Deck 16: New Challenges for Africa and the Islamic World, 1450-1750

Question 1

The Ottomans sometimes allied with France or other European states in conflicts against which power?

A) Habsburg Austria
B) Portugal
C) The Dutch

Answer 1

The Dutch

Question 2

Which of the best describes relations between the Portuguese and the Omanis in Zanzibar?

A) The Omanis successfully dislodged the Portuguese and took over Zanzibar.
B) The Omanis and Portuguese shared the administration of Zanzibar.
C) The Portuguese took over Zanzibar from the Omanis and successfully defended it.

Answer 2

The Portuguese took over Zanzibar from the Omanis and successfully defended it.

Question 3

How did the Portuguese come to control Indian Ocean trade?

A) Taking control of key ports by force
B) Cultivating strong and friendly relations with regional powers
C) Bribing Arab traders to attack competitors

Answer 3

Taking control of key ports by force

Question 4

Which of the following was the most powerful Islamic state in the early modern period?

A) The Mughal Empire
B) The Safavid Empire
C) The Ottoman Empire

Question 5

Vasco da Gama led the first European expedition to accomplish which of the following?

A) Transport them to the Americas
B) Reach the Americas from Africa
C) Reach India

Question 6

The Songhai Empire was characterized by which of the following?

A) A major Islamic university in the city of Benin
B) No restrictions on public roles for women
C) The imposition of strict Islamic law

Question 7

Portuguese relations with Queen Nzinga led to which of the following outcomes?

A) Portuguese defeat by invading armies form Kongo
B) Portuguese support for Nzinga's conflict with the Shona
C) Portuguese control over the state of Ndongo

Question 8

In the eighteenth century, Gorée Island, near Dakar, was a center for trade in what commodity?

A) Slaves
B) Potatoes
C) Pepper

Question 9

South Africa was initially colonized by which European state?

A) Portugal
B) Spain
C) The Netherlands

Question 10

Portuguese relations with Kongo began to fall apart when the Portuguese began to demand more of which of the following?

A) Tax exemptions
B) Slaves
C) Land

Question 11

Why did Dutch settlers (known as Boers) move beyond the jurisdiction of Dutch Cape Colony?

A) They were exiled for their poor treatment of Africans.
B) They wanted to escape the control of the faraway Dutch government.
C) They joined with Khoekhoe pastoralists to find better land.

Question 12

What was the first area of Africa colonized by the Portuguese in the fifteenth century?

A) South Africa
B) Azores and Madeira Islands
C) Kongo

Question 13

Which of the following territories were NOT under Ottoman control by 1600?

A) Egypt
B) Syria and Palestine
C) Oman

Question 14

Most slaves exported from Kongo and Angola ended up in what colony?

A) Brazil, where they were forced to work on plantations
B) Mozambique, where they were forced to serve as soldiers
C) Sumatra, where they were sold to the Dutch in Indonesia

Question 15

What was the King of Kongo's opinion of the slave trade?

A) Initially he supported it as a source of revenue but later he resisted it.
B) He was opposed to it from the outset and led an armed resistance to the Portuguese.
C) He was a limited supporter of the slave trade as it helped Kongolese security.

Question 16

The Portuguese moved into the lower Zambezi River, displacing the Shona people, in search of what trade commodity?

A) Gold
B) Slaves
C) Ivory

Question 17

Why did the king of Kongo adopt Catholicism in the 1480s?

A) His sincere belief in Catholicism
B) Portuguese coercion
C) To cultivate better relations with Portugal

Question 18

What were Janissaries in the Ottoman Empire?

A) Regional governors
B) Islamic scholars
C) Elite soldiers

Question 19

The main period of the trans-Atlantic slave trade was which of the following?

A) 1492-1870
B) 1492-1865
C) 1526-1870

Question 20

How many people are thought to have been enslaved during the whole course of the trans-Atlantic slave trade?

A) 5 million
B) 30 million
C) 1 million

Question 21

In 1591, the dominance of Songhai ended after an invasion by which state?

A) Morocco
B) Gao
C) Portugal

Question 22

Describe Kanem-Bornu and its role in the regional economy.

Question 23

The Sa'idian dynasty claimed to be descendants of whom?

A) Shah Abbas
B) Suleiman the Magnificent
C) Muhammad

Question 24

Which of the following is true of the Safavid leader Shah Abbas?

A) He was kind and compassionate to his enemies.
B) He did not allow women to have equal rights with men.
C) He rarely showed concern or interest in his Persian subjects.

Question 25

Describe the role of the Yoruba states in the regional economy.

Question 26

Militant Sufi Safavids accomplished which change in Persia?

A) Converted Persia from a Sunni to Shi'a Islamic state
B) Began a revolution in Persian military technology
C) Cracked down on European trade in Persia

Question 27

Describe how Bantu-speaking states interacted with the Islamic world.

Question 28

The Russians fought against all of the following in Asia EXCEPT which group?

A) The Chinese
B) The Ottomans
C) The Mughals

Question 29

The most direct and continuing European-Muslim conflict was that between which states or groups?

A) Central European Christians and Islamic fundamentalists
B) The Portuguese and Islamic states in Africa
C) The Russians and the Ottomans and Central Asians

Question 30

In 1722, who seized control of the Persian capital of Isfahan?

