Deck 21: Expanding Horizons of Cross-Cultural Interaction

Question 1

The spread of Mongol control

A) laid the political foundation for a surge in long-distance trade.
B) resulted in a slow but permanent decline in trade.
C) stopped all trade along the old Silk Roads immediately.
D) had little impact on trade at all.
E) ensured that trade only ran from west to east.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

As a result of the bubonic plague,the population of Europe dropped from seventy-nine million in 1300 to around ________ in 1400.

A) seventy-five million
B) sixty million
C) forty million
D) fifteen million
E) twenty-five million

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following was NOT a common result of the bubonic plague in western Europe?

A) greater peasant mobility
B) a decrease in workers' wages
C) a decline in population
D) peasant rebellions caused by efforts to freeze wages
E) labor shortages

Answer 3

B

Question 4

According to Marco Polo's account,he was made governor of the large trading city of

A) Khanbaliq.
B) Melaka.
C) Samarkand.
D) Dunhuang.
E) Yangzhou.

Question 5

Rabban Sauma's journey was designed to

A) invite the Europeans to join the Persian ilkhans against the Muslims.
B) open up trade between China and Persia.
C) open up trade between China and Europe.
D) spread Islam into central Asia.
E) inspire the Muslims to join China in an alliance against Christian Europe.

Question 6

Marco Polo's stories

A) convinced other Europeans that trade with China was far too dangerous to pursue.
B) were a product of forced propaganda by Khubilai Khan.
C) influenced other Europeans to visit China.
D) played no role in the expansion of European trade because they were lost until the twentieth century.
E) influenced countless Chinese to visit Europe.

Question 7

The outbreak of the bubonic plague in the fourteenth century began in

A) England.
B) Africa.
C) India.
D) China.
E) Italy.

Question 8

Which of the following was NOT one of the products that had a new impact during this period of increasing interaction?

A) silk
B) gunpowder
C) sugarcane
D) cotton
E) citrus fruits

Question 9

Ibn Battuta was

A) a Moroccan legal scholar who traveled extensively and recorded his observations.
B) the sultan of Delhi.
C) the leader of the central Asian kingdom that dominated all trade along the Silk Roads.
D) Marco Polo's traveling companion.
E) the leading Islamic scholar whose work reintroduced Aristotle to Europe.

Question 10

When Pope Innocent IV sent envoys to invite the Mongols to join in an alliance against the Muslims,

A) a treaty was signed that forged a long-lasting political partnership.
B) the khans declined and in turn told the Christians to submit to Mongol rule or be destroyed.
C) the resulting war brought about an end to Islamic influence in central Asia.
D) it so angered the Islamic kingdoms that they rose up and crushed the Mongols.
E) the khans accepted and quickly sacked Jerusalem.

Question 11

Gunpowder had its origins in

A) China.
B) India.
C) France.
D) Persia.
E) Mali.

Question 12

What was the principle long-distance trade route network for heavy and bulk goods?

A) Indian Ocean lanes
B) Red Sea lanes
C) Atlantic Ocean lanes
D) the Silk Roads
E) the Mediterranean Ocean

Question 13

Ibn Battuta was able to travel so extensively because

A) his military might made conquest easy.
B) his religious and legal training allowed him to serve as qadi.
C) he held a position as an envoy for the Mongols.
D) he traveled with Marco Polo.
E) he enjoyed diplomatic immunity as a diplomat for the Vatican.

Question 14

The important trading city of Melaka is located in what is now

A) France.
B) India.
C) China.
D) Malaysia.
E) Vietnam.

Question 15

Cotton was introduced to west Africa by the

A) Europeans.
B) Muslims.
C) Chinese.
D) Bantus.
E) Mongols.

Question 16

Rabban Sauma was

A) a Mongol prince who traveled to China.
B) the founder of the Ming dynasty.
C) the eunuch admiral who sailed for the Chinese emperor Yongle.
D) the most powerful wife of Süleyman the Magnificent.
E) a Nestorian Christian priest who served as an envoy for the ilkhans.

Question 17

Khubilai Khan employed foreigners like Marco Polo in administrative posts primarily

A) because the khan did not entirely trust his Chinese subjects.
B) as an indirect means of holding them hostage.
C) because of their cosmopolitan nature.
D) as a form of punishment against foreign governments.
E) as a personal favor to Pope Innocent IV.

Question 18

The sharia

A) were Islamic mystics who traveled the trade routes to spread the faith.
B) prescribed religious observances and social relationships based on the Quran.
C) refers,in Persian,to the changing monsoon winds that dominated trade across the Indian Ocean.
D) called for an Islamic holy war against the nonbelievers.
E) were Mongol scouts whose work was key to Mongol military success.

