Deck 2: Contact and Settlement, 1492-1660

Question 1

Vasco da Gama was the first European to reach India via the shorter,eastern route because

A) Spain, the country he sailed for, was determined to beat the Portuguese.
B) the Portuguese had spent a great deal of time along the southern coast of Africa and were most familiar with the coastline.
C) he made a successful turn along the Cape of Good Hope in Africa and then headed north, which got him to India before others.
D) Columbus was still trying to reach India by going west.
E) he had been promised great wealth by the king of Portugal if he was first.

Answer 1

he made a successful turn along the Cape of Good Hope in Africa and then headed north, which got him to India before others.

Question 2

Sir Walter Raleigh's men abandoned their first Roanoke settlement because

A) it was too wet and swampy.
B) they ran out of provisions.
C) they decided to explore further down the coastline.
D) the native peoples evacuated the area, leaving them without workers.
E) they found no gold or silver there.

Answer 2

they found no gold or silver there.

Question 3

Which of the following was not a problem French traders in Quebec had to deal with?

A) Disease
B) Warfare with the Iroquois
C) Harsh climate
D) Relative isolation from fellow French
E) A lack of demand for beaver furs

Answer 3

A lack of demand for beaver furs

Question 4

Spain first became interested in Florida after

A) gold was found there.
B) Georgia was established by the English.
C) the French defeated the local Indian tribes.
D) French adventurers announced plans to claim all the land from Florida to the Mississippi River.
E) French pirates based there began attacking Spanish ships.

Question 5

Pope Alexander VI established the Line of Demarcation in order to

A) form closer ties between England and Spain, since those two countries would then control most of the Americas.
B) ensure that Catholicism remained the dominant religion in the region.
C) try to keep the two Catholic countries from openly fighting each other.
D) ensure that the Portuguese would not be left with nothing when Spain showed signs of settling the entire Caribbean.
E) make certain that the Spanish were able to harvest as much gold and silver as they could.

Question 6

Maryland's Toleration Act of 1649 is significant because it

A) provided for state-sanctioned religious toleration for all religious beliefs.
B) allowed Protestants to participate fully in the colony's government.
C) ended the religious disputes between Catholics and Protestants.
D) granted freedom of worship to all who accepted the divinity of Jesus Christ.
E) stated that no person could be punished for his or her faith or lack thereof.

Question 7

The Powhatan Confederacy assisted early Jamestown settlers because

A) they feared the weapons of the Europeans.
B) the English had impressed them deeply with evidence of European civilization.
C) they were promised horses in return.
D) they hoped to gain the English as allies in their rivalry with other tribes.
E) mutual aid and assistance was the Indian way of life across the continent.

Question 8

The Portuguese control of the island of São Tomé led to

A) the eviction of the island's original inhabitants.
B) conflict with the African tribe that was farming on the island.
C) a war with Spain over control of the island.
D) an attempt by the Portuguese to use the island as a prison.
E) the establishment of the first economy solely based on the use of slave labor.

Question 9

What is the significance of joint stock companies for English colonization?

A) They owned ships and profited from the cost of passage to the New World.
B) They were able to amass the large sums of money needed to establish colonies in the New World.
C) Working-class people could own stock in these companies and therefore share in the investment potential of the New World.
D) They were funded by the crown and enabled the establishment of royal colonies.
E) They exported products to be sold to colonists in the New World and imported colonial goods back to England.

Question 10

The crop that finally ensured the long-term success of the Jamestown colony was

A) sugar cane.
B) rice.
C) marijuana.
D) tobacco.
E) cotton.

Question 11

Early laborers on Virginia plantations were indentured servants,which refers to

A) poor French men and women who hoped to make a lot of money and buy land of their own.
B) English and Irish poor who sold their labor for four to seven years to cover the cost of their trip to the colonies.
C) enslaved Africans who had the option to buy their way out of slavery after working for a period of years on a tobacco plantation.
D) the sons of gentry who would learn the plantation system from the bottom up before running tobacco plantations of their own.
E) Native Americans who were forced to work on plantations throughout the Chesapeake.

