Test: Europe, the Americas, and Africa Unit Test
Use the excerpt from Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron to answer the question. Boccaccio provides evidence to support which conclusion about Renaissance Europe? 1. A dramatic decline in population spurred more social mobility and economic opportunity. 2. Ongoing wars of conquest enriched the nobility and solidified the power of ruling dynasties. 3. The widespread death and suffering sowed religious doubts and undermined religious authority. 4. Competition among powerful monarchies destroyed feudal estates and spurred waves of rural-to-urban migration.
1. A dramatic decline in population spurred more social mobility and economic opportunity.
Use the excerpt from Hernán Cortés's "Second Letter to the King of Spain" to answer the question. Which of the following BEST describes the results of Hernán Cortés's interactions with the civilization described? 1. He conquered the city, decimating the native population. 2. He converted most of the native population to Christianity. 3. He accepted gold from the city's rulers, cementing an alliance. 4. He rebuilt the city after the native people abandoned the location.
1. He conquered the city, decimating the native population.
Use the excerpt from William H. Prescott's The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella to answer the question. Which conclusion about Europe in the fifteenth century does the excerpt best support? 1. Monarchs used their wealth to expand their territory and power. 2. Alliances among neighboring rulers enabled joint economic ventures. 3. Kingdoms lacked sufficient resources to mount large-scale military ventures. 4. A weakening Catholic Church encouraged greater official religious tolerance.
1. Monarchs used their wealth to expand their territory and power.
Use the excerpt from Morton's Customs of the Indians to answer the question. The geographic conditions of which region would have best supported the culture of the Native American people described in this excerpt? 1. New England 2. the Southwest 3. the Great Plains 4. Florida Panhandle
1. New England
Use the excerpt from Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations to answer the question. Which conclusion does the passage BEST support? 1. The Columbian Exchange extracted raw materials from the Americas to fuel the growth of European industry. 2. The Columbian Exchange resulted in an exchange of technology and ideas that fueled global economic growth. 3. The Columbian Exchange represented the first example of worldwide free trade through unrestricted competition. 4. The Columbian Exchange provided for the sharing of resources across multiple continents toward their mutual benefit.
1. The Columbian Exchange extracted raw materials from the Americas to fuel the growth of European industry.
Use the excerpt from Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations to answer the question. How did the transatlantic exchange of unfamiliar foods most directly affect European society? 1. A rising merchant class threatened the power of absolute monarchs. 2. An expanded food supply helped increase the European population. 3. Exposure to native culture encouraged Renaissance thinking in Europe. 4. Trade in food goods lowered the economic influence of European farmers.
2. An expanded food supply helped increase the European population.
Use the excerpt from Hernán Cortés's "Second Letter to the King of Spain" to answer the question. In which geographic region was the civilization described in the excerpt located? 1. Andes Mountains 2. Central Mexico 3. Guatemalan Highlands 4. Mississippi River Valley
2. Central Mexico
Use the excerpt from Hernán Cortés's "Second Letter to the King of Spain" to answer the question. Why did Hernán Cortés MOST LIKELY record the details in the excerpt? 1. He wanted to better understand the native culture. 2. He was interested in the wealth of the native people. 3. He feared the native civilization posed a threat to Spain. 4. He hoped to start a new life among the native population.
2. He was interested in the wealth of the native people.
Use the excerpt from Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations to answer the question. What does this passage suggest about the impact of the Columbian Exchange that developed in the 1500s? 1. It encouraged colonization of the Americas. 2. It served to benefit mercantilist powers in Europe. 3. It lessened competition among European monarchs. 4. It provided new economic opportunities for Native Americans.
2. It served to benefit mercantilist powers in Europe.
Use the excerpt from Morton's Customs of the Indians to answer the question. Which conclusion does the excerpt MOST CLEARLY support? 1. Native Americans developed barter rather than money economies. 2. Native Americans used natural, local materials to build settlements. 3. Native Americans lacked the technology to travel far from their villages. 4. Native Americans depended on trade for food, clothing, and other needs.
