cortés appropriated tribute from 23,000 families in the fertile Oaxaca Valley.

2.The encomienda system began in the Caribbean and then spread to Mexico. It enabled Spanish colonial administrators to marshal native labor to support plantation-based agriculture and extract precious metals. In exchange, the encomenderos were responsible for Christianizing the native peoples under their protection.

3.Although the native peoples were legally not slaves, ruthless encomenderos nevertheless created an o...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• About Our Book
• A Letter from Our Author
• About Our Author
• Introduction
• Content Review
• Practice Test