History: Worlds collide (1491-1607)
This painting could best be used as evidence of which of the following historical developments?
how Spanish colonization led to a racial hierarchy in the New World based on an individual's percentage of Spanish blood
Which of the following developments is the most direct effect of the situation portrayed in the image?
the enslaved African population increased to serve as a labor force for the Spanish
A depiction of Sioux teepees, painted by Karl Bodmer in 1833. Image credit: WikiArt Why did the Sioux live in structures like those depicted in the image?
They facilitated a nomadic lifestyle
Non-Spanish European powers used the Black Legend to highlight the unspeakable cruelty the Spanish inflicted on Native Americans. Why would they want to do that?
To justify their own attempts to colonize the Americas and portray themselves favorably
What was Christopher Columbus looking to find on his first transatlantic voyage?
A new sea route to the Spice Islands of what is today Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia
The Ghana Empire was an inland Islamic empire established at the end of the first century and located in western:
Africa
Ancestral Pueblo people had a thriving agricultural society, as opposed to more nomadic societies. What's the big trade-off for prioritizing agriculture over hunting?
Agriculture-based societies have a more reliable source of calories, but are more vulnerable to drought
The Black Death killed an estimated 30 to 60% of Europe's population. What was the Black Death?
An extremely deadly strain of the Bubonic Plague
Crops such as sugar and tobacco were New World discoveries for the European colonizers. What was the main reason they were valued?
As cash crops that could be produced for sale
Iroquois-speaking peoples lived in structures called longhouses. What did they tend to be made out of?
Bent saplings for supports, leaves for thatching, and bark for shingles
In what way did religious intolerance contribute to global unrest during the Age of Discovery?
Christian colonists in the New World had a great desire to convert Native Americans to their faith
What was the economic philosophy of mercantilism?
Colonies exist to enrich the home country and therefore shouldn't be allowed to trade with anyone except the home country
Hernán Cortés was a Spanish explorer and military leader, also known as a:
Conquistador
Which group of foods originated in the New World?
Corn, chocolate, tomatoes, and potatoes
How was the relatively small Conquistador army of Hernan Cortés able to conquer the great Aztec imperial city of Tenochtitlàn?
Cortés leveraged the discontentment felt by the tributary city-states of the Aztec Empire, like the Tlaxcaltecas and the Texcocans, and allied his army with theirs
When Cortés first entered the city of Tenochtitlán in 1519, what happened to Moctezuma II, the ruler?
Cortés seized the palace and held Moctezuma hostage there
What were the plantations of the early colonial period designed to do?
Create large quantities of raw commodity crops at low cost, like indigo, sugar, tobacco, or coffee
(picture) Eighteenth-century Spanish casta painting. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons This painting was intended to:
Define individuals' social status in Spanish North America. The Spanish caste system was used to order people in a hierarchy based on skin color and parentage. This image shows some racial categories included in the caste system.
Read the passage and answer the question below. "By virtue of the said ransom, let ships go there and bring away as many male and female Negroes as possible, newly imported and between the ages of fifteen to eighteen or twenty years. . . .The burden of work of the Indians will be eased and unlimited amounts of gold will be mined. This is the best land in the world for Negroes, women and old men, and it is very rarely that one of these people die." -Source: Alonso de Zuazo, Spanish colonial judge, 1518 Which of the following contributed most to the increasing use of African slave labor instead of Native American labor in colonial Spain?
Enslaved Africans were immune to most diseases spread by the Spanish, while indigenous people were not.
Elmina Castle is a fortified trading post built by the Portuguese in the late 15th century along the Gold Coast of Africa. What was exported from its docks?
Enslaved people from further inland
Despite having a basis in religious and ethnic intolerance, in what way did the Crusades increase cultural interaction between Europe and the Middle East?
European Crusaders developed a taste for trade goods from India, China, and Central Asia, which spurred trade with the East along the Silk Road
"Colón [Columbus] and his crew did not voyage alone. They were accompanied by a menagerie of insects, plants, mammals, and microorganisms . . . European expeditions brought cattle, sheep, and horses, along with crops like sugarcane (originally from New Guinea), wheat (from the Middle East), bananas (from Africa), and coffee (also from Africa) . . . " -From Charles C. Mann, historian, 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created, 2011. Which of the following economic shifts resulted most directly from the trends described in the excerpt?
