APWH Chapter 13 Self Test

C (These peoples were able to manipulate their environment, through hunting, controlled brush fires, and other means, and did not necessarily need to resort to farming.)

What was a possible reason why Australian hunter-gatherers did not develop farming societies?

a. Their smaller brains prevented them from planning tasks in advance.

b. They had no contact at all with other civilizations.

c. They did not need to farm to master their environment.

d. Wild fires routinely wiped out their crops.

C (West African agricultural civilizations included the Kingdom of Benin, ruled by a militaristic warrior king, as well as the Igbo, who existed as free associations of villages.)

The agricultural civilizations of West Africa were characterized by what kind(s) of government(s)?

a. Highly centralized kingdoms only

b. Stateless societies only

c. A mixture of stateless societies and more highly centralized kingdoms

d. Only hunter-gatherer civilizations were found in West Africa.

D (The Iroquois League was established to end constant warfare amongst the tribes, and it was their ability to settle conflicts without taking away personal liberty that Europeans admired.)

Which of the following was NOT a value of the Iroquois League of Five Nations that European colonists found attractive?

a. Limited government

b. Social equality

c. Personal freedom

d. Empire building

A (After Timur died, the grasslands of Central Asia were taken over by agricultural peoples from the Russian and Chinese empires, leaving nomadic peoples little room to expand.)

The conquest of Timur was the last military success of what kinds of people, before the coming of the Russian and Chinese empires?

a. Nomadic peoples

b. Agricultural peoples

c. Hunting and gathering peoples

d. Seafaring peoples

D (Zheng He respected local customs and religions, and sought to bring foreign leaders to the emperor to give tribute in the form of gifts, thus entitling distant peoples to trade with the Chinese empire.)

What was the main reason that Emperor Yongle sent Zheng He on his voyages?

a. To spread Chinese culture to distant lands

b. To establish Chinese settlements throughout the Indian Ocean

c. To conquer new territories

d. To draw distant lands into the Chinese tribute system of trade

C (Unfortunately for China, Yongle's successors, along with many officials, did not see the value in expanding China's trading network throughout India, Persia, Arabia and Africa, believing that China was self-sufficient on its own.)

Why did the Ming government suddenly stop the exploration of the Indian Ocean basin?

a. Not enough riches were found there.

b. Most of the cultures they encountered were hostile and violent.

c. Yongle's successors viewed expansion as a waste of time and resources.

d. Frequent stormy weather destroyed much of the Ming fleet.

D (Until it ended in a period of civil war, the Ming dynasty during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was internally unified and mostly peaceful, whereas European states such as France, England, and Spain found themselves almost always in a state of war against each other during this time.)

The Hundred Years' War between England and France (1337-1453) was comparable to which conflict in Ming China during the fifteenth century?

a. The Taiping Rebellion

b. The wars against Timur and other pastoral armies

c. The end of the Ming maritime expansion

d. Nothing; Ming China was internally unified, unlike Europe.

C (Especially among the wealthy classes of Italy in the fifteenth century, the Renaissance, which is French for "rebirth," meant reviving the long-forgotten knowledge and achievements of ancient Greece and Rome.)

The Renaissance was an era in which educated Europeans sought to "return to the sources." What sources?

a. The Bible and other religious documents

b. Pre-Christian pagan languages and customs

c. Latin and Greek literature, art, etc.

d. Paleolithic technology and culture

B (The Portuguese began exploring the West Coast of Africa as the Ming were leaving the East Coast of Africa, and about 65 years after the last Ming expedition to India, Vasco de Gama reached India by sea.)

Just after the Ming withdrew from the Indian Ocean and Eastern Africa, which European power began to expand into the void left behind by the Chinese?

a. France

b. Portugal

c. Spain

d. Britain

D (The Ming state was wealthy, and had access to far greater naval and military resources than Europeans in the fifteenth century.)

All of the following are reasons why Europeans put so much effort into expanding their power, while Chinese withdrew into their borders during the fifteenth century, EXCEPT:

a. Europe was facing a land shortage, whereas China had plenty of room for its population to grow into.

b. European Christianity was locked in a struggle with Muslims who threatened Europe and blocked easy access to the wealth of Asia, whereas China already had access to the wealth of Asia.

c. European states were locked in a bitter rivalry with each other and had to expand to prevent their enemies from gaining an advantage over them, whereas the Ming Chinese state had no serious domestic enemies to necessitate finding new resources.

d. The Europeans had more ships, armies, and wealth to fund their exploration than the Ming state, which was large but poor.

