Chapter 1 (Part 01) – 1301

Adam Smith recorded in 1776 that the "two greatest and most important" events in the history of mankind were the:
a. discovery of America and the Portuguese sea route around Africa to Asia.
b. discovery of America and the beginning of the slave trade.
c. birth of mercantilism and the Portuguese sea route around Africa to Asia.
d. beginning of the slave trade and the Portuguese sea route around Africa to Asia.

a. discovery of America and the Portuguese sea route around Africa to Asia.

Around 7000 B.C.E., agriculture developed in the Americas around:
a. the Mississippi Valley.
b. Mexico and Peru.
c. the Yucatan.
d. Chesapeake Bay.
e. Brazil.

b. Mexico and Peru.

Both the Aztec and Inca empires were:
a. rural and poor.
b. small in population, but sophisticated in infrastructure.
c. large, wealthy, and sophisticated.
d. large in geographic size, but sparsely populated.
e. rural, with few impressive buildings.

c. large, wealthy, and sophisticated.

Which one of the following statements is true of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlán?
a. It had a complex system of canals, bridges, and dams, with the Great Temple at the center.
b. It was located in the dense jungle of the Yucatan Peninsula.
c. Its defeat was due to its leader surrendering too soon to Hernán Cortés, who was in fact outnumbered and outgunned.
d. Technologically and architecturally, it was so far behind European capitals that its defeat was certain.
e. It had the New World’s first mass transit system.

a. It had a complex system of canals, bridges, and dams, with the Great Temple at the center.

The city situated along the Mississippi River with between 10,000 and 30,000 residents in the year 1200 is today known as:
a. Poverty Point.
b. Cahokia.
c. Pueblo Bonita.
d. Iroquois.
e. Tenochtitlan.

b. Cahokia.

Pueblo Indians lived in what is now:
a. the eastern United States.
b. the southwestern United States.
c. Mexico.
d. the northeastern United States.
e. Central America.

b. the southwestern United States.

The Pueblo Indians encountered by the Spanish in the sixteenth century:
a. had engaged in settled village life only briefly before the Spanish arrived.
b. had been almost completely isolated from any other people before the Spanish arrived.
c. used irrigation systems to aid their agricultural production.
d. were called mound builders for the burial mounds they created.
e. created a vast empire that included control of the Incas.

c. used irrigation systems to aid their agricultural production.

Before the arrival of Columbus, Native North Americans:
a. had elaborate trade networks.
b. were entirely agricultural and rural.
c. from all regions of the continent were very similar in their political and religious beliefs.
d. always lived in small family units.
e. lived only in coastal areas.

a. had elaborate trade networks.

When Europeans arrived, many Native Americans:
a. tried to use them to enhance their standing with other Native Americans.
b. immediately opened treaty negotiations.
c. learned their languages.
d. hid in nearby cave dwellings.
e. simply attacked them.

a. tried to use them to enhance their standing with other Native Americans.

Native American religious ceremonies:
a. had nothing to do with farming or hunting.
b. were related to the Native American belief that sacred spirits could be found in living and inanimate things.
c. were designed to show that supernatural forces must control man.
d. were the same in every community.
e. did not exist until arriving Europeans insisted on knowing about Native American customs.

b. were related to the Native American belief that sacred spirits could be found in living and inanimate things.

Which statement about the Indians of North America is FALSE?
a. Indians were very diverse.
b. The idea of private property was foreign to Indians.
c. Many Indian societies were matrilineal.
d. Indians did not covet wealth and material goods as the Europeans did.
e. Indians lacked genuine religion.

e. Indians lacked genuine religion.

Far more important to most Indian societies than freedom as personal independence were all of the following except:
a. kinship ties.
b. secure rights to owning land.
c. the ability to follow one’s spiritual values.
d. the well-being of one’s community.
e. the security of one’s community.

b. secure rights to owning land.

