Global History & Geography I: Early Societies to c. 1750 — Final exam

Parent / teacher answer key

A course-authored written history assessment. Use two 60-minute blocks for the midterm, three for the final, and one for the optional sample. Marking and revision have a separate parent-plan session.

40 questions · 120 points · suggested 180 minutes

Student instructions

Use supplied evidence and your timeline; notes and a glossary are permitted.
Give short reasoned answers; distinguish observations from interpretations.
Keep worked keys closed until after attempting the paper.
Equivalent supported explanations and accessible response formats are accepted.

Historical inquiry methods

Task	Method
Context	Identify period, place, institutions, and earlier conditions.
Source	Identify maker, date, purpose, form, and limits.
Causation	Explain a mechanism; chronology alone is not causation.
Comparison	Use stated criteria and comparable evidence.

Coverage and marks

Chapter	Questions	Points
Historical Inquiry & Early Societies	1, 2, 3, 4, 5	15
Ancient Cities, States & Citizenship	6, 7, 8, 9, 10	15
Belief Systems, Communities & Imperial Rule	11, 12, 13, 14, 15	15
Medieval Societies Across Regions	16, 17, 18, 19, 20	15
Trade Networks, Empires & Disruption	21, 22, 23, 24, 25	15
Americas, European Reforms & Atlantic Encounters	26, 27, 28, 29, 30	15
Early Modern States & Changing Authority	31, 32, 33, 34, 35	15
Knowledge, Labor & the World Around 1750	36, 37, 38, 39, 40	15

Name: ____________________ Date: ____________________

Question 1 · 3 points

Teaching scenario: a royal inscription celebrates conquest; a modern map shows the empire’s greatest extent. Neither supplies dates for each border or the conquered communities’ experiences. Explain what these sources support and identify two additional records needed to describe change over time.

Question 2 · 3 points

Illustrative excavation: Site A has fish bones, hearths, and storage pits in several occupation layers. Site B has a single hearth and portable tools. No written accounts survive. Compare what the remains suggest about residence and explain why they cannot establish every household’s movements.

Question 3 · 3 points

Illustrative figures: a settlement’s harvest rises from 100 to 140 baskets, but 30 baskets spoil and 20 are reserved for seed. Population also increases. Calculate the amount left after these deductions and explain what additional evidence is needed to assess food security.

Question 4 · 3 points

Teaching case based on the type of record preserved in Mesopotamia, not a translation: a buyer complains about copper quality; no seller’s response or tested metal survives in the supplied packet. Explain what the complaint establishes, what it alleges, and how you would test a claim about the transaction.

Question 5 · 3 points

Teaching summaries: a royal inscription praises abundant resources; a local grain account records reduced deliveries in one year. The dates are not yet confirmed. Explain why the records need not contradict and propose a way to test a claim about production.

Question 6 · 3 points

Teaching excavation: two cities share brick proportions and weights. No deciphered rule or named administrative record is supplied. Explain two possible arrangements that could produce the pattern and name evidence that would help distinguish them.

Question 7 · 3 points

Teaching scenario: an official text praises educated service; appointment records in a sample repeatedly name families with wealth. The sample covers one district. Explain why the evidence can support both an official ideal and unequal access without proving that every appointment was corrupt.

Question 8 · 3 points

Illustrative town: 1,000 residents include 200 eligible citizens; 120 attend an assembly. These are invented figures, not Athenian statistics. Calculate attendance as a share of eligible citizens and of all residents, then explain the different meanings.

Question 9 · 3 points

Teaching summaries: a rule extends citizenship to free inhabitants; another record describes enslaved labor; a woman holds property but not an identical public office. Explain why the records are compatible and identify the dimensions of status they concern.

Question 10 · 3 points

Teaching summaries: an imperial inscription advocates respectful conduct; a local dispute concerns access to resources. The packet does not state the dispute’s outcome. Explain why the imperial ideal and the dispute can coexist and how you would test implementation.

Question 11 · 3 points

Teaching scenario: a royal announcement adopts a tradition; household objects from the following decades suggest varied practices. The objects’ meanings are partly uncertain. Explain how official affiliation and varied local practice can coexist without calling one source false.

Question 12 · 3 points

Teaching scenario: a donor funds a monastery beside a trade route; merchants visit; nearby households retain varied practices. The packet supplies no population count. Explain a possible route of religious exchange and a limit of the evidence.

Question 13 · 3 points

Teaching scenario: a fifth-century copy preserves a first-century narrative; a fourth-century imperial measure supports a church. No household survey is supplied. Identify three different dates or questions and explain what cannot be inferred about all residents.

Question 14 · 3 points

Illustrative region: imperial rule changes in Year 1; records still identify multiple religious communities in Year 80. The years are invented to illustrate timing. Explain why the records are compatible and identify evidence needed to study gradual conversion.

Question 15 · 3 points

Illustrative states: A taxes ten districts directly; B receives tribute from twenty allied districts with local rulers. District sizes and populations differ. Explain why twenty districts do not establish twice the administrative reach and specify evidence needed for comparison.

Question 16 · 3 points

Teaching scenario: a sixth-century legal compilation is copied and adapted in a later region. A modern label calls the later rule an unchanged Byzantine law. Explain what evidence is needed to test continuity and adaptation.

