Test Bank for Exploring American Histories,

Test Bank for Exploring American Histories, (Volume 1 +2), 4e Nancy Hewitt, Steven Lawson (All Chapters Download link at the end of Chapters)

Chapter 1

• Explain why horticulture enabled the foundation of stable settlements and population growth in ancient

America.ANSWER: Answer would ideally include the following: Stability and Growth: Horticulture is a form of agriculture in which people work small plots of land with simple tools. Ancient Americans developed strains of maize with larger kernels and higher yields than those in the wild. They cultivated beans, squash, tomatoes, and potatoes, all of which provided rich sources of protein. This combination of foods provided a nutritious diet and maintained the fertility of the soil. In addition, high crop yields produced surplus food that could be stored or traded to neighboring communities.

• What kind of technological advances had the Aztecs, Maya, and Incas made by the time the Spanish made

contact in the sixteenth century?ANSWER: Answer would ideally include the following: Technological Advances: Aztec and Mayan societies were in the equatorial region while the Incas settled along the Pacific coast in present-day Peru.Their societies were still technologically advanced, with knowledge of math and astronomy, vast mineral wealth, complex political systems, large urban centers, and organized religion. Unlike societies in Europe, Asia, and Africa, they did not have a wheel for transportation, steel tools and weapons, large boats, or horses. Aztec artisans produced valuable trade goods such as pottery, cloth, and leather. Mayan learned men developed mathematical calculations, hieroglyphic writing, and a calendar. Incan civilization was marked by expansive transportation and waterways to support their successful cultivation of fertile mountain valleys.

• Identify the factors that contributed to the decline of the Mississippian settlement at Cahokia beginning in the

thirteenth century.ANSWER: Answer would ideally include the following: As the home to as many as 30,000 people by about 1100 C.E., Cahokia was once the largest Mississippian settlement. By the 1200s, however, a number of factors, including deforestation, drought, overhunting, and perhaps disease, had begun to take their toll. As a result, many settlements dispersed. After 1400, political turmoil and increased warfare among native peoples combined with these environmental changes to ensure the decline of Mississippian culture.

• What economic developments enabled the cultural Renaissance in Italy?

ANSWER: Answer would ideally include the following: Economics of the Renaissance: Europe's population decreased by 50 percent during the latter half of the fourteenth century owing to the Black Death, which ultimately led to an increased quality of life to those who survived. Rising birthrates and increased productivity fueled a resurgence in trade within Italian city-states and expansion into international commerce. Profits from agriculture and commerce allowed the wealthy to invest in the arts and luxury goods.

• What kinds of information and innovations allowed Prince Henry of Portugal to explore the African coast and

expand trade?ANSWER: Answer would ideally include the following: The Impact of Innovation on International Trade: The 1 / 3

prince brought together the best minds from the Arab world—astronomers, geographers, mapmakers, and craftsmen—and the most experienced seamen from Portugal to launch a systematic campaign of exploration, observation, shipbuilding, and long-distance trade that revolutionized Europe and shaped developments in Africa and the Americas. They devised state-of-the-art charts, maps, and navigational instruments.

• How did the experience of enslavement change once Europeans developed a trading relationship with Africa?

ANSWER: Answer would ideally include the following: Evolution of Slavery: Before contact with Europeans, the African slave system granted enslaved people some legal rights and ensured that their term of bondage was usually temporary and not an inheritable status. People were enslaved as spoils of war or sold as payment for deaths or injuries to conquering enemies. European control of the African slave trade in the New World was much more systematic, permanent, and tied to economic systems and the expansion of agriculture. Large-scale European participation in the trade transformed life in Africa and the Americas.

• Describe the impact of the expansion of European trade with West Africa during the sixteenth and

seventeenth centuries.ANSWER: Answer would ideally include the following: Impact of European Presence in Africa: West African communities that lived by hunting and subsistence agriculture were destabilized by the expansion of the slave trade. Smaller societies were decimated by raids and larger kingdoms damaged. Originally, such communities were sometimes conquered by expanding African kingdoms that then sold their members as enslaved people in other parts of the continent. Later, these same communities were raided by slave traders from Portugal, Spain, and other nations to provide enslaved people for European markets. Many matrilineal societies were decimated by the raids.

• What role did Ferdinand Magellan play in sixteenth-century Spanish exploration?

ANSWER: Answer would ideally include the following: Magellan's Significance: Despite many challenges, Ferdinand Magellan had the support of the king of Spain when he set out to discover a passage through South America that connected the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, allowing travel to Asia.Though he died, his crew successfully circumnavigated the globe, returning to Spain in 1522.Magellan's crew returned to Spain with valuable spices and information that allowed Spain to claim the Philippine Islands. His journals documented vast information about the world's oceans and landmasses.

