HIST 1210 (World Civilization I) Final Exam Study Guide

Exam Structure: The exam will consist of two parts, an essay section and an identification section, each worth 50%. You will choose one essay from a selection that will be drawn from the essays below. For the identifications, you will be given a list of ten terms, drawn from the terms below, of which you will choose five for long (paragraph-length) identifications discussing the historical significance of those terms.

Grading Criteria:

• Essays: Essays should be in standard short essay form - 1) Introduction and thesis; 2) Supporting evidence; 3) Conclusion. This will ordinarily take five to eight paragraphs. You will be graded on form, completeness, accuracy, and how well you support your thesis.

• Identifications: You will be graded on two grounds: 1) Details - who, what, when, where; 2) Historical Significance - why does this matter? What were the consequences? How did this person/idea/thing shape history? (These are examples of questions you could address. Each term will vary as to how it needs to be approached.)

• Examples:

  • George Washington: First president of the United States, 1789-1797. Established a number of important presidential traditions, such as the practice of serving only two terms, the Cabinet system, presidential independence in setting foreign policy, and a semi-isolationist foreign policy that sought to avoid involvement in European affairs.

  • Jerusalem: A traditional religious center, located in the Eastern Mediterranean. Although of minor economic and strategic importance, it has had high religious significance for the three Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Because of this, control of Jerusalem has been important in a number of conflicts, including the medieval Crusades and the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

  • animism:  A class of religions based on the idea that the universe is inhabited by and animated by spirits. Since all the world is inhabited by sprits, all the world is sacred. Widely practiced in pre and early agricultural societies, and still present in such modern religions as Shinto and Santeria. In such religions, it is important to develop good relations with these sprits, through sacrifice and other rituals, in order to obtain benefits and avoid problems.

Topics covered: This exam covers all material from the collapse of the Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire up to the early 1500s

Lectures covered:

• Expansion, Isolation, and Fragility
• The World Before the Mongols
• The Mongol Conquests
• The Calamitous 14th Century
• Rebirth of Empire and Expansion

Readings: Armesto, Chapters 12 -15

Essay Questions and Identification Terms: Below are the terms and essays. Each essay is associated with a set of terms. In many cases, the terms themselves will be useful in answering the essay as well. Some terms are useful for more than one essay!

Essay 1:

• The period from c.700-c.1200 CE saw humans colonizing all previously uninhabited regions (except Antarctica) and rapidly expanding populations in previously sparsely populated zones. What factors made this activity possible and what challenges did these new societies face?
  Terms: maize, Mayas, milpas, Inuit, Chaco Canyon, Greenland, Maori, Cahokia

Essay 2:

• In the two centuries before the rise of the Mongols (c.1000-1200 CE) many of the major centers of urbanized agricultural civilization  faced invasions, often  by nomadic peoples. To what extent were these conflicts motivated by cultural differences and to what extent were the motivated by political and economic interests?
  Terms: Almoravids, Seljuks, Pope Urban II, Ghana, Crusader kingdoms, Basil II, Tang Dynasty, Jurchens, Song Dynasty,

Essay 3:

• How did the Mongols transform the vast regions that they conquered, and how successful were they in governing them?
  Terms: Genghis Khan, Mongolian Peace, Golden Horde, Silk Roads

Essay 4:

• How did the Little Ice Age and the plagues of the 1300s transform the societies effected by them? Who suffered, and who gained?
  Terms: Black Death, Majapahit, anti-Semitism, millenarianism, Mali, Delhi, Zen, Ashikaga Takauji, Zanzibar, Songhay, Ivan the Terrible, Ottomans, Janissaries, Ming Dynasty, Aztecs, Inca

Essay 5:

• Why is that Europe but not China establishes a world maritime trade network in the 1400s and early 1500s?  Discuss the role of technology and motivations.
  Terms: Zhengh He, Ming Dyansty, lateen sail, Vasco de Gama