2. Native Americans used natural, local materials to build settlements.
Use the excerpt from William H. Prescott's The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella to answer the question. The term Santa Fe means "holy faith." What does this name and the excerpt suggest about Spanish exploits in the fifteenth century? 1. Missionary ideals were the driving force behind the Spanish Inquisition in Europe. 2. Spanish rulers used religious sentiment to promote goals and justify the Reconquista. 3. Spanish economic influence expanded through foreign holy wars and military conquest. 4. Competition between religious and secular leaders divided Spain into multiple kingdoms.
2. Spanish rulers used religious sentiment to promote goals and justify the Reconquista.
Use the excerpt from Morton's Customs of the Indians to answer the question. Based on the excerpt, why might some Native Americans have been willing to trade with newly encountered Europeans? 1. They sought new allies in ongoing tribal disputes. 2. They had established trade networks among themselves. 3. They were used to moving around and meeting strangers. 4. They lacked sufficient resources to support their populations.
2. They had established trade networks among themselves.
Use the excerpt from Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron to answer the question. Boccaccio's description of the Black Plague is most similar to which of the following in the Americas? 1. the Ebola epidemic 2. the spread of smallpox 3. the rise of polio in colonies 4. the conditions on slave ships
2. the spread of smallpox
Use the excerpt from Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations to answer the question. How did the system of exchange described in the excerpt impact Native Americans? 1. The introduction of writing fostered trade and growth. 2. Irrigation farming let them build permanent settlements. 3. Many of them integrated horses into their cultures and economies. 4. New kinds of tools helped them build temples and mounds.
3. Many of them integrated horses into their cultures and economies.
Use the excerpt from Hernán Cortés's "Second Letter to the King of Spain" to answer the question. Which innovation made the food production described in the excerpt possible? 1. extensive road systems 2. earthen mounds 3. floating gardens 4. terraced fields
3. floating gardens
Use the excerpt from Hernán Cortés's Second Letter to the King of Spain to answer the question. Which city and people does the excerpt describe? 1. the Incan people living in Cuzco 2. the Mayan people living in Tikal 3. the Aztec people living in Tenochtitlán 4. the Mississippian people living in Cahokia
3. the Aztec people living in Tenochtitlán
Use the excerpt from Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations to answer the question. Which significant part of the economic system described in the excerpt does Smith omit? 1. the import of European diseases to the Americas 2. the import of spices from the East Indies to Europe 3. the export of Africans as slave labor to the Americas 4. the export of cash crops from the Americas to Europe
3. the export of Africans as slave labor to the Americas
Use the excerpt from William H. Prescott's The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella to answer the question. Why did Ferdinand and Isabella MOST LIKELY pursue the goals reflected by the excerpt? 1. to fund voyages of exploration to the Americas 2. to make Spain the seat of the Church rather than Italy 3. to gain access to Mediterranean and African trade routes 4. to end the practice of slavery and the slave trade in Muslim lands
3. to gain access to Mediterranean and African trade routes
Use the excerpt from Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron to answer the question. During the 1300s, which European activity both contributed to and suffered because of the events described in the excerpt? 1. competition for land in the Americas 2. Roman Catholic religious zeal 3. Spanish succession disputes 4. foreign trade with Asia
4. foreign trade with Asia
Use the excerpt from Bartolomé de Las Casas's Destruction of the Indies to answer the question. Evaluate the extent to which Spanish exploration and colonization affected native peoples in the Americas. Using the excerpt above, answer (a), (b), and (c). (a) How does Bartolomé de Las Casas describe initial and ongoing contacts between the Spanish and native peoples? Your response should be 4-6 sentences in length. (b) What motivations does Las Casas ascribe to Spanish conquerors and settlers? Your response should be 4-6 sentences in length. (c) How do you think the goals of the Spanish shaped their relations with and treatment of native peoples? Your response should be 4-6 sentences in length. Use evidence from the document to support your answer.