Question 19

Luxury goods of high value relative to their weight

A) always traveled the sea lanes.
B) were exclusively trusted to Islamic merchants.
C) were under a monopolistic control by the Chinese.
D) were always in the possession of only one merchant for the entire journey.
E) usually traveled overland on the Silk Roads.

Question 20

The Ming dynasty was founded in 1368 by

A) Yongle.
B) Hongwu.
C) Rabban Sauma.
D) Khubilai Khan.
E) Chinggis Khan.

Question 21

The best-known long-distance traveler of Mongol times was the Venetian Marco Polo.

Question 22

The most notable of the humanistic thinkers,who published the first edition of the Greek New Testament,was

A) Erasmus.
B) Petrarca.
C) Donatello.
D) Masaccio.
E) Paul III.

Question 23

The most active of the Roman Catholic missionaries in China was John of Montecorvino.

Question 24

The Portuguese mariner who reached India in 1498 was

A) Prince Henrique.
B) Vasco da Gama.
C) Bartolomeu Dias.
D) Cristoforo Colombo.
E) Francis Drake.

Question 25

Central to Renaissance thought was a(n)

A) fascination with classic Greek and Roman art and philosophy.
B) deeply religious desire to withdraw from the world.
C) desire to re-create the glory of Byzantium.
D) appreciation for the art and thought of the middle ages.
E) appreciation of secular Confucian thought that had been brought about by closer ties to China.

Question 26

The Yongle Encyclopedia

A) signified a radical break with the past.
B) is the only direct historical evidence remaining that catalogued the journeys of Zheng He.
C) firmly entrenched the Yuan traditions in Chinese history.
D) represented the Ming rulers' interest in supporting native Chinese cultural traditions.
E) was influenced by the highly successful European encyclopedia of Diderot.

Question 27

The marriage of Fernando of Aragon and Isabel of Castile

A) led to the creation of the Spanish state.
B) marked the end of the Hundred Years' War.
C) led to the unification of France.
D) resulted in the suspension of the Inquisition.
E) brought Spain under unified Islamic control.

Question 28

Hongwu's philosophy for ruling China was to

A) continue the highly successful Yuan policies.
B) completely break with the past.
C) return to the model of traditional Chinese dynasties.
D) modernize on a European basis.
E) copy the Persian model.

Question 29

Zheng He was

A) the founder of the Ming dynasty.
B) the last powerful ruler of the Yuan dynasty.
C) a Chinese envoy who met with the pope and the kings of France and England.
D) the Chinese admiral who made seven journeys of exploration.
E) a Ming emperor intent on closing China off from foreign contact.

Question 30

Mongols contributed to the process of diffusion most notably by helping to spread gunpowder technologies west from China.

Question 31

Other than finding new sources of finance,the most important element facilitating European state-building in fifteenth century was

A) the reestablishment of imperial unification.
B) the formation of large standings armies.
C) the European invention of gunpowder.
D) papal leadership in a new round of crusades that gave purpose and inspiration for the Europeans.
E) the leadership of a united,powerful Italy.

Question 32

The Nestorian priest that served as Mongol envoy to the states of Europe was Rabban Sauma.

Question 33

Long-distance journeys enabled Muslim travelers to introduce new food and commercial crops to sub-Saharan Africa.

Question 34

The dome on the cathedral of Florence was designed by

A) Erasmus.
B) Brunelleschi.
C) Petrarca.
D) da Vinci.

Question 35

The reconquista was

A) the Portuguese trade route around the tip of Africa.
B) the reestablishment of native Chinese rule by defeating the Mongols.
C) the failed Islamic attempt to win back control over southern Italy.
D) the Spanish Catholic capture of Spain back from Islamic control.
E) a new round of crusades.

Question 36

Which of the following was NOT a hallmark of Hongwu's rule?

A) the reestablishment of Confucian education
B) extensive use of the mandarins
C) the reestablishment of the civil service system
D) the move to a more decentralized governmental form
E) greater use of eunuchs

Question 37

During the 1340s Mongols,merchants,and other travelers helped to spread disease along trade routes to points west of China.

Question 38

Which of the following is NOT representative of Renaissance art?