A) Afghans
B) Ottomans
C) Mughals

Question 31

For which of the following forms of creative expression were Safavid Persian renowned?

A) Miniature paintings
B) Metal tools
C) Ships

Question 32

Describe the role of the Hausa states in the regional economy.

Question 33

Which of the following were reasons why the Persians converted to Shi'ism?

A) It was a stricter doctrine that included fewer people.
B) Persians wanted to belong to the same sect as Ottoman Muslims.
C) Shi'i religious ceremonies were much more attractive to many Persians.

Question 34

What African commodities did Europeans desire, and how did this change over the 1400s and 1500s?

Question 35

Describe the demise of Songhai.

Question 36

Which of the following describes a reason for Ottoman decline?

A) Harsh discipline among the janissaries
B) An overly centralized government
C) Minority Christian disenchantment with the Ottoman system

Question 37

Which of the following was the strong Islamic state centered around Lake Chad in sub-Saharan Africa?

A) Kanem-Bornu
B) Hausa
C) Benin

Question 38

Which is the best description of the religious composition of the Ottoman Empire?

A) Its large population was about half Christian and about half Muslim with many other religious minorities.
B) Its large population was overwhelmingly Muslim, though there were some other religious communities.
C) Its large population was about one-third Jewish, one-third Muslim, and one-third other traditional religions.

Question 39

In 1683, the Ottoman army was stopped in its last attempt to conquer which of the following imperial capitals?

A) Rome
B) Vienna
C) Constantinople

Question 40

The Sa'idian conquest of Morocco in the sixteenth century was sparked by which of the following?

A) Ottoman invasions
B) Portuguese encroachments
C) The threat of Songhai

Question 41

How did capitalism change rural and urban life differently?

Question 42

What were Janissaries and why were they important to the Ottoman state?

Question 43

What did Africans hope to gain from trade with Europeans?

Question 44

How did Portugal seize control of the Indian Ocean trade?

Question 45

How did the Portuguese eventually subdue Kongo?

Question 46

Describe the expansion of relations between Portugal and West African states.

Question 47

Describe Ottoman relations with European kingdoms.

Question 48

How did Portugal maintain control over trade in West Africa?

Question 49

Why were spices such a lucrative good for European merchants?

Question 50

What were the effects of the slave trade on African societies and states?

Question 51

How did Portugal's relationship with Kongo change during the slave trade?

Question 52

What did King Idrus Aloma of Kanem-Bornu import from the Ottomans?

A) Slaves
B) Cotton cloth
C) Firearms

Question 53

What role did religion play in trading relationships between Europeans and Africans?

Question 54

Why were Portugal and the Netherlands drawn into conflict with one another?

Question 55

Why were African slaves in particular sought after by Europeans?

Question 56

Describe the practice of slavery in early modern Africa and Europe.

Question 57

How did the Ottomans become regional hegemons by the 1500s?

Question 58

Why did European demand for slaves increase dramatically in the 1500s?

Question 59

Describe the status of women in Ottoman society.

Question 60

East African Swahili culture mixed which of the following traditions?

A) Islamic and African traditions
B) West African and East African traditions
C) Islamic and Christian traditions

Question 61

How were Portuguese and Dutch methods of imperial expansion similar to English and French methods?

Question 62

How did Mongol retreat affect Russia?

Question 63

Europeans became interested in acquiring large numbers of African slaves as they began to establish their control of which region?

A) The East Indies
B) South Africa
C) The Americas

Question 64

Why do scholars argue that slavery was not thought of in racialized terms in the early modern period? How did the African slave trade change this?

Question 65

Why did Ottoman power begin to decline in the 1700s?

Question 66

What effect did Portuguese expansion have on Morocco?

Question 67

How did Portuguese and Dutch methods of imperial expansion differ and how were they similar?

Question 68

Describe the origins of the Safavid Empire.

Question 69

What were the results of Portuguese interactions with Africans in southern and eastern Africa? How did these differ to interactions with West Africans?

Question 70

Describe relations between Morocco under Sultan al-Mansur and Portugal.

Question 71

How did increased European demand for slaves shift regional economic patterns in sub-Saharan Africa?

Question 72

Why did the Ottoman empire become increasingly dependent on European finance? What effect did this have on the Ottomans' relationship with Europe?

Question 73

To what extent did Ottoman religious policy benefit the Ottoman empire, and to what extent did it harm it?

Question 74

What role did minor African states play in resisting or enabling Portuguese imperialism?

Question 75

To what extent was African and European collaboration necessary to the slave trade, and to what extent were ordinary Europeans also complicit in encouraging it?

Question 76

How did capitalism change rural and urban life differently?

Question 77

How did Safavid rulers govern their empire?

Question 78

What similarities and differences existed between the Safavid state and the Ottoman empire?

Question 79

The Swahili ports of Kilwa and Malindi were renowned for what reason?

A) They were important centers of Islamic scholarship.
B) They were founded by Europeans.
C) They were key points in a thriving Indian Ocean.

Question 80

Why did the Portuguese shift to more liberal use of violence to achieve their goals in Africa by the late 1600s?