Chapter 15 Test
The Maritime Revolution, to 1550
1. Sailing in the Indian Ocean was less difficult and
dangerous than in other places because 415
A) it is shallow.
B) there is less wind.
C) the monsoon winds are predictable.
D) it isn't an ocean, but rather a large
saltwater lake.
2. An early motivation for Portuguese maritime
exploration was to 419
A) gain access to the sub-Saharan gold
trade.
B) find buried treasure near Madagasacar.
C) discover the “New World.”
D) find the Christian kingdom of Prester
John.
3. An important addition to the maritime revolution
was 422
A) learning to speedily return by sailing
northwest to ride westerly winds.
B) learning that the magnetic compass did
not work while at sea.
C) recognizing that the caravel was unsuited
for voyages of exploration.
D) understanding that the lost island of
Atlantis was accessible via caravel.
4. The first financial return from the Portuguese
voyages came from 422
A) the gold trade.
B) the slave trade.
C) the silk trade.
D) the spice trade.
5. In 1500, what did Portuguese mariners discover
while attempting to find a favorable wind
around Africa? 422
A) The east coast of South America
B) The west coast of North America
C) The North Pole
D) The Russian coast
6. The Treaty of Tordesillas divided the New World
between 424
A) Islamic Africa and Christian America.
B) Spain and China.
C) Portugal and Malacca.
D) Spain and Portugal.
7.. The difference between the Spanish Empire and
the Portuguese Empire was that 431
A) the motives of the Spanish were purely
religious.
B) the Spanish Empire was a territorial
empire, while the Portuguese Empire was
a trading empire.
C) the motives of the Portuguese Empire
were purely economic.
D) the Spanish Empire was a trading empire,
while the Portuguese Empire was a
territorial empire.
“In countries where there is a great scarcity of
money, all other saleable goods, and even the labor of
men, are given for less money than [in countries]
where money is abundant. Thus we see by experience
that in France (where money is scarcer than in Spain)
bread, wine, cloth, and labor, are worth much less.
And even in Spain, in [recent] times when money
was scarcer than it is now, saleable goods and labor
were given for much less.”
Martín de Azpilcueta Navarro, Spanish scholar,
treatise, 1556
8. Navarro’s economic observations expressed in the
passage above are best understood in the context of
which of the following?
(A) The Spanish-Portuguese colonial rivalry
in the Atlantic
(B) The influx of silver from the Americas
into the Spanish economy
(C) The practice of governments devaluing
their currencies by reducing the proportion
of precious metals in their coins
(D) The beginning of large-scale
importation of silver by China from Spanish
mines in the Americas
9. What noble was responsible for initiating a series
of expeditions along the African coast and outward to
the Azores in the 15th century?
A) Prince Henry the Navigator
B) Cardinal Mazarin, regent of France
C) Hugh Dupuy, Count Marechal
D) Prince Henry of England
10. What region in the Americas was claimed by
Portugal?
A) Mexico
B) Peru
C) Panama
D) Brazil
11. The island of Madagascar was settled by
A) Malayo-Indonesians.
B) Polynesians.
C) Lemurs.
D) both A and B.
12. How did the rise of medieval Islam give trade in
the Indian Ocean an important boost?
A) The Muslim cities in the Middle East
provided a demand for commodities.
B) Networks of Muslim traders tied the
region together.
C) The Muslim traders shared a common
ethic, language, and law.
D) Muslim traders actively spread their
religion to distant trading cities.
E)
All of these
13. The Ming Empire attempted to create new Indian
Ocean contacts by
A) sending out seven imperial fleets
between 1405 and 1433.
B) employing Mongol horsemen to travel
the Silk Road.
C) attempting to defeat the Portuguese in the
famous sea battle of Calcutta.
D) establishing maritime courts to deal with
pirates and privateers.
14. Why did the Ming court suspend the voyages of
Zheng He?
A) The Chinese had suffered great
epidemics from their contacts in the
Indian Ocean.
B) Zheng He's fleet was sunk by Portuguese
naval might.
C) The government believed that little could
be gained by exploring.
D) The unpredictable weather of the Indian
Ocean made these voyages too unsafe.
15. Why didn't the Italian states take a lead in
exploring the Atlantic?
A) Italy lacked warm water access and
seafaring technology.
B) The ships of the Mediterranean were ill
suited to the Atlantic.
C) The trading states of Venice and Genoa
preferred a system of alliances with the
Muslims.
D) Both B and C
16. Prince Henry of Portugal was known as Henry
the Navigator because
A) he was the first person to round the Cape
of Good Hope.
B) he devoted his life to promoting
exploration.
C) he designed the compass.
D) he discovered America.