I can't help with this one. Sorry :(
Use the excerpt from Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Voyage to Newfoundland, published in 1583, to answer the question. Your response should be a paragraph in length. In the 1560s, Sir Humphrey Gilbert proposed a plan to search for the Northwest Passage. Later, he devised schemes to colonize North America and upset Spanish, Portuguese, and French fishing operations in the region. In 1583, to this end, he established the English colony of Newfoundland. How do these events and the account of Gilbert's 1583 voyage reflect the influence of competition among European nations on exploration and colonization of the Americas?
I can't help with this one. Sorry :(
Use the excerpt from The Popol Vuh, the creation myth of the Quiché Mayan people, to answer the question. The Maya most likely wrote The Popol Vuh in the mid-sixteenth century, but the story has roots in a much older oral tradition. Using the excerpt above, answer (a) and (b). (a) In 1-2 sentences, identify ONE way in which this excerpt reflects the close relationship between the culture of the Maya and their natural environment. (b) In 3-4 sentences, explain ONE way in which the existence of The Popol Vuh relates to the complexity of pre-European native civilizations in the Americas.
I can't help with this one. Sorry :(
Excerpt from "Hernán Cortés's Second Letter to the King of Spain," 1519 : This city has many public squares, in which are situated the markets and other places for buying and selling. There is one square twice as large as that of the city of Salamanca, surrounded by porticoes, where are daily assembled more than sixty thousand souls, engaged in buying and selling; and where are found all kinds of merchandise that the world affords, embracing the necessaries of life, as for instance articles of food, as well as jewels of gold and silver, lead, brass, copper, tin, precious stones, bones, shells, snails, and feathers. . . . There are apothecaries' shops, where prepared medicines, liquids, ointments, and plasters are sold; barbers' shops, where they wash and shave the head; and restaurateurs, that furnish food and drink at a certain price. There is also a class of men like those called in Castile porters, for carrying burdens. Wood and coal are seen in abundance, and braziers of earthenware for burning coals; mats of various kinds for beds, others of a lighter sort for seats, and for halls and bedrooms. There are all kinds of green vegetables, especially onions, leeks, garlic, watercresse
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Excerpt from Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 1776 : The general advantages which Europe, considered as one great country, has derived from the discovery and colonization of America, consist, first, in the increase of its enjoyments; and, secondly, in the augmentation of its industry. The surplus produce of America, imported into Europe, furnishes the inhabitants of this great continent with a variety of commodities which they could not otherwise have possessed; some for conveniency and use, some for pleasure, and some for ornament, and thereby contributes to increase their enjoyments. The discovery and colonization of America, it will readily be allowed, have contributed to augment the industry, first, of all the countries which trade to it directly, such as Spain, Portugal, France, and England; and, secondly, of all those which, without trading to it directly, send, through the medium of other countries, goods to it of their own produce. . . . All such countries have evidently gained a more extensive market for their surplus produce, and must consequently have been encouraged to increase its quantity. The exclusive trade of the mother co
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Excerpt from Bartolomé de Las Casas's Destruction of the Indies, 1552 : Among the gentle sheep, gifted by their Maker with the above qualities, the Spaniards entered as soon as they knew them, like wolves, tigers, and lions which had been starving for many days, and since forty years they have done nothing else; nor do they otherwise at the present day, than outrage, slay, afflict, torment, and destroy them with strange and new, and divers kinds of cruelty, never before seen, nor heard of, nor read of, of which some few will be told below: to such extremes has this gone that, whereas there were more than three million souls, whom we saw in Hispaniola, there are to-day, not two hundred of the native population left. The island of Cuba is almost as long as the distance from Valladolid to Rome; it is now almost entirely deserted. The islands of San Juan [Porto Rico], and Jamaica, very large and happy and pleasing islands, are both desolate. The Lucaya Isles lie near Hispaniola and Cuba to the north and number more than sixty, including those that are called the Giants, and other large and small Islands; the poorest of these, which is more fertile, and pleasing than the King's garden in Se
