chapter 1 (atomic)

1.1.1: Approximately how many years ago did the supercontinent Pangaea exist?

225 million years ago.

1.1.2: What geological evidence proves that today’s separated continents were once part of the single landmass Pangaea?

The discovery of nearly identical species of freshwater fish in long-separated lakes across the world.

1.1.3: What happened to the world's oceans when the landmasses drifted apart from Pangaea?

The Atlantic and Indian Oceans opened, while the Pacific Ocean narrowed.

1.1.4: Approximately how many years ago were the Appalachian Mountains formed?

Approximately 480 million years ago.

1.1.5: Approximately how many years ago did the western mountain ranges of North America (Rockies, Sierra Nevada, Cascades, Coast Ranges) begin to form?

Approximately 70 million years ago.

1.1.6: What massive geological formation anchored North America in its northeastern corner by about 10 million years ago?

The Canadian Shield.

1.1.7: What was the first part of the North American landmass to emerge above sea level?

The Canadian Shield.

1.1.8: What name is given to the narrow eastern coastal plain that slopes upward to the Appalachians?

The tidewater region.

1.1.9: What mountain ranges form the eastern and western boundaries of the Great Basin?

The Rockies on the east; the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges on the west.

1.1.10: What four western interior river and sound valleys seamed present-day California, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington?

The Sacramento, San Joaquin, Columbia-Snake, and Willamette-Puget Sound valleys.

1.1.11: When did the most recent Ice Age begin?

Approximately 2.6 million years ago.

1.1.12: How thick were the polar ice sheets at their peak during the most recent Ice Age?

Up to two miles thick.

1.1.13: What was the southernmost extent of the North American ice sheet during the Great Ice Age?

A line stretching from Pennsylvania through the Ohio Country and the Dakotas to the Pacific Northwest.

1.1.14: Approximately how many years ago did the glaciers finally retreat from North America?

Approximately 10,000 years ago.

1.1.15: How did glacial movement alter the physical surface of the Canadian Shield?

It scoured away the topsoil and pitted the rocky surface with thousands of shallow depressions that filled with melting ice water.

1.1.16: Through what river system did the Great Lakes originally drain before the Gulf of St. Lawrence was unblocked?

The Mississippi River system (southward to the Gulf of Mexico).

1.1.17: Through what river outlet did the Great Lakes drain to the Atlantic Ocean after the melting ice cleared?

The St. Lawrence River.

1.1.18: What giant glacial lake once covered much of present-day Utah, Nevada, and Idaho?

Lake Bonneville.

1.1.19: Through which river systems did Lake Bonneville originally drain into the Pacific Ocean?

The Snake and Columbia River systems.

1.1.20: What modern body of water is the remaining inland sea relic of Lake Bonneville?

The Great Salt Lake.

1.1.21: How high above the dry floor of the Great Basin are Lake Bonneville’s ancient beaches visible today?

Up to 1,000 feet above the basin floor.

1.1.22: Approximately when did the recorded history of the Western world begin with Middle Eastern writing systems?

Around 3500 BCE.

1.1.23: Approximately when did European explorers first stumble upon the Americas?

Five hundred years ago (1492 CE).

1.2.1: According to recent archaeological discoveries, how early may early peoples have reached the Americas by boat?

Up to 30,000 years ago.

1.2.2: Approximately how many years ago did a glacial advance lower sea levels to expose a land bridge between Asia and North America?

Approximately 35,000 years ago.

1.2.3: What was the name of the land bridge that connected Eurasia to North America?

Beringia (the Bering Land Bridge).

1.2.4: What modern body of water covers the area where Beringia was located?

The Bering Sea (between Siberia and Alaska).

1.2.5: Why did nomadic Asian hunters cross the Beringia land bridge into North America?

They were following migratory herds of game animals.

1.2.6: Approximately how many years ago did the first land-trekking migrants move southward from Alaska into the Americas?

15,000 to 16,000 years ago.

1.2.7: Approximately how many years ago did rising sea levels inundate the Bering Land Bridge, halting land immigration?

Approximately 10,000 years ago.

1.2.8: How many miles did early migratory bands walk from Siberia to reach the southern tip of South America?

Approximately 15,000 miles.

1.2.9: What was the estimated total human population of the Americas by the time Europeans arrived in 1492?

Approximately 54 million people.

