Uyghur script is the writing system of the Uyghurs, a Turkic people of Central Asia, that the Mongols adopted in the 13th century to write the Mongolian language. In AP World, it's the CED's named example of cultural transfer caused by Mongol expansion (Topic 2.2, Unit 2).
The Uyghur script is the writing system used by the Uyghurs, a Turkic people living along the Silk Roads in Central Asia. Here's the part AP World cares about. When Genghis Khan built his empire in the early 1200s, the Mongols had no writing system of their own. Instead of inventing one, they borrowed the Uyghur script and adapted it to write the Mongolian language. Uyghur scribes became the empire's record-keepers, helping the Mongols run censuses, collect taxes, send orders, and administer territory stretching from China to Eastern Europe.
That's why the CED lists "adoption of Uyghur script" as one of three specific cultural and technological transfers under the Mongols, right alongside the transfer of Greco-Islamic medical knowledge to western Europe and the transfer of numbering systems to Europe. The script is your concrete proof that the Mongols didn't just destroy things. They absorbed useful tools from conquered and allied peoples and spread them across Eurasia. One quick caution. The script the Mongols adopted is the Old Uyghur script, a vertical script with Central Asian roots, not the Arabic-derived script used to write the modern Uyghur language today.
Uyghur script lives in Topic 2.2 (The Mongol Empire and the Making of the Modern World) in Unit 2: Networks of Exchange, 1200-1450. It directly supports learning objective 2.2.C, which asks you to explain the significance of the Mongol Empire in larger patterns of continuity and change. The essential knowledge for that LO names the adoption of Uyghur script explicitly, so this is not optional trivia. It's one of the three transfers the College Board expects you to know cold. It also backs up 2.2.B (how empire expansion influenced trade and communication), because a shared script is literally communication infrastructure. An empire that big needs paperwork, and the Uyghur script is what made Mongol paperwork possible.
Keep studying AP World Unit 2
Mongol Empire (Unit 2)
The Uyghur script is the clearest example of the Mongols' borrow-don't-build approach to empire. They had no native writing system, so they took the Uyghurs' and used it to administer the largest land empire in history. Knowing this one detail lets you argue the Mongols were facilitators, not just conquerors.
Cultural Exchange (Unit 2)
The CED groups the Uyghur script with two other Mongol-era transfers, Greco-Islamic medical knowledge moving to western Europe and numbering systems moving to Europe. Memorize all three as a set, because exam questions love asking which transfers the Mongols did or did NOT facilitate.
Pax Mongolica (Unit 2)
The Pax Mongolica made Eurasia safe for travelers and merchants, but stability also requires administration. A common script for decrees, censuses, and official messages is part of what kept that peace functional across thousands of miles.
Yuan Dynasty (Unit 2)
When Kublai Khan ruled China as the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols kept relying on foreign administrators and borrowed tools rather than fully adopting local systems. The script story and the Yuan story make the same point about how Mongols governed, which is great LEQ evidence.
This term shows up most often in multiple-choice questions about Mongol cultural and technological transfers, frequently in NOT/EXCEPT format. A typical stem asks which of the following was NOT transferred by the Mongols, and you need to recognize Uyghur script, Greco-Islamic medicine, and numbering systems as the real three so you can eliminate them. Other MCQs ask what resulted from the Mongol adoption of the script (improved administration and communication across the khanates) or how the adoption represents both continuity and change in Central Asia from 1200-1300 (continuity in Central Asian literate traditions, change in who used them and at what scale). No released FRQ has used the term verbatim, but it's strong specific evidence for an LEQ or DBQ on Mongol continuity and change under LO 2.2.C. Dropping "the Mongols adopted the Uyghur script to administer their empire" is exactly the kind of precise evidence that earns points.
The modern Uyghur language is written in an Arabic-derived script, which trips people up. But the script the Mongols adopted in the 1200s was the Old Uyghur script, a vertical writing system with Central Asian roots that predates the region's later shift to Arabic script. For the AP exam, when you see "Uyghur script" in Topic 2.2, think Mongol administration, not the Arabic writing tradition.
The Mongols had no writing system of their own, so they adopted the script of the Uyghurs, a Turkic people of Central Asia, to write the Mongolian language.
The CED names the adoption of Uyghur script as one of three Mongol-era transfers, along with Greco-Islamic medical knowledge and numbering systems moving to Europe.
The script made Mongol administration possible, supporting censuses, tax collection, and communication across an empire stretching from China to Eastern Europe.
On the exam, this term supports LO 2.2.C, explaining the Mongol Empire's significance in larger patterns of continuity and change.
The adoption shows continuity (Central Asian literate traditions survived) and change (a new empire spread the script across Eurasia on an unprecedented scale).
The script the Mongols adopted is the Old Uyghur vertical script, not the Arabic-derived script used for the modern Uyghur language.
It's the writing system of the Uyghurs, a Turkic Central Asian people, that the Mongols adopted in the 13th century to write Mongolian. AP World tests it as a named example of cultural transfer under the Mongol Empire in Topic 2.2.
No. The script already existed among the Uyghurs before Genghis Khan's conquests. The Mongols adopted and adapted it because they had no writing system of their own, which is exactly why the CED counts it as a cultural transfer rather than a Mongol invention.
Not the one AP World tests. The Old Uyghur script the Mongols adopted in the 1200s was a vertical Central Asian script. The modern Uyghur language is written in an Arabic-derived script, but that's a later development outside the scope of Topic 2.2.
They needed a way to administer a massive empire, including keeping records, conducting censuses, collecting taxes, and sending official messages. Uyghur scribes already had a working script and literate tradition, so the Mongols borrowed it instead of building one from scratch.
The CED lists exactly three: the transfer of Greco-Islamic medical knowledge to western Europe, the transfer of numbering systems to Europe, and the adoption of the Uyghur script. Exam questions often test these in NOT/EXCEPT format, so knowing the full set helps you eliminate fake answer choices.
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