How did Native Americans conceive of property?
a. Native Americans believed that land should never be claimed.
b. Families might use a specific plot of land for a season.
c. Individuals could own land outright and pass it on to family members.
d. A family could claim land forever, but an individual could not.
e. Native Americans and Europeans conceived of property in the same way, though Europeans claimed otherwise as an excuse to take Indian land.

b. Families might use a specific plot of land for a season.

Which one of the following is true about Native Americans and material wealth?
a. Chiefs were expected to share some of their goods rather than hoard them.
b. Eastern Native Americans were more materialistic than those who lived west of the Mississippi.
c. Wealth mattered less to them than to Europeans, but inherited social status was equally important to both peoples.
d. Native Americans actually suffered more social inequality than Europeans did.
e. Native Americans had no material wealth.

a. Chiefs were expected to share some of their goods rather than hoard them.

Which statement about gender relations is FALSE for most Native American societies?
a. Men and women engaged in premarital sex.
b. It was acceptable for a woman to seek a divorce.
c. Tribal leaders were almost always women.
d. Women owned dwellings and tools.
e. Societies were matrilineal.

c. Tribal leaders were almost always women.

Which one of the following was NOT true of women in Native American societies?
a. In contrast to their European counterparts, it was considered more
acceptable for them to engage in premarital sexual relations.
b. Children usually became members of the mother’s family, not the father’s.
c. Women often participated in the administration of village affairs and in agriculture.
d. Women dressed scantily by European standards.
e. Women made all decisions about trade relations with other tribes.

e. Women made all decisions about trade relations with other tribes.

Europeans tended to think which one of the following about Native Americans and their cultures?
a. All Native Americans were gentle and friendly.
b. Native Americans worshiped the same God that Europeans did, although they called him by different names.
c. Native Americans failed to make use of the land, so it was acceptable for Europeans to take it and use it.
d. Because Native American men engaged in masculine pursuits such as hunting and fishing, Indian gender divisions were acceptable.
e. Native American cultures were actually superior to those of Europeans.

c. Native Americans failed to make use of the land, so it was acceptable for Europeans to take it and use it.

Europeans generally believed all of the following about Indians EXCEPT that:
a. Indians lacked genuine religion.
b. Indians had enormous potential to assimilate European ways.
c. Indian males were weak and they mistreated women.
d. Indians did not use the land and thus had no claim to it.
e. Indians were not much better than slaves.

b. Indians had enormous potential to assimilate European ways.

Europeans—particularly the English, French, and Dutch—generally claimed North American Indian land as their own based on:
a. the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494.
b. the Biblical story of Noah’s division of the world among his sons.
c. financial transactions between Indian peoples and themselves.
d. their view that Indians did not use the land properly.
e. various papal decrees that privileged the claims of European Christians over those of Indian "heathens."

d. their view that Indians did not use the land properly.

As colonization began, the European idea of freedom:
a. was enjoyed by a large portion of the population.
b. included the idea of abandoning sin to embrace the teachings of Jesus Christ.
c. included a few narrowly defined rights and privileges.
d. would be completely unrecognizable to those alive today.
e. embraced the view that Indians deserved liberty, too.

b. included the idea of abandoning sin to embrace the teachings of Jesus Christ.

In Europe on the eve of colonization, one conception of freedom, called "Christian liberty,":
a. was a set of ideas today known as "religious toleration."
b. mingled ideas of freedom with servitude to Jesus Christ—concepts that were seen as mutually reinforcing, not contradictory.
c. found expression in countries dominated by Catholics but not in primarily Protestant ones.
d. argued that all Christians should have equal political rights.
e. referred to the policy of trying to overthrow any non-Christian regime around the world.

b. mingled ideas of freedom with servitude to Jesus Christ—concepts that were seen as mutually reinforcing, not contradictory.

Which one of the following is true of religion in seventeenth-century Europe?
a. Few nations had established churches.
b. The churches condemned dissenters, but the governments protected them.
c. Wars were fought over the right of an individual to religious freedom.
d. Religious uniformity was thought to be essential to public order.
e. Religious uniformity had nothing to do with ideas about public order.

d. Religious uniformity was thought to be essential to public order.

