Study Guide for the First Exam: World Civilizations

WORLD CIVILIZATIONS (Hist 1031)
STUDY GUIDE FOR THE FIRST EXAM (June 6, 2002)

Essay Questions 1. Compare and contrast Kang-hsi (Kangxi)'s thoughts on ruling with those of European monarchs of the seventeenth-century, especially though not exclusively those of Louis XIV.
2. Explain Kang-hsi's views on Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and Christianity, and how each figured in his understanding of the way in which an emperor should govern.
3. Critically assess Kang-hsi as a Manchu, as a father, as an emperor, noting his successes and failures in each respect.
4. Explain how Voltaire's Candide contributed to the thought of the Enlightenment, and the extent to which it might be viewed as a factor in developments associated with the French Revolution.
5. Identify the philosophical source of Dr. Pangloss's worldview, and the explain the way in which Candide as a work of literature supposedly satirizes this perspective.
6. Briefly explain the development and unification of world trade routes between 1100 and 1776, their impact on the "consciousness" of humanity at large. In developing the latter point, note the various places mentioned in Candide, and the extent to which that work presents a revolutionary "worldview."
7. Compare and contrast the English Revolution, the American Revolution, and the French Revolution, in terms of their origins, their successes and failures, and their larger impact upon the emerging global community.
8. Briefly discuss the various roles of religion and ethnocentric differences in the establishment and unification of world trade routes between 1100 and 1776. In this context, be sure to comment on the Protestant Reformation, the Counter-Reformation, the formation of the Ottoman Empire, the Safavid Empire, the Moghul Empire, and the Rites Controversy in Ming-Qing China.
9. Identify Marco Polo's accounts of China and "the orient," and explain the significance of their impact on subsequent developments in the maritime history of Europe and the world. Be sure to note historical controversies surrounding Polo's life and writings. Also, comment on the extent to which the early 14th-century Ming voyages of Cheng Ho (Zheng He) anticipated the late-14th and 15th century expeditions of Portugal, Spain, England and the Dutch.

Places to identify: Portugal, Spain, France, England, Russia, Italy, Greece, the Anatolian peninsula, the Cape of Good Hope, India, the Ottoman Empire, the Arabian peninsula, the Safavid Empire, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Haiti.

Things to know for the Objective Questions: Marco Polo, Bubonic Plague, Ming Dynasty, Zheng He, the Renaissance, "medieval," manorialism, feudalism, bourgeoisie, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Acquinas, Machiavelli, capitalism, the Protestant Reformation, the Catholic Counter-Reformation, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Dutch East India Trading Company, Louis XIV, Seven Years' War, Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, John Locke's Two Treatises on Government, Thomas Hobbes' Leviathon, Peter the Great, Ottoman Empire, Mughal Dynasty, Hinduism, Islam, Tokugawa Japan, Sufis, madrasas, janissaries, gazis, Akbar, Safavid Persia, Manchu/Qing (Ch'ing) Empire, the Antipodes, Australia, New Zealand, Capt. Cook, Ibn Khaldun, Shah Jahan, the Taj Mahal, Constantinople, Beijing, Tokyo, London, the Enlightenment, The English Bill of Rights (1689), Ptolemy, Copernicus, Newton, Galileo, Scientific Revolution, the philosophes, the American Constitution and Bill of Rights, the Estates General, the Third Estate, Louis XVI, the Bastille, Tennis Court Oath, Jacobins, Robespierre, the Committee of Public Safety and the Reign of Terror, Napoleon, Congress of Vienna, Toussaint L'Ouverture, Saint Domingue (Haiti).