Deck 11: Europe in the World, 1650-1800

Question 1

The plantations of the New World relied on slave labour to produce a variety of crops. Europeans regarded ________ plantations as the most important or valuable.

A) tobacco
B) indigo
C) rice
D) cotton
E) sugar

Answer 1

E

Question 2

European rulers and governments believed the primary purpose of colonies was ________.

A) to benefit the mother country
B) to provide raw materials for industry
C) to provide opportunities for surplus population to find work
D) to increase international prestige
E) to act as a bargaining chip in European diplomacy

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The English settlement in ________ was established as a refuge for English Catholics.

A) Virginia
B) Maryland
C) Rhode Island
D) Massachusetts Bay
E) Pennsylvania

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The Royal Society awarded Captain James Cook a medal following his 1772-1775 circumnavigation of the globe because ________.

A) he was the first European to set foot on the Hawaiian Islands
B) he proved that terra australis was a myth
C) he ensured that nobody died from scurvy on the voyage
D) he found a place for Britain's convicts in Botany Bay
E) he found the Northwest Passage

Question 5

Trade with China was difficult because Europe did not produce anything that China wanted to buy. The situation changed with the introduction of ________, which the British began to smuggle into China.

A) opium
B) tea
C) potatoes
D) silver
E) coffee

Question 6

All European countries with a maritime presence were active in the slave trade, but ________ was especially prominent, shipping slaves to its own colonies and under the asiento.

A) Portugal
B) Spain
C) Dutch Republic
D) Britain
E) Sweden

Question 7

In 1794, the French revolutionary government emancipated all slaves in the French colonies. ________ played a significant role in this decision.

A) Napoleon's invasion of Guadeloupe
B) The slave revolt on St. Domingue
C) The imprisonment of Toussaint Louverture
D) The execution of Louis XVI
E) The founding of the Société des Amis des Noirs

Question 8

On his 1772 voyage, Captain Cook proved that the terra australis was a myth. The terra australis was ________.

A) a sea monster that looked like a kangaroo
B) a continent in the Pacific where Prester John's descendants were believed to live
C) the southern counterpart of the large and inhabited continents of the northern hemisphere
D) the Australian counterpart of the mythical city of El Dorado
E) a set of islands in the Pacific that were inhabited by pygmies and giants

Question 9

During the early modern period, millions of Africans were forcibly shipped across the Atlantic Ocean as slaves, ________ of whom died on the middle passage.

A) 25 per cent
B) 10 per cent
C) 50 per cent
D) 35 per cent
E) 40 per cent

Question 10

Of the various countries involved in the colonization of the Americas, ________ position was marginal compared to that of its competitors and its position in the East Indian trade.

A) Spain's
B) Britain's
C) the Dutch Republic's
D) Portugal's
E) France's

Question 11

By the middle of the seventeenth century, most European countries had established strong and durable colonial empires in the New World.

Question 12

Colonial rivalries were one of the principal driving forces of relationships between European states.

Question 13

The Portuguese colony of Brazil had significant resources, which made it substantially wealthier than Portugal.

Question 14

Ties between New France and France remained strong until the fall of Quebec and colonists in New France did not develop a strong independent identity separate from France.

Question 15

The Dutch East India Company (VOC) diversified the products it traded in throughout the eighteenth century, moving beyond the spice trade into areas such as tea, porcelain, and coffee.

Question 16

The English East India Company originally acted as merchants, but after the Seven Years War it acted as an agent of British power in India.

Question 17

The slave revolt in Haiti was the first slave revolt in the Americas.

Question 18

After his death in 1788, Charles III's heirs continued to extend central control over Spanish America.

Question 19

Between 1630 and 1654, the Dutch West India Company controlled a significant portion of Brazil's northeastern coast where they established a series of sugar plantations.

Question 20

British colonies were integrated into the British economy as markets for goods, suppliers of raw material, and sources of wealth and food.

Question 21

Despite dominating East Asian trade throughout the seventeenth century, the Dutch East India Company's fortunes declined over the course of the eighteenth century and the company was eventually dissolved in 1799.

Question 22

Unlike their other European counterparts, Portugal was able to establish successful trading relationships with Japan, largely through the efforts of Jesuit missionaries.

Question 23

Captain James Cook's inability to find the Northwest Passage meant that he returned to England in disgrace following his second voyage.

Question 24

After encountering one another on their voyages to map the Pacific Northwest, Captain Dionisio Galiano (Spain) and Captain George Vancouver (Britain) negotiated an agreement that acknowledged Britain's rights and interests in the Pacific Northwest.

Question 25

The Dutch East India Company encouraged its employees to marry indigenous women in order to establish trading connections and establish a Dutch population.

