Part III

(Question 35)
ENDURING ISSUES ESSAY

This question is based on the accompanying documents. The question is designed

to test your ability to work with historical documents. Some of these documents have
been edited for the purposes of this question. As you analyze the documents, take into
account the source of each document and any point of view that may be presented in the
document. Keep in mind that the language and images used in a document may reflect
the historical context of the time in which it was created.

Directions: Read and analyze each of the five documents and write a well-organized essay that includes
an introduction, several paragraphs, and a conclusion. Support your response with relevant
facts, examples, and details based on your knowledge of social studies and evidence from
the documents.

An enduring issue is a challenge or problem that has been debated or discussed

across time. An enduring issue is one that many societies have attempted to
address with varying degrees of success.

Task:

• Identify and define an enduring issue raised by this set of documents

• Argue why the issue you selected is significant and how it has endured
across time
In your essay, be sure to
• Identify the enduring issue based on a historically accurate
interpretation of at least three documents
• Define the issue using relevant evidence from at least three documents
• Argue that this is a significant issue that has endured by showing:
– How the issue has affected people or has been affected by people
– How the issue has continued to be an issue or has changed over time
• Include relevant outside information from your knowledge of social
studies

In developing your answer to Part III, be sure to keep these explanations in mind:

Identify—means to put a name to or to name.

Define—means to explain features of a thing or concept so that it can be understood.

Argue—means to provide a series of statements that provide evidence and reasons to

support a conclusion.

Global Hist. & Geo. II – Aug. ’19 [24]

Document 1

This excerpt is from the United Nations Press Release of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s
message on the International Day for Preventing Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed
Conflict commemorated on November 6, 2012.

. . .We must also acknowledge that durable peace and post-conflict

development depend on environmental protection and good governance of
natural resources. There can be no peace if the resource base that people
depend on for sustenance and income is damaged or destroyed—or if
illegal exploitation finances or causes conflict.
Since 1990, at least 18 violent conflicts have been fuelled by the
exploitation of natural resources such as timber, minerals, oil and gas.
Sometimes this is caused by environmental damage and the marginalization
[making powerless] of local populations who fail to benefit economically
from natural resource exploitation. More often it is caused by greed. . . .
To date, six United Nations peacekeeping missions have been mandated
to support the host country’s ability to re-establish control over its resource
base and stop illicit [unlawful] extraction by armed groups. However,
we need a greater international focus on the role of natural resource
management in conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peacebuilding. . . .
Source: UN Press Release, SG/SM/14615-OBV/1156, November 1, 2012
United Nations online

Global Hist. & Geo. II – Aug. ’19 [25] [OVER]

Document 2

Muslin was a type of handwoven cotton fabric fit for emperors produced in Dacca (Dhaka), a
part of India before the arrival of Europeans. Muslin today is a lightweight inexpensive machine-
made cotton fabric.

. . .Dhaka’s Muslin was felled [demolished] by colonialism’s potent mix of

the Industrial Revolution and the Maxim gun. Before that fall, though,
there was another rise. Europeans came to India at the beginning of the
16th century and were astonished not only at the quality and volume of
its cotton textiles, but also by its extensive, far-flung trade. Soon Indian
cotton textiles were exported more than ever to Europe, in exponentially
increasing volumes, with Bengal taking the lion’s share. Fortunes were
made. As the economist K. N. Chaudhuri noted, from the earliest times
“exports from eastern India . . . were a perennial [endless] source of
prosperity to merchants of every nation.” . . .
But muslin’s days were numbered. The British colonial apparatus,
whether in the form of the East India Company or as direct rule by the
Crown, was a vast extractive machine. So too had been the Mughal state,
which had herded the weavers into designated workshops called kothis
to labor in harsh, even punitive, conditions. But compared to the pitiless
operations of the British, the Mughals were models of mercy. On one
side, both Company and Crown squeezed the farmers and the weavers
until nothing was left, then squeezed some more. On the other, a factory-
produced, mass-product “muslin” rolled off the newly invented power
looms in Lancashire cotton mills. Aided by a raft [large number] of tariffs,
duties and taxes, British cotton textiles flooded not only the European
markets, but the Indian ones as well, bringing Bengal’s handloom cotton
industry, and muslin, to its knees. . . .
Source: Khademul Islam, “Our Story of Dhaka Muslin,” AramcoWorld, May/June 2016

