Deck 3: The Atlantic World, Commerce, and Wars of Religion, 1560-1648

Question 1

The period of religious wars, from 1560 to 1648, _____.

A) profited Spain
B) increased the strength of Germany
C) positioned the English, Dutch, and French to profit from global economic changes
D) inflicted economic disaster upon the Dutch, although they eventually recovered from the damages

Answer 1

positioned the English, Dutch, and French to profit from global economic changes

Question 2

After 1492, the Atlantic Ocean became a bridge rather than a barrier for Europeans. As a result, all of the following occurred except:

A) diseases brought from Europe depopulated the Americas.
B) Africa became involved in the transatlantic slave trade.
C) Europeans were able to trade directly with the East for the first time.
D) the Italians expanded their trade networks.

Answer 2

the Italians expanded their trade networks.

Question 3

The opening of the Atlantic to transoceanic travel around 1500 was made possible by all of the following except:

A) the Vikings' voyages to North America.
B) improvements in shipbuilding and sail rigging.
C) the adoption of the mariner's compass.
D) the Portuguese settlement in the Azores Islands, in the mid-Atlantic.

Answer 3

the Vikings' voyages to North America.

Question 4

Which of the following statements is true of the oceanic voyages?

A) Europeans were the first to make long-distance ocean voyages.
B) Columbus was the first European to reach North America.
C) Travelers from Asia had long made voyages to distant places and engaged in trade across the Indian Ocean before Columbus voyaged to the New World.
D) The North Atlantic presented fewer hazards than the Indian or Pacific Oceans.

Question 5

On his second voyage to the Malabar Coast in 1502, Vasco da Gama:

A) played upon local rivalries and only managed to load his ships with the coveted wares.
B) brought a fighting fleet of no less than 21 vessels, and a war broke out between the Portuguese and Arab merchants.
C) made a deal with the Arab merchants for moving the wares of China and India by caravan over land to the markets of the eastern Mediterranean.
D) helped develop the cities along the Malabar Coast and baptized thousands of souls in India.

Question 6

By 1575, the Spanish and Portuguese brought more than 120,000 enslaved Africans to their American empires because:

A) they wanted to assimilate their culture with that of the Africans.
B) of the restrictions set by royal authorities on the exploitation of the Indian population.
C) they wanted to replace their native labor, which faced depopulation due to conquest and disease with African slaves.
D) of the threat of revolt from the Indian population.

Question 7

The first expedition to circumnavigate the globe was:

A) a Spanish expedition led by Christopher Columbus.
B) a Portuguese expedition led by Vasco da Gama.
C) a Spanish expedition led by Ferdinand Magellan.
D) an English expedition led by Sir Francis Drake.

Question 8

In a treaty of 1494, the monarchs of the _____ peoples asserted that the globe should be divided between them by an imaginary north-and-south line that ran from a point in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean through the North Pole and across eastern Asia.

A) English and French
B) Spanish and French
C) Spanish and Portuguese
D) Spanish and English

Question 9

In 1545, with the discovery of the prodigiously rich silver deposits at Potos' in Peru, _____.

A) Spain's economy prospered and underwent an early version of the Industrial Revolution
B) the standard of living of the inhabitants of Spanish Peru improved tremendously
C) the European projects of the king of Spain were financed
D) food plants introduced to the Europeans by the Indians became less valuable than silver

Question 10

All of the following statements are true about Spanish colonization in the Americas except:

A) after the initial ferocity of the conquest, the Spanish crown made efforts to moderate the exploitation of native labor.
B) black African slaves became more important in Spanish America than they were in the French or English colonies.
C) the white population of Spanish America remained relatively small.
D) there was a large class of mestizos, people of mixed white and Indian descent.

Question 11

Why did the English, Dutch, and French fail to begin colonization of the Americas until more than a hundred years after the Spanish and Portuguese?

A) Their geographical position put them at a disadvantage for transatlantic shipping.
B) Domestic troubles and religious controversies delayed organized government action.
C) The northerners were slow to abandon their traditional trade routes through the Mediterranean.
D) A 1494 treaty ceded the Americas and a monopoly of the trade with the Far East to Portugal and Spain.

