Deck 11: Commerce,Conquest,and Colonization,1300–1600

Question 1

After the 1368 overthrow of the Mongol dynasty that had ruled China:

A) trade along the Silk Road came to an end.
B) European traders ceased to travel the Silk Road, but trade continued with Europe through Muslim middlemen.
C) the silk trade with Europe ended, but the spice trade continued.
D) Europeans forgot about China for the next two centuries.
E) the extensive spice trade ended, but the silk trade continued and expanded.

Answer 1

European traders ceased to travel the Silk Road, but trade continued with Europe through Muslim middlemen.

Question 2

The Mongol leader Ögedei:

A) completed the conquest of China.
B) instigated the conquest of Europe.
C) ended the conquest of Europe by his death.
D) was Chingiz Khan's son.
E) all of these

Answer 2

all of these

Question 3

Marco Polo's description of Java in the late thirteenth century describes the country as brimming with:

A) spices and gold.
B) herbal drugs and silver mines.
C) warring tribes and four regional kings.
D) fantastic creatures, such as a horse with a man's head.
E) fertile land that produced great agricultural wealth.

Answer 3

spices and gold.

Question 4

For the Ottomans,their conquest of Constantinople brought:

A) reduction in the demand for slaves because the size of the Ottoman army could now be reduced.
B) vast new wealth, which greatly increased the population of the city.
C) an economic crisis, as trade routes were redirected away from Constantinople.
D) relatively little change to Ottoman society.
E) a revitalization of Ottoman society with the realization that they could build an empire.

Question 5

The Mongol defeat of the Seljuk sultanate was a contributing factor in:

A) the ability of the Ottomans to begin raiding against the Byzantine empire.
B) Byzantium being able to destroy the Abbasid caliphate of Baghdad.
C) the Abbasid caliphate's ability to launch a successful attack on Constantinople.
D) the Ottomans being able to attack and conquer Constantinople.
E) the collapse of the Carolingian Empire.

Question 6

The Ottomans were successful in their conquests,at least in part,because:

A) they brought new ways of fighting to Europe with their introduction of stirrups for their horses.
B) they enlisted the services of Anatolian mercenaries.
C) they had captured a number of important cities and continued to do so under the employ of the Byzantine emperor.
D) their caliph married into the Byzantine royal family and thus had Byzantine support.
E) they promised full citizenship and a job to everyone who surrendered to them.

Question 7

The expression "Mongol horde" actually comes from:

A) the Turkish word ordure, meaning, "tent" or "encampment."
B) the Chinese words hen goal, meaning "great army."
C) the German word hart, meaning hard or solid.
D) the English verb meaning to accumulate or stockpile.
E) the Indian word meaning "conquering army."

Question 8

Until the end of the sixteenth century,the Ottoman empire was on an almost constant war footing.Why?

A) The empire could be sustained only through raiding and conquest.
B) Ottoman wars to expand their empire kept powerful nobles on the frontiers, away from the capital where they might have threatened the sultan.
C) Christians launched a series of Crusades to recapture Constantinople, forcing the Ottomans to defend themselves.
D) The Mongols posed a persistent and very real threat on the Ottomans' eastern frontier.
E) all of these

Question 9

Linguistically and ethnically,the Mongols were most closely related to the:

A) Chinese.
B) Turks.
C) Russians.
D) Persians.
E) Siberians.

Question 10

When the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in 1453,the primary effect of their conquest on western Europe was:

A) psychological.
B) military.
C) economic.
D) political.
E) geographical: it spurred European attempts to find a direct route around Africa to India and the Far East.

Question 11

Why did the westward expansion of the Mongol empire end after 1260?

A) The Mongol armies were defeated by the Germans at the battle of Liegnitz.
B) The Mongol armies were defeated by the Hungarians at the River Sajo.
C) The Mongol empire split up into hostile factions.
D) The internal supply lines for the Mongol army became overextended, forcing the army to retreat.
E) The Mongol empire was assimilated into the Byzantine empire peacefully.

Question 12

The leader who united the Mongol tribes and began the conquest of China was named:

A) Qubilai Khan.
B) Ögedei Khan.
C) Temüjin, who took the title Chingiz Khan.
D) Timur the Lame (Tamerlane).
E) Lin Pao Khan.