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Excerpt from Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Voyage to Newfoundland, 1583 : Many voyages have been pretended, yet hitherto never any thoroughly accomplished by our nation, of exact discovery into the bowels of those main, ample, and vast countries extended infinitely into the north from thirty degrees, or rather from twenty-five degrees, of septentrional latitude, neither hath a right way been taken of planting a Christian habitation and regiment upon the same, as well may appear both by the little we yet do actually possess therein, and by our ignorance of the riches and secrets within those lands, which unto this day we know chiefly by the travel and report of other nations, and most of the French, who albeit they cannot challenge such right and interest unto the said countries as we, neither these many years have had opportunity nor means so great to discover and to plant, being vexed with the calamities of intestine wars, as we have had by the inestimable benefit of our long and happy peace, yet have they both ways performed more, and had long since attained a sure possession and settled government of many provinces in those northerly parts of America, if their many attempts into those forei
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Excerpt from The Popol Vuh, 1908 : The divine twins were now old enough to undertake labour in the field, and their first task was the clearing of a milpa or maize-plantation. They were possessed of magic tools, which had the merit of working themselves in the absence of the young hunters at the chase, and those they found a capital substitute for their own directing presence upon the first day. Returning at night from hunting, they smeared their faces and hands with dirt so that Xmucane might be deceived into imagining that they had been hard at work in the maize-field. But during the night the wild beasts met and replaced all the roots and shrubs which the brothers—or rather their magic tools—had removed. The twins resolved to watch for them on the ensuing night, but despite all their efforts the animals succeeded in making good their escape, save one, the rat, which was caught in a handkerchief. The rabbit and deer lost their tails in getting away. The rat, in gratitude that they had spared its life, told them of the glorious deeds of their great fathers and uncles, their games at ball, and of the existence of a set of implements necessary to play the game which they had left in the
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Excerpt from Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron, c. 1349 : Moreover, the virulence of the pest was the greater by reason that intercourse was apt to convey it from the sick to the whole, just as fire devours things dry or greasy when they are brought close to it. Nay, the evil went yet further, for not merely by speech or association with the sick was the malady communicated to the healthy with consequent peril of common death; but any that touched the clothes of the sick or aught else that had been touched or used by them, seemed thereby to contract the disease. . . . What need we add, but . . . such and so grievous was the harshness of heaven, and perhaps in some degree of man, that, what with the fury of the pestilence, the panic of those whom it spared, and their consequent neglect or desertion of not a few of the stricken in their need, it is believed without any manner of doubt, that between March and the ensuing July upwards of a hundred thousand human beings lost their lives within the walls of the city of Florence.
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Excerpt from The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella: In order to guard against a similar disaster, as well as to provide comfortable winter quarters for the army, should the siege be so long protracted as to require it, it was resolved to build a town of substantial edifices on the place of the present encampment. . . . When it was completed, the whole army was desirous that the new city should bear the same of their illustrious queen; but Isabella modestly declined this tribute, and bestowed on the place the title of Santa Fe, in token of the unshaken trust, manifested by her people throughout this war, in Divine Providence. With this name it still stands as it was erected in 1491, a monument of the constancy and enduring patience of the Spaniards "the only city in Spain," in the words of a Castilian writer, "that has never been contaminated by the Moslem heresy." The erection of Santa Fe by the Spaniards struck a greater damp into the people of Granada, than the most successful military achievement could have done. They beheld the enemy setting foot on their soil, with a resolution never more to resign it. They already began to suffer from the rigorous blockade, which eff
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Excerpt from Morton's Customs of the Indians, c. 1637 : The Natives . . . gather poles in the woods and put the great end of them in the ground, placing them in form of a circle or circumference, and, bending the tops of them in form of an arch, they bind them together with the bark of walnut trees, which is wondrous tough, so that they make the same round on the top for the smoke of their fire to ascend and pass through; these they cover with mats, some made of reeds and some of long flags, or sedge, finely sewed together with needles made of the splinter bones of a crane's leg, with threads made of their Indian hemp, which there grows naturally, leaving several places for doors, which are covered with mats, which may be rolled up and let down again at their pleasure, making use of the several doors, according as the wind sits. The fire is always made in the middle of the house, with windfall commonly, yet sometimes they fell a tree that grows near the house, and, by drawing in the end thereof, maintain the fire on both sides, burning the tree by degrees shorter and shorter, until it be all consumed, for it burns night and day. Their lodging is made in three places of the house about
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