Subject SAT - US History (Before Contact)

The Oneida, Mohawk, Seneca, Tuscarora, Cayuga, and Onondaga peoples of the Northeast formed a political group known as

The Iroquois Confederacy Together, these five tribes devised the first democratic system, about four hundred years before the US Constitution of 1787

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 In order to farm, native societies could set up more permanent places to live with more permanent sources of nourishment -- as long as there wasn't a drought

"Three Sisters" farming was an agricultural system of companion planting innovated by the Iroquois-speaking peoples of the Northeast; farmers planted corn, beans, and squash together. The beans used the cornstalks as a trellis to grow on, but how did beans benefit the other tow plants in the system?

Bacteria on the roots of beans 'fix' nitrogen from the atmosphere into the soil, fertilizing the earth for the benefit of the corn and squash With soil fertilization provided by the bean roots, corn and squash could grow easily without any added fertilizer or labor

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 The long houses resembled long, half cylinders

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 may across a now-vanished land bridge from Asia to North America Historians believe that a small land bridge, called Beringia, once allowed humans to cross the Bering Strait from Asia and enter North America

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 They were known for making entire cities built on top of and around massive earth mounds (monk mounds)

Cahokia, the largest of the settlements of the Mississippian culture, is renowned for

Monks Mound, an enormous structure similar in size to the Great Pyramid of Giza Monk's Mound was the center of Cahokia and its elaborate network of mounds

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

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

Which of the following conclusion might historians make about the Mississippian people from the evidence of Cahokia?

They lived in settled villages and farmed, allowing for the growth of large populations it took lots of time and effort to create these mounds, pointing to the existence of established sedentary communities

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

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 the Portuguese built the Elmina Castle in 1482, and it housed thousands of enslaved people in dark dungeons before transporting them to the Americas

The Ghana Empire created extensive trade networks across the Sahara Desert, sending out caravans bearing

gold and salt Ghana's king controlled the gold supply and could maintain control of prices

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 agriculture allowed Native Americans to stop following herds of animals and stay in one place

What's a Clovis point, and what does it tell us about the way the North American continent was settles by human beings?

it's a sharpened stone tool, and it tells us that humans have been on the North American continent for at least 13,500 years

The Protestant Reformation led to:

mistrust, turmoil, and warfare between Protestants and Catholics in Europe a previously united religion, Christianity unofficially divided into western and eastern branches, resulting in intense conflict throughout Europe