European economies shifted from a feudal economy to a capitalist economy
During the period known as the Reconquista, Spanish forces
Expelled North African and Arab Muslims—known as Moors— from the Iberian Peninsula of Europe
The Ghana Empire created extensive trade networks across the Sahara Desert, sending out caravans bearing
Gold and Salt
Who was Henry the Navigator, and what does he have to do with the Age of Discovery?
He was a Portuguese prince who sponsored the development of the caravel ship and directed expeditions along the Atlantic coast of Africa
Read the passage and answer the question below. "Around 7,000 years ago, agriculture emerged in Mesoamerica, including the domestication of maize, beans, and squash, causing major changes in the plants that people cultivated. Three sisters agriculture had spread across Mexico by 3,500 years ago, though they originated at different times." -Source: Amanda J. Landon, anthropologist, "The 'How' of the Three Sisters," 2008 How did the cultivation of maize affect settlement patterns in the American Southwest and present-day Mexico?
It caused Native Americans in the area to develop permanent settlements supported by farming and irrigation systems.
What did 1494's Treaty of Tordesillas accomplish for the Portuguese?
It created a vertical line through South America, giving Portugal the claim to the east coast of what is today Brazil
What distinguished the Roanoke colony from other colonies along the Eastern seaboard?
It was the first English colony in the New World; the colony dissolved under mysterious circumstances
Where's the Bering Strait, and what does it have to do with the history of the North American continent?
It's a waterway that separates present-day Siberia from present-day Alaska; historians theorize that humans made their way across a now-vanished land bridge from Asia to North America
Monk's Mound in Cahokia is an enormous earthwork very near to the Mississippi River. What do archaeologists believe it was used for?
It's believed to have been a temple or chief's residence
Mississippian cultures were vast and complex, but which of these is the most accurate brief description of their societies?
Mississippian peoples cultivated corn on Mississippi Valley floodplains and created pottery and immense earthworks
The Protestant Reformation led to:
Mistrust, turmoil, and warfare between Protestants and Catholics in Europe
Read the excerpt and answer the question below. "Into this land of meek outcasts there came some Spaniards who immediately behaved like ravening wild beasts . . . killing, terrorizing, afflicting, torturing, and destroying the native peoples, doing all this with the strangest and most varied new methods of cruelty, never seen or heard of before, and to such a degree that this Island of Hispaniola once so populous (having a population that I estimated to be more than three million), has now a population of barely two hundred persons." -Source: Bartolomé de Las Casas, Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies, 1542. Which of the following historical figures most likely would agree with de Las Casas's account of Spanish colonization?
Moctezuma II
"There were four chiefs: Mr. Bear, Cougar, Bald Eagle, and Salmon. They met to try to figure out what it was that they were going to do. They knew of a place where there were many salmon. This would be the best thing of the coming people. It would keep them strong and healthy; besides, it would taste so good! But there was a problem. The salmon were being held way up river by a dam and were being guarded by some women, who when crossed would stop at nothing to destroy anything that got in the way of keeping their salmon and doing their work." -Native American legend recorded by Martin Louie and Diana Brooks. Published in Wicazo Sa Review, 1990. Which of the following was a major contrast between the Native Americans described in the passage and those living in the Great Plains region?
Native Americans in the Northwest relied on fishing, while Native Americans on the Plains relied on hunting to obtain food.
Examine the image and answer the question below. Which of the following does this image most likely depict?
Native Americans suffering from microbial diseases introduced by Spanish Conquistadores
In addition to new maritime technologies, what other innovations helped to spur European exploration in the Americas?
New methods for organizing international trade, like the joint-stock company
Read the passage below and answer the question. "Colón [Columbus] and his crew did not voyage alone. They were accompanied by a menagerie of insects, plants, mammals, and microorganisms . . . European expeditions brought cattle, sheep, and horses, along with crops like sugarcane (originally from New Guinea), wheat (from the Middle East), bananas (from Africa), and coffee (also from Africa) . . . " -From Charles C. Mann, historian, 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created, 2011. Which of the following processes is Mann describing?
The Columbian Exchange
The Oneida, Mohawk, Seneca, Tuscarora, Cayuga, and Onondaga peoples of the Northeast formed a political group known as
The Iroquois Confederacy
What was the purpose of the Pueblo uprising?
The Pueblo people aimed to reclaim their land and cultural practices from the Spanish
How were Mississippian people similar to other Native American groups in the pre-contact era?
The environment in which they lived influenced their societies and economies.Mississippians lived on fertile land which allowed for highly productive corn (maize) farming. In turn, the Mississippians had the means to create flourishing urban centers.