"Coverture" refers to:
a. a woman’s responsibility to wear a scarf covering her head when in public.
b. knowing your place in society, especially at church when sitting in the pews.
c. a tax one pays on one’s property that is assessed quarterly.
d. a woman surrendering her legal identity when she marries.
e. a binding legal agreement between an indentured servant and his or her master.

d. a woman surrendering her legal identity when she marries.

In England, social inequality:
a. was part of a hierarchical society.
b. did not keep British subjects from enjoying the same degree of individual freedom.
c. did not mean that there was economic inequality.
d. was banned under the doctrine of coverture.
e. prompted Henry VIII’s break with the Catholic Church.

a. was part of a hierarchical society.

Under English law in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, women:
a. enjoyed far greater rights than they did in Spain and Spanish America.
b. who outlived their husbands were entitled to one-half of the husband’s property.
c. surrendered their legal identities when they married.
d. were expected to submit to their husbands in public, but not in private.
e. gained a great deal of personal and political power during the reigns of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth.

c. surrendered their legal identities when they married.

Portuguese trading posts along the western coast of Africa were called factories because:
a. the merchants were known as factors.
b. the trading posts made the goods there in Africa in makeshift factories.
c. the African slaves built factories along the coast to manufacture guns.
d. the slave traders called their system a labor factory.
e. that is how the Africans translated "trading post."

a. the merchants were known as factors.

Slavery in Africa:
a. resulted from the arrival of Europeans.
b. included no form of rights for the slaves.
c. was the only kind of labor on that continent.
d. involved the enslavement of criminals, debtors, and war captives.
e. accelerated with the arrival of the French in the 1520s.

d. involved the enslavement of criminals, debtors, and war captives.

Before the transatlantic slave trade began, approximately 100,000 African slaves were transported between 1450 and 1500 to:
a. England and Ireland
b. Spain and France
c. Portugal and Spain
d. Portugal and the Netherlands
e. England and the Netherlands

c. Portugal and Spain

Which one of the following statements about African slavery within Africa is FALSE?
a. African slaves tended to be criminals, debtors, or captives in war.
b. Slavery was one of several forms of labor in Africa.
c. Slaves had well-defined rights and could possess property.
d. The slave trade within Africa accelerated between 1450 and 1500.
e. Only men were taken for the slave trade.

e. Only men were taken for the slave trade.

The reconquista was the reconquest of Spain from the:
a. Jews.
b. British.
c. Protestants.
d. Moors.
e. Aztecs.

d. Moors.

What motivated the Portuguese to begin exploration to find a water route to India, China, and the East Indies?
a. To prove that the world was round
b. To spread the Protestant faith
c. To establish land empires in India and China
d. To eliminate the Muslim "middlemen" in the luxury goods trade
e. To find markets for Portugal’s surplus manufactured goods

d. To eliminate the Muslim "middlemen" in the luxury goods trade

What geographic error did Columbus make?
a. He grossly underestimated the size of the Earth.
b. He thought the Earth was not round, but flat.
c. He was certain that India was east of the Americas.
d. He expected the weather in India to be the same as in the North Atlantic.
e. He confused the Atlantic Ocean with the Indian Ocean.

a. He grossly underestimated the size of the Earth.

What role did religion play in the Columbus’s explorations?
a. None whatsoever
b. Columbus was determined to convert Native Americans to Christianity.
c. Catholics in Spain and Italy supported his expeditions because they wanted to end Muslim control of the eastern trade.
d. Columbus benefited from Ferdinand and Isabella’s efforts to promote tolerance in Spain.
e. Spain wanted Columbus to find a refuge for the Jews the king was driving out of the country.

c. Catholics in Spain and Italy supported his expeditions because they wanted to end Muslim control of the eastern trade.

The first center of the Spanish empire in America:
a. was a prosperous settlement that Columbus created.
b. was the island of Hispaniola
c. fell to Dutch raiders in 1506.
d. resulted from Columbus’s last voyage to the New World in 1502.
e. was Cuba.

b. was the island of Hispaniola

Amerigo Vespucci:
a. named the New World after himself.
b. helped to correct Columbus’s theory that he had found a route to Asia.
c. agreed with Columbus that Native Americans were East Indians.
d. was funded by the English.
e. actually named the continent Vespucci, but it was changed.

b. helped to correct Columbus’s theory that he had found a route to Asia.

