Midterm Exam
There are eight choices below. Write two essays of 1200-1300 words each. Or write one longer essay of 2400-2600 words. You will have two chances to write this exam before the due date. It is recommended you write a rough draft the first time, then go review course material again for your second and final try.
This is a test of course material only. No outside research, citations, or bibliography needed. You may include information learned elsewhere, but do not need anything beyond a brief mention of where, without citations. E.g. “A documentary I watched named…”
You are being graded on how well you construct an argument using evidence from this course. While you should still strive to avoid errors, minor misspellings or grammar mistakes won’t count against you as long as it doesn’t interfere with understanding your essay.
3. Why and how did Columbus and other European invaders commit genocides? What motivated European invaders? How have genocides affected Natives in terms of land and population loss, and loss of power and cultures? Knowing about Native genocides, how should this affect how Natives are treated today? Include Native survival tactics from military resistance to assimilation and mixing to use of European institutions like Spanish laws and Christian churches. Include non-Natives who opposed genocide such as Catholic priests, monks, and monarchs. How did these genocides finally end? How much are Americans and Latin Americans taught about genocides in Latin America compared to other genocides such as the Holocaust, and why?
4. Compare broadly the cultures and histories of any two indigenous peoples below, their political philosophy and systems, science and technology, and conquest and survival. What explains the successes and failures of each European invasion against these different Native nations or cultural groups? Aztecs, Incas, Mayas, Tainos, Mapuches. Pick two.