Name_______________________________
UNIT 1 - ORIGINS OF A NEW NATION
CHAPTER 1 – MANY CULTURES MEET (Prehistory – 1550)
Section 1 – The American Indians
A. Key Terms and People
Directions: From the bank below, choose the term or person that best fits each description. You will not use all the answers.
a. ice age
b. migrate
c. Mayans
d. Aztecs
e. adobe
f. Iroquois League
_____1. leading group of people along the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean coast
_____2. loose confederation for promoting peaceful cooperation
_____3. to travel from one place to another to live
_____4. type of sun-dried brick
_____5. period of time during which the Earth was covered by ice and glaciers
_____6. most powerful people in the highlands of central Mexico
B. Key Concepts
Directions: Write the letter of the best answer or ending in each blank.
_____7. Which of the following occurred when the climate warmed about
12,000 to 10,000 years ago?
a. The number of mammoths and other large mammals increased.
b. Ocean levels dropped to new levels.
c. Paleoindians began to rely more on hunting.
d. The environment became more diverse.
_____8. In which area did American Indians first grow maize, beans, and squash?
a. the American Midwest
b. central Mexico
c. the Caribbean coast
d. the American Northeast
_____9. Grazing animals were important to the people of the
a. Southwest.
b. Mississippi River valley.
c. Great Plains.
d. Eastern Woodlands.
_____10. The political power of most American Indians was spread among
a. many local chiefs with limitless authority.
b. many local chiefs with limited authority.
c. the members of one ruling family.
d. only the shamans.
Section 2 – The Europeans
A. Key Terms and People
Directions: From the bank below, choose the term or person that best fits each description. You will not use all the answers.
a. Middle Ages b. Renaissance c. Reconquista d. Prince Henry the Navigator
_____11. sponsored expeditions along the coast of West Africa
_____12. featured a renewed interest in learning and advancement in the arts and sciences
_____13. marked by the absence of strong nations
_____14. European campaign to drive out the Muslim Moors who ruled Iberia
B. Key Concepts
Directions: Write the letter of the best answer or ending in each blank.
_____15. The earlier years of the Middle Ages began with
a. the Crusades.
b. the collapse of the Roman Empire.
c. the Renaissance.
d. the search for new trade routes.
16. Most people in Europe during the Middle Ages were
a. commoners.
b. aristocrats.
c. merchants.
d. church leaders.
17. Which city did European Christians want to capture during the Crusades?
a. Alexandria
b. Constantinople
c. Damascus
d. Jerusalem
18. The development of the printing press
a. raised the cost of publishing.
b. slowed the spread of literature.
c. discouraged the spread of new ideas.
d. increased the volume of publishing.
19. The 1469 marriage of Prince Ferdinand and Queen Isabella created which nation?
a. Spain
b. Castile
c. Aragon
d. Portugal
20. The Portuguese took the lead in exploration in part because they developed a type of ship called the
a. lateen.
b. caravel.
c. quadrant.
d. astrolabe.
Section 3 – The West Africans
A. Key Terms and People
Directions: From the bank below, choose the term or person that best fits each description. You will not use all the answers.
a. Ghana
b. Mali
c. Mansa Musa
d. Songhai
_____21. earliest West African kingdom between A.D. 300 and 1500
_____22. became the largest and most powerful kingdom in West Africa
_____23. helped expand Mali’s domain and promoted Islamic scholarship
_____24. rose to power as Ghana’s power faded
B. Key Concepts
Directions: Write the letter of the best answer or ending in each blank.
_____25. Which natural resource is found in the Sahara?
a. gold
b. silver
c. salt
d. water
_____26. Which kingdom supplied the Mediterranean region with much of its gold by the eleventh century?
a. Ghana
b. Songhai
c. Benin
d. Timbuktu
_____27. Which new empire had eclipsed Mali by the 1400s?
a. Ghana
b. Songhai
c. Benin
d. Timbuktu
_____28. In the West African economy, land
a. belonged to individuals.
b. belonged to extended kinship networks.
c. determined one’s wealth.
d. could be sold or rented by peasants.
_____29. Slavery in West Africa
a. was nearly identical to the system that would develop in the Americas.
b. was not an important part of the area’s economy.
c. was based on the notion of racial superiority or inferiority.
d. was not based on the notion of racial superiority or inferiority.
_____30. Which European nation greatly expanded the slave trade in the 1400s and 1500s?
a. Portugal
b. Spain
c. Italy
d. England
Section 4 – First Encounters
A. Key Terms and People
Directions: From the bank below, choose the term or person that best fits each description. You will not use all the answers.
a. Bartolomeu Dias
b. Vasco da Gama
c. Christopher Columbus
d. Amerigo Vespucci
e. Ferdinand Magellan
f. Hernán Cortés
g. conquistador
h. Columbian Exchange
_____31. Italian mariner who sailed for Spain
_____32. captured the Aztec city of Tenochtitlán
_____33. the mixing and dispersing of plants, animals, and microorganisms between the Americas and Europe
_____34. Portuguese explorer who reached India
_____35. Spanish soldier in North and South America
_____36. succeeded in circling the entire globe between 1519 and 1522
B. Key Concepts
Directions: Write the letter of the best answer or ending in each blank.
_____37. Which group dominated the trade routes south and east of Africa in the 1400s?
a. the Portuguese
b. the Spanish
c. the Italians
d. the English
_____38. Christopher Columbus sought a route to China to
a. gain wealth for Italy.
b. claim the region for Spain.
c. convert the Chinese to Christianity.
d. accurately determine the size of Earth.
_____39. Who explored enough of South America to deem it a new continent?
a. John Cabot
b. Amerigo Vespucci
c. Ferdinand Magellan
d. Pedro Alvarez Cabral
_____40. Which of the following gave the Spanish their greatest advantage over the Indians?
a. horses
b. gunpowder
c. crossbows
d. diseases