A (Comprising much of inland western Africa, the Songhay Empire was a huge Islamic state that represented the furthest westward push of Islam to that point.)

How did the Songhay Empire fit into the Islamic world of the fifteenth century?

a. It was a substantial Islamic state on the West African frontier of the Islamic world.

b. It was located in the heart of the Islamic Empire.

c. It was a forgotten outpost of Islam in Christian Europe.

d. It was a center of cultural exchange with East Asia in the Indian Ocean.

C (Timbuktu was a center of exchange from all parts of Saharan and sub-Saharan Africa, and was especially noted in accounts of travelers of the time for its array of scholars, judges, and books.)

A Muslim traveler described Timbuktu, the capital of the Songhay Empire, as

a. a dangerous and lawless nest of thieves and cheaters.

b. a hierarchical, military-style society that was constantly preparing for combat.

c. a vibrant center of cultural, intellectual, and commercial activity.

d. a lonely oasis in the Sahara, rarely seen by any but the most intrepid travelers.

D (Arab Muslim travelers in the fifteenth century noted the "rough behavior" of Muslims in Malacca and questioned their religiosity.)

Muslim travelers described the Islamic port of Malacca as

a. a vibrant yet orderly center of commercial activity.

b. a lonely island in the Indian Ocean, rarely seen by any but the most intrepid travelers.

c. a hierarchical, military-style society that was constantly preparing for combat.

d. a dangerous and lawless nest of thieves and cheaters.

D (Tenochtitlan had a central walled-in area full of impressive temples and a central pyramid, 60 meters tall.)

Which of the following was NOT a feature of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan?

a. Sophisticated canals, bridges, and waterways

b. Artificially created agricultural lands floating on water

c. Enormous marketplaces

d. Lack of pyramids and temples

B (The Aztec worshipped the sun, and believed that without the blood of their sacrificed victims, the sun would lose its energy and the world would plunge into eternal darkness.)

Why did the Aztecs perform ritual human sacrifice?

a. They used the intestines to tell the future.

b. They believed the victims' blood replenished the energy of the sun.

c. They did not have enough resources to feed prisoners, so they had to kill them anyway.

d. As an island, Tenochtitlan could not support its population and had to kill some people.

C (The Incans attempted to assimilate their conquered subjects, and governed them with a hierarchical and organized Imperial government, whereas the Aztecs only demanded tribute from their conquered peoples.)

In what ways did the Incan and Aztec empires differ substantially from each other?

a. The Incan Empire promoted women's equality more than the Aztec.

b. The Incan Empire was much smaller than the Aztec Empire.

c. The Incan Empire built an elaborate bureaucracy to integrate its subjects; the Aztecs did not.

d. The Incan Empire did not draw upon earlier Andean cultures; the Aztecs did.

B (In the Aztec and Incan empires, there was a separation of gender roles—men plowed fields while women planted the seeds, or men went to war while women stayed at home—but both roles were seen as vital for the success of the empire.)

How did the Aztec and Incan empires treat women?

a. Women had a separate role from men, which was not valued as much.

b. Women had a separate role from men, which was seen as just as important.

c. Women had the right to do whatever men could do.

d. Women were treated as slaves and combines.

A (Mexican and Andean societies traded with each other but did not share a common religion.)

All of the following pairs of societies shared a common religion EXCEPT:

a. Mexican and Andean.

b. Tibetan and Japanese.

c. Arabic and Turkish.

d. English and Russian.

D (The modern era of the last 500 years has seen growing inequality between entire regions and civilizations, not just within various regions and civilizations.)

Which of the following was NOT a feature of the modern era in the centuries following 1500?

a. Global contact between peoples

b. The emergence of a modern, technological, and industrial society

c. The prominence of Europeans in world history

d. Growing equality among entire regions and civilizations

B (If the Ming had not abruptly stopped their impressive ocean explorations, they might have stopped European expansion into the Indian Ocean, and perhaps may have reached the Americas before Columbus.)

Which of the following "what ifs" might have most drastically altered world history by not leading to European dominance?

a. What if the Ottoman and Safavid Empires had not been enemies?

b. What if the Ming had not called their fleet back from its explorations in 1433?

c. What if the Aztecs had not performed human sacrifice?

d. What if the Songhay Empire had not mixed Islam and traditional beliefs in magic?