AP World History Unit 5.1 | The Enlightenment Explained (1650–1900)

This video explains AP World History: Modern — Unit 5, Topic 5.1: The Enlightenment (c. 1650–1900) and how new ideas reshaped politics, economics, and society.

You will learn:

• How the Scientific Revolution influenced Enlightenment thinking

• Key thinkers including John Locke, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Adam Smith

• Core concepts such as natural rights, social contract, separation of powers, and laissez-faire economics

• How Enlightenment ideas challenged monarchy, tradition, and mercantilism

• Why these ideas helped inspire later political revolutions and modern ideologies

This lesson supports AP historical reasoning skills, especially causation and continuity and change over time, and provides essential background for future topics in Unit 5.