chapter 1 (level 1)

1.1.L1.1: What single supercontinent contained all Earth’s landmasses 225 million years ago, and what ocean changes occurred as it drifted apart?

Pangaea; the Atlantic and Indian Oceans opened while the Pacific Ocean narrowed.

1.1.L1.2: How do the formation ages of North America's primary eastern and western mountain ranges compare?

The Appalachians in the east formed much earlier (~480 million years ago) than the western ranges like the Rockies and Sierra Nevada (~70 million years ago).

1.1.L1.3: What is the Canadian Shield, and how did the Great Ice Age alter its geography?

A sheet of ancient bedrock anchoring northeastern North America; glaciers scoured away its topsoil and left thousands of depressions that filled with water to form lakes.

1.1.L1.4: How did the drainage path of the Great Lakes shift as the ice sheets retreated?

They initially drained south into the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River system, but later shifted northeast to the Atlantic Ocean via the St. Lawrence River.

1.1.L1.5: What was Lake Bonneville, and what modern body of water remains as its relic?

A giant inland glacial lake in Utah, Nevada, and Idaho that evaporated into a desert, leaving behind the Great Salt Lake.

1.2.L1.1: How did the Bering Land Bridge (Beringia) form, and why did land migration eventually stop?

Glaciers lowered sea levels to expose a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska; rising sea levels from melting glaciers submerged the bridge ~10,000 years ago, isolating early Americans.

1.2.L1.2: What key agricultural staple enabled the Incas, Mayas, and Aztecs to support dense, urban populations?

Maize (Indian corn).

1.2.L1.3: What common technological features and livestock were absent in major pre-Columbian American civilizations despite their advanced societies?

The wheel and large draft animals (such as horses and oxen).

1.3.L1.1: How did the Pueblo culture adapt to the dry climate of the Rio Grande Valley to cultivate corn?

They constructed intricate irrigation systems to channel water to their crops.

1.3.L1.2: What was "three-sister farming," and how did the crops support each other structurally?

An agricultural technique growing corn, beans, and squash together; beans climbed the sturdy cornstalks while broad squash leaves retained soil moisture.

1.3.L1.3: What does it mean that many Native American societies, such as the Iroquois, were matrilineal?

Power, family lineage, and property were passed down through the female line.

1.3.L1.4: How did Native Americans proactively manage forest environments to improve hunting conditions?

By using controlled forest fires to clear underbrush and create open grazing areas for deer.

1.3.L1.5: What was Cahokia, and what agricultural development permitted the growth of such large Mississippian settlements around 1100 CE?

A massive Mississippian settlement near modern East St. Louis that housed up to 20,000 people; its growth was made possible by the arrival and cultivation of corn.

1.3.L1.6: What were the primary roles assigned to men and women in many eastern woodland Native American tribes?

Women tended crops and maintained camps, while men hunted, fished, gathered fuel, and cleared fields for farming.

1.4.L1.1: Why did early Norse settlements in Newfoundland (Vinland) fail to survive long-term?

They lacked the backing of a strong, expanding nation-state to support and protect the colonies.

1.4.L1.2: How did Christian Crusaders indirectly drive European exploration of the Americas?

They acquired a strong demand for Asian luxury goods (silk, sugar, spices), forcing Europeans to seek cheaper sea routes to bypass expensive Muslim middlemen.

1.5.L1.1: What two maritime innovations enabled 15th-century Portuguese sailors to navigate the African coast and return safely?

The caravel (a ship capable of sailing closer into the wind) and the Arab mariner's compass.

1.5.L1.2: What economic institution originated on Portuguese sugar islands off the coast of West Africa?

The modern plantation system—large-scale commercial agriculture based on wholesale forced/enslaved labor.

1.5.L1.3: How did political developments in Spain during 1492 position it to compete with Portugal for ocean trade?

The marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella united Spain, and the completion of the Reconquista freed up resources to seek trade routes westward while Portugal controlled the African route.

1.6.L1.1: What technology developed around 1450 helped accelerate European interest and knowledge of ocean exploration?

