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EUROPEAN HISTORY
SECTION II
Part A
(Suggested writing time—45 minutes)
Percent of Section II score—45
Directions: The following question is based on the accompanying Documents 1-12. The documents have been edited for the purpose of this exercise. Write your answer on the lined pages of the Section II free-response booklet.
This question is designed to test your ability to work with and understand historical documents. Write an essay that:
• Provides an appropriate, explicitly stated thesis that directly addresses all parts of the question and does NOT simply restate the question.
• Discusses a majority of the documents individually and specifically.
• Demonstrates understanding of the basic meaning of a majority of the documents.
• Supports the thesis with appropriate interpretations of a majority of the documents.
• Analyzes the documents by explicitly grouping them in at least three appropriate ways.
• Takes into account both the sources of the documents and the authors’ points of view.
You may refer to relevant historical information not mentioned in the documents.
1. Analyze attitudes toward and evaluate the motivations behind the European acquisition of African colonies in the period 1880 to 1914.
Historical Background: The maps below show European expansion in Africa from
1878 to 1914.
Document 1
Source: Prince Leopold, heir to the throne of Belgium and future king, conversation,
1861.
Surrounded by the sea, Holland, Prussia and France, our frontiers can never be extended in
Europe. . . . [But] the universe lies in front of us; steam and electricity have made distances disappear, all the unappropriated lands on the surface of the globe may become the field of our operations and of our resources. . . . Since history teaches that colonies are useful, that they play a great part in that which makes up the power and prosperity of states, let us strive to get one in our turn . . . let us see where
SECTION II
Part A
(Suggested writing time—45 minutes)
Percent of Section II score—45
Directions: The following question is based on the accompanying Documents 1-12. The documents have been edited for the purpose of this exercise. Write your answer on the lined pages of the Section II free-response booklet.
This question is designed to test your ability to work with and understand historical documents. Write an essay that:
• Provides an appropriate, explicitly stated thesis that directly addresses all parts of the question and does NOT simply restate the question.
• Discusses a majority of the documents individually and specifically.
• Demonstrates understanding of the basic meaning of a majority of the documents.
• Supports the thesis with appropriate interpretations of a majority of the documents.
• Analyzes the documents by explicitly grouping them in at least three appropriate ways.
• Takes into account both the sources of the documents and the authors’ points of view.
You may refer to relevant historical information not mentioned in the documents.
1. Analyze attitudes toward and evaluate the motivations behind the European acquisition of African colonies in the period 1880 to 1914.
Historical Background: The maps below show European expansion in Africa from
1878 to 1914.
Document 1
Source: Prince Leopold, heir to the throne of Belgium and future king, conversation,
1861.
Surrounded by the sea, Holland, Prussia and France, our frontiers can never be extended in
Europe. . . . [But] the universe lies in front of us; steam and electricity have made distances disappear, all the unappropriated lands on the surface of the globe may become the field of our operations and of our resources. . . . Since history teaches that colonies are useful, that they play a great part in that which makes up the power and prosperity of states, let us strive to get one in our turn . . . let us see where