I would like short answers for the questions in the attached paper.the answer should be only from 3 to 5 lines.
h105_assignment__6_for_friday__sept_9.pdf
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History 105 (Fall 2016): Mr. Jeff Coster
Assignment #6 for Friday, Sept. 9
Document Analysis: The D-4A System
An historian’s main task is to find, read (or examine), study, and evaluate the information found in
primary sources—materials created by people who lived in the past about their lives and times. Sources
have to be examined carefully in order to assess their value in telling us about the past. Every source has a
description, the physical characteristics or type of media that are conveying information or a message.
Every source has a creator (since most of our documents will be written sources, we will refer to the
creator as the author)—someone with a particular point of view. Every document is created to be seen,
read, heard, etc., by an individual or group of people, who we will refer to as the audience. The audience
that an author intends to reach, or inform, or persuade, often shapes the way that the author constructs and
presents his or her main point, or what we will call the argument of the document—the most important
thing that the document is designed to do. Finally, facts seldom stand on their own, but require analysis,
the way that you make sense of all of that information and determine the importance of the source and
what it tells us. The D-4A System of primary source analysis is a method to help you examine and assess
documents for this course by asking a series of questions about the document or source and guiding your
systematic thinking about its importance.
1) DESCRIPTION of the document or source (and how might this affect its meaning):
–What kind of document is it (personal letter or interview or other opinion piece; news article or
account of an event that should be mainly fact-based; government or legal document; photograph or
other visual source; etc.)?
–When and where was it created and about?
–Does it have any special features or characteristics (Handwritten? Attached to something? Found in
an unusual place? This may not be applicable for reproduced/rewritten documents).
2) AUTHOR or creator of the document or source (and why this may be important):
–Who created it? What do we know about the creator that might help us understand the point of view
expressed in the document (age, sex, ethnicity/race, occupation, status, location, political or religious
viewpoints, or other relevant background)? Note that just the name of the creator is not very useful.
3) AUDIENCE or intended readers/viewers of the source (and why this may be important):
–For whom was the document intended to be seen or read? What do we know about the audience?
How does knowing the intended audience help us understand how the document or item was created
in the way that it was?
4) ARGUMENT or main point of the document or item AND reason why it was created:
–What are the most important things the author or creator is trying to convey (or, why do you think
this document was created in the first place)?
–How are those points made and what kind of evidence is presented to support them?
5) ANALYSIS or interpretation of the meaning and significance of the document or source:
–Your evaluation of how well the author or creator makes the main point and what we learn from
this document and its message, including using other knowledge you have about the people, time
period, issues, and events involved (Are the main points clear? Are the facts accurate? How
persuasive and well-supported is the argument? Is the author reliable? Is the argument biased in some
way? Is there something missing or something more we need to know? Support your assessment with
explanations and careful use of the information provided in the document).
–Any inferences that you can draw based on your analysis of the source
–Any connections you can make between the source and other things you know
–Any further questions that the source raises that need to be explored to fully understand its
meaning and importance
History 105 (Fall 2016): Mr. Jeff Coster
Assignment #6 for Friday, Sept. 9
Assignment #6 (due at the start of class on Friday, Sept. 9): For the document below (Conquests and
Discoveries of Henry the Navigator) briefly note in 2-3 lines each something about the five elements of
the D-4A system. Use the background material (which is NOT part of the document itself) to familiarize
yourself with who Prince Henry was. For the argument, or main idea, there is ONE main point the author
of the document tried to make, but FIVE justifications he gives to support that main point (each has a full
paragraph). Be sure to note all five!
Background: (excerpt from America’s History, Vol. I: To 1877, 6th Edition, p. 14).
History 105 (Fall 2016): Mr. Jeff Coster
Assignment #6 for Friday, Sept. 9
Document #1: Conquests and Discoveries of Henry the Navigator (1460)
Selections from Gomes Eanes de Azurara, or Zurara (c. 1404-1474), Portugal’s “chief chronicler of the
realm,” who summarized the reasons for the interest of the Infante Dom Henrique [Prince Henry “the
Navigator”] in “the lands of Guinea,” or western Africa.