1.2.10: How many distinct languages had evolved among Indigenous peoples in the Americas prior to 1492?

More than 2,000 separate languages.

1.2.11: Which major pre-Columbian civilization developed in Peru?

The Incas.

1.2.12: Which major pre-Columbian civilization developed in Central America?

The Mayas.

1.2.13: Which major pre-Columbian civilization developed in Mexico?

The Aztecs.

1.2.14: What staple agricultural crop allowed the Incas, Mayas, and Aztecs to feed large populations?

Maize (Indian corn).

1.2.15: What was the estimated population of pre-Columbian Mexico alone prior to Spanish contact?

As many as 20 million people.

1.2.16: What major transportation technology and draft animals were noticeably absent in pre-Columbian Native American civilizations?

The wheel, and large draft animals such as horses and oxen.

1.2.17: What specific religious practice did the Aztecs regularly perform to seek the favor of their gods?

Human sacrifice (cutting hearts out of living victims).

1.2.18: How many people were reportedly slaughtered in a single ceremony to crown an Aztec chieftain?

More than 5,000 people.

1.3.1: What staple crop transformed nomadic hunter-gatherer groups into settled farming societies in the Americas?

Maize (corn).

1.3.2: By what approximate date had hunter-gatherers in highland Mexico developed wild grass into maize?

By at least 5000 BCE.

1.3.3: Around what date did corn cultivation reach the present-day American Southwest?

As early as 2000 BCE.

1.3.4: What Spanish word for "village" was applied to the Adobe-dwelling Native Americans of the Southwest?

Pueblo.

1.3.5: What technology did the Pueblo people build in the Rio Grande Valley to support their corn fields?

Intricate irrigation systems.

1.3.6: What major Mississippian settlement near modern East St. Louis was home to nearly 20,000 people around 1150 CE?

Cahokia.

1.3.7: What three crops constituted the high-density agricultural technique known as "three-sister farming"?

Maize, beans, and squash.

1.3.8: How did the three plants in "three-sister farming" structurally support each other during growth?

Beans grew up the cornstalks while broad squash leaves retained soil moisture.

1.3.9: Which four southeastern and northeastern Native American nations were supported by rich diets from three-sister farming?

Creek, Choctaw, Cherokee, and Iroquois nations.

1.3.10: Who were the two legendary leaders credited with founding the Iroquois Confederacy in the northeastern woodlands?

Hiawatha and Deganawidah.

1.3.11: What term describes cultures, such as the Iroquois, where power and property were passed down the female line?

Matrilineal cultures.

1.3.12: In settled agricultural Native American communities, what primary roles were performed by women versus men?

Women tended crops; men hunted, fished, gathered fuel, and cleared fields.

1.3.13: How did Native Americans in North America deliberately alter the physical forest landscape to aid deer hunting?

By igniting controlled forest fires to clear underbrush.

1.3.14: Why were the ancient Anasazi, Mound Builder, and Mississippian cultures in decline by 1300 CE?

Prolonged drought and climatic changes.

1.4.1: Around what year did Norse seafarers land on the northeastern tip of North America?

Around 1000 CE.

1.4.2: Who was the legendary Norse explorer who led the landing at Newfoundland?

Leif Erikson.

1.4.3: What name did the Norse explorers give to their settlement in present-day Newfoundland due to its abundance of wild grapes?

Vinland.

1.4.4: Why did the Norse settlements in North America fail to persist?

They lacked strong nation-states to support expansion and colonization efforts.

1.4.5: How did European Christian Crusaders indirectly contribute to the discovery of the Americas?

They acquired a taste for exotic Asian goods and luxuries, driving the search for cheaper trade routes.

1.4.6: Name four Asian luxury goods highly prized by European consumers after the Crusades.

Silk, drugs, perfumes, colorful dyes, and sugar.

1.4.7: Why were Asian trade goods extremely expensive by the time they reached European markets?

They were transported over long overland routes controlled by heavy-taxing Muslim middlemen.

1.5.1: What type of ship did Portuguese mariners develop in the 15th century that allowed them to sail into the wind?

The caravel.

1.5.2: What navigational tool, borrowed from Arab sailors, helped European mariners eliminate sea travel uncertainties?

The mariner's compass.

1.5.3: On which Atlantic coastal islands did the Portuguese set up sugar plantations powered by enslaved labor?

