Ch. 23 Exploration
What specific motives prompted European overseas voyages? Of all these motives, which do you think took precedence? ______
What new knowledge and technologies enabled fifteenth-century mariners to make long overseas voyages? Where did much of this new technology originate? ______
What was Columbus's goal in setting forth across the Atlantic in 1492? Was his voyage successful? ______
What was the significance of Magellan's voyage of 1519–1522? What were the some of the challenges for explorers of the Pacific Ocean? ______
What were some of the striking aspects of the battle for Hormuz, as recounted by Afonso d'Alboquerque (page 614)? What was the strategic importance of Hormuz? ______
Compare the Spanish conquest of the Philippines with the Dutch conquest of Indonesia. What kind of colony emerged in each case? ______
1. The Portuguese mariner who sailed to Calicut, India in 1498 was (p. 597)
a. Dias. b. Columbus. c. Cook. d. Magellan. e. Vasco da Gama.
2. During the early modern era, which of the following non-European peoples explored the Indian Ocean?
a. Japanese b. Chinese c. Egyptian d. Mongols e. Aztec
3. Which of the following was NOT one of the main inspirations for European exploration?
a. the desire to conquer China and India
b. the search for basic resources
c. the desire to establish new trade routes to Asian markets
d. the desire to spread Christianity
e. the search for lands suitable for cultivation
4. The first European nation to dominate trade with Asia was
a. England. b. Spain. c. Portugal. d. France. e. Italy.
5. The Portuguese viewed the Atlantic Ocean islands as the perfect location for the cultivation of
a. cotton. b. sugarcane. c. indigo. d. maize. e. citrus fruits.
6. The reconquista came to an end in 1492 when
a. Constantinople fell to Islamic forces.
b. Jerusalem was recaptured by European forces as part of the seventh Crusade.
c. the Muslim kingdom of Granada fell to Spanish Catholic forces.
d. the silk roads were overrun by Mongol forces.
e. northern India was recaptured by the British.
7. The astrolabe was designed to measure
a. latitude. b. velocity. c. distance. d. longitude. e. depth.
8. Which of the following men conquered the Moroccan port of Ceuta and sponsored a series of voyages down the west African coast.
a. Christopher Columbus. b. Henry VIII of England. c. Francis I of France.
d. Suleyman the Magnificent of the Ottoman empire. e. Henry of Portugal.
9. The profitable merchandise that Vasco da Gama purchased in India was made up of (p. 605)
a. gold and silver. b. silk and artwork. c. pepper and cinnamon.
d. silk and ceramics. e. slaves and weapons.
10. Christopher Columbus’s decision to sail west to reach Asia was based on
a. assistance from an experienced Muslim sailor.
b. secret information on trade routes that he had received indirectly from Chinese sources.
c. legends left over from the earlier Viking voyages.
d. his miscalculation of the distance from the Canary Islands to Japan.
e. information that he had gathered after inventing his own astrolabe.
11. On his circumnavigation of the world, Ferdinand Magellan died in
a. Spain, two weeks after completing his journey.
b. Hawai`i.
c. Portugal, after being convicted as a traitor for sailing in the pay of Spain.
d. the Canary Islands.
e. the Philippines.
12. In their attempt to control the spice trade in the Indian Ocean, the Europeans during the period between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries (p. 612)
a. achieved a monopoly.
b. used an alliance with southern Indian princes to achieve success.
c. were never able to displace the Chinese monopoly.
d. used their seemingly godlike advantage in technology to establish a theocracy.
e. met with limited success because of a lack of personnel.
13. The Portuguese dominance of trade was dependent on their ability to
a. force the native populations to convert to Christianity.
b. form alliances with Chinese princes to take advantage of the large Chinese navy.
c. force merchant ships to call at fortified trading sites and pay duties.
d. conquer territories and bring them permanently into their growing empire.
e. take advantage of their huge population to overwhelm their adversaries.
14. Hormuz, Goa, and Melaka were all seized in the early 1500s by
a. Vasco da Gama. b. Afonso d’Alboquerque. c. Francis Drake. d. Zheng He. e. James Cook.
15. The Portuguese lost control of the port of Melaka in 1641 when it fell to the
a. English. b. Dutch. c. French. d. Spanish. e. Chinese.
16. In the end, Portugal was unable to maintain its early domination of trade because
a. it was a small country with a small population.
b. a Chinese resurgence of naval exploration forced the Portuguese out.
c. a late outbreak of the bubonic plague in the seventeenth century killed half the country’s population.
d. the English, French, and Dutch formed a lasting alliance designed to force the Portuguese to surrender.
e. the Portuguese tired of the expenses of naval exploration and focused on their European land empire.
17. Which of the following was NOT an advantage that the English and Dutch had over the Portuguese?
a. They possessed faster, cheaper, and more powerful ships.
b. They created joint-stock companies.
c. They had much better captains.
d. They were wealthier countries.
e. They had much larger populations.
18. The VOC was the
a. English East India Company.
b. indirect trade route that Portuguese mariners used to take advantage of wind patterns.
c. Portuguese missionary organization that spread Christianity along the trade routes.
d. United East India Company, a Dutch trading company
e. European multinational organization, Victory Over China, that focused on Asian expansion.
19. The center of the Spanish commercial activity in Asia was (p. 616)
a. Manila. b. Batavia. c. Bombay. d. Melaka. e. Hawai`i.
20. Under Spanish rule of the Philippines, the native population
a. was allowed to follow their own religious traditions.
b. was encouraged to pursue a syncretic brand of Christianity.
c. converted almost exclusively to Islam.
d. followed a classical European north-south Protestant-Catholic geographic split.
e. was pressured to convert to Roman Catholicism.
Afonso d’Alboquerque______
Ferdinand Magellan______
Reconquista______
Lateen sails______
Manila galleons______
Vasco da Gama______
Henry the Navigator______
Hormuz______
Goa______
Melaka______
Small pox______
Madeira Island______