Question 13

For Europeans,the most important consequence of the Mongol conquests was:

A) the commercial links it established between Europe and the Far East along the Silk Road.
B) that the Mongol defeats of the Abbasid caliphate removed a major threat to European control of the eastern Mediterranean.
C) that the Mongol conquest of Russia brought eastern Europe into closer contact with western Europe.
D) that by destroying Persia, the Mongols extended the life of the Byzantine empire.
E) the extensive cultural exchange that became possible between the Chinese and Europeans.

Question 14

The Ottoman military threat to Europe,ongoing since the fall of Constantinople,was essentially ended when the Ottoman fleet was decisively defeated in 1571 at Lepanto,which is located in:

A) Asia Minor.
B) Italy.
C) Spain.
D) Egypt.
E) Greece.

Question 15

The Mongols conquered all of the following peoples EXCEPT:

A) the Seljuk Turks.
B) the Abbasids.
C) the Chinese.
D) the Persians.
E) the Ottoman Turks.

Question 16

Marco Polo's travel accounts were influential in Europe because:

A) they allowed King Louis IX of France to establish an ambassador in the Mongol court.
B) Christian missionaries needed to adapt European ideas to Asian contexts.
C) Christopher Columbus eventually used Marco Polo's maps as a guide.
D) Europeans previously knew little about life and customs in Asia.
E) all of these

Question 17

In the late twelfth century,the Mongols quickly built up a large military force by:

A) offering land in exchange for military service.
B) uniting with the Mughal empire of India.
C) peacefully merging with the Chin dynasty in western China.
D) defeating Poland, Hungary, and eastern Germany.
E) incorporating the armies of defeated tribes.

Question 18

This chapter's portrait of Sultan Mehmet II (1451-1481)depicts a man who:

A) has recently converted to Byzantine Christianity.
B) wears the white turban of a Muslim warrior.
C) is proud of both his scholarly and military achievements.
D) fought bravely and died during the sack of Constantinople.
E) was a ruthless autocrat who ruled his Muslim, Christian, and Jewish subjects equally harshly.

Question 19

When Christopher Columbus set sail in 1492,he carried with him two books that would shape his views of the places he encountered.The factual account was:

A) Jehen de Mandeville's Book of Marvels.
B) Prince Henry the Navigator's Rutters of the North Atlantic.
C) Vasco da Gama's Encounters with the Muslims.
D) Marco Polo's Book of the Marvels of the World.
E) Bartolomé de las Casas's A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies.

Question 20

The Ottoman army that conquered much of the Middle and Near East was composed mostly of:

A) mercenaries.
B) free Muslim citizens.
C) slaves.
D) volunteers from conquered countries.
E) drafted Christians from conquered lands.

Question 21

Advancement within the Ottoman government was:

A) open to all people of merit.
B) effectively closed to Muslims.
C) based on heredity.
D) open to those who passed the government examination.
E) open to those who had contacts within the government.

Question 22

The Ottomans drew large numbers of slaves from all of the following sources EXCEPT:

A) captives from Poland and Ukraine.
B) children from the Balkans, given up by their parents to pay their taxes.
C) voluntary recruits drawn from the rural areas of their own empire.
D) Africa, through slave traders.
E) all of these

Question 23

The first European to sail around the southern tip of Africa was:

A) Bartholomeu Dias.
B) Prince Henry the Navigator.
C) Vasco da Gama.
D) Christopher Columbus.
E) Bartolomé de las Casas.

Question 24

In the long history of slavery in Western civilization,the basic patterns of slavery were not racialized (in other words,directly related to ethnicity or skin color)until:

A) Europeans needed slave labor to develop the Atlantic colonies of Madeira, the Canaries, and the Azores.
B) Lisbon became a significant market for enslaved Africans in the middle of the fifteenth century.
C) Columbus returned with indigenous people from the New World in 1492.
D) Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztec empire of Mexico between 1519 and 1521.
E) Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incan empire of South America in 1533.

Question 25

During their sixteenth-century wars against Europe,among the Ottoman's staunchest allies was [were]:

A) the Abbasid caliphate.
B) the Mongols.
C) Orthodox Christians.
D) the Jews.
E) Spain.

Question 26

Genoese colonies in the Mediterranean differed from Venetian and Catalan colonies:

A) because Genoese colonies were directed by the city's rulers.
B) because Genoese colonies were mainly in the eastern Mediterranean.
C) because Genoese colonies relied on galleys, not cogs.
D) because Genoese colonies focused on the production of bulk goods such as grain and hides for export.
E) because Genoese colonies were self-ruled with very little interference from the Genoa.