Question 12

Europe's great economic readjustment after 1500 included:

A) rapid population growth and a gradual rise in prices.
B) rapid population growth and economic stagnation.
C) slow population growth and a steady rise in prices.
D) slow population growth and economic stagnation.

Question 13

The price revolution of the sixteenth century was due to all of the following except:

A) the flow of gold and silver from the Americas to Europe.
B) the rapid rise in population.
C) the debasement of European currencies by several monarchs.
D) a decline in the amount of land under cultivation, which caused food prices to rise.

Question 14

The "Commercial Revolution" of the early modern period:

A) was actually slow and protracted.
B) signified the rise of a capitalistic economy.
C) signified the transition from a town-centered system to a national economic system.
D) All of these are correct.

Question 15

The first demands for mass production involved:

A) consumer goods.
B) military goods.
C) luxury goods.
D) capital equipment.

Question 16

The domestic system employed in the early modern European economy was a:

A) system of rural household industry.
B) system involving the widespread use of rural people as servants in urban homes.
C) system of high tariffs to guard domestic goods against foreign competition.
D) system where only women were involved.

Question 17

All of the following statements are true about the practice of charging interest on loans except that:

A) it was forbidden by the church or in the canon law during the Middle Ages.
B) it was frowned upon in the sixteenth century by most sectors of society.
C) it was denounced by Martin Luther.
D) it was rarely practiced in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Question 18

In the sixteenth century, in the era of commercial capitalism, the key figure in business was the:

A) industrialist.
B) producer of manufactured goods.
C) investment banker.
D) merchant.

Question 19

The economic policy of mercantilism favored all of the following except:

A) the development of new industries like the silk industry.
B) the employment of skilled workers from other countries.
C) the export of unprocessed raw materials.
D) the raising of tariff barriers.

Question 20

While all prices rose in the sixteenth century, there was a greater increase in the _____ sector.

A) manufacturing
B) agriculture
C) mining
D) construction

Question 21

In the sixteenth century, the middle class:

A) could not be distinguished from the gentry and aristocracy.
B) did not have a sense of class consciousness.
C) was a large, indefinite category.
D) displaced the aristocracy from the highest government posts.

Question 22

The increasing importance of education in the sixteenth century was because of:

A) the Reformation and the growth of commerce.
B) the Reformation alone.
C) the growth of business and commerce.
D) None of the above.

Question 23

In early modern times, the rural masses of much of eastern Europe:

A) lost their personal freedoms and became serfs.
B) shared some of the prosperity of the commercial revolution.
C) were liberated from serfdom and became free peasants.
D) shared some of the prosperity of the commercial revolution and were liberated from serfdom and became free peasants.

Question 24

At its height , the Spanish empire of Philip II included all of the following except:

A) Milan.
B) the Portuguese empire.
C) the Free County of Burgundy.
D) Bohemia.

Question 25

The period 1550-1650 is often referred to as Spain's "Golden Age," or siglo de oro, because of all of the following except:

A) the genius of Spanish theater.
B) the brilliance of Spanish literature.
C) the greatness of its painters.
D) the beauty of its tapestries and glassware.

Question 26

A revolt in the Netherlands against Philip II began over the issue of the:

A) repeal of medieval privileges enjoyed by the towns.
B) Spanish Inquisition.
C) Lutheran doctrine.
D) symbols of popery.

Question 27

The Spanish Armada aimed to regain the Spanish Netherlands in 1588 by:

A) destroying the English "sea dogs."
B) blockading the Netherlands.
C) invading England.
D) invading the Netherlands.

Question 28

For England, the primary result of the sixteenth century wars with Spain was that it:

A) became Europe's strongest power.
B) gained an assured national independence and acquired national spirit.
C) was forced to tolerate a Catholic minority.
D) faced bankruptcy of the English treasury, forcing the Queen to depend on the parliament.

Question 29

In 1609, the Netherlands were partitioned. As a consequence, _____.

