Deck 14: The Revenge of Nature: Plague, Cold, and the Limits of Disaster in the Fourteenth Century

Question 1

The term Bubonic refers to the plague symptom of

A) fever.
B) swellings.
C) jitters and dizziness.
D) an inability to tolerate light.

Answer 1

swellings.

Question 2

During the height of the plague in Europe, the disease broke out during

A) summer only.
B) fall only.
C) spring only.
D) at any time of the year.

Answer 2

at any time of the year.

Question 3

One of the consequences of cooling conditions in the fourteenth century was

A) contraction of Mongol influence due to drought and famine.
B) expansion of the Mongols into areas newly weakened by drought and famine.
C) extensive intermarriage between Mongols and the people of eastern China.
D) migration of famine-stricken Mongols into eastern China.

Answer 3

contraction of Mongol influence due to drought and famine.

Question 4

Which of the following is NOT a form of evidence for climate change?

A) the disappearance of water-demanding plants
B) population decline
C) the growth of glaciers
D) the size of tree rings

Question 5

The cooling trend in the fourteenth century first began in

A) the Arctic.
B) the Antarctic.
C) several parts of Europe simultaneously.
D) none of the above

Question 6

During the fourteenth century, people associated the causes of the plague with all of the following EXCEPT:

A) fleas on rats.
B) magic.
C) vapors carried on the winds.
D) domesticated animals.

Question 7

In his relations with his largely Hindu subjects, the Muslim Ibn Tughluq

A) was mostly tolerant of their religion.
B) discriminated against Hindus.
C) regularly forced conversions.
D) regularly destroyed Hindu religious sites.

Question 8

Why is it unlikely that the frequent epidemics in China between the 1320s and 1360s were the bubonic plague familiar to modern medicine?

A) There was insufficient contact between regions for it to be the same pathogen.
B) Contemporary accounts refer to a different illness.
C) There were no black rats in China during this period.
D) The suddenness and virulence of the disease suggests a new pathogen.

Question 9

The Great Drowning of 1362 affected

A) Holland.
B) Denmark.
C) northeast England.
D) all of the above

Question 10

Which of the following key resources for trade came from Southeast Asia?

A) cotton, timber, and mace
B) nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon
C) cloves, oranges, and pepper
D) cinnamon, potatoes, and timber

Question 11

Which of the following was NOT a popular religious reaction to the plague?

A) to turn to magical spells and charms
B) to become more religious than before
C) to deny that God exists
D) to see the plague as a test of faith

Question 12

In China, the rise of the idea of a new Buddha who would inaugurate a golden age and give power to his followers led to

A) a revolution in religious belief.
B) the rise of the Yuan dynasty.
C) the rise of the Ming dynasty.
D) a resurgence in the power of the Confucian elite.

Question 13

What was the most effective remedy against the plague?

A) Armenian clay
B) abstaining from certain foods
C) quarantine
D) snake venom

Question 14

How did Ibn Battuta describe the court of Sultan Muhammad Ibn Tughluq?

A) a place of seizing property and luxury
B) a place where the literary arts were most important
C) a place of gift exchange and killing
D) a place of extreme frugality and simplicity

Question 15

How did Pope Clement VI view the role of Jews in the advent of the plague?

A) He made no official statement, but tried privately to protect Jewish communities.
B) He saw them as innocent and excommunicated anyone who harmed them.
C) He warned that anti-Jewish riots might lead to popular revolts.
D) He blamed them and rewarded anyone for harming them.

Question 16

The Hohokam civilization

A) emerged at the end of the fourteenth century.
B) disappeared by about 1400.
C) found ways to combat drought and famine and survived.
D) migrated south and supplanted the Aztec empire.

Question 17

During the most intense phases of global cooling in the fourteenth century, average temperatures fell by as much as

A) ten degrees.
B) seven or eight degrees.
C) five or six degrees.
D) two or three degrees.

Question 18

In what way (or ways) did peasants in Western Europe benefit from the plague?

A) creation of a "free" peasantry
B) payment of rent for services
C) growth of lease holding
D) all of the above

Question 19

In what battle did the Mongols unintentionally use a form of biological warfare in order to win?

A) Kaffa in 1346
B) Ain Jalut in 1359
C) Vienna in 1341
D) Cairo in 1347

Question 20

Outbreaks of plague affected

A) people.
B) people and livestock.
C) all mammals.
D) people and their pets.

Question 21

As a result of the climatic changes during the early fourteenth century,

A) the Thames River in England flooded.
B) Europeans gave up their earlier explorations of the Atlantic.
C) Danish colonies in Iceland were abandoned.
D) state building in Eastern Europe ended.

