STUDY GUIDE FOR HISTORY 103 FIRST HOUR EXAM

FOR EACH LECTURE/READING TOPIC: As you review your notes, ask yourself the following:

1. Why did this happen? What are the factors that explain it?

2. What is the time period (at least the decade, if not the specific year)?

    a. What occurred prior to this that enabled this to take place?

    b. What else is happening in this time period? Are they related in any way?

3. Who are the key players? What did they have in common? What were their unique contributions (concepts or actions)?

4. What are the key events, and why are they important?

ANSWER QUESTIONS (10 pts. each, 50 pts. total): You will choose 5 (out of 10) short answer questions to answer. The questions will be drawn from the key players, organizations and events for each lecture/reading topic (i.e., names appearing in boldface in the Power Point presentations). Short answer questions ask you to identify a person, event, or organization, and explain its historical significance. Short answers do not need to be more than a paragraph each, but they should answer the reporter’s questions: Who? What? Where? When? Why is it important? For people and organizations, identify at least the decade(s) in which they were influential; for events, specify the year.

ESSAY QUESTION (50 pts.): You will choose one essay (out of two) to write. Essays should be well-organized, with an introduction, evidence to support your arguments, and a conclusion. Possible essay questions are below:

1. The arrival of Europeans in the Native Americans’ world in the 1500s and 1600s resulted in a complex interaction of cultures. Discuss the historical factors that shaped this exchange, and explain how it affected both cultures.

2. Compare and contrast the Spanish, French and Dutch colonies with the English colonies, discussing each in detail. To what extent did the English follow the examples of the other colonial powers? Was there anything unique about the English colonies?

3. Compare and contrast the Chesapeake colonies with the New England colonies in the 1600s. Who founded each colony, and for what reasons? How did each group of colonies develop their economies and societies? Which colonies were more successful, and why?

4. By 1763, the colonists possessed a distinctive dual identity - as British subjects and as Americans. What aspects of their political, social, cultural and economic lives contributed to this dual identity? What factors distinguished them from the British, and what factors reinforced their ties with Great Britain? Which identity was stronger?