Deck 2: Africans in the Atlantic World

Question 1

What were "slave factories" such as the one at Elmina?

A)markets in the Americas where newly-arrived slaves were auctioned off to planters
B)trading posts in Africa where slaves were bought and sold
C)early industrial centers where slaves produced manufactured goods in mass quantities
D)any large-scale enterprise,such as sugar plantations,which relied primarily on slave labor

Answer 1

trading posts in Africa where slaves were bought and sold

Question 2

What was a caboceer?

A)an African agent who acquired slaves for European traders at prearranged prices
B)an African immigrant who lived in Europe and who spoke European languages and adopted European customs
C)an African soldier who fought alongside European conquistadores in the New World
D)an African overseer who maintained order in New World plantations for his European master

Answer 2

an African agent who acquired slaves for European traders at prearranged prices

Question 3

All of the following statements about Juan Garrido are true EXCEPT

A)he planted the first wheat crop in the Americas.
B)he participated in the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire.
C)he remained a slave his entire life despite his many achievements.
D)he served for a time as a civil official in Spain's Mexican empire.

Answer 3

he remained a slave his entire life despite his many achievements.

Question 4

In 1750,what was the typical price of a healthy young male slave purchased on the Gold Coast?

A)£2 sterling
B)£20 sterling
C)£200 sterling
D)£2000 sterling

Question 5

Which of the following statements about African slavery in European countries during the sixteenth century is MOST accurate?

A)Although all European nations allowed slavery in their American colonies,they prohibited it within the borders of their homelands.
B)By the end of the sixteenth century,African slaves had become a substantial portion of the agricultural labor force in continental Europe.
C)The large numbers of landless white laborers prevented African slavery from becoming a substantial segment of continental Europe's labor force.
D)Although a few African slaves lived and worked in Europe,there were never more than a few hundred of them in any given location.

Question 6

What was the primary means by which European slave traders obtained African slaves?

A)They bartered for slaves from African slave traders.
B)They launched raids on poorly defended African villages.
C)They conquered large swaths of African territory and enslaved the people within their new colonies.
D)They used their superior military technology to force African rulers to provide them with slaves from the rulers' own kingdoms.

Question 7

The primary reason that European planters in the Americas came to rely on the labor of African slaves was that

A)Europeans regarded Africans as racially inferior to other races and viewed them as the only people fit for enslavement.
B)Africans were generally more meek and docile than Native Americans,who refused to allow themselves to be enslaved.
C)the importation of Old World diseases and the harsh labor demands of European conquistadores devastated the native populations of the Americas.
D)unlike African societies,Native American societies were too well organized and sophisticated for Europeans to conquer until long after the discovery of the Americas.

Question 8

English colonists in places such as Virginia adopted African slavery for all of the following reasons EXCEPT

A)escaped African slaves could be more easily identified than escaped white servants.
B)despite the higher initial costs of slaves,they generally provided their masters with more years of service than did white servants.
C)the temporary nature of white servitude meant that it was a less stable labor system than slavery.
D)English colonists found it distasteful to place fellow white people in servitude and so abandoned the practice of white servitude as quickly as possible.

Question 9

Which of the following statements about slave ships is LEAST accurate?

A)Diseases such as smallpox and "the flux" frequently dealt mortal blows to both the cargoes and the crews of slave ships.
B)Although countries such as Britain enacted legislation to limit the number of slaves which a given ship could carry,slavers often crammed their holds with as many slaves as they could in defiance of the law.
C)The numbers of deaths on slave ships were high largely because slavers found it more profitable not to purchase fresh provisions or medicines before leaving the coast of Africa.
D)The trade in slaves was so profitable that European traders could reasonably expect to earn as much as a 100% profit from an investment in a slave ship.

Question 10

Which African explorer was known by Native Americans as "the Son of the Sun"?

A)Estevan
B)Juan Garrido
C)Jean Baptiste Point du Sable
D)Quobna Ottobah Cugoano

Question 11

As one of only four survivors of Pánfilo de Narvaez's ill-fated expedition to Florida,the African explorer Estevan proved especially helpful because of his

A)military prowess.
B)linguistic skills.
C)self-sacrificing humility.
D)physical strength.

Question 12

Which of the following statements about Africans' involvement in the exploration of the New World is LEAST accurate?

A)Early English explorers relied heavily on African guides and laborers.
B)Africans,both free and enslaved,contributed substantially to Spanish enterprises in the Americas.
C)Africans constituted a significant portion of early settlers in France's North American colonies.
D)Some Africans held positions of authority or responsibility in European empires and excursions in the New World.

