Name _______________________________
Date ________________
Chapter 1: Many Cultures Meet (Prehistory-1550)
Chapter 2: Europeans Establish Colonies (1492-1752) section 1&2
Important Vocabulary Terms and Topics
Directions: Circle terms or topics you remember and write a statement to show your
understanding.
Aztecs
Incas
Mayas
Mesoamerica
Renaissance
Reformation
Printing Press
Ferdinand
Magellan
Missionaries
Christopher
Columbus
Northwest
Passage
Hernan Cortes
Prince Henry
the Navigator
Conquistador
Samuel de
Champlain
Quebec
Beringia Land
Bridge
Columbian
Exchange
Mestizo
French-fur
traders
UNITED STATES STUDY QUESTIONS
CHAPTER 1: Many Cultures Meet (Prehistory-1550)
Ch. 1, Section 1
1. What was the frozen strip of land between Asia and Alaska during the last Ice
Age called?
Beringia Land Bridge; It allowed for many of the settlers to travel across to America
on foot.
2. What did the earliest Americans lived by hunting?
Big game, of such animals as woolly mammoths, mastodons, caribou, bison,
etc.
3. What was the first food of ancient Americans?
Maize (corn)
4. Who started a civilization on the Yucatan Peninsula? Define.
Maya—Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written
language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and
mathematical and astronomical systems.
5. Who lived in Mexico during the 1200’s? Define.
Aztec—Mesoamerican civilization, lived in the Valley of Mexico, known as powerful
warriors that built a beautiful and prosperous city Tenochtitlan which was conquered
by Hernan Cortes and Spanish Conquistadors
Ch. 1, Section 2
1. Define Renaissance.
A period in European history lasting from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century,
which ushered in more secular age and encouraged freedom of thought, the
importance of the individual, and renewed interest in classical learning.
2. Who was Prince Henry the Navigator?
Prince Henry the Navigator (Portugal) set up School of Navigation—students learned
how to use new ships and instruments that would develop trade with Africa and Asia.
He directed Portuguese efforts to sail into the Atlantic, spread Christianity, and
outflank Muslim domination of trade.
Ch. 1, Section 3
1. How was West African’s location import to its role as a trade center?
West Africa was located at important trading routes that linked Europe with Asia and
the Mediterranean regions.
2. How did slavery in West Africa differ from the slavery that later developed in the
Americas?
Enslaved people in West Africa were usually adopted by the families into which they
were sold. They could marry and their children did not inherit the status of slaves.
Furthermore, slavery was not based on the idea of racial superiority or inferiority.
3. How did the Portuguese benefit from the slave trade?
The Portuguese benefited from the slave trade by selling enslaved people for money
and using them to work on sugar plantations.
Ch. 1, Section 4
1. What was Christopher Columbus’ purpose in sailing west across the Atlantic?
Columbus sailed west to find a route to China. Gold (valuable jewels and wealth
from the lands); Glory (a desire to state claim and fame to new lands of America);
and God (the spreading of the religious faith…Christianity).
2. Who sponsored Christopher Columbus’ trips to the New World?
Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand due to competing with Portugal for trade routes
and wealth.
3. What elements helped the Spanish overcome the Aztec and Inca empires they
found?
The Spanish had the advantage of mounted soldiers, superior weapons, frightening
technology, and the introduction of diseases deadly to the native peoples.
4. Who was Hernan Cortes? What role did he play in Spanish Mexico?
Cortes was a Spanish conquistadors who led Spanish forces and overwhelmed the
Aztec empire, capturing their major city Tenochtitlan and killing their Aztec king
(Montezuma-Moctezuma).
5. What diseases did Europeans bring to Native Americans? What role did disease
play in the defeat of native populations of the Americas?
Diseases (small pox, influenza, typhus, measles, malaria, etc. Diseases such as small
pox and diphtheria sickened and killed many Native Americans, greatly reducing
their ability to withstand European challenges to their lands and cultures.
6. Explain the Columbian Exchange. What items did the Americans share with the
Europeans? What items did the Europeans bring to the Americas?
The transfer of plants, animals, and disease (microbes) from Europe to the Americas
It began with Columbus’ first voyage and continues today. The transfer of plants,
animals, and diseases between the Western hemisphere (New World) to the Eastern
hemisphere (Old World).
Americans to Europeans: Pumpkin, squash, sweet potatoes, corn, avocado, peanuts,
potato, tomato, tobacco, pineapple, cacao bean, beans, vanilla, peppers. Turkey
Europeans to Americas: Coffee beans, onion, olives, Citrus fruits (oranges, etc),
bananas, grapes, peach, pear, turnips, Sugar cane, Grains (wheat, rice, barley, oats);
Livestock (cattle, sheep, pig, horse).
UNITED STATES STUDY QUESTIONS
Chapter 2: Europeans Establish Colonies (1492-1752) section 1&2
Ch. 2, Section 1
1. What factors enabled the Spaniards to conquer the Native Americans?
• Superior weaponry—guns/horses provided the Spanish with an important
military advantage over the Native Americans.
• Alliances forged with certain Native American groups against other Native
Americans helped the Spanish win battles.
• European diseases wiped out a large number of Native Americans,
weakening them militarily.
• The Spanish belief in the superiority of their culture and religion allowed
them to impose their own way of life on Native American people.
2. Name the large population which resulted from the intermarriage of Spanish and
Native American.
Mestizo—mix between Spanish and Native Americans.
Ch. 2, Section 2
1. Explain the Northwest Passage.
It was a water route to Asia through the cold waters of present day Canada. They
probed the eastern coastline of North America from present-day North Carolina to
Newfoundland.
2. How did France’s American colonies differ from Spain’s American colonies?
Unlike the Spanish colonies, the settlement of New France reflected the beneficial
relationship that developed between Native Americans and the French, who
required the Native Americans cooperation to carry on the fur trade.
3. Where was the French colony? Who founded the territory?
Quebec, it was the first permanent European (French) settlement in Canada. The
French built a fortified trading post in Quebec along the St. Lawrence River in
1608. It was founded by Samuel de Champlain, who traded furs/animal skins
with the Native Americans.