Deck 2: When Worlds Collide

Question 1

The Spanish "secret weapon" in the conquest of the Aztecs and Incas was __________.

A) virgin soil epidemics
B) steel swords
C) war dogs
D) horses

Answer 1

virgin soil epidemics

Question 2

Which of these explains most of the decline in the Indian population living in the Americas?

A) warfare
B) declining birthrate
C) famine
D) new diseases

Answer 2

new diseases

Question 3

The multiracial Spanish colonial society is best described as a frontier of __________.

A) inclusion
B) exclusion
C) equal opportunity
D) dispersion

Answer 3

inclusion

Question 4

An important consequence of Coronado's expedition was that __________.

A) Spain established agricultural settlements in the Southwest
B) Spanish cattle herders settled in Colorado
C) Spain lost interest in settling the Southwest for 50 years
D) poor Spanish peasants were encouraged to settle in the Southwest

Question 5

Chief Wingina saw the early Roanoke colonists as __________.

A) potential allies to increase his power
B) certain military enemies
C) protectors of the Grand Banks from Iroquois raids
D) useful trading partners

Question 6

The dominant people in the Mexican highlands in 1519 were the __________.

A) Mayan
B) Pueblo
C) Inca
D) Aztec

Question 7

The first European nation to send voyages of exploration down the coast of Africa was __________.

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

Question 8

The encounter between English colonists and Native Americans at Roanoke suggests that the English and natives __________.

A) easily understood each other's viewpoints
B) had very different concepts of community
C) shared ideas about property and possessions
D) were completely unable to communicate with each other

Question 9

The Protestant Reformation was initially sparked by __________.

A) Martin Luther
B) John Knox
C) John Calvin
D) Henry VIII

Question 10

St. Augustine and Fort Caroline represent a collision of which two forces in Florida?

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

Question 11

Many new technologies and most of Europe's trade with Asia in the late Middle Ages came to Europe through __________.

A) Italian trading cities such as Venice and Genoa
B) long-distance sea voyages by English merchants
C) African middlemen
D) Chinese merchants sailing across the Indian Ocean

Question 12

Between 1500 and 1600, what was the most valuable American export to Europe?

A) sugar
B) tobacco
C) silver
D) spices

Question 13

The Spanish monopoly of the New World was broken with __________.

A) Vasco da Gama's voyages
B) the French successfully seizing Louisiana in 1564
C) the French defeat of the Spanish at St. Augustine in 1607
D) the English defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588

Question 14

England's first ventures into the New World were motivated by rivalry with and fear of __________.

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

Question 15

Beginning with the entrance of French fishermen into the North Atlantic, relationships among the French and the Indians were based on __________.

A) trade
B) missionary work
C) common culture
D) hostility

Question 16

What led to the invasion by the Spanish of Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Cuba?

A) overpopulation in earlier settlements
B) rumors that those islands had spice plantations
C) the depletion of gold on Hispaniola
D) the desire to find more Indians to convert

Question 17

Columbus's claims about what he would reach by sailing west across the Atlantic __________.

A) were almost completely wrong
B) proved mainly correct
C) were widely accepted by royal advisors across Europe
D) were based on previous Spanish and English western voyages

Question 18

The Reconquista was a struggle between Spanish Christians and __________.

A) Spanish Muslims
B) Spanish Jews
C) English invaders
D) Spanish Africans

Question 19

The spread of deadly diseases between Europe and the Americas followed which pattern?

A) Spain to the Caribbean to Mexico to the Andes
B) Mexico to the Andes to the Caribbean to Spain
C) Spain to the Andes
D) Spain to Mexico via the Andes

Question 20

John White and Thomas Harriot believed that an English colony in Virginia should be based on __________.

A) ruthless military conquest
B) enslavement of the Indians
C) mutual understanding and cooperation
D) wiping out the Indians to create living space for Europeans

Question 21

The heart of the dynamic European commercialism of the late Middle Ages lay in the city-states of __________.

