FALL 2009

EXAM #1: ESSAY AND IDENTIFICATION QUESTIONS

HISTORY 383:  History of the Caribbean

THERE WILL BE NO MAKE-UP EXAMS REGARDLESS OF CAUSE

The exam consists of two parts.  Part 1 is the fill-in-the-blank and short answer section, and Part 2 is the Essay section.  THIS EXAM IS WORTH 100 POINTS
(20% OF THE FINAL GRADE).

Part 1: KEY TERMS

KEY Terms/Identifications to know!
 
Taino Arawaks and Depopulation of the Caribbean The Slave Trade
Caribbean Geography Great Britain and Spain in 15th-16th Century
Encomienda Bartolome de Las Casas
Miscegenation Sugar and Slavery
Glory, Gold and God Hispaniola and Cuba
Spanish Colonial Administration Haitian Revolution
Spanish Convoy Shipping System Impact of Spanish Brutality in the Caribbean
Non-Spanish Caribbean Mulatos in Haiti
Maroons Mid-Atlantic High Zone
Conquest and Settlement of the Caribbean The French Revolution and Haiti

Part Two: ESSAY (TOTAL= 60 points, 60% of the exam.)
This list contains three essay questions. For the exam, I will choose two and you will answer ONE.

1.)Discuss the origins, course, and legacy of the conquest of the Caribbean.  Pay particular attention to the Las Casas account that you read.  Finally, address how the Caribbean became of secondary importance to the Crown.

2.)Discuss the development of the sugar/slavery/plantation system in the Caribbean (refer to Knight's Chapter 4).  How did the structure of Spanish empire and of world trade affect the area?  What happened to the native inhabitants?  Why was slavery necessary?  Finally, why did the Caribbean, on the whole, remain largely loyal to the Crown even in the midst of independence movements from Mexico to Argentina.

3.)Discuss the principal arguments made in Patricia Seed's “Taking Possession and Reading Texts: Establishing the Authority of Overseas Empires” and Cami Townsend's "Burying the White Gods: New Perspectives on the Conquest of Mexico."  How did each historian support her major assertions?  What kinds of evidence did they use?  Finally, how are these articles a "historical approach" to understanding the past?