Brandon Eldridge » APUSH Summer Work

APUSH Summer Work

AP US History Summer Assignment 

The Summer Assignments for AP US History are due on the first day we return to school via TURNITIN.COM. Be sure to have the document ready to upload. All work should be in your own words, not copied and pasted from any other source. Plagiarism violates the CMS Academic Integrity Policy (Student Handbook, pg 6-7). Violations will result in a zero in the grade and referral to the Assistant Principal. If you have any questions during the summer, please email Mr. Eldridge at [email protected]. 

Subscribe to my YouTube channel to get all of the updated info on the class: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIDnCAcuoGwEBP_Mxtp27uQ

Watch ALL Unit 1 videos for your Summer Work - Day 1 there will be a quiz over the videos.

Answer the following research questions as thoroughly as possible. Be sure to give as many details as to ensure full credit.

Period 1: 1491-1607

  1. Describe notable cultural and political aspects of these important indigenous cultures on the American continent from 1000-1492: Creek, Choctaw, Cherokee, Ohio River Valley tribes, Aztecs, Incas, and the Iroquois Confederacy.
  2. Describe Portugal as the first world naval power (the late 1300s –1500) using these supporting details: Henry the Navigator, Constantinople, Bartholomeu Dias, Vasco de Gama.
  3. Describe Spain’s rise to power as a global leader using these supporting details: Ferdinand and Isabella, Reconquista, Renaissance advances, Treaty of Tordesillas.
  4. Describe Christopher Columbus’ effects on the New World using these themes: first global economy, triangle trade, environmental impacts, the beginning of slavery, indigenous population decimation.
  5. Describe each of these Conquistadors, their areas of exploration, and their legacies with indigenous peoples: Vasco de Balboa, Ferdinand Magellan, Juan Ponce de Leon, Francisco Coronado, Hernando de Soto, Francisco Pizarro, Hernan Cortez.
  6. How did Spanish contact with the Incas drive the development of capitalism in Europe?
  7. What was the encomienda system and what were Bartholomeo de Las Casas’s opinions of it?
  8. How can Spanish contact with the Aztecs be seen as the beginning of modern Mexican culture?
  9. What caused the end of the Conquistadores?
  10. Why does the rivalry between England and Spain intensify (1530’s-1588)? (Some supporting details are Reformation, Queen Elizabeth, Irish conflict, sea dogs, and the Armada.)
  11. Why are the following reasons for England wanting to explore and colonize the New World: nationalism, primogeniture, and joint-stock companies?
  12. How did the Jamestown colony (1607-the first permanent British settlement in America) survive its early times?
 
Read Chapter 1 of A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn. This can be found at http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinncol1.html

It would be very wise of you to print this out and highlight it as you go along. Answer the following questions in the form of an essay.

  • According to Zinn, what is his main purpose for writing A People’s History of the United States?
  • Is there bias presented in the secondary source? Why or why not?
  • What is Zinn’s thesis for this chapter?
  • According to Zinn, how is Columbus portrayed in traditional history books?
  • What is Zinn’s basic criticism of historian Samuel Eliot Morison’s book, Christopher Columbus, Mariner
  • Identify one early and one subsequent motive that drove Columbus to oppress indigenous peoples.
  • Compare and contrast what you know about Columbus and Howard Zinn description of Christopher Columbus. In what ways are they similar? Different? What is the danger of reading only one source for historical information?