Madeira, the Canaries, São Tomé, and Principe.

1.5.4: How many enslaved Africans were carried away by Portuguese traders to Atlantic sugar islands in the late 15th century?

Approximately 40,000 people.

1.5.5: What economic system originated in Portuguese West African trading experiments?

The modern plantation system (commercial agriculture based on forced labor).

1.5.6: Which Portuguese explorer first rounded the southernmost tip of Africa in 1488?

Bartholomeu Dias.

1.5.7: Which Portuguese navigator reached India by sea in 1498?

Vasco da Gama.

1.5.8: What term did European explorers apply to all mysterious eastern lands after Vasco da Gama reached India?

The "Indies".

1.5.9: Which two Spanish sovereigns united Spain through their marriage in the late 15th century?

Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile.

1.5.10: What centuries-long religious war in Spain ended with the expulsion of the Muslim Moors in 1492?

The Reconquista.

1.5.11: Why was Spain forced to look westward for trade routes to Asia rather than south or east?

Portugal controlled the African coastline and the round-Africa water route.

1.6.1: What major invention in Europe around 1450 facilitated the rapid spread of scientific knowledge?

The printing press.

1.6.2: What nationality was Christopher Columbus?

Italian.

1.6.3: How many ships did the Spanish monarchs provide to Christopher Columbus for his 1492 voyage?

Three ships.

1.6.4: On what exact date did Columbus’s crew first sight land in the Americas?

October 12, 1492.

1.6.5: Where was the island located that Columbus first made landfall on?

In the Bahamas.

1.6.6: Why did Columbus name the Native inhabitants of the Bahamas "Indians"?

He was convinced he had reached the outer rim of the East Indies.

1.7.1: What term describes the unprecedented global transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and humans between the Old and New Worlds?

The Columbian Exchange.

1.7.2: Name four major New World food crops transferred to Europe that revolutionized global agriculture.

Maize (corn), potatoes, beans, and tomatoes.

1.7.3: What percentage of global cultivated crops consumed today originated in the Americas?

Nearly three-fifths (60%).

1.7.4: What three major livestock animals were introduced to the Americas by European explorers?

Horses, cattle, and pigs.

1.7.5: How did the reintroduction of the horse transform Great Plains Native societies like the Comanche and Sioux?

It turned them into mobile, highly efficient buffalo-hunting warrior societies.

1.7.6: What crop introduced by Columbus caused a "sugar revolution" in the Caribbean?

Sugar cane.

1.7.7: What three lethal Old World diseases decimated Indigenous American populations?

Smallpox, yellow fever, and malaria.

1.7.8: Why were Native Americans so uniquely vulnerable to Old World diseases?

Millennia of isolation wiped out protective antibodies and natural immunity.

1.7.9: What percentage of the Native American population perished within centuries after Columbus's arrival?

Up to 90 percent.

1.7.10: By how much did the Taino population on Hispaniola decrease within fifty years of Spanish arrival?

From 1 million people to about 200 people.

1.7.11: What sexually transmitted disease was unintentionally transmitted from the New World back to Europe?

Syphilis.

1.8.1: Which 1494 treaty divided the non-Christian world between Spain and Portugal?

The Treaty of Tordesillas.

1.8.2: Which country received title to present-day Brazil under the Treaty of Tordesillas?

Portugal.

1.8.3: What name was given to the Spanish conquerors who explored and claimed American territories?

Conquistadores.

1.8.4: What system allowed Spanish colonists to receive Native labor in exchange for converting them to Christianity?

The Encomienda system.

1.8.5: Which Spanish Dominican friar vehemently condemned the encomienda system as "a moral pestilence invented by Satan"?

Bartolomé de Las Casas.

1.8.6: Who led the Spanish expedition that conquered the Aztec Empire in Mexico starting in 1519?

Hernán Cortés.

1.8.7: What was the name of the Mayan-speaking and Nahuatl-speaking female translator who aided Hernán Cortés?

Malinche (Doña Marina).

1.8.8: What was the capital city of the Aztec Empire?

Tenochtitlán.

1.8.9: Who was the chieftain/ruler of the Aztec Empire when Cortés arrived?

Moctezuma.

1.8.10: What event on June 30, 1520, saw the Aztecs briefly drive the Spanish out of Tenochtitlán in a bloody retreat?

Noche Triste ("Sad Night").