Global Hist. & Geo. II – Aug. ’19 [26]

Document 3

This 1906 cartoon depicting King Leopold II of Belgium as a snake appeared in the British
magazine, Punch.

Source: Linley Sambourne, Punch, November 28, 1906

Global Hist. & Geo. II – Aug. ’19 [27] [OVER]

Document 4

This is an excerpt from a case study lesson on the timber conflict in Cambodia.

The civil war from 1970 to 1975, the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to
1979, and the Cambodia-Vietnam War from 1978 to 1979 virtually destroyed
Cambodia’s economy. Although rice is Cambodia’s most important crop
and a staple of the Khmer diet, by 1974, under wartime conditions, rice had
to be imported, and production of Cambodia’s most profitable export crop,
rubber, fell off sharply. Between 1976 and 1978, hundreds of thousands of
people died from malnutrition, overwork, and mistreated or misdiagnosed
diseases. . . .
Both sides in the Cambodian civil war, the Government and the Khmer
Rouge, used timber to fund their war efforts. Global Witness estimated
the value of the Thai-Cambodian cross-border timber trade to the Khmer
Rouge was approximately $10-$20 million per month in 1995. Conflict
over timber resources has led to mass torture, exploitation, and forced
displacement in Cambodia. In addition, timber exploitation has wreaked
havoc on the environment and local economies. Extensive deforestation
has had severe repercussions for indigenous populations, exacerbating
[aggravating] the grievances which lead to rebellion and conflict. . . .
Source: Timber Conflict Case Study: Cambodia, Global Witness: “Summary of the Cambodia
Campaign: The Forestry Reform Process”

Global Hist. & Geo. II – Aug. ’19 [28]

Document 5

Blood diamond, also called conflict diamond as defined by the United Nations (UN), is any
diamond that is mined in areas controlled by forces opposed to the legitimate, internationally
recognized government of a country and that is sold to fund military action against that
government.

Diamonds for Weapons Trade – near the end of

the 20th century

UNITED
KINGDOM
EUROPE
London BELGIUM
Antwerp
ATLANTIC OCEAN UKRAINE

s BULGARIA
nd

Tel Aviv
mo

ns
ISRAEL
Dia

po
ea
W

onds
AFRICA
s

Diam
n
Weapo

BURKINA
GUINEA FASO
SIERRA
LEONE
LIBERIA
RUF
*
COTE
'·,92,5(
Weapons TOGO DEMOCRATIC
W

REPUBLIC
ea

UGANDA
OF THE
po

RWANDA
nds

CONGO
ns

Diamo

INDIAN
KEY OCEAN

Countries where rebels fund

UNITA**
civil war with diamonds ANGOLA
Approximate rebel
controlled areas
NAMIBIA ZIMBABWE
Countries where diamonds
and/or weapons pass BOTSWANA
Countries where weapons
originate
Diamond market centres LESOTHO
Diamond deposits SOUTH AFRICA
Flow of diamonds and
weapons

Source: “Blood Diamond,” Encyclopaedia Britannica,

November 28, 2016 (adapted)

*RUF, Revolutionary United Front is a guerilla unit whose actions led to civil war in Sierra Leone.
**UNITA, National Union for Total Independence of Angola was a political party that saw itself as part of
a guerilla movement fighting for independence from Portugal. It fought in the Angola civil war once
independence was achieved.

Global Hist. & Geo. II – Aug. ’19 [29] [OVER]