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AP World History: Modern Sample DBQ
The AP World History: Modern Exam requires you to complete a document-based question , which is why we have provided example DBQ’s and tips for writing reponses below.
Sample AP World History Document-Based Questions
Evaluate the extent to which the processes of empire-building affected political structures in the period 1500–1900.
Step 1: Analyze the Prompt
Spend the 15-minute reading period analyzing the documents themselves, thinking for each document about its authorship/historical situation, main idea, and why it was written.
Begin grouping the documents into categories that you can use to help organize your essay. A sample high-scoring writer’s notes on the documents appear below:
- King of Kongo asks king of Portugal for help because Portuguese trade is upset- ting the vassal system
- Cortes uses weapons and allies to kill Mexica
- Puerto Rico population trends: native population ↓, European ↑, mixed ↑
- French letter describes Mughal use of rajah system in India
- British governor in India’s letter to East India Company says British policies better for economy
- Churchill describes effectiveness of guns in Sudan
- Japanese cartoon describes Russian expansion as “black octopus” during time of Russo-Japanese War over territory
Groups of empire-building processes:
- Military: 2, 6, 7
- Colonization: 3
- Economic: 1, 4, 5
Step 2: Plan Your Response
Since the prompt asks for how empire-building affected political structures, the writer will organize the essay by explaining multiple causes (processes) that impacted political structures.
- Context: Native American governments (villages and empires)
- military and colonization destroyed political structures in Americas where disease played a role
- combination of processes allowed infiltration of political structures in Asia and Africa
- ( complex understanding: multiple causes)
Cause ¶1: military conquest → destruction
- Spanish advantages: horses, guns, local support
- Sourcing 1: viewpoint: Cortes justifies actions by attributing victory to God
- Additional evidence: Pizarro defeat of Inca; Spanish set up viceroys and social hierarchy
- Sourcing 2: viewpoint: perhaps exaggerated, but shows British expect weapons will win
Cause ¶2: colonization → replace native populations’ governments
- Stats of native peoples, Europeans
- Additional factor of disease
Cause ¶3: military + colonization + economic influence → gradual political power
- Describes political system of rajahs, hints at instability
- British merchants would gain power
- Br. didn’t have “fixed plan,” but “destroyed” native populations’ economic policies
- Br. gov. made India a colony
- Port. merchants undermining king’s power
- Sourcing 3: purpose: submission may not be genuine
Step 3: Action! Write Your Response
Step 4: proofread.
[RELATED: AP World History: Modern Sample Long Essay Question ]
Sample High-Scoring Response
The extremes of military conquest sometimes resulted in the destruction of the native populations’ political structures. Document 2 references the Mexica people’s violent devastation at the hands of the Spanish, with a hundred falling “at each discharge of guns.” While Cortes attributes his victory to God’s favor due to fight- ing for his faith and king, tangible factors gave him the practical advantage: horses (which were not native to the Americas), guns, the Mexica’s unfamiliarity with such weapons, and the support of local allies. Cortes, perhaps seeking to impress the king, likely exaggerates in the claim that the victory was “without ourselves sustaining any injury”; still, the claim indicates both the strength of the Spanish military technology and their attitude of superiority that they used to justify their takeover of the existing Mexica government. Also using military technology and the support of other tribes, the Spanish under Pizarro took control of the Inca empire in the Andes. In both locations, the Spanish essentially destroyed the empires and installed their own political systems, with viceroys who served under the Spanish crown and a hierarchical class system that gave preference to those of European ancestry. The effectiveness of military conquest for destroying political structures is also demonstrated in Document 6, an account of a battle in Sudan that demonstrates the awesome firepower of machine guns to leave the Sudanese fighters in “tangled heaps.” Although the document, written by the British Churchill, might provide a glorified account of the battle that exaggerates the British advantage, the fact that Churchill expected their weapon technology would automatically give victory is indicated in the disbelieving sentence: “ It appeared to our cavalry commander that the [Sudanese fighters] would actually succeed.”
Countries sending large numbers of settlers was another effective method of empire-building. This process enabled European nations to replace native governments in the Americas. For instance, Document 3 indicates that from 1530 to 1795, the proportion of Native Americans in the population of the colony of Puerto Rico dropped dramatically from 36.4 percent of the population to just 2.5 percent. At the same time, Europeans as a share of the population rose from 10 percent to 51.5 percent by 1860. The increase in the proportion of Europeans and blacks corresponds with the Spanish overrunning the native populations and instituting plantations. The spread of diseases among the native populations made it easier for the Spanish to do away with long-standing native governments and establish their own political structures in the Americas.
