SAMPLE CCOT ESSAY QUESTIONS
BOLD = STRONG ESSAY QUESTION & WORDING
ITALICS = QUESTION TOPIC PREVIOUSLY ASKED ON EXAM IN SOME FORM
The questions below are not written in actual test format, but rather are meant as a starting point in formulating a
question.
Most have time frames that are way too broad for a CCOT question, and most need less choice being offered among
the regions.
Most questions will probably cover one era and cover one or more of these themes:

Impact of interaction among major societies (trade, systems of international exchange, war, and diplomacy).

Impact of technology and demography on people and the environment (population growth and decline,
disease, manufacturing, migrations, agriculture, weaponry).

Systems of social structure and gender structure (comparing major features within and among societies and
assessing change).

Cultural and intellectual developments and interactions among and within societies.

Changes in functions and structures of states and in attitudes toward states and political identities (political
culture), including the emergence of the nation-state (types of political organization).
FOUNDATIONS C. 8000 BCE TO 600 CE
1. Analyze the changes and continuities in major trading patterns within and among
Classical civilizations; include their contacts, including religious, with adjacent regions.
2. Discuss the changes and continuities in the Silk Road trading network from 600 BCE –
1450
3. Discuss the changes and continuities that occurred in the roles and functions of cities in
major societies from the Neolithic Revolution to 1450.
4. Trace and analyze the changes and continuities in global demographics from 8000 BCE
through 1900 CE. Be sure to address what global processes affected it throughout that
time?
5. Trace and analyze the changes and continuities in the environments of two of the regions
of the world from 8000 BCE to present.
Europe Sub-Saharan Africa the Middle East
East Asia
SE Asia
South Asia
Latin America North America
6. Analyze the changes and continuities in China from the Zhou to the Song. Be sure to
address political, social and economic factors as well as outside influences.
7. Trace and analyze the evolution of slavery and serfdom from prehistoric times to the end
of the 19th century in TWO of the following regions.
East Asia
Mediterranean
Eastern Europe Sub-Saharan Africa
8. Analyze the changes and continuities in the nature of slavery from 8000 BCE to 1750 CE.
9. Discuss the continuities and changes in migrations to and within afro-Eurasia from 100
CE to 1450 CE.
10. Analyze the changes and continuities in the movements of peoples (Huns, Germans)
11. Discuss the changes and continuities in the Fur Trade from the 400s through the 1800s.
12. Analyze the changes and continuities in women's experience from the Neolithic down to
1450 CE.
13. Analyze the changes and continuities in the development of belief systems from 8000
BCE to 600 CE in one of the following regions.
East Asia
South Asia Mediterranean
14. Analyze the changes and continuities in the role of Afghanistan as a “Crossroad” of
history from the 4th C BCE to the 21st C.
15. Analyze the change and continuities in the development of government from 8000 BCE
to 600 CE. Be sure to identify the different forms and characteristics that developed.
East Asia
South Asia Mediterranean
16. Analyze the evolution of religious practice in one of the following belief
systems.
Brahmanism/Hinduism Buddhism Christianity
POSTCLASSICAL 600 CE TO 1450 CE
17. Describe the evolution of various political units in Western Europe from
1000 to 1750.
18. Describe the changes and continuities in the evolution and spread of scientific and
technological knowledge from 1000 to 1450 in the following two regions: Islamic
Eurasia, and Central and East Asia.
19. Explain how ideas about government (the state, political structure) evolved from 1400 to
1900. What changed? What did not?
20. Discuss the changes in modes of transportation from around 700 CE to the present.
Explain how the changes have impacted people, societies, and cultures.
21. Analyze the changes and continuities in two of the following examples of interregional
trade, technology, cultural exchange
Trans-Saharan Network
Indian Ocean Network
Silk routes
22. Discuss the changes and continuities in the Mongol Empire from its beginning under
Genghis Khan to its demise.
23. Analyze the changes and continuities in the missionary outreach of major
religions
24. Discuss the changes and continuities in the Indian Ocean trading network from 6001914.
25. Analyze the changes and continuities in African and Eurasian trade between 300 and
1450.
26. Analyze the changes and continuities in the contacts between major religions, e.g. Islam
& Buddhism, Christianity & Islam
27. Analyze the changes and continuities in the rise and role of Dar al-Islam as a unifying
cultural force in Eurasia and Africa from 600 to 1750
28. Analyze the changes and continuities in the impact of Islam on the arts, sciences and
technologies from 600 to 1914.
29. Analyze the changes and continuities in the major disease flows across the world from
the 13th C to the present. Be sure to address cause and consequences.
30. Analyze the changes and continuities in the caliphate from the early years after
Muhammad until the Seljuk takeover.
31. Discuss the changes and continuities in the labor systems used in Latin America and
North America from 1000 to present.
32. Describe the political evolution of various societies in ONE the regions listed
below from 1000 to 1750.
East Asia Western Europe Eastern Europe Southwest Asia
33. Trace the demographic and environmental changes in TWO regions of the world from
1000 CE to 2000 CE.
East Asia Western Europe South America
North America South Asia
34. Analyze the changes and continuities in the interactions of Islam with
Christianity over time.
35. Analyze the transformations and continuities in the status of women from
600 to 1750 in the following regions.
Americas Sub-Saharan Africa
Southeast Asia
Southwest Asia