Question 12

Many members of the English gentry became willing to emigrate to the American colonies after

A) losing their lands to the Anglican church.
B) the enclosure movement threatened their incomes.
C) the production of tobacco led to great fortunes in the Virginia colony.
D) the break with the Catholic Church kept younger sons from having secure professional futures within the Church.
E) gold was discovered in the colony of Georgia.

Question 13

Which of the following best describes the conquistadors?

A) Spanish noblemen who led private armies to conquer land and people in the Americas.
B) The native population of specific regions in the Americas.
C) Governors of Spain's vice royalties.
D) Spanish soldiers who seized land from the natives in South America.
E) Those who settled St. Augustine, Florida, in the name of their king.

Question 14

Which of the following statements was not true of Jamestown?

A) Some of its early settlers hoped to establish plantation agriculture.
B) There were insufficient numbers of English settlers in the early years willing to work the soil or build fortifications.
C) The harsh winter of 1609-1610 did not affect the supply of food in the colony.
D) Hostile relations with area Indian tribes influenced the success of the colony.
E) Of the 900 or so settlers who arrived during the colony's first two years, only a minority survived.

Question 15

Which of the following is not a true statement about Spanish colonies in North America?

A) The exchange of diseases wiped out nearly 20 percent of the world's population in the 15th and 16th centuries.
B) The Spanish enslaved Native Americans and forced them to work in gold mines.
C) The Spanish settlements remained primarily in the Caribbean and coastal regions of North and South America.
D) They used the encomienda system, requiring Indian villages to pay a tribute in gold or slaves to Spanish conquerors.
E) In his criticism of the conquistadors' brutality, the priest Bartolomé de las Casas suggested expanding African slavery to reduce mistreatment of Native Americans.

Question 16

Jamestown became a royal colony because

A) it was not growing in size.
B) King James I wanted to secure its profits for the crown.
C) of the bankruptcy of the Virginia Company and internal conflicts within the company.
D) members of the Virginia Company split up over how the colony should be regulated.
E) only with royal control could African slavery be introduced.

Question 17

The Columbian Exchange refers to

A) the agricultural products and domestic animals that crossed from European civilizations to the New World and from the New World to Europe.
B) the introduction of European diseases to Native Americans, such as syphilis.
C) the decimation of native populations-by as much as two-thirds-from exposure to small pox and other diseases that they had never been exposed to and had no immunities against.
D) None of these choices.
E) All of these choices.

Question 18

Which of the following was not one of the reasons for Europeans' desire to explore lands overseas in the 16th century?

A) Europeans desired the valuable spices available in the Middle East, India, and parts of Africa.
B) Europeans needed to alleviate a trade deficit caused by high prices for oriental spices charged by Middle Eastern and Italian traders.
C) The increasing population density in Europe made the acquisition of new land for farming and permanent settlement in North America a necessity.
D) Christian Europeans were driven by a missionary zeal and wanted to convert non-believers to their faith.
E) They wanted to search for riches in overseas lands including gold, silver, and precious gemstones such as rubies and emeralds.

Question 19

Spain's acquisition of silver from mines in the Americas

A) brought prosperity to all Spaniards.
B) revived the nation's economy and prompted North African immigration into the Iberian peninsula.
C) permitted the Spanish king to pay back the nation's debt to Christopher Columbus and other explorers.
D) allowed Spain to expand its luxury trade in oriental spices.
E) prompted rampant inflation across Europe that hurt laborers and agricultural workers whose wages couldn't keep up with price hikes.

Question 20

All of the following contributed to Cortes' victory over the Aztecs except

A) the use of horses.
B) help from a slave woman and other tribes.
C) Spanish colonists.
D) disease.
E) firearms.

Question 21

Anne Hutchinson was evicted from ____ because of her unorthodox religious beliefs.

A) Rhode Island
B) Massachusetts
C) Virginia
D) Jamestown
E) New England

Question 22

Describe the early efforts of each of the following groups to establish colonies in the New World: Spanish,French,and English.

Question 23

Describe the establishment of the Massachusetts and Rhode Island colonies,explaining the significance of religion to these two colonies.How did the religious aspects contribute to the way in which these colonies developed?

Question 24

What were the most important reasons Europeans had for wanting to explore new areas and establish colonies there?

