HIS 120 Final Exam Questions Answered Correctly Latest Update 2025/2026
Columbian Exchange - Answers Exchange of plants, animals, diseases, peoples, and ideas
between Old and New Worlds after 1492; reshaped diets and caused major Indigenous
population decline.
Mercantilism - Answers Economic theory that wealth is finite; colonies exist to enrich mother
country through controlled trade and resource extraction.
Casta System - Answers Racial hierarchy in Spanish America categorizing people by ancestry to
maintain colonial control.
Casta Paintings - Answers 18th-century Mexican artworks depicting mixed-race families; visual
propaganda reinforcing racial hierarchy.
Encomienda System - Answers Spanish colonial labor system forcing Indigenous people to
work for settlers in exchange for "protection" and Christianization.
Race as a Category of Analysis - Answers Understanding race as a social and political
construction used to justify inequality, not biological fact.
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz - Answers 17th-century Mexican nun, scholar, and feminist writer
advocating women's education.
"Response of the Poet to the Very Eminent So Filotea de la Cruz" - Answers Sor Juana's defense
of women's intellectual rights, criticizing patriarchal restrictions.
British Empire - Answers Expansive global empire driven by maritime trade, colonization, and
industrial power.
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade - Answers Forced transport of 12-13 million Africans to the Americas;
foundation of plantation economies.
Sugar - Answers Key plantation crop requiring enslaved labor; most profitable and brutal
industry of the Caribbean.
Barbados - Answers Early English sugar colony; model for harsh plantation regimes.
"Buying Slaves at Whydah" - Answers Account showing commodification of enslaved Africans
and violence of slave markets.
"Brutality of Sugar Plantations" - Answers Primary source revealing extreme labor conditions,
punishment, and short lifespan of enslaved field workers.
Enlightenment - Answers Intellectual movement promoting reason, natural rights, and critique of
absolute monarchy.
, Mechanical Philosophy - Answers View of the universe as governed by natural laws like a
machine; undermined religious absolutism.
Deism - Answers Belief in a non-interventionist creator; encouraged moral autonomy and
secular reform.
John Locke - Answers Enlightenment philosopher advocating natural rights and government by
consent.
"Second Treatise on Government" - Answers Locke argues people may overthrow tyrants; major
foundation of liberal democracy.
Lockean Social Contract - Answers Government legitimacy derives from protecting citizens'
natural rights.
Declaration of Independence - Answers American founding document asserting natural rights
and self-government.
American Revolution - Answers War for independence producing the first modern republic;
influenced global revolutions.
Shays' Rebellion - Answers Uprising revealing weaknesses of Articles of Confederation; pushed
for a stronger Constitution.
Philadelphia Convention - Answers 1787 meeting that drafted the U.S. Constitution.
General Estates (Estates-General) - Answers Pre-revolutionary French assembly of clergy,
nobility, and commoners; conflict led to revolution.
Declaration of the Rights of Man - Answers Statement of liberty, equality, and popular
sovereignty.
Olympe de Gouges - Answers Feminist revolutionary executed for demanding equal rights for
women.
Declaration of the Rights of Woman - Answers De Gouges' critique of gender inequality in the
revolution.
Napoleon Bonaparte - Answers Revolutionary general who became emperor; spread reform but
ruled autocratically.
Haitian Revolution - Answers Only successful slave revolution (1791-1804); created Haiti and
challenged global racism.
Independence of Latin America - Answers 19th-century revolutions shaped by Enlightenment
ideas and rejection of Spanish rule.
Columbian Exchange - Answers Exchange of plants, animals, diseases, peoples, and ideas
between Old and New Worlds after 1492; reshaped diets and caused major Indigenous
population decline.
Mercantilism - Answers Economic theory that wealth is finite; colonies exist to enrich mother
country through controlled trade and resource extraction.
Casta System - Answers Racial hierarchy in Spanish America categorizing people by ancestry to
maintain colonial control.
Casta Paintings - Answers 18th-century Mexican artworks depicting mixed-race families; visual
propaganda reinforcing racial hierarchy.
Encomienda System - Answers Spanish colonial labor system forcing Indigenous people to
work for settlers in exchange for "protection" and Christianization.
Race as a Category of Analysis - Answers Understanding race as a social and political
construction used to justify inequality, not biological fact.
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz - Answers 17th-century Mexican nun, scholar, and feminist writer
advocating women's education.
"Response of the Poet to the Very Eminent So Filotea de la Cruz" - Answers Sor Juana's defense
of women's intellectual rights, criticizing patriarchal restrictions.
British Empire - Answers Expansive global empire driven by maritime trade, colonization, and
industrial power.
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade - Answers Forced transport of 12-13 million Africans to the Americas;
foundation of plantation economies.
Sugar - Answers Key plantation crop requiring enslaved labor; most profitable and brutal
industry of the Caribbean.
Barbados - Answers Early English sugar colony; model for harsh plantation regimes.
"Buying Slaves at Whydah" - Answers Account showing commodification of enslaved Africans
and violence of slave markets.
"Brutality of Sugar Plantations" - Answers Primary source revealing extreme labor conditions,
punishment, and short lifespan of enslaved field workers.
Enlightenment - Answers Intellectual movement promoting reason, natural rights, and critique of
absolute monarchy.
, Mechanical Philosophy - Answers View of the universe as governed by natural laws like a
machine; undermined religious absolutism.
Deism - Answers Belief in a non-interventionist creator; encouraged moral autonomy and
secular reform.
John Locke - Answers Enlightenment philosopher advocating natural rights and government by
consent.
"Second Treatise on Government" - Answers Locke argues people may overthrow tyrants; major
foundation of liberal democracy.
Lockean Social Contract - Answers Government legitimacy derives from protecting citizens'
natural rights.
Declaration of Independence - Answers American founding document asserting natural rights
and self-government.
American Revolution - Answers War for independence producing the first modern republic;
influenced global revolutions.
Shays' Rebellion - Answers Uprising revealing weaknesses of Articles of Confederation; pushed
for a stronger Constitution.
Philadelphia Convention - Answers 1787 meeting that drafted the U.S. Constitution.
General Estates (Estates-General) - Answers Pre-revolutionary French assembly of clergy,
nobility, and commoners; conflict led to revolution.
Declaration of the Rights of Man - Answers Statement of liberty, equality, and popular
sovereignty.
Olympe de Gouges - Answers Feminist revolutionary executed for demanding equal rights for
women.
Declaration of the Rights of Woman - Answers De Gouges' critique of gender inequality in the
revolution.
Napoleon Bonaparte - Answers Revolutionary general who became emperor; spread reform but
ruled autocratically.
Haitian Revolution - Answers Only successful slave revolution (1791-1804); created Haiti and
challenged global racism.
Independence of Latin America - Answers 19th-century revolutions shaped by Enlightenment
ideas and rejection of Spanish rule.