Question 27

Soon after capturing the Muslim holy cities of Medina,Mecca,and Jerusalem,the Ottoman rulers adopted the title of:

A) sultan.
B) pasha.
C) caliph.
D) prophet.
E) hijrah.

Question 28

Beginning in the 1440s,design changes in Portuguese caravels allowed them to:

A) sail out of sight of land for extended periods.
B) use square sails, promoting faster travel into the wind.
C) employ larger crews on smaller ships.
D) utilize oars in addition to sails.
E) sail with two masts and faster, triangular sails.

Question 29

Throughout the sixteenth century,the principal religious conflicts in the Ottoman empire came from disagreements with:

A) the Latin Christians of western Europe.
B) Greek Orthodox Christians who were bitter about the sack of Constantinople.
C) Sunni Muslims within the Ottoman empire.
D) Shiite Muslims from within the Ottoman empire.
E) Shiite Muslims in neighboring Persia.

Question 30

By 1520,which European country dominated the seaborne spice trade with Asia?

A) Spain
B) Italy
C) Portugal
D) The Netherlands
E) England

Question 31

The main profits from the expeditions organized by Prince Henry the Navigator to Africa came from:

A) colonization.
B) gold.
C) silver.
D) slaving.
E) all of these

Question 32

In their voyages along the west coast of Africa,the Portuguese were initially in search of:

A) slaves.
B) a sea route to India.
C) spices.
D) gold.
E) silver.

Question 33

The developing westward orientation of European colonial and commercial ambitions during the fifteenth century was a consequence of:

A) the growing importance to Europe of the African gold trade.
B) the shutting down of the Silk Road as a result of the breakup of the Mongol empire.
C) Ottoman control over the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
D) demand for Atlantic salted codfish within Europe.
E) the persistent threat posed by the Mongol empire in eastern Europe.

Question 34

Parallel to the interest in the gold trade in Europe several entrepreneurial empires were established by Europeans.Among the first was that created by the:

A) Catalans.
B) Sardinians.
C) Sicilians.
D) Grenadians.
E) Maltans.

Question 35

The Ottoman empire that rose dramatically in the fourteenth century lasted as a political and military power until the year:

A) 1571.
B) 1648.
C) 1789.
D) 1918.
E) 1945.

Question 36

As Europeans made advances in navigation and maritime technology in the fifteenth century,they made efficient use of the quadrant,which:

A) calculated direction using magnetic forces.
B) calculated latitude using the North Star.
C) calculated latitude using the sun.
D) calculated longitude using standard marine tables.
E) calculated longitude using the marine chronometer.

Question 37

The first European colonies established outside of Europe geographically were in:

A) the Indian Ocean.
B) the Pacific Ocean.
C) the Caribbean Sea.
D) the Atlantic Ocean.
E) the Arctic Ocean.

Question 38

The economy of fifteenth-century Europe was marked by:

A) gold shortages.
B) silver shortages.
C) inflation.
D) decreasing demand for luxury goods from the Far East.
E) the discovery of new gold supplies within Europe itself.

Question 39

From a military standpoint,the primary result of the sixteenth-century conflicts between the Ottomans and the Habsburgs was:

A) significantly improved artillery technology.
B) greatly enlarged naval forces on both sides.
C) a gradual weakening of Ottoman military power.
D) renewed interest in castle building.
E) the defeat of Ottoman advances to reconquer the Iberian Peninsula.

Question 40

The majority of Ottoman slaves were Christians because:

A) Christians were generally out of favor in Ottoman society.
B) Christians in Ottoman society were from a lower socioeconomic class.
C) Jews were "People of the Book" and thus could hold positions of power or be held as slaves.
D) Muslims were the only people who could work in business or governmental posts.
E) Muslims were not permitted to enslave other Muslims.

Question 41

The labor force at the Potosí was organized by the:

A) viceroy.
B) creole.
C) corregidor.
D) patois.
E) mine manager.

Question 42

Magellan's voyage was instrumental in establishing a southwest passage to Asia.

Question 43

Byzantium finally fell to Timur the Lame (Tamerlane)in 1453.

Question 44

The Mongol "horde" got its name from the Turkish word for "horn," no doubt due to the use of the battle horn in Mongol warfare.

Question 45

Relatively few of the slaves who passed through the major Mediterranean slave markets were Europeans.Most were African.