A) the southern provinces became mostly Protestant while the northern ones remained Catholic
B) the south became Catholic and the north was mostly Protestant
C) the Austrian Habsburgs took control of the north and the French seized the south
D) neither south nor north was dominated by either Catholics or Protestants

Question 30

As a result of leading the Counter Reformation for a century, Spain experienced all of the following except:

A) depopulation.
B) increased national unity.
C) the growth of a class of minor aristocrats who disdained working for wealth.
D) the weakening of productive forces of the country by inflation.

Question 31

The sixteenth century Wars of Religion in France:

A) were essentially a new form of the old feudal rebellion against a higher central authority.
B) had some political implications but were largely conflicts about religious ideals.
C) came close to turning France into a Lutheran country.
D) All of these are correct.

Question 32

Protestantism in France was especially strong among the:

A) unskilled laboring masses.
B) peasantry.
C) middle classes.
D) nobility.

Question 33

The political disintegration of France in the sixteenth century was due to all of the following except:

A) the civil wars between different regions.
B) the conversion of a large minority to Lutheranism.
C) the succession to the throne of three weak kings.
D) the intervention of Spanish troops.

Question 34

The civil wars in France in the sixteenth century resembled:

A) the English civil war.
B) the American civil war.
C) a war between two regions, each of which tried to create its own government.
D) a war of roving bands of armed men.

Question 35

In the context of the civil and religious wars in France, which of the following is true of the politiques?

A) They believed that religion should play a large role in political life.
B) They believed that the government should adopt Protestantism.
C) They believed that France's first priority should be civil order.
D) They believed that France needed some form of a written constitution.

Question 36

The Edict of Nantes, issued by the French king Henry IV in 1598, promised that:

A) Protestants will have better chances for public office when compared with Catholics.
B) Protestants will enjoy the same civil rights as Catholics.
C) all religious groups, including Jews and Muslims, will enjoy equal rights as Catholics.
D) Roman Catholicism will be practiced as the state religion.

Question 37

Which of the following is true of the Thirty Years' War?

A) It was a German civil war fought over the Catholic-Protestant issue.
B) It was a war that began in Sweden, and it was between Sweden and the Habsburgs.
C) It was a French civil war fought between member states to attain independence.
D) It was a German civil war fought mainly over the issue of poverty.

Question 38

The stunning Swedish victories during the Thirty Years' War were partly due to:

A) the development of the mobile cannon.
B) the brilliant generalship of Oxenstierna.
C) the generous financial assistance of England.
D) the great manpower resources of the new Swedish empire.

Question 39

Which of the following statements is true of the Peace of Westphalia?

A) It represented a general checkmate to the Catholic Counter Reformation in Germany.
B) It strengthened the Holy Roman Empire.
C) It represented a complete victory for the Catholic Church.
D) It eliminated Calvinism in northern Europe, making only Lutheranism and Catholicism acceptable faiths.

Question 40

How did the opening of the Atlantic and explorations in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries stimulate the commercial revolution?

Question 41

Discuss Spain's "Golden Age" with respect to politics, economics, and culture. What factors contributed to Spain's greatness? What caused its decline?

Question 42

How, after decades of civil war, was prosperity and stability restored to France between 1590 and 1640?

Question 43

What led to the decline of Germany relative to the states of western Europe before 1650?

Question 44

How important were nationalist feelings as compared to religious and feudal loyalties in the Thirty Years' War and the revolt of the Netherlands?

Question 45

In what ways did the period stretching from 1560 to 1648 mark Europe's transition from feudalism to the modern age? Consider changes in social structures in your response.

Question 46

Which technological advancements allowed Europeans to explore much of the globe?

Question 47

In 1648, to what degree did the political boundaries of the Low Countries coincide with differences of language and religion?

Question 48

How did the Peace of Westphalia halt German unification and curb the imperial aspirations of the Austrian Habsburgs?

Question 49

How does this map demonstrate the emergence of the modern system of sovereign states? What were the implications of that system for European politics?

Question 50

Why and how did the Portuguese establish a trading empire before the other European powers?

Question 51

How did commerce and production change in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?

Question 52

What were the policies and goals of mercantilism? How did those policies and goals relate to European expansion overseas?

Question 53

How did education change in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?

Question 54

What was the impact of English involvement in the Netherlands revolution?

Question 55

What position did the politiques take in the religious wars of France? Whose interests did they usually advance?