The printing press.

1.6.L1.2: Why did Columbus refer to the Indigenous peoples he met on October 12, 1492, as "Indians"?

He incorrectly believed he had reached the island rim of the East Indies in Asia.

1.7.L1.1: What was the Columbian Exchange, and what were its primary biological transfers?

The global transfer of plants, animals, cultures, and diseases between the Old and New Worlds following 1492.

1.7.L1.2: What New World crops revolutionized European diets, and what percentage of global cultivated crops today originated in the Americas?

Maize, potatoes, beans, and tomatoes; nearly three-fifths (60%).

1.7.L1.3: Why were Native American populations so vulnerable to Old World diseases like smallpox, and what was the mortality rate?

Centuries of geographic isolation meant they lacked inherited antibodies; up to 90% of Native populations died within generations of contact.

1.7.L1.4: How did the reintroduction of the horse by Europeans alter Great Plains Native societies?

It converted groups like the Comanche and Sioux into highly mobile, buffalo-hunting warrior tribes.

1.8.L1.1: What was the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), and how were territories divided?

A papal treaty dividing non-Christian lands between Spain and Portugal; Portugal received rights to land in Africa, Asia, and Brazil, while Spain secured the majority of the Americas.

1.8.L1.2: What was the Encomienda system, and why did Bartolomé de Las Casas criticize it?

A system granting colonists Native labor in exchange for converting them to Christianity; Las Casas condemned it as a form of legalized slavery.

1.8.L1.3: What key factors allowed Hernán Cortés to conquer the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán?

Native translators (Malinche), alliances with rival tribes, superior weaponry, and a devastating smallpox epidemic among the Aztecs.

1.8.L1.4: How did New World silver from mines like Potosí impact the European economy?

It quadrupled Europe's money supply, drove inflation, funded banking networks, and laid the foundations of modern capitalism.

1.8.L1.5: Who was Malinche, and how did her role influence both Hernán Cortés's conquest and modern Mexican culture?

A Native female captive who served as Cortés's translator (knowing Mayan, Nahuatl, and Spanish). Her name inspired the Mexican term malinchista, meaning "traitor".

1.8.L1.6: What was the central issue debated between Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda and Bartolomé de Las Casas at Valladolid in 1550–1551?

Whether Indigenous peoples of the New World were fully human ("true men") capable of self-governance and conversion, or "barbarians" inferior to Europeans who could be naturally enslaved.

1.9.L1.1: What was the cause and outcome of the Pueblo Revolt (Popé’s Rebellion) in 1680?

Pueblo Indians revolted against Spanish suppression of their religious traditions; they drove out the Spanish and controlled Santa Fe for nearly 50 years.

1.9.L1.2: What was the "Black Legend," and how accurately did it describe Spanish colonization?

The claim made by rival European powers that Spain only brutalized, robbed, and infected Native Americans; while violence occurred, it overlooked how Spain established a lasting empire that integrated Native populations far more than English settlers did.

1.9.L1.3: What were the major North American exploration achievements of Hernando de Soto and Francisco Coronado?

Hernando de Soto explored the American Southeast and discovered the Mississippi River; Francisco Coronado explored the Southwest (discovering the Grand Canyon and massive bison herds) while searching for legendary golden cities.

1.9.L1.4: Why did Spain establish the settlement at St. Augustine, Florida in 1565, and what is its historical significance today?

To block French expansion and protect Caribbean sea lanes; it remains the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the United States.

1.9.L1.5: What occurred during the Battle of Acoma (1599) led by Don Juan de Oñate, and what colony was subsequently established?

The Spanish brutally defeated the Pueblo people, enslaving survivors and severing one foot from men over age 25; Oñate established the province of New Mexico with its capital at Santa Fe (1610).

1.9.L1.6: How did Father Junípero Serra and Franciscan friars establish Spanish influence in California beginning in 1769?

They established a chain of 21 missions (starting at San Diego) to gather seminomadic Native Americans, convert them to Christianity, and utilize their forced labor on farmsteads.