• Why were early Spanish expeditions north from Mexico and the Caribbean thwarted?

ANSWER: Answer would ideally include the following: Challenges to Northern Expeditions: Spanish ventures into North America failed for a variety of reasons. The 400 soldiers Panfilo de Narvaez led from Cuba to Tampa Bay battled starvation and disease and were met by hostile Indians. In 1539, ten years later, a survivor of this trip—a North African named Esteban—led a group of Spaniards from Mexico north. They ran into Zuni Indians who killed him. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado terrorized the region, burning towns and stealing food before returning to Mexico. Hernando de Soto and a company of men searched unsuccessfully for riches in present-day Georgia and the Carolinas.They also lost a large number of men and horses as well as much of their equipment in brutal fighting with Native Americans. Native Americans always fought back and made it difficult for Spanish explorers to lay roots.

• What were the results of King Philip of Spain's investment in military campaigns in Europe and in African

and American colonies?ANSWER: Answer would ideally include the following: Spanish Military Expeditions: The king used American 2 / 3

resources to fund a variety of military campaigns, ensuring an endless demand for soldiers and sailors. He conquered Italy, Portugal, and Portuguese colonies in Africa and tightened Spain's grip on the Netherlands. These ventures generated considerable criticism of the king and fierce debate within the Roman Catholic Church over the purpose of the raids: Was it Christian conversion, acquisition of material riches, or both? Native Americans did not stand idly by. They fought back, resulting in an incredible amount of conflict and violence that made conversion nearly impossible.

• Smaller hunting societies thrived to the north of the grand civilizations such as the Aztecs and Incas in

present-day Mexico. Describe the cultures and survival methods of the Plains people and the Chumash. Why were these lesser-known civilizations important?ANSWER: Answer would ideally include the following: Plains People: Plains societies stretched from Colorado into Canada, hunting herds of bison. They used a weighted spear-throwing device known as an atlatl, as well as nets, hooks, and snares to catch birds, fish, and small animals. These societies remained small and widely scattered since they needed a large expanse of territory to ensure their survival. Chumash Indians: The Chumash Indians lived near present-day Santa Barbara, California, and harvested resources from the land and the ocean. The abundance of fish, small game, and plant life along the Pacific coast encouraged the development of more permanent settlements than those of the more nomadic Plains Indians. Chumash villages were also considerably larger, sometimes holding as many as a thousand people at once, as they participated in regional exchange networks up and down the coasts. Women gathered acorns and pine nuts, while men fished and hunted.Importance: These smaller communities had less elaborate cultures than the Mayan, Aztec, or Incan, making them less remembered. Still, they were vital because they represented the ability to adapt to and survive otherwise dangerous conditions. They additionally signal not only the volume but also the diversity of native communities that lived along the Pacific prior to the arrival of Europeans.

• How did nascent forms of capitalism begin to develop across Europe in the early sixteenth century, and

what were their key components?ANSWER: Answer would ideally include the following: Early Capitalism: A form of capitalism based on market exchange, private ownership, and capital accumulation and reinvestment developed across much of Europe. This came as a result of expanding populations and greater agricultural productivity, which enabled European nations to develop more efficient systems of taxation, build larger militaries, and adapt to new weaponry. The expanded population also provided laborers for merchant vessels and forts and to protect trade routes. Portuguese Involvement: While Portugal took the lead, the Portuguese competed with Spain, England, and the Netherlands in acquiring newfound wealth by developing long-distance markets throughout Asia that brought spices, ivory, silks, cotton cloth, and other luxury goods to Europe. They secured control of trade with India from Arab vessels and established lasting trading posts and forts at key locations on the Indian Ocean and the Gold Coast of Africa. Slavery: Long practiced in Europe and Africa, slavery was transformed by the advent of large-scale European participation in the slave trade with Africa. Enslaved Africans were among the most lucrative of goods traded, generating much of the wealth that undergirded the creation of early capitalism.

• What role did technological innovations in communication play in European expansion and imperialism?

ANSWER: Answer would ideally include the following: Printing: Technological advances in printing provided a crucial role in European territorial expansion. As ships sailed from Europe back and forth across the Atlantic, cartographers charted each newly discovered island, traced coastlines and bays, and translated them back onto pre-existing maps. In the 1440s, German craftsmen invented a new form of movable metal type that allowed printers to create multiple copies of a single manuscript. Such innovations allowed Portuguese and Spanish explorers to document and disseminate records of their

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