Multiple Choice: (2 points each). Write your answer in the space provided to the left of the question.
___17. Which one of the following statements is false?
a. An increase in agricultural intensity increases food yield and supports greater population density.
b. The "pristine myth" was invented by the Spaniard, Bartolome de las Casas.
c. Many useful plants were domesticated in Mesoamerica before the arrival of the Spaniards.
d. The Mesoamerican trilogy could be grown in tierra caliente and tierra templada.
___18. Which one of the following statements is false?
a. Slash and burn agriculture is an example of intensive agriculture, or high agricultural intensity.
b. Cloud forests strip moisture from the clouds that the Trade Winds blow across them.
c. The dramatic mortality of indigenous populations after the arrival of Europeans allowed some forests to regenerate.
d. ~40% of Latin America's pre-Columbian forests had been cut down and regenerated before Europeans arrived.
____19. Which one of the following statements is false?
a. Giantism provides some rain forest plant species access to sunlight.
tropical rain forest climate.
c. Many of Middle America’s climates have temperature seasons.
temperature range.
b. Coatzacoalcos experiences a
d. Tropical climates share a low annual
____20. Which one of the following statements is false?
a. The Volcanic Axis or Volcanic Highlands is older than the Crystalline Highlands.
b. Human settlements in the rain forest create atmospheric conditions favorable to mosquitoes on the forest floor.
c. When the heat equator is at the Tropic of Capricorn, most of Middle America is experiencing its dry season.
d. The canopy of a tropical rain forest protects the forest floor from dramatic changes in temperature and wind.
____21. Which one of the following statements is false?
a. Mesoamerica included southern Mexico and northern Central America.
pressure system.
c. Low productivity of lowland agriculture required ~80% of the Maya to farm.
Pacific side of Central America.
b. Winds converge into a highd. Earthquakes often occur on the
____22. Which one of the following statements is false?
a. After initially having to fight them, the Spaniards created an alliance with the Tlaxcalans.
spoke Nahuatl as well as Maya.
c. Cortez’ initial march to Tenochtitlan led him through a pass in the Sierra Madre Occidental.
language of the Mexica.
b. Doña Marina
d. Nahuatl was the
____23. Which one of the following statements is false?
a. The encomienda was a grant of land and labor made by the Spanish crown to conquistadors.
b. The population of the Caribbean at Contact appears to have been at least 1 million.
c. Peoples of the Caribbean subsisted exclusively from agriculture rather than trade at the time of Columbus’ arrival.
d. The Sub-Tropical High Pressure system brings a dry season to much of Mexico from November to May.
____24. Which one of the following statements is false?
a. As the Mayan population at Copan increased, crop yields decreased because of deforestation and hillside erosion.
b. Climate change has been ruled out as an explanation of the Maya collapse.
c. Skeletons recovered from Copán show that the health of Copán's inhabitants deteriorated from A.D. 650 to 850.
d. Classic Maya society lasted more than 500 years.
____25. Concerning “Where Columbus was Coming From” which one of the following statements about Europe from
1450 to 1506 is false?
a. Venice, a city-state in Italy, was the only stable, progressive political territory.
b. Slavery had been
eradicated in Europe.
c. This was a time of Muslim encroachments into some powerful regions of Europe
d. Cities were walled like
fortresses.
____26. Concerning “Where Columbus was Coming From” which one of the following statements about Europe from
1450 to 1506 is false?
a. Until 1492, Muslim North Africans had exerted varying degrees of control in the Iberian Peninsula for more than 600
years
b. In the 15th century Europeans used Ptolemy’s Geography to understand the nature of the earth's surface and plan
long voyages.
c. The Spanish Inquisition forced Spanish Jews to convert to Christianity or leave. d. Most people lived in cities organized into a grid of streets.
____27. Which one of the following statements is false?
a. Despite their innovative farming systems, Mesoamericans did not utilize irrigation for production during the dry
season.
b. Advanced systems of tillage produced higher yields and supported higher populations than slash and burn farming.
c. On the steep slopes around Lake Atitlan, terraced agriculture supported large high-density populations in a cool
tropical wet-dry climate.
d. In the 16th and 17th century virgin forests were rare in the Americas.
____27. Which one of the following statements is false?
a. Some of the tropical montane forest tree species migrated to Middle America from mid-latitude regions during the
Pleistocene.
b. Indigenous peoples comprise the majority of humans who inhabit the Crystalline Highlands.
c. Some farmers in Middle America worry that genetically-modified maize from the US will cross-pollinate with locally
domesticated maize varieties.
d. Soils derived from recent depositions of volcanic ash tend to have low fertility.
Short Essay Question (10 points total): Answer the question below. To earn a high score you must use the terms to
explain or describe. I am not asking you to simply write definitions of those terms. Because you have had these
questions for two weeks, I expect extremely well-written explanations.
Use the following terms to explain the restricted geographic distribution of quetzals: fruit, cloud forests, islands,
migrate.
Extra point for a clean joke in the space below (Spanish or English).