Deck 19: States and Societies: Political and Social Change in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

Question 1

One of Spain's greatest weaknesses during the sixteenth century was its

A) lack of an effective military.
B) total lack of resources.
C) failure to have an effective tax policy.
D) internal divisions.

Answer 1

internal divisions.

Question 2

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,European aristocrats found themselves in general

A) more independent from monarchs than they had been during the Middle Ages.
B) no more or less independent from monarchs than they had been during the Middle Ages.
C) less independent from monarchs than they had been during the Middle Ages.
D) winning most of the civil wars that they fought against monarchs.

Answer 2

less independent from monarchs than they had been during the Middle Ages.

Question 3

The products which enabled China to dominate world markets were

A) silk, opium, and tea.
B) tea, rhubarb, and porcelain.
C) pepper, cinnamon, and silk.
D) ivory, opium, and porcelain.

Answer 3

tea, rhubarb, and porcelain.

Question 4

From the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries,the Ottoman military forces

A) fell far behind other contemporary military powers.
B) modernized their military only enough to stay ahead of other Muslim powers, but failed to keep up with European armies.
C) modernized their military sufficiently to rival any contemporary power.
D) focused their modernization efforts only on their army, but allowed their navy to fall behind.

Question 5

The Mughals,Ottomans,and Safavids were all alike in that they

A) were Sunni Muslims.
B) celebrated their nomadic heritage.
C) had systems of central administration over their lands.
D) never had a clear policy of succession to the throne.

Question 6

The system of government that the Ottomans employed to control their vast empire is perhaps best described as

A) centralization tempered by chaos.
B) uniformly managed by the Sultans.
C) constantly threatened by collapse from within.
D) religiously intolerant.

Question 7

What new ideas did the Chinese philosopher Lü Liuliang develop about the political system?

A) The common man and the emperor are rooted in the same nature.
B) Because the emperor is the Son of Heaven, he can do no wrong.
C) There is a strict hierarchy in the world, and commoners must obey the nobility.
D) Only those who reach enlightenment are worthy of governing.

Question 8

During the Middle Ages in Europe,cities

A) were most commonly under the economic control of a king or lord who controlled them closely.
B) very often held their own jurisdiction and had economic freedoms.
C) were an integral part of the feudal system and were granted as fiefs to lords.
D) were always governed by guilds of tradesmen.

Question 9

What were the three purposes of Topkapi Saray?

A) living quarters, a mosque, and a school
B) a sanctuary, a dining area, and a market area
C) a harem, a hospital, and a school
D) a fortress, a sanctuary, and a shrine

Question 10

What was the best option for a woman who wanted freedom and influence in sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe?

A) not to marry
B) to divorce
C) to inherit a fortune
D) widowhood

Question 11

The Treaty of Westphalia of 1648

A) gave rulers the right to impose their religion upon their subjects.
B) ended the wars of religion through a policy of tolerance.
C) almost succeeded in reestablishing the power of the Roman Catholic Church in England.
D) ended civil wars throughout Europe.

Question 12

The Qizilbash were

A) an elite military force of the Mughals.
B) the special horse guard of the Ottoman Sultan.
C) the elite cavalry of the Safavids.
D) a group of well-armed tax collectors who served anyone who paid well.

Question 13

It was common in medieval Europe for the kinsmen and retinues of noble families

A) to eat together in common under the same roof.
B) to have separate living quarters and dine separately according to class.
C) to eat together in a common room but be divided according to age.
D) to eat together in common only at festival times.

Question 14

The Qing dynasty was able to succeed because

A) the Confucian scholars saw them as guarantors against disorder.
B) the Buddhist clergy supported them.
C) of their openness in trade with the West.
D) of their continuing campaign to modernize the Chinese military.

Question 15

The social class which suffered particularly during the early Tokugawa period was

A) the peasants.
B) the daimyo.
C) the samurai.
D) the merchants.

Question 16

Although Chinese emperors were theoretically unlimited in their authority,during the reign of the Zhengde emperor,his administrators

A) joined a violent rebellion against him.
B) insisted that he go on a military campaign.
C) deposed him.
D) went on strike.

Question 17

What practice was key to the success of the Mughals in ruling over India?

