Deck 1: New World Beginnings

Question 1

Which of the following mountain ranges was probably created before the continental separation approximately 350 million years ago?

A) the Rockies
B) the Sierra Nevada
C) the Cascades
D) the Coast Range
E) the Appalachians

Answer 1

the Appalachians

Question 2

Before the arrival of Columbus, most native peoples in North America

A) lived in large communities.
B) were more advanced than those in South America.
C) lived in small, scattered, and impermanent settlements.
D) depended on hunting rather than agriculture for food.
E) relied on horses for transportation.

Answer 2

lived in small, scattered, and impermanent settlements.

Question 3

The earth's major continents developed from

A) a series of volcanoes exploding beneath the ocean floor.
B) the drifting apart of the original single supercontinent.
C) the coming together of numerous small islands.
D) the crashing of an enormous meteorite into the earth.
E) all of these.

Answer 3

the drifting apart of the original single supercontinent.

Question 4

The ancient Indian people who built such elaborate settlements as the one at Chaco Canyon in New Mexico were the

A) Cherokees.
B) Aztecs.
C) Mound Builders.
D) Creeks.
E) Anasazis.

Question 5

All of the following are true of Native Americans except

A) they had neither the desire nor the means to manipulate nature aggressively.
B) they revered the physical world.
C) they believed that nature was endowed with spiritual properties.
D) they believed that humans had dominion over the earth.
E) they deliberately set massive forest fires to create better hunting habitats.

Question 6

The Iroquois Confederacy was able to menace its Native American and European neighbors because of

A) its developed political and organization skills to sustain a robust military alliance.
B) the Iroquois warriors' skill in pitched battle.
C) the scattered nature of the Iroquois settlements, which made it difficult for their enemies to defeat them.
D) the alliance with the Aztecs and Incas.
E) its use of new weapons like the rifle.

Question 7

Which of the following is NOT true about the native population of the two American continents in 1492?

A) They numbered about 54 million.
B) They spoke over 2000 different languages.
C) They practiced a variety of different religions.
D) They existed almost exclusively as nomadic tribes.
E) They built elaborate cities and engaged in far-flung commerce.

Question 8

Native American settlement north of present-day Mexico had limited impact on the land mostly because

A) Native tribes practiced an early form of conservationism.
B) Native religions commanded minimal interference with the natural environment.
C) Natives in the northern part of the continent were not familiar with agriculture.
D) Their numbers were comparably small for the vast stretch of land they occupied.
E) Prior to European arrival, native Americans lacked the tools and machinery to significantly shape their landscapes.

Question 9

The size and sophistication of Native American civilizations in Mexico and South America can be attributed to

A) Spanish influences.
B) their way of life based on hunting and gathering.
C) the development of agriculture.
D) technology brought by the early settlers from Siberia.
E) their use of draft animals and the wheel.

Question 10

Mapping the locations of North American native tribes is difficult for all of the following reasons, EXCEPT

A) Tribes such as the Navajo and Apache migrated considerable distances both before and after their encounter with Europeans.
B) Maps mark tribal locations at the time of their first encounter with Europeans only.
C) First contacts with Europeans took place over the stretch of several centuries, which leads to a chronological skewing of maps.
D) Native tribes rarely knew their geographical locations.
E) In the mid-Atlantic and southeastern regions pre-Columbian conflicts had scrambled tribes into a various groups that are virtually impossible to trace.

Question 11

Most likely the first humans to enter the American continents were

A) Vikings from Scandinavia.
B) Spanish explorers of the fifteenth century.
C) nomadic Asian hunters.
D) Portuguese sailors of Prince Henry the Navigator.
E) ocean voyagers from the South Pacific islands.

Question 12

The cultivation of corn reached present-day American Southwest as early as

A) 8000 B.C.
B) 4000 B.C.
C) 2000 B.C.
D) 200 A.D.
E) 1000 A.D.

Question 13

Some of the more advanced Native American cultures did all of the following except

A) engage in significant ocean voyages of discovery.
B) establish large, bustling cities.
C) make strikingly accurate astronomical observations.
D) study mathematics.
E) carry on commerce.

Question 14

The Christian crusaders were indirectly responsible for the discovery of America because they

A) were victorious over the Muslims.
B) created a European taste for Asian silk, drugs, perfumes, sugar, and spices.
C) succeeded in establishing improved business relations between Muslims and Christians.
D) returned with captured Muslim maps showing the North and South American continents, piquing their interests in other parts of the world.
E) developed an interest in inter-religious dialogue.

