Deck 19: The Atlantic System and Africa

Question 1

In the eighteenth century, the West Indians were controlled by a(n)

A)aristocracy.
B)slaveocracy.
C)meritocracy.
D)democracy.
E)plantocracy.

Answer 1

plantocracy.

Question 2

Roughly how many slaves were brought to the Caribbean between 1640 and 1807?

A)100,000
B)1,000,000
C)4,000,000
D)10,000,000
E)40,000,000

Answer 2

4,000,000

Question 3

Sugar plantations in the Caribbean caused environmental damage through soil exhaustion and deforestation as well as

A)the disposal of used canes.
B)introduction of non-native plants and animals.
C)supplying power for the mills.
D)overfertilizing the fields.
E)silting up of bays and estuaries.

Answer 3

introduction of non-native plants and animals.

Question 4

Among the planter elite in Saint Domingue, where would free blacks rank in the social hierarchy?

A)First
B)Second, after the grands blancs
C)Third, after the petits blancs
D)Third, after free whites
E)Last; blacks were not accorded free status in Saint Domingue

Question 5

"Drivers" were typically

A)white indentured servants.
B)white overseers.
C)free black overseers.
D)privileged male slaves.
E)ship captains.

Question 6

Men outnumbered women on Caribbean plantations because

A)twice as many men were imported.
B)men lived much longer than women.
C)women were not as strong as men.
D)women were more susceptible to disease than men.
E)women refused to consent to plantation work.

Question 7

Which of the following were used as punishment for slaves on plantations?

A)floggings
B)cutting off noses and ears
C)whippings
D)None of these are correct.
E)All of these are correct.

Question 8

The French plantation economy of Saint Domingue considered "more diverse" because they also produced

A)coffee and cacao.
B)bananas and plantains.
C)molasses and rum.
D)wine and cheese.
E)jute and twine.

Question 9

Which of the following does NOT describe the Dutch West India Company?

A)It was a private trading company.
B)It seized sugar-producing areas in Brazil.
C)It shipped slaves to Brazil.
D)It paid stockholders huge dividends.
E)All of these are correct.

Question 10

Where was the first place in the Americas reached by Columbus?

A)Florida
B)Mexico
C)Panama
D)West Indies
E)Virginia

Question 11

By 1600 Brazil was the world's greatest producer of

A)cotton.
B)sugar.
C)tobacco.
D)slaves.
E)None of these are correct.

Question 12

Manumission permitted slaves to

A)sell their surplus produce or goods from their own work.
B)have time off during certain religious holidays.
C)purchase or receive their freedom from slavery.
D)marry and not have families separated.
E)switch job practices on the plantation.

Question 13

Which area best illustrates the dramatic transformation that sugar brought to the seventeenth-century Caribbean?

A)Martinique
B)The Bahamas
C)Cuba
D)Jamaica
E)Barbados

Question 14

Where would slave children most likely be found working?

A)In the cane-processing factories
B)Tending to livestock
C)In "grass gangs" doing simple, lighter work
D)With their parents
E)Children were exempt from labor.

Question 15

On most islands in the West Indies, the percentage of slaves in the population was

A)35 percent.
B)55 percent.
C)75 percent.
D)90 percent.
E)20 percent.

Question 16

Which was NOT a method used to curtail African cultural traditions by European planters?

A)Learning colonial languages
B)Converting to Christianity
C)Mixing slaves from different parts of Africa
D)Mandatory primary education
E)All of these are correct.

Question 17

Most slaves died of

A)disease.
B)Beatings.
C)old age.
D)heartbreak.
E)accidents.

Question 18

The expansion of sugar plantations in the West Indies required

A)a sharp increase in the African slave trade.
B)an increase in arable land.
C)new fertilizers and seeds.
D)the creation of new markets among the Amerindians.
E)government consultants to oversee farming.

Question 19

Life expectancy for nineteenth-century Brazilian female slaves was about

A)10 years.
B)25 years.
C)40 years.
D)50 years.
E)75 years.

Question 20

In addition to being half as expensive as slaves, indentured servants only served three to four years while slaves, after their arrival, lived an average of

A)3 years.
B)7 years.
C)11 years.
D)15 years.
E)25 years.

Question 21

What was "fixed melancholy"?

A)the refusal of sailors to crew slave ships
B)the reluctance of African leaders to sell fellow countrymen as slaves
C)the refusal to work by slaves newly arrived in the Americas
D)the deep psychological depression that afflicted slaves during the Middle Passage
E)the response of West Indies planetrs to a drop in sugar prices

Question 22

Though many Muslim rulers did not strictly enforce it, Islamic law prohibited the enslavement of

A)pagans.
B)Christians.
C)women.
D)Muslims.
E)anyone.

Question 23

The majority of African slaves in the Islamic world were

A)artisans.
B)men.
C)children.
D)women.
E)translators.

Question 24

Most slaves in the Islamic world were

A)agricultural workers.
B)part of the Atlantic Circuit.
C)soldiers and servants.
D)translators.
E)galley slaves.

