World History Essay Paper

World History Essay Paper

This is a “TWO” part assignment:

  1. Part 1:  Write an essay according to the instructions above. Make sure that each question presented is addressed in some way in your essay. Many of these questions are constructed to get you to think about cultural syncretism in a much more broad sense, and you should feel free to insert opinion into this mainly fact-based essay.

Your essay should be about a page, double-spaced, using 12-point font, and should use APA format.

write a one page essay about cultural syncretism, loosely adhering to the theme of past versus present. The following should guide your thinking and essay:

  • What elements of syncretism resulted from the slave trade and other aspects of colonial expansionHow did the effects of colonialism have lasting impacts? What are some examples of this?
  • What elements of syncretism are resulting today from the spread of American ideas to the Middle East, and from American military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan?
  • What are the similarities and differences between the syncretism that was caused by European expansion into the Americas, and the syncretism caused today by the spread of American ideas and the American presence in the Middle East?
  • Can you think of any other examples of cultural syncretism in our modern world? Explain.

2.   Part 2:  In this assignment, you will provide short answers to questions about the rise and decline of empires in the 16th and 17th centuries. The leader of every nation must struggle to overcome challenges and crises. It is difficult for a leader to see from within a crisis how long lasting the effects will be. Learning how to analyze history can help a leader learn how to make insights that will allow him or her to better facilitate and adapt to change. Just as a nation can prosper and suffer, so too can a state, a city, a business, or a household. Knowing how to use historical reasoning to relate lessons from the past to the modern era is a valuable tool for building perspective and insight.  ANSWER THE FOLLOWING 4 QUESTIONS IN 2-3 SENTENCES EACH:

1. How had the balance of power between the dominant states of western Eurasia shifted by the middle of the eighteenth century? 

2. How were existing African economic and political systems integrated into the Atlantic plantation system? What were the effects of this interaction on Africans and African societies? 

3. In comparison with the Qing, Russian, and British Empires, what were some unique features of early modern Japanese history?

4. How did systematic classification and measurement support European imperialism in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries?