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When did humans begin to settle Central and
South America?
What types of societies did they create in
Mesoamerica up to 1000 CE?
Who were the Maya?
What type of civilization did they create?
How were Mayan families organized?
How was this organization reflected in the larger
social and political structure of Mayan society?
Describe the Mayan economy.
How important was warfare to the Maya?
What were some of the Maya’s notable
achievements?
Who were the Mexica?
What did they accomplish in the late 1400s and
early 1500s?
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How was Aztec society structured?
What was life like for Aztec women?
What was the Aztec economy based on?
Why did the Aztecs practice human sacrifice?
How did the Aztec treat conquered peoples?
Why was the Incan military so successful?
How did the Inca handle practical matters
such as communication and food production?
How was the empire organized?
Describe the Incan religion? How did it differ
from the Aztec’s?
What technological limitations did all Native
populations in the Americas face?
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Describe the climate and topography of the
Iberian Peninsula.
What was the “Reconquista”?
What were the main motivations for the
reconquest of Spain by Christian forces?
How did the warrior mentality influence those
who traveled to the Americas?
What were the relative sizes of the main
kingdoms on the Iberian peninsula by the late
1400s?
What happened in January of 1492?
How did Isabel become queen of Castile?
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Who were the “Catholic Kings”?
Did Ferdinand and Isabel unite their
kingdoms?
What were corregidores and the Hermandad?
How was Iberian society structured?
What were caballeros and hidalgos?
What roles did commoners play in society?
Describe the Iberian slave trade of the late
15th century.
How did Jews and Muslims fare after the fall
of Granada?
What impact did the loss of many Jews and
Muslims have on Spain?
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What was the Inquisition?
Was 15th century Iberia a mainly rural or urban
land?
What was the main economic activity for most
Iberians?
What was one of the main challenges to
Spain’s economy?
What bad fiscal habits did the Spanish crown
fall into?
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What type of establishments did the Portuguese
create along the Atlantic coast of Africa?
Why did they not try build large, permanent
colonies?
What did Bartholomeu Dias do in 1488 that
changed the course of history?
Describe the civilizations that existed in West
Africa in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Did the Portuguese have much success in their
attempts to convert the peoples of West and West
Central Africa to Christianity?
Describe slavery in West Africa as it existed
before the arrival of the Portuguese.
What impact did the slave trade have on the
kingdoms of West Africa?
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How was slavery in Africa different from the
slavery developed by Europeans for the
Americas?
Why were the experiences regarding
Europeans different for African nations than
those in the Americas?
Who was Christopher Columbus?
How did he end up making a deal to sail for
Isabel and Ferdinand?
What type of society did Columbus discover
on the island of Espanola?
What was the papal Line of Demarcation?
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What was the Treaty of Tordesillas?
How did the skills of exploration change as a
result of Columbus’ discoveries?
How did Spain’s policies in the new world
differ from those of Portugal in Africa and
India?
What types of people made the voyage to
establish a permanent settlement with
Columbus?
What problems did the Spanish face in their
effort to subdue the native population?
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How did Columbus quell the challenge to his
family’s power on Espanola in 1498?
What were the repartimientos and who were
encomenderos?
What happened to the native population of
Espanola?
Did anyone protest the Spanish treatment of
the natives?
What was the requerimento?
Why did the city serve such an important role
in Spanish life in the Americas?
What was an audiencia and a cabildo?
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Why was Columbus relieved of his duties on
Espanola?
How did his successors’ policies impact the
lives of Spanish settlers and natives?
Who was Fernando Cortes?
What advantages did the Spanish have over
their native adversaries?
How did Cortes legitimise his independence
from Governor Velazquez?
What strategies did Cortes use to gain
support from the natives?
How did the traditional power structure of
native societies help the Spanish control such
large populations?
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How did Cortes use religion to promote his
cause?
What was La Noche Triste?
How did Cortes finally manage to conquer the
Aztec capital?
Who was Francisco Pizarro?
How did disease help Pizarro?
How did the Inca’s civil war play out?
How did Pizarro capture Atahualpa, the Incan
leader?
How did Atahualpa inadvertently help to bring
about the demise of the Incan Empire?
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How successful was the Incan uprising
against the Spanish?
What eventually happened to Pizarro?
Why did many of the original conquistadors
revolt against the Spanish crown after the
issuance of the “New Laws” in 1542?
Why was the execution of Tupac Amaru
in1572 important?
What percentage of the revenue from slave
sales did the Spanish crown receive?
Why did less sophisticated native societies do
better at resisting Spanish invasions?
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Why did the Spanish crown organize a large
expedition to what would become Argentina and
Paraguay?