A) England
B) Italy
C) France
D) Germany

Question 22

Who benefited the most from medieval economic expansion in Europe?

A) artisans
B) peasants
C) feudal lords
D) the clergy

Question 23

Which of these events happened first?

A) Ponce de León lands in Florida.
B) Raleigh's colony is established on Roanoke Island.
C) Cartier explores the St. Lawrence.
D) John Cabot explores Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

Question 24

De Soto's disastrous expedition into the North American interior was concentrated in the __________.

A) Southwest
B) St. Lawrence Valley
C) South
D) California coastal area

Question 25

What do historians call the medieval European social system?

A) feudalism
B) commercialism
C) Protestantism
D) a frontier of inclusion

Question 26

St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied European city in North America, dating from __________.

A) 1516
B) 1565
C) 1583
D) 1588

Question 27

What was life like for most medieval Europeans?

A) Life was harsh, and most people were poor.
B) Most people lived a comfortable, if not luxurious, life.
C) Europeans enjoyed the fruits of the most dynamic economy in the world.
D) Life was difficult, but it was easy to move up the social and economic ladder.

Question 28

In 1590, John White returned to find which of the following colonies abandoned and destroyed?

A) Fort Caroline
B) St. Augustine
C) Santo Domingo
D) Roanoke

Question 29

Which of these helps explain the rapid recovery of European agriculture after the Black Death?

A) climate change
B) technological developments
C) extraordinary fertility rates
D) new crops

Question 30

Before 1492, Western Europe was __________.

A) officially Roman Catholic
B) officially Protestant
C) tolerant of many different religions
D) indifferent to religion

Question 31

The Spanish explorations into the South and Southwest of North America in the 1530s-1540s were led by __________.

A) Cortés and Pizarro
B) De Soto and Coronado
C) De Leon and De Narváez
D) Ribault and Avlies

Question 32

In De Soto's exploration of the South in North America, he failed to find another Aztec empire. The peoples he did find were __________.

A) Pueblo
B) Taino
C) Iroquois
D) Mississippian

Question 33

Cartier was to the French and __________ as Cabot was to the English and __________.

A) St. Augustine; Virginia
B) Cape Fear; Florida
C) St. Lawrence; Labrador
D) Fort Caroline; Maine

Question 34

Fifteenth-century western Europe was __________.

A) an urban society
B) an agricultural society
C) a commercial society
D) a secular society

Question 35

Columbus established the first European colony in the Americas in __________.

A) Hispaniola
B) Cuba
C) Mexico
D) Florida

Question 36

In 1488, Bartholomeu Días __________.

A) discovered South America
B) rounded the southern tip of Africa
C) reached China by water
D) won the last battle of the Reconquista

Question 37

Columbus and his successors established an institution known as the encomienda, in which __________.

A) soldiers were slowly transformed from fighters to farmers
B) soldiers received rewards in exchange for killing as many Indians as possible
C) Indians received food in exchange for conversion to Catholicism
D) Indians were compelled to labor in the service of Spanish lords

Question 38

One hundred years after Columbus, the nation whose interest in the New World most enraged King Philip II was __________.

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

Question 39

The fifteenth-century western European nations active in overseas exploration shared __________.

A) a weak economy
B) a weak monarchial system
C) a Protestant outlook
D) an Atlantic coastline

Question 40

Who led the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs?

A) Columbus
B) de Gama
C) Cortés
D) Pizarro

Question 41

Which statement describes one of Prince Henry's contributions to the age of discovery?

A) Prince Henry's experts designed the caravel.
B) Prince Henry was the first member of a royal family to issue lucrative contracts and trading monopolies to merchants in exchange for political support.
C) Prince Henry was placed on the Portuguese throne by wealthy merchants so that he could create a trading empire.
D) Prince Henry financed Christopher Columbus's first voyage.

Question 42

Long before France and England made attempts to found colonies, __________ were exploiting the coastal North American waters of the North Atlantic.