Question 13

Which of the following statements about African resistance to enslavement is LEAST accurate?

A)Because the institution of slavery had a longstanding history in Africa,enslaved Africans generally only attempted to escape once they were placed in the hands of European traders.
B)European slave traders had to place netting around the decks of their slave ships because so many Africans preferred death to slavery in the New World.
C)To minimize the risk of rebellion,European slave ships generally sailed with crews that were substantially larger than other ships of the same size.
D)Slave ships whose cargoes included large numbers of enslaved women were more likely to face revolts than slave ships which primarily carried enslaved men.

Question 14

Which of the following statements about Europeans' use of slave labor in the Americas is LEAST accurate?

A)Even before the discovery of the Americas,European planters had experience using African slaves to produce crops such as sugar.
B)European settlers in the Americas intended from the beginning to use African slaves as their primary labor source.
C)In some instances,European settlers adopted existing systems of Native American slavery to meet their labor needs.
D)The use of enslaved laborers made the production of crops such as sugar an immensely profitable one for European planters.

Question 15

Whose narrative is the best known autobiographical account of an eighteenth-century enslaved African?

A)Juan Garrido
B)Jean Baptiste Point du Sable
C)Macandal
D)Olaudah Equiano

Question 16

In 1517,the Spanish friar Bartolomé de Las Casas,disturbed by the suffering which Spanish conquistadores had wrought on the native populations of America,became an important advocate of

A)the dismantling of European empires and settlements in the Americas.
B)the abolition of slavery and all other forms of coerced labor.
C)the substitution of small farms in place of large plantations.
D)the importation of African slaves to the Americas.

Question 17

What percentage of the persons who migrated to the Americas between 1700 and 1780 were slaves?

A)15%
B)35%
C)50%
D)75%

Question 18

In Africa,European traders commonly acquired African slaves in return for all of the following items EXCEPT

A)brass utensils.
B)cotton textiles.
C)gold.
D)pewter.

Question 19

During the first half of the seventeenth century,England attempted to address the labor needs of its North American colonies primarily through

A)the use of indentured white servants.
B)the enslavement of Native Americans.
C)the importation of African slaves.
D)the employment of free white laborers.

Question 20

What European nation played a direct role in instigating a series of decades-long wars in West Central Africa in the sixteenth century?

A)England
B)Spain
C)Portugal
D)France

Question 21

Which single colony received the largest percentage of African slaves brought over to the New World?

A)Jamaica
B)Mexico
C)Cuba
D)Brazil

Question 22

Which of the following statements BEST describes Caribbean planters' attitudes toward punishing their slaves?

A)Although slave codes were harsh at first,they declined in severity as the black population grew to vastly outnumber the white population and masters grew to fear retaliation.
B)Masters strove to find a delicate balance between maintaining discipline over their slaves without causing significant physical harm to them.
C)Because masters could so easily procure new slaves,they felt little compunction against maintaining discipline through brutal measures.
D)Although slave codes allowed planters to use harsh measures against insubordinate slaves,they also stipulated harsh punishments for masters who brutalized their slaves excessively or without good cause.

Question 23

Which of the following statements about slavery in Brazil is LEAST accurate?

A)The majority of Brazilian slaves worked in gold mines where masters could obtain the most profit from their labor.
B)Brazilian slaves divided into three distinct groups: urban slaves,mining slaves,and plantation slaves.
C)Brazilian slaves had the opportunity to earn their own money and hence to obtain their freedom.
D)Female slaves were more likely to be freed than male ones and,by custom,were freed after bearing ten children.

Question 24

Which of the following statements about the Palmares rebellion in Alagoas,Brazil,is LEAST accurate?

A)The insurgent slaves established their own republic which lasted for over sixty years.
B)The insurgent slaves created community institutions based on the Portuguese ones prevalent throughout Brazil.
C)The insurgent slaves managed to repulse,for a time,attacks from both Portuguese and Dutch armies.
D)The leaders of the insurrection hurled themselves to their deaths when capture by Portuguese forces became inevitable.

Question 25

Which of the following statements about slave resistance in the Caribbean is LEAST accurate?

A)At the end of Tacky's Rebellion in 1760,authorities executed more than 500 Jamaican slaves.
B)Because of the marked rebelliousness of Caribbean slaves,planters in North America insisted on only purchasing "saltwater" blacks from Africa.
C)After existing for more than a century and contributing to a number of slave rebellions,a Maroon community in Saint Domingue gained the recognition of the island's colonial government in the 1780s.
D)Although slaves experienced cruelty throughout most of the Caribbean,they enjoyed relatively benign treatment on Danish islands,which were not coincidentally marked by a near complete absence of slave rebellions.

