Chapter 14: Questions
How did Europeans initially justify the enslavement of Africans?
Enslavement benefited the Africans by bringing Christianity to them.
Who was Prester John?
A mythical Christian king in Africa believed to be a descendant of one of the three kings who visited Jesus after his birth.
What did Columbus believe he had found when he arrived in the Caribbean?
Islands off the coast of Japan.
Who resisted the efforts of the Portuguese to establish themselves in the Indian Ocean trade?
Muslim-controlled port cities.
At the time of his death, where did Columbus believe the islands he found were located?
Off the coast of Asia.
Who were the group of people who benefited the most from large price increases in the sixteenth century?
The middle class.
Shakespeare's history plays, such as Richard II
expressed an English national consciousness
How did French colonies respond to the problem of the low migration levels from France?
Colonial officials encouraged French traders to form ties with and marry native women.
Which of the following best characterizes the immigration patterns (forced and unforced) of Europeans and Africans to the Americas between 1500 and 1800?
About four times as many Africans migrated to America as did Europeans.
What did the Dutch East India Company do in the seventeenth century?
It took over much of the East Indies from Portugal.
After losing access to slave trading from the Black Sea, the Genoese obtained many slaves except?
Portuguese peasants.
In chronological order, what were the three successive commercial empires established by Europeans in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries?
Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch.
How did the encomienda system function?
The Spanish Crown granted conquerors the right to employ or demand tribute from groups of Native Americans in exchange for providing food and shelter.
How did the English and French seek a route to East Asia?
They sought a Northwest Passage across North America.
How did justifications for slavery change from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century?
Arguments supporting slavery began to focus more on science and nature and less on religion.
What became Cortés's crucial advantage in his conquest of the Mexica Empire?
Cortés was able to exploit internal dissention within the Mexica empire.
What did the Treaty of Tordesillas do?
Divided the Atlantic Ocean with an imaginary line, giving Spain control of everything west of the line and Portugal everything east of the line.
When Vasco da Gama arrived in the Indian Ocean, how did he navigate these unknown waters?
He hired an Indian pilot as his guide.
The motivations for European explorers did not include what?
Population pressure.
Portugal's participation in European expansion was given critical support by who?
Prince Henry.
The European voyages of the fifteenth century derived from a desire to share in the wealth of what?
The Indian Ocean trade.
How did Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe affect Spanish colonization?
The great distance of the Pacific convinced the Spanish to abandon efforts to trade in Asia and develop their American colonies instead.
How did Portuguese merchants obtain most of their slaves in Africa?
They traded for slaves with local leaders.
What best characterizes the role of Europe in the world trading system prior to the voyage of Columbus?
Europe was a minor outpost that produced few products desired by other civilizations.
How did Michel de Montaigne offer a counterpoint to Europe's growing imperial activities?
Montaigne rejected the notion that one culture was superior to another.
How did the Spanish respond to the trap set by the Inca king Atahualpa?
The Spanish ambushed and captured Atahualpa, holding him for ransom and then executing him.
What was the primary cause of the emergence of inflation in Spain in the sixteenth century?
The inability of Spanish agriculture and manufacturing to meet the growing demand for goods.
How did the Spanish monarchy seek to maintain its control over its colonies?
The monarchy established intendants with broad administrative and financial authority who were responsible directly to the monarchy.