Question 46

The first European to view the Pacific Ocean from the eastern side of the ocean was:

A) Vasco da Gama.
B) Bartholomeu Dias.
C) Christopher Columbus.
D) Ferdinand Magellan.
E) Vasco de Balboa.

Question 47

Slavery was nothing new to the population of the Canary Islands whose Stone Age population had been almost entirely enslaved.

Question 48

The European explorations beginning in the fifteenth century resulted in:

A) a higher standard of living for most Europeans.
B) an increase in slavery in the world.
C) the greatest religious revival in Europe since the Crusades.
D) the spread of democratic forms of government.
E) all of these

Question 49

The leader of the first European expedition to reach Asia by sailing west was:

A) Amerigo Vespucci.
B) Ferdinand Magellan.
C) Christopher Columbus.
D) Vasco da Gama.
E) Bartholomeu Dias.

Question 50

The Spanish modeled their Caribbean sugar plantations worked by enslaved African laborers on:

A) Portuguese sugar plantations on the Cape Verde Islands and the island of Saint Thomas.
B) Genoese sugar plantations on the island of Madeira.
C) Muslim sugar plantations on the island of Majorca.
D) Aztec sugar plantations on Hispaniola.
E) their own estates in Europe.

Question 51

In economic terms,New World colonization and plunder had the greatest positive effect on:

A) the Italian city-states of Venice and Genoa.
B) the Portuguese.
C) the Spanish.
D) the English.
E) the Dutch.

Question 52

The Black Death was passed from the Mongol army to the west at the battle of Caffa.

Question 53

An astrolabe was a small triangular sail that enabled sailors to sail against the wind.

Question 54

In moral terms,the colonization of the New World by sixteenth-century Europeans demonstrates the:

A) Europeans' limited ability to recognize the shared humanity and human rights of indigenous peoples.
B) essential superiority of European culture and society.
C) cooperative approach European countries took in exploring and developing the Americas.
D) weakness of the Roman Catholic Church in the early modern period.
E) superiority of Aztec and Incan culture and society.

Question 55

Columbus was the first European to set foot on the American continents,though they were named for the geographer Amerigo Vespucci.

Question 56

The reason galleons and caravels were made so large in this period was to make it possible to arm them more heavily.

Question 57

Although he did manage to discover a world unknown to Europeans,Christopher Columbus did so in spite of:

A) being greatly underfinanced.
B) gross miscalculation of the earth's size.
C) his sailor's fears of falling off the edge of the earth.
D) his lack of a magnetic compass.
E) all of these

Question 58

The industry that most fundamentally shaped the sixteenth-century Spanish colonies in Central and South America was:

A) sugar production.
B) cattle ranching.
C) grain production.
D) jewelry production.
E) mining.

Question 59

Few if any people believed the world was flat when Columbus began his voyage.

Question 60

The Spanish conquests in the Americas demonstrated the advantage of:

A) advanced military technology.
B) horses when one's opponent has none.
C) disease when one's opponent is not immune.
D) indigenous allies who believed they fought the lesser enemy.
E) all of these

Question 61

How did the industry of the New World impact the "Old World"?

Question 62

What events spurred Europe to exploration and colonization in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries?

Question 63

The infusion of silver into the European economy was ultimately disastrous.

Question 64

What were the foundations of the Ottoman empire,and how did such foundations shape it?

Question 65

The events surrounding the commerce,conquest,and colonization between 1300 and 1600 would provide the context for Italy to move to the center of European affairs.

Question 66

What new technologies made exploration possible?

Question 67

While initial changes were dramatic,in the long run,the discovery of the New World did little to change the fundamental institutions of European society.

Question 68

What role did slavery play in the empires of the fifteenth century?

Question 69

In what ways had the seas become not only a highway but a battleground?

Question 70

The mercury-amalgamation process introduced into Mexico made even greater quantities of silver available to the Spanish crown and with less disastrous results to the native population.

Question 71

What differed in the motives of the Portuguese and the Spanish in their efforts to engage in exploration and colonization?

Question 72

Did Prince Henry the Navigator deserve his reputation as naval innovator and motivator of the age of Portuguese exploration? Explain.

Question 73

To what extent can the Ottoman empire be described as a religious melting pot? Explain.

Question 74

What factors account for the success of the Mongol empire?

Question 75

By 1600,between 50 and 90 percent of the indigenous peoples of the Americas had perished from disease.