***
CHAPTER II The reasons which led the Infante to seek the lands of Guinea; how this enterprise was
begun, and how Gil Eannes was the first to round Cape Bojador
WE consider that we know things when we know him who has accomplished them and the object for
which they were accomplished. In the foregoing chapters we have shown you the Infante Dom Henrique
[i.e., Henry] as chief artisan of these things in making him known to you as well as was in our power; and
in this chapter it is proper that you should know why he accomplished these things.
You must take good note that the magnanimity of this prince constrained him always to begin, and lead to
a good conclusion, high exploits; and for this reason, after the taking of Ceuta , he had always at sea ships
armed against the Infidels. And because he desired to know what lands there were beyond the Canary
Isles and a cape which was called Bojador, for up to that time no one knew, whether by writing or the
memory of any man, what there might be beyond this cape.
Some believed that St. Brandan had passed it; others said that two galleys had gone thither and had never
returned. But it seems to us that this cannot be in any way true, for it is not credible that if the said galleys
had gone thither, other ships would not have undertaken to discover what had become of them. And the
Infante Dom Henrique desired to know the truth of this; for it seemed to him that if he or some other lord
did not essay [try] to discover this, no sailor or merchant would undertake this effort, for it is very sure
that these do not think to navigate otherwhere than to places where they already know that they will find
their profit. And seeing that no other prince was concerning himself with the matter, he sent his own ships
to these countries in order to acquire certitude, and this for the service of God and of the King…. And this
was the first reason of his enterprise.
And the second was the thought that if in these territories there should be any population of Christians, or
any harbors where men could enter without peril, they could bring back to the realm many merchandises
at little cost, by reason that there would be no other persons on these coasts who would negotiate with
them; and that in like manner one could carry to these regions merchandise of the realm, of which the
traffic would be of great profit to the natives.
The third reason was founded on this: that it was said that the power of the Moors [Muslims] of this land
of Africa was very much greater than was generally thought, and that there were among them neither
Christians nor other races. And because every wise man is moved by desire to know the strength of his
enemy, the Infante devised means to send his people in quest of information, in order to know the full
extent of the Infidels’ power.
History 105 (Fall 2016): Mr. Jeff Coster
Assignment #6 for Friday, Sept. 9
The fourth reason was this: during one and thirty years of battles with the Moors the Infante had never
found Christian king or seigneur, outside this kingdom, who, for the love of Our Lord Jesus Christ, was
willing to aid him in this war. He desired to know whether in those regions there might be any Christian
princes in whom the charity and love of Christ were strong enough to cause them to aid him against these
enemies of the faith.
The fifth reason was his great desire to increase the holy faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ, and to lead to this
faith all souls desirous of being saved, recognizing that the whole mystery of the Incarnation, the death,
and the passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ took place to this end: namely, that lost souls should be saved;
and the Infante was fain, by his efforts and his expenditure, to lead these souls into the true path,
understanding that man could render the Lord no greater service. For if God has promised a hundred
treasures in return for one, it is just that we should believe that for so many treasures-which is to say, for
so many souls which were saved by the agency of this prince-there would be in the Kingdom of God as
many hundreds of rewards, which would permit his soul, after this life, to be glorified in the celestial
kingdom. For myself, who am writing this history, I have seen so many men and women of these regions
converted to the holy faith that, even if this prince were pagan, the prayers of these men and women
would be enough to save him. And I have seen not only these people, but also their children and their
grandchildren; and they had all become true Christians, as though the Divine grace were awaiting in them
the moment when they were given clear knowledge of themselves.
The writer concludes this chapter with a sixth reason, from which, it seems to him, all the others proceed:
the astrological reason, on which he enlarges, giving copious explanations, finally arriving at the
conclusion that, according to the disposition of the planets:
… this prince was bound to engage in great and noble conquests, and above all was he bound to attempt
the discovery of things which were hidden from other men, and secret … and all his exploits and
conquests would be loyally accomplished, giving full satisfaction to his King and seigneur.
Source and Further Information: Azurara, Gomes Eanes de; Bernard Maill, trans., Virginia de Castro e
Almeida, ed. Conquests and Discoveries of Henry the Navigator (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1936;
original ed., Paris: 1841), 130-137. [Note that this was where the English language translation of this
document was taken from—it is not the date or place where the document was originally created].
…
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