A) low taxation and a reliance on self-initiative
B) moderate taxes and public spending
C) high taxation and public spending
D) an emphasis on peaceful relations among states

Question 18

The nuclear family grew in importance in Protestant areas because

A) economic prosperity in those areas made it possible for people to have their own homes.
B) religious brotherhoods, guilds, and monasteries were abolished in those areas.
C) the emphasis on family was greater than in Catholic areas.
D) women had a greater role in society in those areas.

Question 19

The French political philosopher Jean Bodin described the state in 1576 as

A) a social contract between the rulers and the ruled.
B) being naturally under a monarch whose rule was limited by his ability to draw supporters in times of war.
C) having the sole right to make laws and distribute justice to its subjects.
D) being ideal when the monarch acted together with the head of the church and with the advice of the aristocracy.

Question 20

In Puritan Massachusetts,the preacher Cotton Mather thought that women were morally superior because of their

A) constant fear of death, particularly in childbirth.
B) ability to have children.
C) regular place as victims.
D) role in raising children and keeping the home.

Question 21

What were the different challenges that the Chinese and Japanese faced during this period?

Question 22

It was common for creole persons in the New World to

A) attempt to hide their Native American ancestry.
B) take very little role in government.
C) celebrate their Native American ancestry.
D) speak only Spanish.

Question 23

What were the most significant differences in the way that these three states functioned and operated?

Question 24

How were conceptions of the state changing in Europe during the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries?

Question 25

The Ottoman devsirme was

A) a quota of children from Christian families recruited to serve in the elite Janissaries.
B) a system for the taxation of non-Muslims within the empire.
C) the term used for the administrative structure of the empire.
D) the control over the economic lives of those living within the empire.

Question 26

A key aspect of the military revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was the development of

A) a new emphasis on training.
B) a movement away from defensive fortification.
C) an individualistic warrior ethic.
D) weapons that a peasant could handle.

Question 27

The African state of Dahomey depended on slavery for

A) about 60 percent of its economy.
B) about 30 percent of its economy.
C) about 10 percent of its economy.
D) about 2 percent of its economy.

Question 28

How did government in China and Japan change during the seventeenth century?

Question 29

By 1800,the number of African slaves imported to the Americas was

A) about 2.5 million.
B) about 4 million.
C) about 6 million.
D) about 7.5 million.

Question 30

Much of the social order of slave life on the plantations in British North America was created by

A) the British slave owners.
B) the slaves themselves.
C) the priests who converted the slaves.
D) freed slaves whose job it was to manage the plantations.

Question 31

In Tokugawa Japan,the Shoguns kept the daimyo in check by

A) establishing a centralized bureaucracy.
B) setting up a uniform code of laws.
C) forcing them to reside part-time in the capital.
D) giving the emperors an active political role.

Question 32

In the government that Spain established in the New World,

A) members of the high nobility were common.
B) town councils were mostly royal nominees.
C) the church operated independently of the royal government.
D) Spanish landlords typically held feudal tenure over their lands.

Question 33

In what ways did the European family change during the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries?

Question 34

What does Ottoman military success tell us about the limits of European political and military development in this period?

Question 35

How did the position of women in European society both improve and deteriorate during this period?

Question 36

A "maroon" state is an independent state established by

A) runaway slaves.
B) Native Americans.
C) creoles.
D) free blacks.

Question 37

In what ways were relations between kings and their aristocrats a measure of the strength of European states?

Question 38

How did conceptions of European society change during the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries?

Question 39

What events occurred during this period that ruined the possibility of European unity?

Question 40

In what ways did the Ottoman,Mughal,and Safavid emperors rule these three empires? What were their most significant similarities?

Question 41

Compare and contrast plantation slave societies in the British colonies with maroon societies in South America.
In Perspective

Question 42

What types of new states arose in the Americas and in Africa during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?

Question 43

What were some of the new types of governments and societies that developed in the Americas?

Question 44

What effect did the slave trade have on African states during this period?

Question 45

What advantages did Japanese isolation and the relatively small size of the country give to its rulers compared to Chinese emperors?

Question 46

How did the nature of the state change in Europe as compared with the Eurasian empires in China,Persia,India,and Southwestern Asia?

Question 47

What effects did the African slave trade have on the development of societies and governments in the New World and in Africa?

Question 48

Write an essay that explains how Tokugawa Japan became a highly organized commercial economy with a sophisticated monarch and government even though it had relatively little external contact during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Question 49

Based on Columbus' diaries and letters,to what extent did he base his reporting on preconceptions and what his patrons expected to hear rather than on actual observations? What important consequences would emerge from these portrayals?