Question 26

British slave societies in Protestant North America differed from those in Catholic Latin America in all of the following ways EXCEPT

A)slave marriages in Latin American colonies received formal recognition.
B)interracial marriages were more common in Latin American colonies.
C)slaves in North America had more opportunities to learn to read.
D)slaves in North America were less likely to be required by their masters to attend religious services.

Question 27

Which profitable Caribbean island did England seize from Spain in 1655?

A)Barbados
B)Guadeloupe
C)Jamaica
D)St.Eustatius

Question 28

What significant action did the English privateer John Hawkins perform in 1562?

A)He became the first person to introduce African slaves to an English colony in the Americas.
B)He convinced the Spanish king to award him the asiento de negroes,the exclusive right to sell African slaves in the Spanish colonies.
C)He introduced the sugar crop to the Caribbean,thereby creating an immensely profitable enterprise.
D)He instigated a long-term English effort to smuggle African slaves into the colonies of Spanish America.

Question 29

Which of the following statements about pregnancy and childbearing in the Caribbean is LEAST accurate?

A)Masters expected pregnant slaves to work right up to the moment of childbirth.
B)Masters treated pregnant slaves well because a healthy baby was a profitable investment.
C)Masters rarely granted women more than a month to recuperate after having given birth.
D)Masters sent mothers into the field with their infants on their backs and whipped the mothers if they paused to tend to the child's needs.

Question 30

To which region of the Americas were African slaves first shipped in large numbers?

A)the Caribbean
B)Mexico and Central America
C)the eastern coast of North America
D)Brazil

Question 31

In 1810,blacks and mulattoes constituted over one half of the total population of which modern-day country?

A)Panama
B)Ecuador
C)Colombia
D)Venezuela

Question 32

What event in 1540 stimulated the importation of African slaves into Brazil?

A)a smallpox epidemic which wiped out much of the Indian population
B)the merging of the Portuguese and Spanish crowns
C)the introduction of sugar cultivation
D)the Portuguese acquisition of a monopoly over slaves exported from the Kongo

Question 33

All of the following factors contributed to the high death rates and low birth rates among slaves on Caribbean islands EXCEPT

A)the large populations of white settlers who competed with slaves for the islands' resources.
B)the grueling work hours which slaves endured.
C)the skimpy and often healthy provisions given to slaves by masters.
D)the relatively small numbers of female slaves.

Question 34

The term "middle passage" refers to

A)the journey which enslaved Africans made from the African interior to the African coast.
B)the journey which enslaved Africans made from the African coast to the Americas.
C)the journey which enslaved Africans made from the islands of the Caribbean to settlements in North America.
D)the stop in English ports such as Liverpool which slavers made en route from the Americas to Africa.

Question 35

During which century did the largest influx of Africans to Mexico occur?

A)sixteenth
B)seventeenth
C)eighteenth
D)nineteenth

Question 36

Approximately how many Africans were transported across to the Americas during the era of the slave trade?

A)230 million
B)12.5 million
C)3.3 million
D)96.2 million

Question 37

What were negros de ganhos?

A)slaves whose masters allowed them to seek out work outside the masters' estates
B)slaves who obtained their freedom after converting to Roman Catholicism
C)slaves who worked in the gold mines of the Brazilian interior
D)the followers of a self-proclaimed king who fomented a rebellion in the city of Santa Marta in 1555

Question 38

Which of the following statements about African slaves in mainland Latin America is LEAST accurate?

A)Unlike in the Caribbean,racial integration between Africans and other groups remained a rare phenomenon.
B)In some parts of Latin America,runaway slaves formed armed resistance groups which successfully defied attempts by the Spanish colonial army to subdue them.
C)Some Africans in Latin America managed to gain their freedom and become substantial citizens.
D)Large numbers of Africans lived along the Pacific Coast of Latin America during the colonial period.

Question 39

After waging a fifteen-year war on the island of Jamaica,what happened to the Maroons led by Colonel Cudjoe?

A)They received recognition of their right to live independently in their own towns.
B)They were captured and brutally executed as a warning to other slaves.
C)They were captured,re-enslaved,and sold to planters throughout the Caribbean.
D)They forced their enemy to sail them to Africa where they established their own settlements.

Question 40

Approximately how many Africans entered Mexico during the first century of Spanish presence there?

A)600
B)6000
C)60,000
D)600,000