Question 26

In seeking to classify humans, Carl Linnaeus originally established four varieties of humans, later adding new categories of pygmies, wild men, and giants.

Question 27

Enlightenment thinkers who believed in ideals of freedom and liberty were united in their opposition to the system of slavery.

Question 28

Europe was the only continent where industrialization could take place, which explains why it was able to establish itself as the dominant power in the nineteenth century.

Question 29

Europe's rise to global domination was achieved at the cost of great human suffering, including the decimation of Indigenous populations in the Americas and the enslavement of millions of Africans.

Question 30

Plantations in the Caribbean required fewer slaves than plantations in North America because Caribbean slave owners encouraged natural reproduction.

Question 31

How did European countries attempt to connect their colonies to the mother country?

Question 32

During the Enlightenment, European rulers such as Charles III attempted to rationalize state operations, including those in the New World colonies. How did Charles III attempt to reform Spanish America?

Question 33

In 1789, the Brazilian province of Minas Gerais rebelled against the Portuguese. What factors contributed to this rebellion?

Question 34

What factors contributed to the assertion of an independent identity in British North America?

Question 35

The French were not that successful in their early attempts to establish colonies, but things changed when Jean-Baptiste Colbert took over. How did Colbert bring new life to French attempts to establish colonies?

Question 36

The Dutch East India Company (VOC) may have been the dominant European presence in Asia during the seventeenth century, but its power waned over the eighteenth century and the English East India Company (EEIC) came to take its place. What factors contributed to this change in fortune?

Question 37

Why were Europeans less successful in establishing trade in China and Japan than they were elsewhere in Asia?

Question 38

By the end of the Seven Years War, the English East India Company (EEIC) was an agent of British power that was effectively in control of large parts of India. How did the EEIC establish its power in Asia?

Question 39

What factors drove the attempts at exploration in the Pacific Ocean?

Question 40

Eighteenth-century voyages of exploration brought Europeans into contact with greater numbers of people at a time when Enlightenment thinkers were attempting to gain a better understanding of humanity and its relationship with the natural world. What broader ideas informed how Europeans attempted to understand non-European peoples?

Question 41

How did the Danish explorer Vitus Bering (1681-1741) help Russia's efforts to establish a foothold in the Pacific?

Question 42

The Enlightenment brought about new ways of understanding race and the supposedly natural order of humanity. What were the different ways of understanding race during the Enlightenment?

Question 43

What role did science play in eighteenth-century European voyages of exploration?

Question 44

The system of slavery was not unique to the early modern period, but the scope of the slave trade increased significantly as Europeans became more involved. Why did the number of slaves increase significantly with European involvement?

Question 45

How did Europe benefit economically from slavery?

Question 46

What were the consequences of the almost exclusive use of black Africans as slaves in the early modern Atlantic?

Question 47

The system of slavery was a significant part of early modern empires, but by the end of the eighteenth century anti-slavery sentiment was increasing and the nineteenth century saw the end of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. How was slavery abolished in Britain and France?

Question 48

What is the Great Divergence?

Question 49

Immanuel Wallerstein, Kenneth Pomeranz, and Prasannan Parthasarthi have all attempted to explain Europe's rise to global power in the nineteenth century. How have each attempted to explain this phenomenon?

Question 50

The system of slavery was transformed during the early modern period with wide ranging effects and consequences. What were the consequences of the changes to the system of slavery?

Question 51

Slavery was a fundamental part of the early modern Atlantic economy. What role did slavery play in the early modern Atlantic economy?

Question 52

Historians and anthropologists continue to debate why Captain Cook was killed in Hawaii. How should we interpret Captain Cook's death?

Question 53

During the eighteenth century, encounters with an increasing number of people coincided with Enlightenment attempts to understand humanity and its place in the natural world. How did enlightened values inform European reactions to such encounters during the eighteenth century?

Question 54

Historians and sociologists agree that Europe experienced a great divergence from the rest of the world in the nineteenth century, but they do not agree on the causes of the great divergence. Why did the great divergence occur?

Question 55

Over the course of the early modern period, Europe increasingly became part of a wider world and a key player on the global stage. What was Europe's position in the early modern world?

Question 56

During the eighteenth century, an increasing number of European countries established colonial empires in the New World. How did European countries establish colonial empires in the New World?

Question 57

For Europeans, the eighteenth century was a new age of exploration where they came to know parts of the world that they had previously not known about, largely in the Pacific Ocean. How did Europeans come to know the Pacific?

Question 58

How did Europeans use trade to establish a presence in Asia?

Question 59

What role did empire play in the Enlightenment?