Question 17 · 3 points

Illustrative estate records: Household A owes three labor days weekly; Household B pays rent but no stated labor days. The packet omits crop yields and other duties. Compare the arrangements and identify why the supplied records do not determine which household has greater well-being.

Question 18 · 3 points

Teaching summaries: a foreign account praises a wealthy royal journey; excavated household remains show varied possessions. The packet gives no complete income data. Explain why royal wealth and household variation can coexist and identify a limit of each source.

Question 19 · 3 points

Teaching excavation: locally made walls and settlement layers coexist with imported ceramics. No foreign construction contract is supplied. Explain what the imports can support and why they do not establish foreign construction.

Question 20 · 3 points

Teaching summaries: two states use examinations or scholarly credentials, but their eligibility rules and patronage differ. No complete appointment totals are supplied. Explain what is shared, what differs, and why similar labels do not establish equal access.

Question 21 · 3 points

Illustrative network: goods pass from City A to B to C. A’s trader visits only B; C’s buyer acquires them from B’s trader. No direct A–C journey occurs in the case. Explain what the goods’ presence at C establishes and what it does not.

Question 22 · 3 points

Illustrative voyage: a trader waits three months for a favorable seasonal return wind, pays storage costs, and sells part of the cargo locally. Explain how seasonality can shape port residence and relationships as well as travel.

Question 23 · 3 points

Teaching summaries: one route has a protected postal station; another city’s earlier conquest record describes destruction. The records concern different dates. Explain why they can coexist and what a Pax Mongolica claim must specify.

Question 24 · 3 points

Illustrative town register: 120 deaths appear among 600 registered residents; 150 additional residents’ records are missing. Migration is not recorded. Calculate the share for the registered sample and explain why it is not a secure whole-town mortality estimate.

Question 25 · 3 points

Teaching scenario: a major reservoir needs repeated repairs; nearby settlement evidence continues after a royal center’s importance declines. The dates are approximate. Explain what can be said about infrastructure and continuity and what requires further evidence.

Question 26 · 3 points

Teaching summaries: a Maya inscription commemorates a ruler; an Andean knotted-cord record is associated with stored quantities. No full readings are supplied. Explain how both can support history while answering different questions.

Question 27 · 3 points

Teaching scenario: a merchant pays for a religious painting that includes his portrait; its public setting and date are known, but no audience survey survives. Explain two purposes the work might serve and distinguish a supported inference from certainty.

Question 28 · 3 points

Teaching summaries: a reformer calls for scriptural authority; a ruler mandates a particular church; a dissenting community faces restrictions. These summaries are not quotations. Explain why reform and coercion can coexist and identify the different institutions in the case.

Question 29 · 3 points

Teaching scenario: an introduced infection arrives as fighting disrupts harvest and authorities demand labor. No precise mortality series is supplied. Explain three interacting mechanisms and what data would be needed to estimate their effects.

Question 30 · 3 points

Teaching summaries: an official rule limits labor demands; a community petition alleges that officials exceed those limits. No final judgment is supplied. Explain what each source supports and what further evidence would test enforcement.

Question 31 · 3 points

Illustrative states: A buys more cannons; B has fewer but better-supplied units. Terrain, training, and opponents differ. Explain why weapon count alone cannot predict outcomes and identify relevant evidence.

Question 32 · 3 points

Catalog-based teaching description: a sixteenth-century Ottoman tughra includes a ruler’s name and elaborate calligraphy. No record of reception by every locality is supplied. Explain what it can show about administration and representation and identify a limit.

Question 33 · 3 points

Illustrative districts: both owe 30 percent of an assessed harvest, but one has lower yields and higher transport costs. Assessments may differ from actual production. Explain why equal stated rates may coexist with unequal burdens and what should be checked.

Question 34 · 3 points

Teaching packet: an edict restricts a maritime activity; a later port register records trade; their dates and jurisdictions differ. Explain why the records need not contradict and how to assess the scope of a restriction.

Question 35 · 3 points

Teaching summaries: a law limits royal taxation without institutional consent, while voting eligibility remains restricted. No complete electorate list is supplied. Explain two different changes or limits that can coexist.

Question 36 · 3 points

Teaching scenario: a telescope report describes four small bodies moving near Jupiter; an accompanying argument questions the claim that every celestial body orbits Earth. Explain what the observation can challenge and what further evidence a complete planetary model needs.

Question 37 · 3 points

Teaching scenario: a proposal divides government into three institutions but gives voting rights only to a small group. No claim of universal suffrage is stated. Explain what the proposal changes and what it leaves unequal.

Question 38 · 3 points

Illustrative register: 300 people are recorded at departure and 255 at arrival. The packet does not state missing entries or intermediate transfers. These are invented practice figures. Calculate the recorded difference and percentage, then explain why it should not automatically be labeled a complete death count.

Question 39 · 3 points

Illustrative product sells for 100 units: 20 pays production, 30 transport and fees, and 50 remains before other costs. The packet does not give workers’ pay or compulsion. Calculate the listed remainder and explain why it cannot measure workers’ welfare or net profit.

Question 40 · 3 points

Teaching choice: compare citizenship in Athens and Rome, learned officeholding in Han and Song contexts, or religious permission in Ottoman and Mughal settings. Use dated course material and identify one source limitation. Draft a question, provisional claim, three-point timeline, mechanism, and an alternative interpretation.

Revisit the covered chapters

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