Deck 27: Asian Transitions in an Age of Global Change

Question 1

What type of ships did Vasco da Gama sail in in his voyage to India?

A) Caravel ships
B) Long ships
C) Steam ships
D) Bed ships

Answer 1

Caravel ships

Question 2

All of the following were sources of disappointment to the Europeans who arrived in Asia in the 16th and 17th centuries EXCEPT

A) Asians were uninterested in European trade goods.
B) Asians were uninterested in converting to Christianity.
C) Asian civilization seemed materially impoverished.
D) the Europeans were too few in numbers to exert force on Asian kingdoms.

Answer 2

Asian civilization seemed materially impoverished.

Question 3

Whose voyages of exploration opened the way for the Europeans to the Indies?

A) Christopher Columbus
B) Vasco da Gama
C) Francis Xavier
D) Ponce de Leon

Answer 3

Vasco da Gama

Question 4

Despite their armaments, what factor convinced the Europeans that they could make little headway against the kingdoms of Asia?

A) The inferiority of European ships
B) The distance from European ports
C) European lack of bullion
D) The large populations and well entrenched political and economic systems of Asian kingdoms

Question 5

What was the Portuguese lesson learned at Calicut?

A) That the Indian markets had little of interest to Western consumers
B) That the Indians refused to trade with Europeans
C) That the Western products brought for trade were of little or no value in Indian markets
D) That Western bullion was of no use in the East

Question 6

What was the initial Portuguese response to the encounter at Calicut?

A) To abandon hopes of entering the Asian markets
B) To export increasing amounts of Western products to Asia
C) To bypass India and trade directly with China
D) To apply military force to obtain desired Asian products

Question 7

What peoples had preceded the Portuguese in entering the markets of south and southeast Asia?

A) Africans
B) Muslims
C) Dutch
D) English

Question 8

Which of the following products was associated with the Arab zone of the Asian sea trading network?

A) Glass
B) Cotton textiles
C) Paper
D) Porcelain

Question 9

Which of the following products was associated with the Indian zone of the Asian sea trading network?

A) Tapestry
B) Cotton textiles
C) Carpets
D) Paper

Question 10

Which of the following products was NOT one of the products associated with the Chinese zone of the Asian sea trading network?

A) Paper
B) Porcelain
C) Silk textiles
D) Cotton textiles

Question 11

What was the significance of the mainland kingdoms and island states of southeast Asia that surrounded the three great manufacturing zones of the Asian sea trading network?

A) These regions were virtually the sole consumers of goods made in the manufacturing regions.
B) These regions fed raw materials, precious metals and forest products, into the trading network.
C) These regions provided the military defense for the manufacturing regions.
D) These regions had no relationship to the three main manufacturing zones of the Asian sea trading network.

Question 12

What raw materials were most highly valued in the Asian sea trading network?

A) Iron
B) Lumber
C) Spices
D) Fish

Question 13

Which of the following items was more likely to be exchanged within the ports of each of the main trading zone rather than over greater distances between zones?

A) Rice
B) Spices
C) Ivory
D) Silk textiles

Question 14

What was the nature of the sea routes in the Asian trading network?

A) Well-established routes directly crossing the major oceans were maintained from ancient times.
B) Most of the navigation was along the coastlines.
C) Only the Chinese and Arabs practiced navigation in the Asian trading network.
D) The only sea-going routes crossed the Indian Ocean from the Swahili ports of east Africa to India.

Question 15

Which of the following was one of the crucial points in the Asian sea trading network where trade converged?

A) The mouth of the Ganges River
B) Canton
C) The straits of Malacca
D) The mouth of the Huanghe River

Question 16

Which of the following statements most accurately describes the nature of the Asian sea trading network?

A) The entire network was dominated by Arab merchants who worked in common cause to establish a monopoly of trade.
B) The Chinese, as a result of their naval superiority, were able to secure military dominance of the system.
C) There was no central control, and force was usually absent from commercial exchanges.
D) The system functioned only so long as it was administered from the Ottoman Empire with the tacit support of the Ming dynasty.

Question 17

Why were the Portuguese unwilling to exchange bullion for products within the Asian commercial system?

A) The doctrine of mercantilism equated possession of bullion with power and argued against negative trade balances.
B) They had none.
C) There was little merchandise that the Portuguese considered of value in the Asian trade network.
D) All of Portuguese bullion was exchanged for slaves in the African commercial system.

Question 18

Why did the Portuguese believe they could successfully enter the Asian sea trading by force?

A) The Asian empires lacked navies.
B) There was little military force in any of the Muslim or Asian empires.
C) The Portuguese realized that their armies were more numerous than those of the Asian opponents.
D) The Portuguese had fewer ships, but they were more maneuverable and better armed than those of their Asian opponents.

