Download Comparative Practice 2012 WHAP Name: E. Napp Date: The

Comparative Practice 2012
Name: _______________________
Date: _______________________
WHAP
E. Napp
The Question:
2012 Comparative Essay from the World History AP
Compare demographic and environmental effects of the Columbian Exchange on the
Americas with the Columbian Exchange’s demographic and environmental effects on ONE
of the following regions between 1492 and 1750.
Africa OR Asia OR Europe
Do Now:
“The peoples of the eastern and western hemisphere had no sustained contact for
thousands of years. Columbus’ voyages therefore ushered in a new era of interaction. This
‘Columbian Exchange’ brought in its wake both catastrophe and new opportunities. The
catastrophe befell the Amerindians, who had no resistance to the diseases carried by the
Europeans. The new opportunities came with the intercontinental exchange of new plants
and animals.
Historian Alfred Crosby, a pioneer in the study of the exchange of microbes, cites the
lowest currently accepted estimate of the Amerindian population in 1492 as 33 million, the
highest as perhaps 50 million. By comparison, Europe at the time had a population of 80
million. The death of millions of Amerindians followed almost immediately after
Europeans began to arrive. At their lowest point after the coming of the Europeans, the
populations of the western hemisphere dropped to 4.5 million. The biggest killers in this
demographic catastrophe were not guns, but diseases: smallpox, measles, whooping cough,
chicken pox, bubonic plague, malaria, diphtheria, amoebic dysentery, and influenza. The
populations of the New World, separated by thousands of years and thousands of miles
from those of the Old, had little resistance to its diseases. Up to 90 percent of the
population died.
Ironically, but more happily, links between the hemispheres also brought an exchange of
food sources, which later facilitated the multiplication of human lives. From South
America, the cassava spread to Africa and Asia and the white potato to northern Europe.
Sweet potatoes traveled to China, as did maize (corn), of which China is today the second
largest producer after the United States. Today, the former Soviet Union produces ten
times more potatoes by weight than does South America; Africa produces almost twice as
much cassava as does South America.
Migration of flora and fauna went from east to west as well. Wheat was the leading Old
World crop to come to the New World, but perhaps an even greater contribution came in
domesticated animals: cattle, sheep, pigs, and goats. Domesticated horses, too, were
imported from the Old World. In the long run, these exchanges of food sources did much
to increase the population of the world more than ten times.” ~ The World’s History
Identify environmental and demographic effects of the Columbian Exchange:
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The Basic Core Rubric:
1. Has an Acceptable Thesis. [1 Point]
2. Addresses all parts of the question, though not necessarily evenly or thoroughly. [2
Points but Partial Credit May Be Given]
3. Substantiates thesis with appropriate historical evidence. [2 Points but Partial
Credit May Be Given]
4. Makes at least one relevant, direct comparison between/among societies. [1 Point]
5. Analyzes at least one reason for a similarity or difference identified in a direct
comparison. [1 Point]
Remember the Expanded Core Points:
 Expands beyond the basic core of 1 – 7 points
Questions:
1- What must an acceptable thesis for a Comparative essay contain?
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2- What does it mean that all parts of the question must be addressed although not
necessarily evenly or thoroughly?
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3- What is historical evidence?
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4- How many direct comparisons must the student make?
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5- What must the student analyze?
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6- How might a student “expand” beyond the basic core?
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7- Make a list of all of the facts you remember regarding the Columbian Exchange:
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8- Make a list of all of the facts you remember regarding the Columbian Exchange’s
demographic and environmental effects on the Americas.
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9- Make a list of all of the facts you remember regarding the Columbian Exchange’s
demographic and environmental effects on the Americas.
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10- Make a list of all of the facts you remember regarding the Columbian Exchange’s
demographic and environmental effects on Africa.
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11- Make a list of all of the facts you remember regarding the Columbian Exchange’s
demographic and environmental effects on Asia.
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12- Make a list of all of the facts you remember regarding the Columbian Exchange’s
demographic and environmental effects on Europe.
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Identify Similarities and Differences in Two of the Regions:
Similarities in demographic and
Differences in the Demographic and
environmental effects of the Columbian
environmental effects of the Columbian
Exchange:
Exchange:
The Essay’s Prompt:
2012 Comparative Essay from the World History AP
Compare demographic and environmental effects of the Columbian Exchange on the
Americas with the Columbian Exchange’s demographic and environmental effects on ONE
of the following regions between 1492 and 1750.
Africa
Asia
Europe
The Thesis Statement:
______________________________________________________________________________
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My specific similarity was: ______________________________________________________
My specific difference was: ______________________________________________________
Write one body paragraph of the essay [Now, it is time to analyze the similarity or the
difference – to explain how and why this similarity or difference occurred and how and
why it impacted people in the empires]:
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Checklist for the Essay:
 An acceptable thesis statements needs to be comparative, stating at least one
similarity and at least one difference.