Question 22

Compare the moral and social effects of the plague on European and Muslim societies.

Question 23

The building of the statues on Easter Island

A) were not very large and required little effort.
B) are known to have represented the gods who were believed to rule the island.
C) was something that was rarely undertaken.
D) grew larger over time and may have hastened the collapse of the culture on the island.

Question 24

Explain the process of climate change and its consequences on agriculture and habitation in Europe and Eurasia in the fourteenth century.

Question 25

From 1318 on, the Japanese Emperor Godaigo

A) sought to maintain stability by maintaining his traditional position and accommodating the warrior class.
B) became famous for his introduction of Zen Buddhism into Japan.
C) continued the fight against the Mongols.
D) attempted to take the power that the shoguns exercised in the emperor's name.

Question 26

In the Mongol Empire, the plague had the effect of

A) providing the opportunity to expand their lands.
B) slowing the rise of the Ottoman state.
C) having virtually no effect.
D) ending the expansion of the empire.

Question 27

What sorts of evidence tell us about climate change in past times? How does using such evidence complicate the traditional job of the historian as an interpreter of texts?

Question 28

As a result of his stay in Cairo, Mansa Musa caused

A) the city to revolt from its ruler.
B) West African cuisine to be introduced into Egypt.
C) the price of gold to plummet.
D) his slaves to be freed there, if they became Muslim.

Question 29

The most important buildings in the city of Chan Chan were the

A) kings' tombs.
B) warehouses.
C) palaces.
D) temples.

Question 30

What is the most likely identification of the "plague" that devastated Eurasia in the fourteenth century? Explain the nature of the available evidence and how that evidence was used to reach the most convincing conclusion.

Question 31

One area that became increasingly affluent and prosperous during the fourteenth century was

A) Western Europe.
B) India.
C) sub-Saharan Africa.
D) China.

Question 32

What moral, social, and political effects did the plague have on fourteenth-century China?

Question 33

Zen Buddhism became popular in Japan because of the influx of refugee monks and because

A) warriors saw Zen as sharing their values.
B) they often stayed with merchants who financed them.
C) they became dominant in the imperial court.
D) of their association with China, which was also popular.

Question 34

King Hayan Wuruk was referred to by his subjects as

A) Shiva incarnate.
B) Muhammad's follower.
C) Christ's blessed.
D) both a and b

Question 35

Discuss some of the difficulties inherent in the identification of diseases that occurred in the past.

Question 36

After the settlement of New Zealand by Polynesians, people

A) gradually developed agriculture and increasingly violent warfare.
B) continued to practice a primarily hunting and gathering lifestyle until the arrival of Europeans.
C) focused most of their activity on gathering food from the sea.
D) relied primarily on the pasturage of animals for their food.

Question 37

In the early thirteenth century, the legendary King Sundiata founded the Kingdom of

A) Berundi.
B) Java.
C) Mali.
D) Persia.

Question 38

What were the main vectors for the spread of the plague? What do these pathways tell us about the nature of the disease(s) known as the plague?

Question 39

The lives of Japanese women of aristocratic rank during the fourteenth century

A) became freer because of the stability of the times.
B) saw marriage customs change to their detriment.
C) began writing fiction, a sign of their increased opportunity for education.
D) were transformed because of their ability to hold their own property separately from their husbands.

Question 40

Compare and contrast the effects of fourteenth century climate change in Europe and the Americas.

Question 41

Why were Pacific societies unaffected by the plague and what new developments took place in the Pacific Ocean region during this period?

Question 42

Why do societies seek to record historical origins and how does the evidence of weather and disease help historians to create these histories? Consider in particular the effects of the little ice age and the plague.

Question 43

How was West Africa affected by the plague?

Question 44

How was Japan affected by the plague?

Question 45

Discuss how religious and political leaders sought to explain and respond to natural disasters such as the Black Death. Consider and compare social and political effects on Christian Europe, the Islamic world, and China.

Question 46

How were India and Southeast Asia affected by the plague?

Question 47

What major effects did the climatic changes of the early fourteenth century have on the history of Eurasia?

Question 48

The devastation of the plague could also unleash new creative forces where it hit. Did freedom from the plague have corresponding costs?
In Perspective

Question 49

Why did parts of some societies feel the need to "scapegoat" groups such as the Jews in the fourteenth century, while others did not? In what other ways did cultural responses to the plague vary?

Question 50

Who were the "winners" and "losers" in the plague years (other than the immediate survivors and victims)?

Question 51

What areas were outside of the zone affected by these changes, and what benefits did their relative isolation provide them?