Question 25

The first colonies established by Europeans in the New World were those of the

A) French.
B) English.
C) Portuguese.
D) Spanish.
E) Dutch.

Question 26

The first Englishman to found a New England colony was John Smith.

Question 27

The local Wampanoag Indians were not too concerned about the English arrivals because

A) they had learned from the Powhatan Confederacy in Virginia that these were harmless people.
B) they were in dire need of European tools and equipment.
C) they hoped to trade with the newcomers and then expel them from present-day Maine.
D) they were interested in the Puritans' religious teachings.
E) the presence of women and children in the Puritan settlement convinced them of the newcomers' peaceful intentions.

Question 28

Which of these was not a reason for England's increasing desire for more American colonies?

A) The belief of investors that they could get rich by simply sending settlers to America.
B) Religious intolerance in England.
C) Poverty in England.
D) The need for a space for prisons for English debtors.
E) The belief that other cash crops, like tobacco, could bring large profits.

Question 29

The largest French trading post in Canadian territory was Quebec.

Question 30

What was life like in the Chesapeake,in regard to climate,farming methods,housing,and social relationships?

Question 31

Describe the development of the Virginia colony,including a thorough examination of Jamestown.

Question 32

So different were the worlds of Indians and Europeans that native tribes had simply no way to blend Christian symbolism with that of their own native religions.

Question 33

The major conflict between the colonists and a local Indian tribe in the 1630s that previewed future conflicts was known as the

A) Powhatan Conflict.
B) Jamestown Massacre.
C) Pequot War.
D) Roanoke War.
E) Wampanoag War.

Question 34

Francisco Pizarro faced only mild resistance to his seizure of the Inca capital of Qosqo because Inca warriors were gone battling another tribe.

Question 35

How did the colonists' relations with the local Indian tribes evolve over the years? How serious was the Pequot War? What did that war foreshadow?

Question 36

What did John Winthrop mean when he told his Puritan followers,"We shall be as a city upon a hill"?

A) That choosing to establish their new community on a hillside would enable the Puritans to keep a watchful eye out against sin on the lands below.
B) That God wanted the Puritans to form a religious community in the New World that would be an example for the rest of the world, and especially Old England.
C) That God had made the Puritans his chosen people over the Anglicans and Quakers.
D) That God had spared the Puritans major hardship in reaching the New World.
E) That by coming to the New World, they could reinvent all the rules of society.

Question 37

Thanksgiving,though very different today from the original,began with a treaty celebration between

A) the Pilgrims and the Wampanoags.
B) the Puritans and the Powhatan Confederacy.
C) the Separatists and the Puritans.
D) the Puritans and the Pequots.
E) the Pilgrims and Opechancanough.

Question 38

What distinguished the Massachusetts legislature formed in 1634?

A) It was by far the most representative body in the colonies.
B) It consisted of only one chamber.
C) It ruled without an executive.
D) It permitted only selected church members to vote for the deputies that made up the lower house.
E) It explicitly rejected any connection between church and state.

Question 39

Christopher Columbus was a Portuguese-trained Italian sailor who made exploratory voyages for the king and queen of Spain.

Question 40

The Separatists who landed at Plymouth in 1620 signed the Mayflower Compact because

A) they had come to the new world in order to create a democracy.
B) they were deeply suspicious and fearful of each other.
C) the King's charter required it.
D) they arrived far north of the lands they were promised, so they created an agreement to obey majority rule and defend against eviction.
E) they wanted to sever the ties with the proprietors who had financed their voyage.

Question 41

Maryland's Toleration Act of 1649 represented a major extension of legally sanctioned religious liberty and toleration in this region of North America.

Question 42

The Virginia Company of London actually was responsible for establishing the Virginia colony.

Question 43

Sir Walter Raleigh hoped that by sending families instead of conquerors to the New World,he would be able to re-create English society and its agricultural system.

Question 44

Rather than just one or two major cities,small towns composed of just several families were the central institution of Massachusetts.

Question 45

After becoming a royal colony under the king's ultimate control,Virginia established an assembly called the House of Burgesses which gave the colonists a great deal of self-rule.