In India and Africa, Europeans utilized the old strategies of military force and colonization, but unlike in the Americas, newly introduced diseases did not have such a devastating effect on native populations. Thus, the process of empire-building also involved longer-term economic policies that caused a more gradual build-up of political power. European merchants gradually expanded their power in India, aided by the decline of the Mughal empire, as explained in Document 4. A French physician describes the emperor’s practice of “nourish[ing] jealousies” among the local rajahs, many of whom commanded armies larger than those of the emperor, to distract the rajahs from ever threatening his power. By describing this potential threat to the emperor, the document hints at the potential for outsiders to take advantage of the political instability, as indeed the British merchants extended their economic influence into political control. Indeed, in Document 5 a governor of the East India Company affirms that British control happened through “fortunate and unforeseen occurrences” rather than a “fixed plan.” He also confirms the power of economics in gaining political control, praising the economic policies of the British and celebrating the “destroyed” economic policies of the “natives.” Eventually, the British government would take over the East India Company’s holdings and rule India as a colony. Document 1 also affirms the potential of economics to provide inroads to political power: King Afonso I of Kongo in Africa appeals to the King of Portugal about the behavior of Portuguese merchants, who are undermining King Afonso’s power by enrich- ing his vassals, making them no longer “content and subjected under our control.” King Afonso’s highly submissive tone (“I kiss your hand many times”) may indicate not genuine submission to the King of Portugal, but rather an understanding of the threat that economic power has on his political power. His letter could be part of a calculated approach to get help restoring his political power by appealing to the Europeans’ attitude of superiority.
Overall, the empire-building processes of conquest, colonization, and economic influence allowed empire-builders to exert power over territories. When additional factors, such as epidemic disease, also played a role, as they did in the Americas, the empire-builders could sometimes briskly overthrow and replace the original political structures. In locations such as India, empire-building involved a more complex interplay of economics with the pre-existing political structures, though the Europeans were still able to eventually gain control.
For more help prepping for the AP World History: Modern exam, check out our AP World History: Modern Prep Plus Book .
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Home — Essay Samples — History — Imperialism — DBQ Imperialism Paper
Dbq Imperialism Paper
- Categories: American Imperialism Imperialism
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Published: Jun 13, 2024
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The Document-Based Question (DBQ) asked students to evaluate the extent to which European imperialism had an impact on the economies of Africa and/or Asia. Responses were expected to address the time frame of the 19th through the early 20th centuries and to demonstrate the historical thinking skill of causation.
Imperialism is a depraved choice of national life, imposed by self-seeking interests which appeal to the lusts of quantitative acquisitiveness and of forceful domination surviving in a nation from early centuries of animal struggle for existence.
Proponents argue that imperialism brought modern infrastructure, improved healthcare, education, and technological advancements to colonized regions. They claim that imperial powers introduced democratic institutions and the rule of law, which laid the groundwork for independent nations.
Sample AP World History Document-Based Questions. Click each document below to view the sample. Evaluate the extent to which the processes of empire-building affected political structures in the period 1500–1900.
• Advocates of United States imperialism promoted ideas about racial competition and “ Anglo -Saxon ” superiority (point of view ). • Many Americans perceived themselves to be in competition with other countries around the world for the acquisition of colonial possessions (situation).
Preview text. In between 1870-1914, the Age of Imperialism had risen up from the effects of the infamous Industrial Revolution. The industrial Revolution acted as the main force behind what was known as the new Imperialism, as it not only increased Europe’s need to expand, but allowed them to harness the power to take over many colonies, a ...
As another example, you could use a similar process to teach imperialism from different perspectives using DBQs 15, 16, and 17. Set up learning stations by posting each document at a table or different place in the classroom and having students in small groups move from document to document.
DBQ 9: Imperialism in Africa. European imperialism in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries resulted in the carving up of areas of Africa and Asia into vast colonial empires. This was true for most of the continent of Africa. As imperialism spread, the colonizer and the colony viewed imperialism differently.
Imperialism, the policy of extending a country’s power and influence through diplomacy or military force, was a dominant force in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This phenomenon was driven by a combination of economic, political, and social factors, and had profound effects on both the colonizing and colonized nations.
Evaluate both the positive and negative effects of imperialism. Your essay should be well organized with an introductory paragraph that states your position. Develop your position in the next paragraphs and then write a conclusion. In your essay, include specific historical details and refer to the specific documents you analyzed in Part A.