John Cabot sailed to:
a. Newfoundland.
b. New York.
c. Jamestown.
d. Hispaniola.
e. Quebec.

a. Newfoundland.

Why did European exploration of the New World proceed so rapidly after Columbus’s discoveries?
a. Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press enabled the rapid dissemination of information.
b. England, France, and Spain united to fund exploration, eliminating one of the problems that Columbus had faced.
c. Spain was determined to protect the Native Americans against Protestant missionaries from rival European states, inspiring the government to fund numerous expeditions.
d. The amount of gold that Columbus brought back to Spain was so inspiring that other countries inevitably followed suit.
e. The Dutch became involved and had more money than other countries to finance expeditions, so those other countries worked together and raced against the Dutch for control.

a. Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press enabled the rapid dissemination of information.

In 1519, who became the first European explorer to encounter the Aztec empire?
a. Vasco da Gama
b. Ferdinand Magellan
c. John Cabot
d. Hernán Cortés
e. Francisco Pizzaro

d. Hernán Cortés

The transatlantic flow of people and goods such as corn, potatoes, horses, and sugar cane is called:
a. globalization.
b. the Columbian Exchange.
c. the Great Circuit.
d. the Atlantic system.
e. trade.

b. the Columbian Exchange.

The Columbian Exchange was:
a. the agreement that documented what Christopher Columbus would give to Spanish leaders in return for their sponsorship of his travel to the New World.
b. the transatlantic flow of plants, animals, and germs that began after Christopher Columbus reached the New World.
c. John Cabot’s exploration of the New World, which brought more of the goods that Columbus had found back to the Old World.
d. responsible for introducing corn, tomatoes and potatoes to the Americas.
e. the first store in the New World, named for the man who founded it.

b. the transatlantic flow of plants, animals, and germs that began after Christopher Columbus reached the New World.

In 1492, the Native American population:
a. was at least 100 million.
b. lived exclusively in villages of no more than 1,000 individuals.
c. declined catastrophically due to exposure to the Black Plague.
d. lived mostly in what is today the United States.
e. lived mostly in Central and South America.

e. lived mostly in Central and South America.

The ritual sacrifices practiced by the Aztecs:
a. occurred one at a time and therefore were minimal.
b. prompted most Aztecs to oppose their leaders, who opposed the sacrifices.
c. disgusted Europeans despite their own practices of publicly executing criminals and burning witches at the stake.
d. were always held at an arena in Tenochtitlán that resembled the Roman Colosseum.
e. cost the Spanish several hundred men before Cortés conquered the Aztecs.

c. disgusted Europeans despite their own practices of publicly executing criminals and burning witches at the stake.

Which of the following was NOT a technique that Spanish conquistadores used to conquer Native American empires?
a. Kidnapping a leader and holding him for ransom
b. Dividing and conquering them by taking advantage of old rivalries
c. Relying upon the spread of diseases, even though they may not have been introduced intentionally
d. Negotiating treaties
e. Using their superior military technology

d. Negotiating treaties

The Spanish empire in America:
a. included most of the populated part of the New World but few of its natural resources, making the empire rich in people but poor economically.
b. paled in comparison with the ancient Roman Empire.
c. was, unlike the French and English New World empires, a mostly urban civilization.
d. was centered in Lima, Peru.
e. allowed religious freedom and therefore attracted colonists from throughout Europe

c. was, unlike the French and English New World empires, a mostly urban civilization.

The government of the Spanish empire in America:
a. established the principle of the separation of church and state by keeping the Catholic Church out of civic affairs.
b. was dominated by the conquistadores, who had conquered lands and retained control over them.
c. included local officials who held a great deal of control.
d. was troubled due to constant turmoil and local divisions back in Spain.
e. operated out of Monterey, California.

c. included local officials who held a great deal of control.