Deck 2: Europeans and Africans Reach the Americas

Question 1

Within a single generation of Columbus's death, Spanish conquistadores

A) failed to expand beyond the Caribbean.
B) explored, claimed, and conquered most of South America and Central America, but had not yet reached North America.
C) explored, claimed, and conquered most of South America except Brazil and parts of North America.
D) conquered and claimed Central America.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Which of the following is true about Queen Elizabeth I of England?

A) She ruled from 1558 to 1603.
B) She favored Protestantism.
C) She initially disfavored overseas expansion.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

After spending 70 years working to convert the Pueblo people, Franciscan friars

A) managed to graft a veneer of Catholicism over native culture.
B) succeeded in converting the Pueblo leaders, but not the general population.
C) converted most members of the population to Christianity.
D) concluded that their mission was hopeless.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

All of the following are true regarding the potato's role in the "Columbian Exchange" EXCEPT the

A) New World sweet potato made its entry into China in the 1500s.
B) potato strengthened Europeans' diet.
C) potato led to population growth.
D) potato decreased crop yields in calories per acre.

Question 5

According to Martin Luther, good "works"

A) offered the means to heavenly salvation.
B) represented only the external evidence of grace won through faith.
C) enabled an individual to reduce his or her time in purgatory.
D) conferred upon an individual the blessings of the Church.

Question 6

Europeans brought which of the following animals to the New World?

A) cattle
B) pigs
C) goats
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 7

The first English attempts to colonize on Roanoke Island in the 1580s

A) received official approval and financing from Queen Elizabeth.
B) attracted significant interest from English merchants and noblemen.
C) threatened Spanish control of the Americas.
D) failed to establish successful relations with Native Americans.

Question 8

The massive flow of silver bullion from the Americas to Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

A) increased prevailing wage rates in Europe.
B) delayed further exploration of America.
C) triggered a century of inflationary pressures.
D) hampered capitalist modes of production.

Question 9

England began to take greater interest in overseas exploration as a result of all of the following EXCEPT

A) economic depression that made people look for new opportunities.
B) commercial success in Scandinavia, India, and the Middle East that raised hope for other market expansion.
C) wool merchants who wanted new markets.
D) improved ships that sailed faster and carried more cargo than before.

Question 10

The consequences of sugar production in the New World included

A) colonizing Brazil.
B) revolutionizing European tastes.
C) stimulating the transport of millions of African slaves.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 11

The population of the Americas dramatically declined following the arrival of Europeans primarily because of the

A) policy of systematic genocide employed by European explorers toward Native Americans.
B) enslavement and brutal treatment of Native Americans by Europeans.
C) lack of natural immunity among Native Americans to European diseases.
D) loss of morale and sense of hopelessness that pervaded Native American societies.

Question 12

In their travels through the Gulf of Mexico region, Spanish explorers

A) failed to find the gold they were looking for.
B) enslaved Indians to serve as pack animals.
C) witnessed the ravages of European diseases on native people.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 13

Spanish and Portuguese explorations of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries

A) helped soothe the Catholic-Protestant division within Christianity.
B) prompted immediate competition from England and France.
C) retarded the growth of western European economies.
D) shifted commercial power from Mediterranean ports to those of the Atlantic.

Question 14

Protestantism did not gain an early foothold in the Americas because

A) nations most affected by the Reformation entered overseas exploration later than Spain and Portugal.
B) Catholic missionaries were more daring than Protestant missionaries and bravely faced dangers Protestants refused to confront.
C) Protestants were more interested in earning profits than in converting souls.
D) of Indian resistance.

Question 15

While Spain began to exert its power on the other side of the Atlantic, the Portuguese

A) needed to address severe economic problems at home.
B) decided to take a leading role in European affairs.
C) concentrated on spreading their power to Africa and East Asia.
D) entered a race with Spain for control of the Americas.

Question 16

The doctrines of Protestant leader John Calvin

A) appealed only to the poorest and most oppressed peoples of Europe.
B) offered a system for both self-discipline and social control.
C) emphasized the need for a hierarchical church structure.
D) denied hope of salvation to most believers.