Question 19

The Portuguese won a major sea battle over a combined fleet of Egyptian and Indian vessels in 1509 at

A) Malacca.
B) Diu.
C) Samarkand.
D) Batavia.

Question 20

Which of the following was NOT a fortified trading port established by the Portuguese in the early 16th century?

A) Batavia
B) Ormuz
C) Malacca
D) Goa

Question 21

What trade did the Portuguese intend to monopolize within the Asian trading network?

A) Slaves
B) Ivory
C) Spices
D) Cotton textiles

Question 22

How successful was the Portuguese monopoly on Asian products?

A) For some decades they were able to maintain a complete monopoly over Asian products shipped to Europe.
B) Though they managed to monopolize some spices grown in limited locales, the Portuguese lacked the manpower and ships to sustain a monopoly.
C) The Portuguese were unable to achieve control over any Asian products due to competition from the Chinese commercial navy.
D) The Portuguese monopoly was rigidly enforced over Asian products for almost two centuries.

Question 23

Who succeeded the Portuguese as the most successful European entrant into the Asian sea trading network?

A) England
B) Italy
C) Spain
D) Holland

Question 24

Where was the chief Dutch trading fortress and port in southeast Asia?

A) Ormuz
B) Goa
C) Batavia
D) Darsan

Question 25

How did the Dutch commercial strategy within the Asian trade network differ from that of the Portuguese?

A) The Dutch lacked a substantial navy, and could not use warships to maintain their commercial advantage.
B) The Dutch did not make use of fortified towns and factories.
C) The Dutch were more systematic in their monopoly control of a limited number of specific spices.
D) The Dutch were more humane in their treatment of island peoples who cultivated the spices.

Question 26

In what way did the Dutch and English participation within the Asian sea trading network change by the middle decades of the 17th century?

A) For both the Dutch and the English, peaceful commerce came to be more profitable than forcible control and monopolies were aimed at European rather than Asian rivals.
B) Both northern European nations abandoned the commerce in spices in favor of cotton and silk textiles.
C) Unlike the Portuguese and Spanish, the northern European nations undertook wholesale conversion to Protestantism of the inhabitants of the Spice Islands.
D) As allies, the Dutch and English were able to establish a naval supremacy in Asia sufficient to monopolize all trade within the Asian sea trading network.

Question 27

What area of the Philippines were the Spanish NOT able to conquer?

A) Luzon
B) Suhong
C) Java
D) Mindanao

Question 28

Among which of the following groups did Roman Catholic missionaries enjoy some success?

A) The animists of the southern Philippines
B) Hindu brahmans
C) The Chinese
D) Outcaste groups in Indian coastal regions

Question 29

What Jesuit missionary was responsible for creating the strategy of converting Hindu elites as a means of achieving mass conversions?

A) Francis Xavier
B) Robert di Nobili
C) Matteo Ricci
D) Adam Schall

Question 30

In what sense was the Spanish conversion of the Filipinos similar to their experience in the Americas?

A) All Christian tenets were taught in the language of the indigenous peoples.
B) Filipino conversion to Christianity was predicated on political equality with the Spanish conquerors.
C) Like the Amerindians, the Filipinos? brand of Christianity represented a creative blend of earlier beliefs and practices with Christianity.
D) Few Filipinos were converted to Christianity.

Question 31

Which of the following was NOT a European contribution to the Asian sea trading network?

A) The addition of new routes, including the link to Europe around the Cape of Good Hope
B) The introduction of sea warfare into the Asian trade network
C) The establishment of new trading centers such as Goa, Calcutta, and Batavia
D) The establishment of an exchange of new crops and diseases similar to the ?Columbian Exchange? with the Americas

Question 32

The first Ming emperor of China was

A) Yunglo.
B) Hongwu.
C) Kangxi.
D) Zhenghe.

Question 33

Which of the following reforms was NOT introduced by the first Ming emperor?

A) The position of the scholar-gentry within the bureaucracy was restored.
B) State subsidies for imperial academies and regional colleges were reinstituted.
C) Family influence in the selection of men to the Chinese bureaucracy was eliminated.
D) The civil service examination system was reinstated.

Question 34

Which of the following was a reform instituted by the first Ming emperor to reduce court factionalism and the power of the scholar-gentry?

A) A chief minister was appointed from the royal family to oversee all work of the imperial bureaucracy.
B) Corrupt or incompetent members of the bureaucracy were punished by being beaten on the bare buttocks.
C) Imperial wives could only come from specified noble families of good repute.
D) Eunuchs were expelled from the royal household.