Question 25

Mercantilism is

A)the recognition by the state that all individuals have economic rights.
B)the belief in a completely free-market economy.
C)a government policy that controls trade to accumulate gold and silver.
D)the political doctrine that only people who produce economic wealth may vote.
E)another name for capitalism.

Question 26

What was not a major initial source of slaves in the Bight of Biafra?

A)victims of kidnapping
B)debtors
C)prisoners of war
D)criminals
E)None of these are correct.

Question 27

Most slaves taken from Africa were

A)kidnapped.
B)prisoners of war.
C)criminals.
D)political opponents.
E)Muslims.

Question 28

Generally, the Atlantic African slave trade was based on a partnership between

A)European opportunists and Arab merchants.
B)Asian and European elites.
C)European and African elites.
D)Islamic and African elites.
E)Arab merchants and African elites.

Question 29

The African state most dependent on the Atlantic trade was

A)Oyo.
B)Dahomey.
C)Asante.
D)Elmina.
E)Kush.

Question 30

French mercantilist legislation was called

A)les tariffs.
B)qu'elle domage.
C)exclusif.
D)cose nostra.
E)entrepôt.

Question 31

Although the organization of the Atlantic slave trade varied from African region to region, it expanded and prospered because of

A)European merchants.
B)African elite.
C)African tribal warfare.
D)European economic incentives.
E)All of these are correct.

Question 32

The English Navigation Acts in the 1660s were meant to

A)confine trade within its colonies to English ships and cargoes.
B)restrict the English shipping industry.
C)put a tariff on English goods.
D)restrict the English slave trade.
E)encourage free trade.

Question 33

Which maroon leader on Jamaica negotiated a peace treaty that guaranteed his freedom and that of his followers?

A)Captain Cook
B)Captain Cudjoe
C)Job Solomon
D)Willem Bosman
E)Toussaint L'Ouverture

Question 34

Sending slaves from West Africa to European colonies was called the

A)middle passage.
B)deadly voyage.
C)impressment.
D)involuntary servitude.
E)chains of sorrow.

Question 35

The "clockwise" network of trade in the Atlantic was known as the

A)Continental Trade Route.
B)Reverse Option Market.
C)Robinson Route.
D)European Circuit.
E)Atlantic Circuit.

Question 36

During the first 150 years after the European discovery of the Americas, how many Africans were transported in the Atlantic slave trade?

A)200,000
B)800,000
C)1.6 million
D)5.2 million
E)6.9 million

Question 37

To reduce the risks of overseas trading, companies

A)built larger ships.
B)bought insurance.
C)created the capitalist system.
D)conducted most of their commerce by land.
E)attacked one another's ships.

Question 38

Both Muslims and Europeans obtained slaves from sub-Saharan Africa, but

A)the Islamic trade, though substantial, was smaller.
B)the European trade was much smaller.
C)both slave trades ended soon after they began.
D)Africans refused to deal with Muslim traders.
E)Africans refused to deal with European traders.

Question 39

Which of the following resulted in the high mortality rate aboard Atlantic slave ships?

A)abuse
B)execution
C)disease
D)suicide
E)All of these are correct.

Question 40

Which merchandise sold by Europeans was in high demand among Africans?

A)hardware
B)rum
C)guns
D)textiles
E)All of these are correct.

Question 41

Instructions: Answer the following question(s).
What were conditions like for slaves on the Middle Passage?

Question 42

Which of the following is not true of population loss in Africa as a result of the slave trade?

A)Areas near the Slave Coast lost a disproportionate number of people.
B)Population loss was uniform across all areas of west Africa.
C)Even at the peak of the trade, the population of Africa remained large.
D)Population loss was reduced by the fact that more men than women were traded into slavery.
E)None of these are correct.

Question 43

What was one of the major environmental effects of plantations in the Caribbean?

Question 44

How did the Saharan slave trade differ from the Atlantic slave trade?

Question 45

Give a detailed description of the Atlantic Circuit.

Question 46

Instructions: Answer the following question(s).
What were the various aspects of the new Atlantic economy? Explain how each aspect was necessary for the economy's success.

Question 47

Describe the similarities and differences of the slave trade with regard to Christianity and Islam.

Question 48

What was the chief cash crop in the West Indies during the first half of the seventeenth century?

Question 49

What was the objective of the mercantilist system? How was it put into practice?

Question 50

What were the long-term effects of the Navigation Acts?

Question 51

One of the main sources of conflict between the Portuguese and the Dutch in Brazil was about what?

Question 52

What was the life of a slave like on a West Indian sugar plantation in the eighteenth century? Include details from slaves' work lives, as well as from their family and social lives.

Question 53

Which of the following is true regarding the Atlantic slave trade?

A)Africans gained far more wealth than Europeans.
B)Europeans gained far more wealth than Africans.
C)Europeans gained only slightly more wealth than Africans.
D)Europeans and Africans gained nearly the same amount of wealth.
E)Africans benefited from their inclusion in the world trade system but were harmed by European diseases.

Question 54

Describe the lives of free people in West Indian society in the eighteenth century.

Question 55

Discuss the role played by African traders and political leaders in the Atlantic slave trade. What steps did Africans take to control the trade with Europeans and how successful were they? How did the slave trade differ across different regions of Africa?