Question 17

The defeat of the Spanish Armada by England in 1588

A) solidified Protestantism in England.
B) increased English interest in overseas exploration and colonization.
C) fanned a nationalistic spirit in England.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 18

An African known as Estevan and enslaved by the Spanish

A) sailed on all of Columbus's voyages.
B) taught the Spanish how to communicate with their slaves.
C) was the first African to die in the New World.
D) became an important trailblazer for Spanish explorers.

Question 19

Christopher Columbus's urge to explore

A) reflected his commitment to exploit other peoples.
B) came primarily from a desire to reap significant fame and riches from his four voyages of exploration.
C) developed from his family's history and experience in trade.
D) was inspired by the reconquest of Moorish Spain.

Question 20

How did the Pueblo native people benefit from Spanish arrival?

A) They obtained Spanish military protection against enemy Apaches.
B) They had access to grain during times of drought.
C) They had access to mission livestock.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 21

Because Indians did not fence and till land, English settlers

A) felt justified in dispossessing the natives of their soil.
B) explained the easy conquest of the natives by the Spanish.
C) were spurred to civilize and convert the natives to Christianity.
D) justified their lack of information about indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Question 22

The African slave trade helped in the advancement of

A) crops.
B) agricultural techniques.
C) medical knowledge.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 23

The first colony organized around slave labor was Portugal's

A) Madeira.
B) Brazil.
C) Angola.
D) Gao.

Question 24

By 1740, the foremost slave-trading nation in the world was

A) India.
B) England.
C) Spain.
D) France.

Question 25

English colonizing ventures in the New World differed from previous Spanish and Portuguese efforts in that English attempts were

A) immediate and major successes.
B) strictly coordinated and governed by the Crown.
C) met with little or no native resistance.
D) privately organized and financed.

Question 26

English settlers had ambivalent images and feelings about the natives of North America. Analyze why this was so and what images/feelings seemed to prevail.

Question 27

"Demographic disaster also struck the populous Inca peoples of the Peruvian Andes...." Demographic refers to

A) population.
B) epidemic disease.
C) internal class revolt.
D) military conquest.

Question 28

Between 1519 and the early 1800s, which of the following ethnic groups crossed the Atlantic to the Americas in greater numbers than any other?

A) Europeans
B) Asians
C) Africans
D) Australians

Question 29

Most African slaves sent to the Americas were

A) criminals.
B) debtors.
C) war captives.
D) the insane.

Question 30

How many Africans do historians estimate arrived as slaves in the New World?

A) 96 million
B) over 10 million
C) 1 million
D) 200,000

Question 31

As a propagandist in favor of English exploration and colonization of America, write an essay trying to convince Queen Elizabeth of the need for financing such expeditions.

Question 32

The Columbian Exchange introduced new plants, animals, and microbes to people on both sides of the Atlantic. Assess the positive and negative consequences of that exchange. In your opinion, who benefited most-those living on the western side of the Atlantic or those on the eastern side?

Question 33

Consider the experiences of the typical African slave. Where did the person come from? Where would he or she be most likely to go? What happened between the moments of capture and arrival in the western Atlantic?

Question 34

Why did the African slave trade begin?

A) African rulers wanted to sell slaves to the Chinese.
B) It was an attempt to fill a labor shortage in the Mediterranean world.
C) Europeans wanted new workers to drive down wages in the colonies.
D) European elites valued African culture and viewed Africans as equals.

Question 35

"Some Taino women married Spanish men and produced the first mestizo society in the Americas." Mestizo refers to a

A) group of people who depend almost exclusively upon maize for their dietary needs.
B) culture blending Catholicism with Native American beliefs.
C) new language that combined Spanish with Taino.
D) person of mixed European and American Indian ancestry.

Question 36

"Spanish conquest of major areas of the Americas set in motion two of the most far-reaching processes in modern history. One involved microbes, the other precious metals." Explain.

Question 37

You are a Catholic priest living in England in the 1540s and 1550s. How do you respond to the attacks on the Church that have been made by Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Henry VIII?

Question 38

Which of the following crops did Europeans use African slave labor to produce in the Americas?

A) sugar
B) rice
C) tobacco
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 39

You are a Spanish explorer in 1500 and your brother sails for Portugal. Describe what voyages of exploration you both might plan for that year.