Question 15

Native American (Indian) civilization was least highly developed in

A) North America.
B) Mexico.
C) Central America.
D) Peru.
E) Latin America.

Question 16

Unlike the Indian societies of Central and South America, the native peoples of North America

A) were pacifists who opposed all warfare.
B) aggressively exploited the land for agricultural development.
C) lived in relatively scattered settlements without dense urban concentrations of population.
D) practiced a universal system of stern patriarchal authority.
E) all of these.

Question 17

The Great Ice Age led to the beginnings of North America's human history because

A) it exposed a land bridge connecting Eurasia with North America.
B) the glacial withdrawal allowed migration from South America.
C) the glacial withdrawal formed freshwater lakes that supported life.
D) rising ocean levels from melted glaciers made it possible to cross the Atlantic.
E) it prevented the migration of dangerous animals from the Bering Isthmus.

Question 18

Western Europeans wanted to discover a new, shorter route to eastern Asia in order to

A) break the hold that Muslim and Italian merchants had on trade with Asia.
B) reduce the price of goods from Asia.
C) gain more profits for themselves.
D) reduce the time it took to transport goods.
E) all of these.

Question 19

The melting of the glaciers at the end of the ice age created a large lake covering

A) most of California's Central Valley.
B) the Tennessee Valley.
C) the Pacific Northwest.
D) much of present-day Utah, Nevada, and Idaho.
E) half of today's state of Indiana.

Question 20

The early voyages of the Scandinavian seafarers did not result in permanent settlement in North America because

A) the Native Americans drove them out.
B) the area in which they landed could not support a large population.
C) no nation-state yearning to expand supported these ventures.
D) British adventurers defeated the Scandinavians in 1066.
E) the settlers died of disease.

Question 21

Spain secured its claim to Columbus's discoveries in the ____, dividing the "heathen lands" of the New World with Portugal.

A) Treaty of Pontiac
B) Peace Treaty of Quetzalcoatl
C) Treaty of Tenochtitlan
D) Treaty of Tordesillas
E) none of these

Question 22

The advantage of the Portuguese caravel was:

A) It was better suited for the warm waters off the African coast.
B) It proved fast enough to escape Mediterranean pirate ships.
C) It could sail more closely to the wind and thus successfully travel back north from the African West coast.
D) It was cheaper to build in large numbers.
E) It was the first ship to rely exclusively on sails without the assistance of rowers.

Question 23

Before the middle of the fifteenth century, sub-Saharan Africa had remained remote and mysterious to Europeans because

A) there was little of value there for them.
B) direct sea travel down the African coast had been virtually impossible.
C) they looked on the Africans as racial inferiors.
D) they did not know that it existed.
E) they feared the people who lived there.

Question 24

European contact with Native Americans led to

A) the Europeans' acceptance of the horse into their culture.
B) the deaths of millions of Native Americans, who had little resistance to European diseases.
C) the introduction into the New World of such plants as potatoes, tomatoes, and beans.
D) an increase in the Native American population.
E) the use of tobacco by Native Americans.

Question 25

Columbus called the native peoples he encountered "Indians" because

A) that was what they called themselves.
B) he believed that he had skirted the rim of the "Indies."
C) it was a form of the Spanish word for heathen.
D) the Vikings had first called them by that name.
E) all of these.

Question 26

The vast majority of Native Americans that died in the centuries following Columbus's landfall were victims of:

A) diseases like smallpox, yellow fever, and malaria.
B) starvation.
C) enslavement.
D) European weapons and techniques of warfare.
E) intertribal conflict.

Question 27

The stage was set for a cataclysmic shift in the course of history when

A) Europeans clamored for more and cheaper products from Asia.
B) Africa was established as a source of slave labor.
C) the Portuguese demonstrated the feasibility of long-range ocean navigation.
D) the Renaissance nurtured a spirit of optimism and adventure.
E) all of these.

Question 28

After his first voyage, Christopher Columbus believed that he had

A) discovered a New World.
B) failed at what he had set out to do.
C) sailed to the outskirts of the East Indies.
D) sailed around the world.
E) discovered the "lost continent" of Atlantis.

Question 29

Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castillo agreed to finance Christopher Columbus' voyage westward into oceanic unknowns for all of the following reasons, EXCEPT:

A) Portugal controlled the round-Africa water route to India.
B) As monarchs of a new Spanish nation they were eager to outstrip their Portuguese rivals.
C) They wanted to tap the wealth of the Indies.
D) Their young new nation state was able to shoulder the formidable tasks of conquest and discovery.
E) A rapidly growing Spanish population was eager for new lands to settle and colonize.