Question 35

Which of the following statements concerning Ming reforms in favor of the peasantry is most accurate?

A) The early Ming emperors were completely uninterested in the plight of the peasantry.
B) The first Ming emperor attempted to increase the forced labor demands on the peasantry in order to restore the Chinese economy following the expulsion of the Mongols.
C) Despite some attempts to improve economic conditions for the peasantry, the growing power of the rural landlords led to increased tenancy and landless laborers.
D) The Ming reforms resulted in a reduction in the authority of the local landlords and the establishment of small farming operations throughout China.

Question 36

Which of the following statements concerning Ming social organization is most accurate?

A) The adoption of more Buddhist beliefs began to break down the strict patterns of deference that had been customary in Han and Song China.
B) Occupational alternatives for women of all social levels dramatically expanded during the Ming era.
C) Among the groups granted almost total freedom from the bonds of social status were the students seeking entry into the scholar-gentry.
D) Under the continued influence of neo-Confucian ideology, Ming society remained rigidly stratified with emphasis on deference of youth to elders and women to men.

Question 37

Which of the following reasons is at least in part responsible for the peopling of the Yangzi region in the southern part of China during the Ming era?

A) The introduction of crops from the Americas that could be cultivated on inferior soils that did not require irrigation
B) The enforced migration of remaining Mongols within the Chinese population to the region of the Yangze
C) The abandonment of rice and millet cultivation in the region in favor of wheat introduced by Portuguese merchants
D) The opening of the region to settlement from Siam and Vietnam

Question 38

Where were foreigners permitted to do business in China during the Ming era?

A) At any port
B) Only at the Ming capital at Beijing
C) At Macao and Canton
D) Nowhere

Question 39

Which of the following statements concerning the Ming economy is most accurate?

A) Merchants failed to realize profits from the Ming commercial boom
B) Almost all commercial profits were reinvested in trade
C) The Chinese government did not tax trade, thus did not profit from commercial growth
D) Much merchant wealth was invested in land as a means of social advancement

Question 40

In terms of literature, what was the chief accomplishment of the Ming era?

A) Poetry
B) Narrative history
C) The novel
D) Haiku

Question 41

During the reign of what Ming emperor did the Chinese launch commercial expeditions to southeast Asia, Persia, and Africa?

A) Hongwu
B) Yunglo
C) Chongzhen
D) Kangxi

Question 42

Why did the Chinese abandon the commercial voyages of the Zenghe expeditions?

A) Many of the ships were lost as a result of poor ship design and inadequate sailing technology.
B) The size of the fleets was so limited that they could not compete with the greater capacity of the European voyages.
C) There was little of value for the Chinese to import in trade, and the voyages were expensive to carry out.
D) The trade with foreign regions produced a negative balance of trade for China that drained bullion from imperial coffers.

Question 43

In what way did the Jesuit missionaries maintain their positions at the court of the Ming emperors?

A) By converting Yunglo to Christianity
B) By maintaining a small but powerful European army in the Chinese capital
C) By accepting the support of the scholar-gentry
D) By demonstrating knowledge of scientific and technological skills

Question 44

Which of the following was NOT one of the three military centralizers of Japan?

A) Nobunaga
B) Hiata Ashikaga
C) Toyotomi Hideyoshi
D) Tokugawa Ieyasu

Question 45

In what year was the Tokugawa Shogunate founded, marking the reestablishment of central government in Japan?

A) 1593
B) 1603
C) 1633
D) 1653

Question 46

Why did the earliest of the Japanese military centralizers accept Christian missionaries?

A) His wife was a Christian who was able to exert her influence throughout his household.
B) The Portuguese supplied a large army to rulers who offered to accept Christianity.
C) Christianity was seen as a counterforce to the Buddhist orders that opposed the imposition of central rule.
D) Prior to his first military victory, Nobunaga saw a cross in the sky.

Question 47

Which of the following was NOT a policy imposed as a result of Japanese isolation in the 17th century?

A) Christianity was banned and Christians were persecuted.
B) Foreign traders were confined to the island of Deshima in Nagasaki Bay.
C) Neo-Confucian philosophy gave way to the influence of thinkers who championed the school of ?National Learning.?
D) The Japanese elite abandoned all contact with Western learning and technological advance.

Question 48

Define the characteristics of the Asian sea trading network. In what ways did the European incursion change the Asian system?

Question 49

What was the nature of the Ming restoration of traditional Chinese values? What innovations were made?

Question 50

Compare and contrast Chinese and European means and motives for commercial expansion.

Question 51

Following the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate, what was the nature of Japanese isolation?

Question 52

Evaluate the impact of the European entry into the Asian sea trading network.