Social Studies 7Hafrica, China, Japan
SOCIAL STUDIES 7HAFRICA, CHINA, JAPAN
PBL Scavenger Huntand MESOAMERICA
Chapters 3, 4, 5, and 9
DIRECTIONS: In preparation for our presentations on Africa, China, Japan, and Mesoamerica, you will be examining the four cultures by “hunting” for information about each of them. Use your home textbook to complete the assignment. Some of the questions require you to fill in a blank, and others require a short explanation. Make your answers specific and include details where needed.
1. Name the different climate zones found in Africa.
2. The ______is the world’s largest desert in the world and getting lost guarantees
death.
3. Name three different rivers that flow through the African continent.
4. Many people in Africa share a common heritage as they are descendents of the ______people.
5. For thousands of years, the great Sahara kept North Africa ______from the rest of the continent until the
______found a way to cross the great desert.
6. The rise of ______was attributed to the increase of ______between West Africa and North Africa.
7. What were some of the goods traded between West Africa and North Africa?
8. Why did traders pay a tax to Ghana?
9. How did Mali rise in power?
10. Who is Mansa Musa? Describe one of his achievements.
11. ______was the leader of Songhai and established an empire that lasted for 100 years.
12. Great Zimbabwe, another of the great trading empires, was located in what part of Africa? ______
13. True or false: Some Africans believed in one supreme God.
14. The great explorer, ______, traveled throughout the lands of Islam for 30 years, but was surprised to
discover that many West Africans did not follow Islam.
15. In 1324 Mansa Musa made Mali known to other parts of the world when he set out on a long journey to ______.
16. Timbuktu became an important center of Islamic culture under the guidance of ______.
17. The culture of East Africa is a combination of ______and ______cultures.
18. In West Africa, the ______of the various kingdoms were as diverse as their people.
19. In West Africa, the ______or storyteller, was an important part of oral tradition and helped to spread ideas
and traditions to future generations.
20. Name two African queens and at least one of their accomplishments:
21. How did slavery begin in West Africa? What European country was the first to accept the slave trade?
22. What American musical form can date its beginnings to the African culture? ______
23. For over 300 years, China had no central government and the country was controlled by ______.
24. ______was an army general who was responsible for reuniting China and founding the ______dynasty.
25. Name two projects that Yangdi started that improved the life of the Chinese:
26. How did the Tang Dynasty improve China? Name three ideas.
27. One of the most forceful rulers of China was ______who in the late 600s added more officials to
the government and strengthened China’s military force.
28. What religion, which had its roots in India, spread to China? ______
29. What other cultures did Buddhism spread to? ______
30. ______taught that life in this world was as important as an afterlife.
31. China’s government soon introduced the ______, which judged people based on what they can
do and not on their riches or personal contacts.
32. Name at least four new farming ideas introduced during the Tang Dynasty:
33. There were many new ideas and inventions introduced by the Chinese, name at least five of these ideas/inventions.
34. ______was one of the most popular poets of the Tang era and his poems centered on ______.
35. Chinese painters often used a brush and ink technique to write beautiful characters called ______.
36. A very fine clay product was made into ______and today is called “China”.
37. Name two Mongol leaders that conquered and occupied China changes its history and culture:
______
38. What two Chinese weapons of war did the Mongols adopt? ______
39. The great Chinese explorer, ______, was responsible for expanding China’s knowledge of the
world and for bringing back to China many new plants and animals.
40. What European country(ies) began to deal with China? ______
41. What are the four largest Japanese islands? ______
______
42. How did the sea help Japan develop?
43. How did the sea hinder (hold back) Japan’s development?
44. Name two achievements of Prince Shotoku:
45. Japan’s main religion ______called on the nature spirits, known as ______to help
them when times were tough.
46. In the 700s, Japan’s leaders built a new capital city called ______, which became the center for
government and religion.
47. Another important religion that influenced Japan was ______.
48. Describe the social system of Japan under the emperor. Use a pyramid to illustrate the social system.
49. The chief warrior class in Japan were known as the ______.
50. The idea of ______or the way of the warrior demanded courage, loyalty and honor.
51. The ______or military lords swore their loyalty to the emperor and shogun, however, they continued to
control their own lands and to build their own armies.
52. Name two ways that Japanese feudalism resembled European feudalism.
53. ______focused on the control of the body through martial arts and meditation.
54. ______wrote ______describing the adventures of a
Japanese prince.
55. A new capital, ______, became a major center of production and trade where they formed trade guilds to
protect the quality of the products they sold.
56. True or False: Japanese women were afforded great independence during the medieval period.
57. One of the greatest planned cities in Central America was called ______, which had a
population of over ______people.
58. Another group called the ______built another civilization in the steamy rain forests of the ______
______.
59. The ______were another powerful group that admired the Toltec and copied their ways had an empire that
lasted until the 1500s.
60. The ______, areas where the earth has collapsed, connected the ______with a huge
system of underground rivers.
61. Like the Greeks, the Maya were a loose collection of ______that governed their lands independent
of each other.
62. The Maya king ______built a great city at Tikal, which honored him as a god-king.
63. Like many cultures of Central and South America, ______was an important part of
pleasing the gods.
64. The Maya culture invented the following:
65. The Aztec god known as ______was a feathered serpent that promised the Aztec a new home,
which they named ______.
66. What were the four classes that the Aztec people fell into:
67. To record their religion and history, the Aztecs made books that historians refer to as ______.
68. Like the Maya, the Aztecs also developed a ______, however, they had two different kinds. One
tracked ______and the other was used to keep track of ______
______.
69. Some of the achievements of the Aztecs included:
70. The great Inca leader ______built the largest ancient empire in the Americas. It stretched for over
______miles in what is now modern Peru.
71. The language of the Inca was called ______.
72. Some of the achievements of the Inca included:
73. The great Inca retreat called ______was built without the use of iron tools.
74. The Inca only used human sacrifice during times of ______.
75. Describe the social system of the Inca.