36. Analyze the changes and continuities in the two of the following gunpowder
empires from their coming to power to their ultimate decline. Be sure to
examine their governments, economies and cultures.
Ottomans,
Safavids, and Mughals
37. Analyze the changes and continuities in Islamic influence in Africa, S.E Asia and S. Asia
from 1000 to 1450 CE
38. Analyze the changes that occur in W. Europe from 1000 to 1450 CE from two of the
following areas: political, economic, cultural, social, etc.
RISE OF GLOBAL INTERACTION 1450 CE TO 1750 CE
39. Discuss the changes and continuities in the Atlantic Ocean trading network from 1450
to present.
40. What changes and continuities did Ottoman society exhibit in the period from 1500 to
1914?
41. Discuss the changes and continuities in labor systems, both free and unfree, from 1400
to 1914 in TWO of the following regions.
Eastern Europe
Americas
Sub-Saharan Africa
southwest Asia
42. Discuss the changes and continuities in Western Europe's outside contacts with ONE of
the following areas between 1450-1914. (South Asia, East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa)
43. Analyze the changes in the forced labor systems in the Americas from 1450 to 1914 CE.
44. Trace the development of relations between Amerindians and Europeans in North and
South America from the Colombian encounters through the 19th century.
45. Analyze the economic and social changes in two of the following regions from 1450 to
1750.
Western Europe East Asia Americas South Asia SubSaharan Africa
46. Discuss the changes and continuities between the first age of overseas
expansion in the 16th century and the second age of overseas expansion in
the 19th century. Discuss the impact on ONE of the following areas:
Africa South Asia the Americas East Asia
47. Pick ONE of the following regions and discuss the change and continuities in European
settlement from 1450 to 1750.
Latin America Australia North America
48. Trace the development of global transportation and communication from 1450-1850.
49. Analyze the changes and continuities in demographic changes in the
Americas in the period from 1450 to 1914.
50. Analyze the changes and continuities in what came to be known as Latin America from
approximately 1400 CE to 1800 CE. Be sure to evaluate the causes of the changes and
the reasons for the continuities. Your analysis must address at least TWO of the
following aspects of pre- and post- Colombian Latin America:
Political
Economic
Social
THE LONG NINETEENTH CENTURY 1750 CE TO 1914 CE
51. Analyze the changes and continuities in the process of industrialization and the
economic, social and intellectual impact in Western Europe and one of the following
regions.
East Asia South Asia Sub-Saharan Africa Latin American
52. Discuss the changes and continuities in the impact that technological changes have had
on family structure in one of the following nations since 1750.
China
Japan
India
Great Britain
53. Assess the changes and continuities in technological development and its impact on war
between 1750-1945.
54. From 1750 to the present, considerable effort was expended by nations in their search
for a new identity. Select two of the nations below and evaluate the success in the
forging of a new political, economic and social identity.
CHINA INDIA
RUSSIA
JAPAN
SOUTH AFRICA
55. Pick one of the following regions and discuss the changes and continuities in the
production and distribution of goods and the patterns of global trade over the time
period 1750-1914.
Africa East Asia Latin America South Asia Western Europe
56. Analyze the changes and continuities in the role and status of women in two
of the regions listed below from 1750 CE to through the present.
East Asia Southeast Asia Latin America Western Europe
57. Analyze the evolution of nationalism since 1750 in ONE of the regions listed
below.
Eastern Europe Sub-Saharan Africa
South America
East Asia
58. Discuss the changes and continuities in India and Africa's relationship with
the West from 1750 to the present.
59. Trace and evaluate the changes and continuities in the evolution of racism from 1750 to
the present in two of the regions listed below. Include the relationship among
imperialism, nationalism, and racism in showing the continuities and changes over
time.
Europe
North America
South Africa
Latin America
60. Analyze the political, economic, and social continuities and changes in Latin America
from approximately 1700 CE to the early 20th century. Your analysis should include an
evaluation of the causes of changes and the reasons for continuities.
THE POST-MODERN ERA 1914 CE TO PRESENT
61. Analyze the changes and continuities in the patterns of nationalism from1914 to the
present in TWO of the following regions.
Eastern Europe Sub-Saharan Africa
Southeast Asia Middle East
62. Analyze the changes and continuities in science and technology from 1914 to the
present. Include reactions to developments, like religious responses.
63. Analyze the changes and continuities in the forces of revolution and other
sources of political innovations from 1914 to the present in TWO of the
following regions.
East Asia
Southeast Asia Eastern Europe Latin America
64. Discuss the changes and continuities in the Pacific Rim economy from 1914 to the
present.
65. Analyze the demographic and environmental changes from 1914 to the present.
66. Analyze the development in global / international organizations from 1914
to the present.
67. Analyze the changes and continuities in the practice of genocide from 1914 to the
present. Be sure to include at least two examples outside of Europe.
68. Trace the changes and continuities in the development of the global economy from 1914
to the present.
69. Analyze the development of a global culture from 1914 to the present. Include regional
differences and elite as well as popular forms of culture.
70. Analyze the changes and continuities in the social development from1914 to the present
in TWO of the following regions.
Eastern Europe North America South Asia Southeast Asia East Asia