A) introduction of abstract painting as an artistic genre
B) use of linear perspective to represent three dimensions
C) representation of the emotions of artists' subjects
D) inspiration drawn from classical Greek and Roman artists
E) depiction of subjects in natural poses

Question 39

Humanist moral philosophers believed that

A) people should withdraw from the world and dedicate themselves to prayer.
B) the thought of the middle ages was much more pure than the scandalous ideas of the Renaissance.
C) people could lead morally virtuous lives while participating in the world.
D) the ideals of the Greeks and Romans should be shunned because they were pagan.
E) intellectual and moral excellence was dependent on a Byzantine model.

Question 40

The nation that led the way in early European exploration was

A) England.
B) France.
C) Portugal.
D) Spain.
E) the Holy Roman Empire.

Question 41

In what ways was humanism representative of the Renaissance? How was it different from traditional European thought? Does humanism mean something different today?

Question 42

Humanists scorned the language of the Greek and Roman authors and early church fathers,preferring the writing style of the scholastic theologians.

Question 43

Relate the humanistic thought of the Renaissance to philosophies in other societies in the world at that time.How revolutionary was the humanistic view? How does the Renaissance emphasis on the uniqueness of the individual relate to other societies' worldview?

Question 44

Upon establishing the Ming dynasty,Hongwu embraced Mongol rule and kept China's government decentralized.

Question 45

What is the significance of the Yongle Encyclopedia? In what ways would the Yongle Encyclopedia be representative of the accomplishments of the Ming dynasty?

Question 46

Examine the career of Hongwu and the establishment of the Ming dynasty.How did Hongwu influence China? What were his goals? How long-lasting were his changes?

Question 47

What factors explain the increasing trade and interaction between various parts of the world in the centuries immediately following 1000 C.E.? Who was making these journeys and why? What were the results? Relate this information to the role that trade played in other societies.

Question 48

The bubonic plague typically killed 60 to 70 percent of its human victims and had the potential to ravage a society within a few months.

Question 49

What role did trade play,both beneficial and harmful,during this period? How does this role relate to the role that trade has played in other societies studied earlier in the class?

Question 50

Examine European exploration.What were the Europeans' motives? Were their motives different from the reasons of the Chinese? What were the results of these journeys?

Question 51

What was the significance of the Chinese decision to end the journeys of Zheng He? Why did Yongle send Zheng He out in the first place? Compare Zheng He's journeys of exploration to their European equivalents.Why were the Chinese journeys stopped? What did this change mean for China?

Question 52

What was the role of religion in the cultural interactions of this era? Which religion had the greater international impact,Christianity or Islam? Explain.

Question 53

Read the selection from Ibn Battuta (see Textbook: Sources from the Past: Ibn Battuta on Customs in the Mali Empire).What can we learn about the status of women from this account?

Question 54

Fernando and Isabel sought to make a place for Spain in the markets of Asia by sponsoring Christopher Columbus's quest for a western route to China.

Question 55

What role did disease play in China and Europe in the fourteenth century? How were these societies influenced by the outbreak of disease? How did they recover? Compare the spread of the bubonic plague to other times when disease played an important role in history.

Question 56

Why would a relatively poor nation like Portugal have played such an important role in exploration? Why was Portugal the first of the European nations to make a serious attempt at long-distance exploration?

Question 57

Identify the most significant land and sea routes in the fourteenth century.What societies tended to control and profit from these routes?

Question 58

Examine the reinvigoration of Europe in the later middle ages.How was it different from the reinvigoration of China during the same period?

Question 59

Ibn Battuta suggested that,in regard to the people of Mali,"Among their good practices are their avoidance of injustice; there is no people more averse to it,and their Sultan does not allow anyone to practice it in any measure." At the same time Battuta could be quite critical.How valuable is Battuta as a source? Compare him to Marco Polo.

Question 60

Examine the Renaissance.What were its foundations? In what ways was it different from earlier European thought?

Question 61

What were the Portuguese objectives in the exploration of the coast of west Africa? What did they accomplish?

Question 62

Note the kind of state to emerge in the fifteenth century in northern Italy,France,England,and Spain.Which was the most powerful state at this time?

Question 63

What were the social and economic outcomes of the plague?

Question 64

Summarize the origins and the progress of the bubonic plague of the fourteenth century.Which regions were hit the hardest? Which regions were largely spared?

Question 65

How were the Ming Chinese able to establish a forceful presence in the Indian Ocean in the fifteenth century? When and why did this presence cease?

Question 66

How did the Ming dynasty rebuild the economy of China?

Question 67

Give some specific examples of agricultural and technological diffusion along the trade routes.

Question 68

What did Columbus hope to accomplish when he set forth across the Atlantic in 1492? What did he achieve?