Deck 1: New World Beginnings

Question 1

Identify and state the historical significance of Ferdinand of Aragon.

Answer 1

15^th century sovereign who brought unity to Spain. He also funded Christopher Columbus's exploration of the Americas.

Question 2

Identify and state the historical significance of "three sister" farming.

Answer 2

A farming technique that allowed for high-yield production of beans, corn, and squash. This agricultural innovation allowed for the development of greater population density.

Question 3

Identify and state the historical significance of the plantation.

Answer 3

A site that is part of the large scale commercial agricultural production that relies on slave labor.

Question 4

Identify and state the historical significance of encomienda.

Question 5

Identify and state the historical significance of Christopher Columbus.

Question 6

Identify and state the historical significance of the Treaty of Tordesillas.

Question 7

Identify and state the historical significance of Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot).

Question 8

Identify and state the historical significance of Hernán Cortés.

Question 9

Identify and state the historical significance of Vasco Nunez Balboa.

Question 10

Identify and state the historical significance of Hiawatha.

Question 11

Identify and state the historical significance of Moctezuma.

Question 12

Identify and state the historical significance of Marco Polo.

Question 13

Identify and state the historical significance of Juan Ponce de León.

Question 14

Identify and state the historical significance of the Mound Builders.

Question 15

Identify and state the historical significance of the Columbian Exchange.

Question 16

Identify and state the historical significance of Francisco Coronado.

Question 17

Identify and state the historical significance of Isabella of Castile.

Question 18

Identify and state the historical significance of Ferdinand Magellan.

Question 19

Identify and state the historical significance of the Iroquois Confederacy.

Question 20

Identify and state the historical significance of Quetzalcoatl.

Question 21

Identify and state the historical significance of St. Augustine, Florida.

Question 22

Where did the first inhabitants of North America originate?

A) Europe
B) Asia
C) Africa
D) South America
E) None of these are correct.

Question 23

Identify and state the historical significance of the Black Legend.

Question 24

Identify and state the historical significance of Panagea.

Question 25

Identify and state the historical significance of capitalism.

Question 26

Identify and state the historical significance of the Aztecs.

Question 27

The colonists who ultimately embraced the vision of America as an independent nation had in common all of the following characteristics EXCEPT

A) the desire to create an agricultural society.
B) a shared goal of living unfettered by the tyrannies of royal authority, official religion, and social hierarchies.
C) a growing reverence for ideals such as liberty.
D) an unwillingness to subjugate others.
E) a majority were English speaking with English customs.

Question 28

The European explorers who followed Columbus to North America

A) intended to found a new nation.
B) continued to view themselves as Europeans.
C) did not consider America as the western rim of the European world.
D) no longer saw themselves as subjects of European kings.
E) saw little difference between their lives in America and their lives in Europe.

Question 29

What is the Canadian Shield?

A) The first part of the landmass that became North America to emerge from the sea.
B) The first mountains to divide Canada from the United States.
C) A series of forts constructed by the French to keep English troops out.
D) A series of policies enacted by France to keep the Spanish out of Canada.
E) The glaciers that prevented the expansion of human settlements in Canada.

Question 30

What two regions were connected by the frozen Bering Sea?

A) North America and South America
B) North America and Europe
C) Siberia and Alaska
D) South America and Africa
E) North America and the Bahamas

Question 31

Identify and state the historical significance of the Incas.

Question 32

Identify and state the historical significance of the conquistadores.

Question 33

In the quest between Europeans to determine the future of the New World, which nation was initially the most powerful?

A) England
B) Spain
C) France
D) Portugal
E) Mexico

Question 34

Which group of explorers' failed settlements were forgotten?

A) Conquistadors
B) English settlers
C) Dutch traders
D) Irish missionaries
E) Norse seafarers

Question 35

Identify and state the historical significance of mestizos.

Question 36

Of the estimated 54 million inhabitants of the Americas, where did 20 million live?

A) Peru
B) the Ohio River Valley
C) Mexico
D) California
E) Brazil

Question 37

Identify and state the historical significance of the Battle of Acoma.

Question 38

Identify and state the historical significance of the Pueblo Revolt.

Question 39

Which continent do geologists say was the first to form?

A) Africa
B) Antarctica
C) Europe
D) Asia
E) Panagea

Question 40

Identify and state the historical significance of the Moors.

Question 41

All of the following are true of the Inca, Mayan, and Aztec civilizations except they

A) had advanced agricultural practices based primarily on the cultivation of maize.
B) lacked the technology of the wheel.
C) had the use of large draft animals such as the horse and oxen.
D) built elaborate cities and carried on far-flung commerce.
E) had talented mathematicians, which allowed them to make accurate astronomical observations.

Question 42

Mestizos are the offspring of which two groups?

A) Spanish conquistadors and Indian women.
B) French fur traders and Indian women.
C) Indian men and English colonists.
D) English colonists and Spanish conquistadors.
E) English colonists and Indian women.

Question 43

Which of the following was NOT a feature created in North America 10,000 years ago when the glaciers retreated?