Question 30

The institution of encomienda allowed the

A) native people to enslave members of other tribes.
B) Europeans to marry Native Americans.
C) European governments to give Indians to colonists if they promised to Christianize them.
D) governments of Europe to abolish the practice of Indian slavery and to establish African slavery.
E) Europeans to establish an economy based on capitalism.

Question 31

All of the following contributed to the emergence of a new interdependent global economic system except

A) Europe providing the market and capital.
B) Africa providing the labor.
C) the belief of European explorers to create new cultures.
D) New World providing its raw materials.
E) the advancement and improvement of technology.

Question 32

The Europeans eventually realized that the riches of the New World lay not in the spice trade but in

A) furs and fishing.
B) agriculture.
C) the gold and silver of Indian civilizations.
D) enslaving the Indians.
E) establishing commercial trade with the Aztecs and Incas.

Question 33

The origins of the modern plantation system can be found in the

A) American South.
B) Arab slave trade.
C) Portuguese and Spanish sugar islands in the Atlantic.
D) European feudal system.
E) African slave system.

Question 34

Which of the following New World crops did not revolutionize the international economy?

A) maize (corn)
B) potatoes
C) beans
D) tomatoes
E) cotton

Question 35

The introduction of American crops like maize, manioc, and sweet potatoes into Africa helped fuel

A) a population boom in Africa.
B) the introduction of new illnesses into Africa.
C) an African population decline.
D) a growing international trade between Africa and Europe.
E) an increase in the number of obese people.

Question 36

Men became conquistadores because they wanted to

A) gain God's favor by spreading Christianity.
B) escape dubious pasts.
C) seek adventure, as the heroes of classical antiquity had done.
D) satisfy their desire for gold.
E) all of these.

Question 37

Spain was united into a single nation-state when

A) it was invaded by Portugal in the late fifteenth century.
B) Christopher Columbus returned with news of his discovery of the New World.
C) Prince Henry the Navigator came to the throne.
D) the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella merged two Spanish kingdoms.
E) the Muslim Moors were expelled from Spain.

Question 38

The Aztec chief Moctezuma allowed Cortés to enter the capital of Tenochtitlán because

A) Cortés's army was so powerful.
B) Moctezuma believed that Cortés was the god Quetzalcoatl.
C) there was little in the city of interest to the Spanish.
D) he was told to by the gods.
E) his translator Malinche persuaded him to do so.

Question 39

One of the most dramatic transformations in North American Indians' way of life after the Europeans arrived was

A) the Indians swift adaptation to urban existence.
B) the use of the horse to create highly mobile hunting societies.
C) the introduction of commercial trade in corn and potatoes with Europe.
D) the overturning of Indians' previously matriarchal social structure.
E) the steady growth in Indian population.

Question 40

Spain began to fortify and settle border areas like Florida, Texas, and California in order to

A) protect its Central and South American domains from encroachments by England and France.
B) establish a basis for the conquest of North America.
C) acquire more slaves.
D) find a passage to the Pacific Ocean.
E) protect the Indian cultures in those areas from exploitation.

Question 41

Europeans learned of the great wealth of Asia from

A) Christian Crusaders.
B) the voyages of Norse explorers.
C) Marco Polo's report of his travels.
D) the voyages of Christopher Columbus.
E) Muslim traders.

Question 42

Among the more highly developed Native American (Indian) cultures of North America were the

A) Mound Builders.
B) Iroquois.
C) Pueblos.
D) Creeks.
E) Anasazis.

Question 43

The misdeeds of the Spanish in the New World obscured their substantial achievements and helped give birth to the "Black Legend," which claimed all of the following except

A) conquerors tortured and butchered the Indians.
B) stole their gold.
C) infected them with smallpox.
D) left little but misery behind.
E) were genuine empire builders and cultural innovators.

Question 44

European voyages of discovery and exploration were facilitated by

A) the Renaissance.
B) new naval technology.
C) the rise of nation-states.
D) the religious unity of Europe.
E) printing presses.

Question 45

During Popé's Rebellion in 1680, Pueblo Indians rose up against

A) the violent Spanish military regime.
B) Spanish efforts to suppress their native religious customs.
C) the attempts of Spanish settlers to enslave them.
D) avaricious Spanish merchants who paid only cut-throat prices.
E) French settlers who sought to undermine the Spanish community there.