Exam 1 Study Guide
HIST 2070

I. Topic Areas: Early Modern Empires, Columbian Exchange, Global Trade and Economy in the Early Modern Era, Beginnings of the Industrial Revolution, The Enlightenment

II. Lectures:

• Early Modern Empires

• The "Columbian" Exchange

• Building the Modern Mind - Religion
• Building the Modern Mind - Science
• State Development and Social Change in the Early Modern Era
• Maturation of a Global Economy

• The Enlightenment - Impact and Pushback

III. Readings:

• BWH: The Middle East after the Ottoman Emipre: The Ottoman Empire
• BWH: The Rise of Modern States: Spain and Catholicism
• BWH: The Age of Enlightenment: The Age of Discovery
• Thought Company: The Mughal Empire in India
• Khan Academy: The Columbian Exchange
• BWH: The Protestant Reformation: Protestantism
• BWH: The Age of Enlightenment: The Scientific Revolution

• BWH: The Rise of Nation-States: Nation-States and Sovereignty ( For more detailed examples, read some of the other sections under "The Rise of the Nation States.")

• BWH: The British Textile Industry
• Supplementary: Kahn Academy: The Industrial Revolution (up through the "Why Britain?" section)
• BWH: The Age of Enlightenment - The Enlightenment
• BWH: The Age of Enlightenment - Enlightenment Thinkers

IV. STRUCTURE OF THE EXAM: The exam will have two parts, an essay portion and an identifications portion, each worth 50%.

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 within reason follow standard short essay form, given the time restraints - 1) Introduction and thesis; 2) Supporting evidence; 3) Conclusion. This will ordinarily take a page or so, depending on your handwriting. 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.

V. Essay Questions and Identification Terms:

1. Essay: Discuss the role of trade in Early Modern Empires. How did trade inspire empire-building, and how did it shape the development of empires? Discuss at least two examples of empires in your essay (Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal, China, Japan).
   Identifications: lateen sail, Vasco de Gama, Silk Road, Janissaries,

2. Essay: Discuss the Columbian Exchange - how did it reshape global society, primarily in terms of population and demographics?
   Identifications: cane sugar, potato

3. Compare the spread of the world religions (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism) in the 1500s and 1600s, roughly. What factors spurred and enabled the rapid growth of these religions?
   Identifications: Martin Luther, Tibetan Buddhism, Council of Trent, syncretism, Universal Priesthood of Believers, Sikhism

4. The Scientific Revolution led Europeans to believe that they could both understand and control nature. Explain how.
   Identifications: Ptolemey, Galileo Galilei, On the Revolution of Heavenly Spheres, Joanes Kepler, Issac Newton, inductive reasoning

5. New political ideas and institutions developed world wide in the 1600s and 1700s. Compare the political development of at least two of the following societies in this time period - China, Ottoman Empire, Mughal Empires, Safavid Empire, Europe.
   Identification: nation-state, Ottomans, Janissaries, Huang Zongxi, British East India Company, Qing Dyansty, creolization

6. Compare the economic development of China and India to Western Europe (primarily England) in the period of the early Industrial Revolution (1700s and early 1800s).
   Identifications: Mary Wortley Montagu, high-level equilibrium trap, opium, forest famine, enclosure, James Watt

7. What were the basic principles of the Enlightenment? Was this primarily a European phenomenon, or was it more strongly global. Explain your answer.
   Identifications: philosophes, social contract, mercantilism, invisible hand, labor theory of wealth, Voltaire, Baron de Montesquieu, Romanticism, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Napoleon Bonaparte, Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, Reign of Terror