A) The Great Lakes
B) The Great Salt Lake
C) A mineral-rich desert
D) Thousands of shallow depressions which formed lakes
E) The Grand Canyon

Question 44

The Great Ice Age accounted for the origins of North America's human history because

A) it exposed a land bridge connecting Eurasia with North America.
B) the glacial withdrawal allowed migration from South America.
C) the glacial withdrawal formed freshwater lakes that supported life.
D) when it ended, European migration to the west became possible.
E) it prevented the migration of dangerous animals from the Bering isthmus.

Question 45

The Christian crusaders were indirectly responsible for the discovery of America because they

A) were victorious over the Muslims.
B) brought back news of valuable Far Eastern spices, drugs, and silk.
C) succeeded in establishing improved business relations between Muslims and Christians.
D) returned with captured Muslim maps showing the North and South American continents.
E) developed better navigational devices.

Question 46

All of the following set into motion the chain of events that led to a drive of Europeans toward Asia, the penetration of Africa, and the discovery of the New World EXCEPT

A) economic hardships and overpopulation at home.
B) growing power of ambitious governments behind them.
C) they sought contact with a wider world.
D) they sought territories to conqueror.
E) they sought new places to trade with.

Question 47

Men in the more settled agricultural groups in North America performed all of the following tasks EXCEPT

A) hunting.
B) gathering fuel.
C) tending crops.
D) clearing fields for planting.
E) fishing.

Question 48

Some of the more advanced Native American cultures did all of the following EXCEPT

A) engage in significant ocean voyages of discovery.
B) establish large, elaborate, and bustling cities.
C) make strikingly accurate astronomical observations.
D) study mathematics.
E) carry on commerce.

Question 49

The development of "three sister" farming on the southeast Atlantic seaboard

A) led to the dominance of the potato.
B) enabled the Anasazis to prosper.
C) ultimately failed to produce adequate amounts of food.
D) was attributed to three young women of the Cherokee peoples.
E) produced a rich diet that led to high population densities.

Question 50

Europeans wanted to discover a new, shorter route to eastern Asia in order to

A) break the hold that Muslim merchants had on trade with Asia.
B) reduce the price of goods from Asia.
C) gain more profits for themselves.
D) reduce the time it took to transport goods.
E) All of these are correct.

Question 51

The Iroquois Confederacy was able to menace its Native American and European neighbors because of

A) its military alliances, sustained by political and organizational skills.
B) the Iroquois warriors' skill with the Europeans' muskets.
C) the scattered nature of the Iroquois settlements, which made it difficult for their enemies to defeat them.
D) the alliance with the Aztecs and Incas.
E) its use of new weapons.

Question 52

The early voyages of the Scandinavian seafarers did NOT result in permanent settlement in North America because

A) the Native Americans drove them out.
B) the area in which they landed could not support a large population.
C) no nation-state supported these ventures.
D) British adventurers defeated the Scandinavians in 1066.
E) the settlers died of disease.

Question 53

The crop that became the staple of life in Mexico and South America was

A) wheat.
B) potatoes.
C) tobacco.
D) corn.
E) beans.

Question 54

All of the following were original territories of North American Indian populations within the current borders of the United States except

A) Mesoamerica.
B) Northeast.
C) Southeast.
D) Great Plains.
E) Great Basin.

Question 55

The size and sophistication of Native American civilizations in Mexico and South America can be attributed to

A) Spanish influences.
B) their way of life based on hunting and gathering.
C) the development of agriculture.
D) influences brought by early settlers from Siberia.
E) their use of draft animals and the wheel.

Question 56

One of the main factors that enabled Europeans to conquer native North Americans with relative ease was the

A) pacifistic nature of the native North Americans.
B) settled agricultural societies of North America.
C) absence of dense concentrations of population or complex nation-states in North America.
D) use of native guides for spying and surveillance activities.
E) lack of technological weaponry available to other native American cultures.

Question 57

Before the arrival of Europeans, most native peoples in North America

A) lived in large communities.
B) were more advanced than those in South America.
C) lived in small, scattered, and impermanent settlements.
D) populated the greater part of the continent.
E) relied on horses for transportation.

Question 58

Most likely the first Americans were

A) Norse seafarers from Scandinavia.
B) Spanish explorers of the 15^th century.
C) people who crossed the land bridge from Eurasia to North America.
D) Portuguese sailors of Prince Henry the Navigator.
E) refugees from Africa.

Question 59

What economic activity motivated the French to come to North America?

A) slave trade.
B) sugar trade.
C) fur trade.
D) agricultural trade.
E) triangle trade.

Question 60

Which of the following mountain ranges was probably created before the continental separation, approximately 350 million years ago?

A) The Rockies
B) The Sierra Nevada
C) The Cascades
D) The Coast Range
E) The Appalachians

Question 61

Spain was united into a single nation-state when

A) it was invaded by Portugal in the late 15^th century.
B) Christopher Columbus returned with news of his discovery of the New World.
C) Prince Henry the Navigator came to the throne.
D) Ferdinand and Isabella married and the African Moors were expelled.
E) Ferdinand and Isabella were overthrown.