-Source: Bernardino de Sahagún, Wikimedia Commons, 1576 In addition to the effect depicted in the image, which of the following was another negative environmental impact of Spanish colonization in the Americas?
The introduction of new animals negatively affected Native American crops
What was responsible for the deaths of so many Huron and Iroquois people in the 17th century?
The smallpox virus
The Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, and Seminole peoples were called the "Five Civilized Tribes" by Anglo-European colonists. Why did they deem these five groups of people 'civilized', and not others?
They adopted elements of European colonial culture like Christianity, literacy, and slavery
What was the relationship between Isabella and Ferdinand, the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, and Italian explorer Christopher Columbus?
They funded his expeditions to the New World, in the hopes of finding another sea route to the East Indies
Chaco Canyon, in modern-day New Mexico, is almost 600 miles from the Gulf of California and the Pacific Ocean. What does the presence of California seashells in archaeological digs tell us about the people who lived in Chaco Canyon 1000 years ago?
They had elaborate trade routes with societies that lived on the coast
Artist's conception of the city of Cahokia, near modern-day St. Louis. At its peak around 1100 CE, Cahokia had 20,000 residents. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons Based on the evidence of Cahokia, which of the following might historians conclude about the Mississippian peoples?
They had significant social organization, which allowed them to coordinate the construction of large buildings.
Why is it important that the Three Sisters agricultural system combined beans, corn, and squash?
Those three crops together provided complete nutrition; no single plant can provide all the nutrients a human body needs to survive.
a decrease in Native Americans as smallpox spread, but an increase in Spaniards as they continued to colonize
a decrease in Native Americans as smallpox spread, but an increase in Spaniards as they continued to colonize
Read the passage and answer the question below. "Around 7,000 years ago, agriculture emerged in Mesoamerica, including the domestication of maize, beans, and squash, causing major changes in the plants that people cultivated. Three sisters agriculture had spread across Mexico by 3,500 years ago, though they originated at different times." -Source: Amanda J. Landon, anthropologist, "The 'How' of the Three Sisters," 2008 Which of the following pieces of evidence would best support Landon's argument in the excerpt?
archaeological remains of ancient seeds
"Mestizo" refers to people who are
are a combination of Native American and European in origin People adopted this term to help establish a racial hierarchy in early colonial America.
Served cold and frothy by the Mesoamerican elite, which New World beverage began a craze in Europe that coincided with the growing European desire for sugar?
chocolate
Which of the following practices did the ideas expressed in the excerpt most directly challenge?
enslaving indigenous people as laborers in the encomienda system
Native Americans lived in teepees as they followed herds of bison across the Great Plains. Which of the following environmental factors led bison to flourish in the Great Plains?
he wet grasslands of the western Great Plains created prairie ideal for grazing.
Read the passage and answer the question below. "By virtue of the said ransom, let ships go there and bring away as many male and female Negroes as possible, newly imported and between the ages of fifteen to eighteen or twenty years. . . .The burden of work of the Indians will be eased and unlimited amounts of gold will be mined. This is the best land in the world for Negroes, women and old men, and it is very rarely that one of these people die." -Source: Alonso de Zuazo, Spanish colonial judge, 1518 This excerpt best reflects which of the following historical developments?
responses to the change in the indigenous populations after exposure to European diseases
When the Spanish colonized the Americas, they utilized the encomienda system, in which colonial settlers
set themselves up as wards for Native American laborers, extracting labor in exchange for feudal 'protection'
It is public opinion and knowledge that no end of deception is practiced and a thousand acts of robbery and violence are committed in the course of bartering and carrying off Negroes from their country and bringing them to the Indies and to Spain. . . . Since the Portuguese and Spaniards pay so much for a Negro, they go out to hunt one another without the pretext of a war, as if they were deer; even the very Ethiopians, who are different, being induced to do so by the profit derived. . . . They embark four and five hundred of them in a boat which, sometimes, is not a cargo boat. The very stench is enough to kill most of them, and, indeed, very many die. The wonder is that twenty percent of them are not lost. -Source: Fray Tomas de Mercado, Spanish Dominican Friar, 1587 The excerpt is best understood as a response to which of the following historical developments?
the Atlantic slave trade
Eighteenth-century Spanish casta painting. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons The image most directly reflects which of the following during the Spanish colonial era?
the development of a race-based caste system