On whom did the refounded settlement of
Buenos Aires depend for its survival?
Why were the Muisca of present day Colombia
unable to effectively resist the Spanish?
What real significance did the story of El Dorado
have on the exploration of South America?
What was the deal with Lope de Auirre?
What product first attracted the attention of
Portuguese traders in Brazil?
How did the introduction of sugar change native
societies and Portuguese involvement in Brazil?
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What role did free blacks and black slaves
play in the Spanish and Portuguese
conquests?
How did participation in expeditions of
conquest offer the opportunity for freedom
and social advancement for many blacks?
How did the growth of the African slave trade
impact the status of blacks in the “New
World”?
How did the “cosmography” of the world
change as a result of Columbus’ voyages?
What sort of questions and ideas framed the
debate over how to treat the natives of the
Americas?
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What philosophical arguments did some
Spaniards make to justify the brutal treatment of
the native populations?
What position did the Catholic Church officially
take in 1537, regarding the nature and treatment
of native peoples?
How important to Europeans were the food stuffs
exported from the “new world” to the “old world”?
Which plants, and how well did they do, did
Europeans introduce to the Americas?
What were gauchos, llaneros and vaqueiros?
What was the impact of domesticated animals on
the native populations of Latin America?
What is liberalism?
What is nationalism?
How has the American historiography of Latin
America changed over the decades?
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How long did it take to travel from Spain to
the Americas? And the return journey?
What advantage did Portugal have over Spain
in regards to travel times?
What impact did this have on the colonial
officials and their administrative powers?
What was a viceroy?
What Spanish institution did the crown refuse
to introduce to the Americas? Why?
What were the two original viceroyalties?
How were they subdivided?
Explain how the territorial and administrative
units were more like a spoked wheel than a
pyramid.
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What was the Council of the Indies and what
was its purpose?
How did it oversee both government and
Church officials?
How did Philip III, in 1604, diminish the
quality of those men who served on the
Council?
Why did the Council struggle to fulfill its
designated role?
What were the responsibilities of the viceroys?
What sorts of men were usually named
viceroys?
How long did most serve and what were their
personal goals?
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Who headed the audiencias?
Why did the crown shift from appointing
highly educated men as president-governor
of the audiencias to experienced military
men?
Why did the Spanish crown put many offices
up for sale?
How did the sale of offices at all levels affect
those who purchased them, and as a result,
the quality of the work they performed?
Why did the high cost of many government
offices mean that officials often acted in the
best interest of wealthy merchants and the
colonial elite?
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Why did the colonisation of Brazil proceed
more slowly than Spanish America?
Eventually who came to be in charge of the
Portugal’s Brazilian possessions?
Did the post of governor-general/viceroy
remain the most powerful position in the
colony? Why not?
Did Portugal establish a high court of appeals
in Brazil?
Where were most of the magistrates from?
Were government offices for sale in Brazil?
What was the impact of this practice?
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Who was Pedro Alvares Cabral?
Why was Portugal not overly interested in
Brazil in the early 1500s?
What prompted the Portuguese to finally
become active in Brazil?
How did the native populations along the
coast of Brazil, such as the Tupi, fare in their
dealings with the Portuguese?
Why was the king’s power limited in Brazil?
Who were the Jesuits?
What were some of the differences between
Native American, African, and European
concepts of slavery?
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How did the Portuguese justify their
purchasing of human beings?
How many, roughly, were transported across
the Atlantic to work as slaves?
Approximately how many did not survive the
crossing?
Why did the mestizo population of New Spain
increase dramatically after the initial
conquest?
Why were many mestizo children considered
to be “people-in-between”?
What was the purpose of marriage for many
Spaniards?
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How did the Spanish press Catholicism onto
the native populations of the Americas?
What was Spain’s main economic interest in
the Americas?
What was the “royal fifth”?
Where were the viceroyalties established?
What other offices were included in a
viceroyalty?
What were “mill lords” in colonial Brazil?
How does Chasteen use the story of Sor Juana
Ines de la Cruz as a metaphor for Iberian
control of Latin America?
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What does Chasteen mean when he uses the
term hegemony?
How did religious and gender based
hegemony reveal itself in Spanish America?
What is transculturation?
How did it manifest itself in Latin America?
Describe the “fringe” areas of Paraguay,
Buenos Aires and Chile.
Describe the “fringe” areas of Brazil.
What was a quilombo?
How did the discovery of gold in Brazil’s
backcountry change the colony?
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Explain the caste system that was created in
Latin America.
Why did it serve to enforce social norms?
How did some people manage to escape their
caste?