A) Muslim seamen
B) Italian merchants
C) Chinese explorers
D) European fishermen

Question 43

Briefly summarize the views of Bartolomé de Las Casas in his Destruction of the Indies. Did they change Spanish imperial policy?

Question 44

What Indian trade good was of most interest to the French?

A) grain
B) weapons
C) furs
D) glass

Question 45

The "new monarchies" grew out of alliances between European monarchs and __________.

A) merchants
B) Muslim countries
C) the peasantry
D) the lesser clergy

Question 46

What was the most important outcome of Jacques Cartier's exploration of North America?

A) He found a passage to Asia.
B) He encouraged the Spanish to explore the northern Atlantic.
C) He discovered the St. Lawrence River.
D) He convinced the French that there was gold in the regions he explored.

Question 47

Which of these was most closely tied to the migration of the English rural poor from the countryside to cities in the sixteenth century?

A) the Reformation
B) enclosure
C) English efforts at colonization
D) deflation

Question 48

How did contact with Islamic civilization benefit Europe?

A) Muslims provided access to texts long lost in Europe.
B) Muslims made advances in agricultural technology that were exported to Europe.
C) Muslims developed a political system that was emulated in Europe.
D) Muslims used their merchant vessels to transport European goods to Asia.

Question 49

How did English economic and social conditions in the sixteenth century affect English expansion?

Question 50

Who wrote The Destruction of the Indies?

A) Montesinos
B) Sepúlveda
C) las Casas
D) Pizarro

Question 51

What role did Italian cities play in the medieval economy?

Question 52

Which of these was an important negative consequence for Indians of the North American fur trade?

A) epidemic disease
B) deforestation
C) overpopulation
D) religious conflict and division

Question 53

What weakened the Inca civilization in the years before it was conquered by Francisco Pizarro?

A) an earthquake
B) famine
C) a smallpox epidemic
D) defeat by another rival empire

Question 54

Most Huguenots came from __________.

A) the urban middle class
B) the rural poor
C) the upper nobility
D) southern Spain

Question 55

Compare the colonies of Fort Caroline and Roanoke in terms of motive, establishment, and outcome.

Question 56

Which country established the Atlantic slave trade during its voyages of discovery?

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

Question 57

What were the main elements of the Columbian Exchange between the New and Old Worlds? What were the benefits of this exchange for each region? What were its most negative effects?

Question 58

Bartolomé de las Casas's critique of the Spanish in the Americas amounted to a charge of __________.

A) genocide
B) malign neglect
C) base robbery
D) destructive ignorance

Question 59

Virgin soil epidemics are characterized by __________.

A) outbreaks of disease that strike for the first time against a completely unprotected population
B) extreme drought that results in devastating famine
C) infectious diseases caused by sexual intimacy
D) frequent recurrences of the same disease within a specific population

Question 60

What sparked the Renaissance?

A) a revival of interest in classical antiquity and its culture
B) increased contact with north African culture
C) a rejection of human-centered life
D) the invention of woodblock printing

Question 61

Before colonizing the Americas, England sent soldiers and colonists to subdue __________.

A) Ireland
B) North Africa
C) Portugal
D) Spain

Question 62

Which statement best describes feudalism?

A) It was a social system in which land was divided into hundreds of small territories, each ruled by a family of lords that held a monopoly of wealth and power.
B) It was an economic and political system that prevented growth by dividing the land into thousands of small fiefdoms, each owned by a single peasant family.
C) It was a social and political system that divided the continent of Europe into a few large countries whose rulers held absolute sway over their subjects.
D) It was a social and religious system whose demands for the subjugation of the peasant to the will of the lord ran afoul of the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Question 63

What was the most important legacy of the Roanoke expedition?

A) written and pictorial accounts of the area and its inhabitants
B) the establishment of a permanent military beachhead
C) mutually beneficial contacts with the local natives
D) the discovery of the tobacco plant

Question 64

Which of these was a primary cause of the tripling of Western Europe's population between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries?