Question 62

Men became conquistadores because they wanted to

A) gain God's favor by spreading Christianity.
B) escape dubious pasts.
C) seek adventure, as the heroes of classical antiquity had done.
D) satisfy their desire for gold.
E) All of these

Question 63

In an effort to reach the Indies, Spain looked westward because

A) Portugal controlled the African coast.
B) the Pope granted Spain the right to sail this route.
C) Muslims blocked the sea route.
D) the Moors had convinced them to do so.
E) African tribes constantly menaced the European ships traveling along the coast.

Question 64

The introduction of American plants around the world resulted in

A) rapid population growth in Europe.
B) many illnesses, caused by the new germs contained in these food-stuffs.
C) an African population decline.
D) very little change.
E) an increase in obese people.

Question 65

In the last half of the 15^th century, some 40,000 Africans were forced into slavery by Portugal and Spain to

A) work on plantations in Africa.
B) establish plantations in North America.
C) establish plantations in South America.
D) help pay for the gold they took.
E) work on plantations on the Atlantic sugar islands.

Question 66

The stage was set for a cataclysmic shift in the course of history when

A) Europeans increasingly demanded less expensive goods from Asia.
B) Africa was established as a source of slave labor.
C) the Portuguese demonstrated the feasibility of long-range ocean navigation.
D) the Renaissance nurtured a spirit of optimism and adventure.
E) All of these are correct.

Question 67

Malinche has earned a place in history as

A) the Indian slave woman who served as Cortés's translator with the Mexicans.
B) the woman whose name is synonymous with "traitor".
C) the Indian who married one of Cortes's soldiers and traveled to Spain.
D) the woman who was baptized with the Spanish name Doña Marina.
E) All of these

Question 68

The term "Columbian Exchange" describes:

A) the exporting of precious metals from the New World and the importing of African slaves to the New World.
B) the gifts Columbus brought to and received from Native Americans.
C) the trade in Native American furs for European horses and other goods.
D) the transfer of plants, animals and diseases between the Old and New Worlds.
E) None of these are correct.

Question 69

The Native Americans unwittingly infected early European explorers with the following newly transmitted deadly disease that spread throughout Europe:

A) syphilis
B) measles
C) smallpox
D) malaria
E) yellow fever

Question 70

According to scholars, the flood of precious New World metals into Spain is responsible for all of the following EXCEPT

A) the ballooning of the European money supply.
B) the foundations of the modern commercial banking system.
C) the growth of capitalism as an economic system.
D) a price revolution that dramatically decreased consumer costs.
E) the spread of commerce and manufacturing.

Question 71

After his first voyage, Christopher Columbus believed that he had

A) discovered a New World.
B) failed at what he had set out to do.
C) sailed to the outskirts of the East Indies.
D) sailed around the world.
E) reached the shores of Japan.

Question 72

The adoption of horses by Native American tribes such as the Sioux, Apaches and Blackfeet

A) enabled them to wage more successful wars against their enemies.
B) allowed them to travel across the vast expanse of North America, from Atlantic to Pacific.
C) transformed their cultures into wide-ranging, hunter-gather societies that roamed the Great Plains.
D) led them to shift from agriculture to ranch-based economies.
E) All of these are correct.

Question 73

The institution of encomienda allowed the

A) native people to enslave members of other tribes.
B) Europeans to marry Native Americans.
C) European governments to give Indians to colonists if they promised to Christianize them.
D) governments of Europe to abolish the practice of Indian slavery and to establish African slavery.
E) Europeans to establish an economy based on capitalism.

Question 74

European contact with Native Americans led to

A) the Europeans' acceptance of the horse into their culture.
B) the deaths of millions of Native Americans, who had little resistance to European diseases.
C) the introduction into the New World of such plants as potatoes, tomatoes, and beans.
D) an increase in the Native American population.
E) the use of tobacco by Native Americans.

Question 75

_____ was introduced to the New World by European explorers.

A) Syphilis
B) Maize
C) Tobacco
D) Smallpox
E) Pumpkin

Question 76

All of the following contributed to the emergence of a new interdependent global economic system EXCEPT

A) Europe providing the markets and capital.
B) Africa providing the labor.
C) European explorers' desire to create new cultures.
D) the New World providing its raw materials.
E) the advancement and improvement of technology.

Question 77

Which group was responsible for slave trading in Africa long before the Europeans had arrived?

A) The Portuguese and Spanish
B) The English and Scandinavians
C) The Incas and Aztecs
D) The Arabs and Africans
E) The English and Americans

Question 78

Which of the following New World plants revolutionized the international economy?

A) maize
B) potatoes
C) beans
D) tomatoes
E) All of these are correct.

Question 79

The origins of the modern plantation system can be found in the

A) American South.
B) Arab slave trade.
C) Portuguese slave trade.
D) European feudal system.
E) African slave system.

Question 80

Columbus called the native people in the "New World" Indians because

A) that was what they called themselves.
B) he believed that he had skirted the rim of the "Indies."
C) it was a form of the Spanish word for heathen.
D) the Vikings had first called them by that name.
E) the Spanish often used this generic word, which meant "outsider" or "non-Spanish."