BC Core 08108: Midterm Review

So the best way to prepare for this test is to read over your class notes, and look at the maps and
documents in your textbook and on my powerpoints.

The whole exam will be marked out of 100. Divide your time accordingly.

Section 1: Map/Cartoon Questions x 2 (@ 15)

There will be two map or cartoon questions. A "fill-in-the-map question will ask you to fill in
certain labels and/or information on the map and then annotate the map to describe the phenomena
you have labelled, and give detail about the exchanges/trajectories that the map shows. Details
might include names, dates, and additional information about the people/goods/biological
exchanges involved, etc. Make sure you can label the countries, and regions, the bodies of water,
and also, if asked, sketch the direction of trading exchanges and areas of conflict Make sure you
have looked at the maps in your Making of the West text and those that were shown on powerpoints.
A map or cartoon analysis question will ask you to give a brief analysis of the major messages
given by the map/cartoon and quickly identify the themes/tensions it illustrates about the time of its
creation, and the point of view (if any) it represents. Check out the map of the British Empire on the
Empires powerpoint, or the Punch cartoon to practice those.

Section 2: Sight Analysis of a Primary Source (40)

The exam will contain an excerpt – up to a page long – from a primary source. Use the guidelines
and rubric posted under blackboard to remind yourselves of how to approach a primary source. I
will expect you to analyze the source, comment on its strengths and weakness as evidence for 'what
actually happened' in the past. I will then expect you to offer a critical explanation of the text
describing what it can tell us about the culture within which it was produced and/or the culture it
describes. This 'exegesis' should include very brief quotations to support your conclusions. For
example: "In line two the author describes the local women as being "of short stature and ugly"
which indicates that Europeans and Indians had very different standards of beauty at this time. It
may also reveal a difference in average height between European women and Indian women
although this is hard to tell as the description is shaped by the author's preference for European
body shapes and features. Furthermore it suggests that the crew had not encountered many non-
European women before as they found these women surprising and worth commenting on. Finally
the attention given to describing and observing these women as well as other aspects of the Indian
culture on display in Calicut, suggests that explorers were curious and interested in the new cultures
they encountered, as well as being interested in trade – and suggests that they were also aiming to
please and instruct potential readers of their travel narrative who would want to hear about 'exotic'
women as well as wind patterns and trading opportunities"

So you can see, in this example, from a Vasco da Gama Voyage logbook (written by his crew
member) I have tried to show what the quotation can actually tell us – the Europeans and Indians
had different standards of beauty. I have indicated where it might not be reliable (ugly) but
suggested other information about the time and place – and larger social trends we can deduce from
(limited exchanges between Europe and India, European curiosity, the rise in popularity of travel
narratives and a new literary public eager for accounts of foreign travels).

You should be able to extract similar types of information from the source I provide, and use your
background reading to put the piece in context, judge its usefulness as historical evidence, and
expand upon the insights offered by the source.

Section 3: Short Answers x 2 (ea @ 15)

You will have to answer

You should be able to write two to five sentences to answer a short question on terms and topics we
have discussed in our class discussions. You should be able to identify key or associated dates to
within a decade. You should be able to offer an opinion in answer to the question, and give evidence
to back up your opinion. The best prep for this is reading back over your discussion notes and
thinking of how people offered a thoughtful and evidence based answer to some of the questions we
explored, and how you would do the same succinctly, in a semi-formal written format.