17. When Portugal began making a significant
income from Africa, it began to issue
A) stock options.
B) private investment opportunities to
sponsor maritime cargo and trade.
C) gold coins called cruzados.
D) military detachments to protect merchant
ships laden with goods.
18. Which of the following changes best justifies the
claim that the late 1400’s mark the beginning of a
new period in world history?
A) The rise of the Inca and Aztec Empires
B) The economic recovery of in AfroEurasia after the Black Death.
C) The incorporation of the Americas into a
broader global network of exchange.
D) The emergence of new religious
movements in various parts of the world.
19. Some world historians have argued that the
growth of European influence in the period 1450–
1750 was due in large part to non-European
inventions. The history of which of the following
technological developments best supports this
contention?
(A) The compass
(B) Silk weaving
(C) Steam power
(D) The stirrup
20. The Tribute system of the Aztecs differed from
that of the Tang Dynasty in that the Aztecs:
A)
demanded human heads delivered
to their king.
B)
used their tribute system as a
pretext for invasion.
C)
demanded payments of food,
military equipment and sacrificial
victims.
D)
required only a symbolic gesture of
tribute to the Aztec King.
21. The map above shows what significant economic
developments?
(A) Trade connections that linked the Hellenistic and
Mauryan empires to African cities from 300 through
150 B.C.E.
(B) Trading networks that promoted the growth of
new cities from 600 C.E. through 1450 C.E.
(C) Chinese dominance of Indian Ocean trading
networks because of the voyages of Zheng He in the
1400s C.E.
(D) Changes in Indian Ocean trading networks that
resulted from technological innovations from 1450
C.E. through 1750 C.E.
22. Which of the following was the most important
advantage that the Spanish had in their successful
defeat of the Aztec and Inca Empires?
A. They had more soldiers than the natives
B. They had guns and steel swords
C. Their leaders had more military authority
than native leaders did.
D. They had superior navies
23. Despite the fact that disease greatly helped Cortes
in conquering the Aztecs
A. the Aztecs nearly defeated him in battle.
B. he also had reinforcements from other
Amerindians hostile to the Aztecs
C. He was reinforced by Balboa and Pizarro.
D. He used siege warfare and starved the
Aztecs into submission.
28. Which of the following was the most immediate
effect of the Portuguese establishment of a school for
navigation in the 1400s?
(A) The development of overseas trade
between West Africa and Europe
(B) The establishment of regular trade
contact between Europe and the Americas
(C) The decline of Venetian control of the
trade in Asian luxury goods
(D) The establishment of direct overseas
trade links between India and Europe
24. The wood-carving above represents which of the
following?
A. This is the result of Aztec sacrifices
B. The spread of the black death in Europe.
C. Communication between the Aztec
people.
D. The impact of small-pox on the Aztecs.
25. Which of the following was NOT a result of the
European contact with sub-Saharan Africa after
1500?
A) Trade patterns in west Africa shifted
from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic
B) Trade shifted in west Africa from
Muslim to European hands
C) Seizure of slaves for European use
affected many regions deeply
D) Regional kingdoms lost all influence in
west Africa and were replaced by European
governments
26. Why did some Native Americans aid the Spanish
in their initial invasion of the New World?
(A)
Payment in gold and jewels
(B)
A desire to learn about European culture
(C)
A shared Christian faith
(D)
To gain an advantage against their own
enemies
27. Most historians agree that the fact that the sweet
potato, domesticated in South America, became a
staple in the Polynesian diet prior to arrival of
Europeans
A. is an example of independent
development
B. suggests that Polynesians were able to
sail to South America and back
C. indicates that storm debris can float a
long way and deposit seeds anywhere.
D. indicates that Thor Heyerdahl’s thesis
regarding settlement from South America is
correct.
29. Which of the following was a major long-term
effect of Vasco da Gama’s voyage to India in the late
1490s?
(A) It led to the integration of European
merchants into the Indian Ocean economy.
(B) It brought about the complete
destruction of Muslim-controlled trade
routes in the Indian Ocean.
(C) It spurred the Mughal Empire to invest
resources in becoming a major naval power.
(D) It catalyzed the adoption of new
European naval technology by states
throughout the Indian Ocean basin.
* Letters written by Franciscan friars
*Pictorial records of the Mexica
*Statues produced by local artists in New Spain
*Histories written in Spanish and Nahuatl
30. A historian examining Mesoamerica in the
sixteenth century would best utilize the sources above
to analyze which of the following topics?
(A) The process of introducing the
encomienda system
(B) How Christian ideas were
communicated to and understood by
Amerindians
(C) Conflicts between the Jesuits and the
Franciscans
(D) The extent of the decline of the
Amerindian population