 Acceptable thesis statements also need to be explicit, not simply restatements of the
question or vague statements such as “there were more similarities than
differences.” They also need to be relevant to the time period.
 A good response provides valid similarities and differences, substantiated by specific
pieces of evidence from within the time period.
 Good essays do not include evidence that is outside the time period or any of the
stipulated regions.
 Students should be told to make their connections clear, because readers will not
infer that a particular essay demonstrates content knowledge that is not present in
the plain language of the student response.
 Every paragraph must be comparative.
 A good response provides analysis and uses this analysis as an explanation of a
reason for a similarity or difference.
 A good essay could consistently analyze cause and effect for the noted similarities
and differences.
Questions:
1- What must an acceptable thesis statement for a comparative essay have?
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2- What makes a thesis statement explicit?
________________________________________________________________________
3- What is not included in a good essay?
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4- Why must students make their connections clear?
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5- What must every paragraph be?
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6- Why must students analyze?
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Rate Thesis Statement A:
“Between 1492 and 1750, Africa and the Americas experienced similarities in the
introduction of new crops, movement of natives, and disease, while having differences in
shift of gender population, amount of death, ethnicity change, and environment.”
My Grade for this Thesis Statement: ___________________
Why?
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Rate Thesis Statement B:
“The Columbian Exchange had its positive and negative effects on regions such as the
Americas and Africa. Demographic and environmental changes emerged with the
Columbian Exchange. Being large continents, Africa and the Americas faced the effects of
the Columbian Exchange?
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1. The largest decline in percentage of global
population in history occurred as a result of
(A) Black Death in Europe
(B) Global flu pandemic of 1918 – 1919
(C) Spread of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa
in the twentieth century
(D) Spread of syphilis in Renaissance
Europe
(E) Epidemics in sixteenth-century
Mesoamerica
5. Which of the following is most likely to
have influenced eighteenth-century
population trends in both Europe and
China?
(A) A sharp decline in average global
temperatures
(B) Introduction of Western Hemisphere
crops
(C) Innovation in birth control measures
(D) Improvement in surgical procedures
2. In the period 1450–1750, which of the
following, produced on large plantations by
slave labor, were significant commodities in
the growing world market?
(A) Grains such as wheat and barley
(B) Tropical fruits such as bananas and
oranges
(C) Animal products such as wool and beef
(D) Cash crops such as sugar and tobacco
6. Between 1450 and 1750, which of the
following were produced on large
plantations by slave labor for the world
market?
(A) Wheat and barley
(B) Corn and beans
(C) Bananas and oranges
(D) Wool and beef
(E) Sugar and tobacco
3. How were trends in New Spain and Brazil
similar during colonization?
(A) Neither used slaves.
(B) Both European conquerors decimated
native American populations.
(C) The societies both became ethnically
homogeneous.
(D) Copper mining was a critical part of the
economy in both colonies.
(E) all of the above
7. Which of the following best characterizes
world trade in the period 1450 to 1750?
(A) Commodities from Africa dominated
trade with China and India.
(B) The demand for Asian commodities
was financed by New World silver.
(C) International conflict declined
because of growing cooperation
among international traders.
(D) European dominance of China
began.
(E) The African slave trade declined
4. In the period 1450–1750, which of the
following, produced on large plantations by
slave labor, were significant commodities in
the growing world market?
(A) Grains such as wheat and barley
(B) Tropical fruits such as bananas and
oranges
(C) Animal products such as wool and beef
(D) Cash crops such as sugar and tobacco
8. Which of the following characterized
economic systems in Latin America and in
Southeast Asia during the sixteenth
century?
(A) Both focused on porcelain
manufacturing.
(B) Both incorporated forced labor.
(C) Both redistributed land to peasants.
(D) Both produced grain for the
European market.
(E) Both focused on small farm-tomarket agriculture.
A major consequence of Columbus’ voyages was the eventual exchange of goods between
the Old World (Europe) and the New World (the Americas). Listed below are some of the
goods that were shared in this “Columbian Exchange” between the continents:
From Europe to the Americas
Bananas
Barley
Cabbages
Carnations
Chickens
Coffee
Cows
Crabgrass
Daffodils Daisies Dandelions
Horses
Lemons
Lettuce
Lilacs
Olives
Oranges Peaches
Pears
Pigs
Sugarcane
Tulips
Rice
Sheep
Turnips
Wheat
From the Americas to Europe
Avocados
Beans (kidney, navy, lima)
Bell peppers
Black-eyed Susans
Cacao (for
chocolate)
Chili peppers
Corn
Cotton
Marigolds
Papayas
Peanuts
Petunias
Pineapples
Poinsettias
Potatoes
Pumpkins
Quinine
Rubber
Squashes
Sunflowers
Sweet
potatoes
Tobacco
Tomatoes
Turkeys
Vanilla
beans
Zinnias
~ Scholastic Magazine