A) greatly increased agricultural productivity and the resulting increased food supply
B) migration from north Africa
C) absence of any extended periods of warfare during those centuries
D) improved quality of life that resulted from contact with the Islamic civilizations of the Middle East

Question 65

Why did the Spanish colonies become "a frontier of inclusion"?

A) There were very few European women in the colonies.
B) The Catholic Church embraced diverse native cultures.
C) Spain's monarchs encouraged Spanish settlers to include local political elites in colonial decision making.
D) The encomienda system incorporated Native Americans, Europeans, mestizos, mulattoes, and Spaniards.

Question 66

Under the encomienda system, Spanish landlords used the labor of __________.

A) Native Americans
B) Spanish peasants
C) captured European prisoners of war
D) indentured servants

Question 67

Which of these best explains the Spanish victory over the Aztecs?

A) The Spanish were able to take advantage of dependent peoples' hostility to Aztec rule.
B) The Spanish had superior weapons.
C) There was no Aztec military "bureaucracy" that could organize a counterattack.
D) The Spanish used their navy to support the ground assault on Tenochtitlán.

Question 68

How did the increase in the amount of coin throughout Europe impact the common people?

A) It lowered their standard of living.
B) It improved their economic opportunities.
C) It enabled many poor people to purchase land.
D) It did not impact the lives of ordinary people because the wealth remained with the merchants and monarchs.

Question 69

One hundred years after Columbus's first voyage to the "New World," the majority of the population of Spanish America was __________.

A) of mixed race
B) white European
C) Native American
D) African

Question 70

"New monarchies" developed in Europe __________.

A) in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries
B) in response to the Reformation
C) to limit the influence of the merchant class
D) during the Crusades

Question 71

What was the purpose of the first French colony in North America?

A) to establish a religious refuge for Huguenots
B) to trade for gold and silver
C) to serve as a base for French exploration
D) to establish an imperial claim to the New World

Question 72

What did Christopher Columbus and Jacques Cartier have in common?

A) Both were looking for a western passage to the Indies.
B) Both made imperial claims of land in the Americas for Spain.
C) Both found spices in the New World that they exported to Europe.
D) Both founded permanent settlements in the Americas.

Question 73

Which statement best characterizes the conquistadors' military activities in the Americas?

A) Although they won some spectacular victories, the conquistadors also suffered setbacks and sometimes defeat at the hands of Native American armies.
B) The conquistadors won most of their victories by deliberately infecting their opponents with diseases such as smallpox.
C) Because they viewed Native Americans as a degraded and inferior people, the conquistadors treated all Native Americans as enemies.
D) The overwhelming superiority of European weaponry allowed the conquistadors to gain victories over every enemy they encountered.

Question 74

France established colonies along the St. Lawrence River to __________.

A) support the fur trade
B) support their urban settlements in the interior of North America
C) serve as a base of operations in the search for the Northwest Passage
D) establish religious sanctuaries for French Protestants

Question 75

Which of these resulted from the other three?

A) Phillip II sent the Armada against England.
B) Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church.
C) Elizabeth I established a moderate form of Protestantism in England.
D) Francis Drake launched a series of raids against Spanish New World ports and fleets.

Question 76

In what century was the decline of the native population of the Americas reversed?

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

Question 77

Which of these European imports to the Americas had the most negative impact on Native Americans?

A) livestock
B) sugar
C) rice
D) wheat

Question 78

Who were the Huguenots?

A) French supporters of John Calvin
B) German supporters of Martin Luther
C) Catholic supporters of King Phillip II
D) Protestant supporters of King Henry VIII

Question 79

Bartolomé de las Casas was incorrect in arguing that __________.

A) most Indian deaths were from war with the Spanish
B) all Indians welcomed and benefited from Spanish rule
C) Indian populations had grown since the arrival of the Spanish
D) European diseases had little effect on the Indians

Question 80

What was one major reason for social change and the disruption of the English economy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?

A) enclosure of common pastureland
B) resettlement of large numbers of people in the Americas
C) a deflationary money cycle
D) decentralization of English government