Deck 2: Old Worlds, New Worlds 1400-1600

Question 1

By approximately 1625 (a little more than a century after Columbus's discovery), all of the following were true EXCEPT that

A) the Spanish empire stretched from Mexico south to near the tip of South America.
B) the English had begun efforts to establish a permanent colony in North America.
C) the Portuguese were sailing directly to China around the south tip of Africa.
D) an international fishing community congregated annually off the Newfoundland coast.

Answer 1

the English had begun efforts to establish a permanent colony in North America.

Question 2

Columbus mistakenly labeled the Taino people "Indians,"believing that

A) the natives of the Americas originally came from India rather than Siberia.
B) he had reached the Indies.
C) he had reached the American shore.
D) he had reached India.

Answer 2

he had reached the Indies.

Question 3

All of the following explain why Spain conquered the Americas so rapidly, EXCEPT

A) the weakening of native peoples by exposure to European infections.
B) their kindness to the native population, which led the natives to willingly cede their power.
C) political disunity within American native empires.
D) Spanish technological superiority in the form of ships and guns.

Answer 3

their kindness to the native population, which led the natives to willingly cede their power.

Question 4

Which of the following was the biggest factor in the early and rapid success of the conquistadors against Native Americans?

A) the military technology of the Spanish
B) the infectious diseases brought by the Spanish
C) the rigid political centralization of the Aztecs, which meant that to capture the emperor was to conquer the empire
D) the bloody religious system of the Aztecs, which meant that the Spanish stress on Christian virtue won converts among Indian peasants

Question 5

By the mid-1500s, the biggest source of Spanish wealth from the New World came from

A) rum.
B) spices.
C) weaponry.
D) silver.

Question 6

The first English attempt to colonize the New World failed before it even reached the shores of America. The attempt was led by

A) Gilbert.
B) Fitzgerald.
C) Raleigh.
D) Hakluyt.

Question 7

Discuss conditions that encouraged early modern Europeans to undertake voyages of exploration and discovery.

Question 8

How did Portuguese exploration prepare the way for the Spanish discovery of North America?

Question 9

Compare and contrast Aztec society in the fifteenth century with that of early modern Europe.

Question 10

How did Spain's colonial empire influence the development of western Europe during the sixteenth century?

Question 11

Characterize the conditions and changes in sixteenth-century Europe that contributed to the Protestant Reformation.

Question 12

What primary factors accounted for the rivalry between England and Spain in the late sixteenth century?

Question 13

What factor was most essential in encouraging early modern Europeans to undertake voyages of discovery in exploration?

Question 14

Could the direction of discovery and colonization in the fifteenth and sixteenth century have been reversed-that is, could the Aztecs have discovered and colonized western Europe? Why or why not?

Question 15

To what extent were the English adventurers and the Spanish conquistadors "brothers under the skin"? In what ways were the roles they played similar, from the point of view of the royal governments of England and Spain?

Question 16

Consider the motives of early English promoters of colonization like Gilbert and Raleigh. To what extent were such men motivated by idealistic goals? To what extent by economic interests?

Question 17

Compare and contrast the tenets of Luther and Calvin. Be specific in including the Catholic traditions and the need for reforms.

Question 18

Describe the social divisions among the races. What role did religion play in the divisions within society? What was the role of class? How did the Europeans move up within society?

Question 19

Describe the slave culture in America. How and why were Africans imported into the colonies?