1|Page
APUSH Chapter 1 Study Guide | American
History Review | Practice Questions & Answers
| Latest Update
This set covers the following topics:The Age of Exploration (1420 CE - c. 1650)The Age of Colonialism
and Absolutism (1519 CE - 1789 CE)The Revolutionary Era and 19th Century Reforms (c. 1750 CE -
1876 CE)Global Paleolithic Period (c. 3 MLN BCE - c. 10,000 BCE)The Age of Imperialism (1804 CE
- 1914 CE)Progress in the Early Modern Era (1453 CE - c. 1750 CE)Late Bronze Age (c. 1550 BCE -
c. 1200 BCE)Pre-Human History (C. 13.8 BLN BCE - C. 6 MLN BCE)Early Bronze Age (c. 3,300 - c.
2100 BCE)
APUSH Chapter 1 Study Guide <SECTOR I>
Introduction, 1. What conditions existed in what is today the United States that made it "fertile ground"
for a great nation?
Individual liberty, self-government, religious tolerance, economic opportunity
The Shaping of North America, 2. Speculate how at least one geographic feature affected the
development of the United States
The rivers like the Mississippi would have provided a means of transportation and food, especially in the
early years of the United States before cars
Peopling the Americas, 3. "Before the arrival of Europeans, the settlement of the Americas was
insignificant." Assess this statement.
The Americas already had people living there before the Europeans arrived, such as the Mayans, Incas,
and Aztecs, so to say that the settlement of the Americas was insignificant before the arrival of the
,2|Page
Europeans is incorrect. Also, there were 2,000 languages and possibly 54 million people before the
Europeans arrived.
The Earliest Americans, 4. Describe some of the common features of North American Indian culture
Growing corn, three-sister farming, living in small and scattered settlements, matrilineal cultures,
respected the physical world (spiritually)
Indirect Discoverers of the New World, 5. What caused Europeans to begin exploring?
Their governments wanted contact with a wider world, trade, conquest; found goods that were
previously unknown in Asian but the cost of getting them back to Europe was expensive so a new, less
expensive route to Asia was needed
Europeans Enter Africa, 6. What were the results of the Portuguese explorations of Africa
A route to the area south of the Sahara desert was discovered, they traveled down the West African
coast (15th century) and soon set up trading posts for gold and slaves, adopted Arab and African
practices separating and mixing slaves from different origins, used slaves for sugar plantations, slave
trading was a big business
Columbus Comes Upon a New World, 7. What developments set the stage for "a cataclysmic shift in the
course of history"?
Europeans wanted cheaper products from areas beyond the Mediterranean, Africa was known as a
source for cheap slave labor, Spain was developing into a national state with the resources and power to
explore, the Renaissance in the fourteenth century had a spirit of optimism and adventure, printing
presses were introduced in about 1450, the mariner's compass
When Worlds Collide, 8. Explain the positive and negative effects of the Atlantic Exchange
Both sides found new plants and food: the Europeans found tobacco, maize, beans, tomatoes, and
potatoes which revolutionized European diet and the international economy, the new food caused an
African population boom; Europeans brought new animals like cattle, swine and horses: North American
Indian tribes used the horses to travel and pursue buffalo, changed their cultures; Both sides gave each
, 3|Page
other diseases; the Europeans brought smallpox, yellow fever, and malaria which wiped out 90 percent
of the Native Americans and the Indians infected the Europeans with syphilis
The Spanish Conquistadors, 9. Were the conquistadors great men? Explain.
The conquistadors were great men in the sense that they traveled long distances to find new lands or
routes which required skill but they were not all good men. Hernando de Soto discovered and crossed
the Mississippi river in the search for gold but during his search he abused Indians. Francisco Pizarro
destroyed the Incas of Peru to add booty to Spanish coffers. While the conquistadors' accomplishments
helped their own people, they did not always achieve their accomplishments in a morally right way,
making some of the conquistadors great men and others not.
Makers of Americas, The Spanish Conquistadors, 10. Were the conquistadors' motives successfully
fulfilled? Explain.
Some of the conquistadors' motives were to win royal titles and favors, spread Christianity, escape
dubious pasts, find adventure, and become rich. Few received titles of nobility and those who had rank
were forever indebted to investors. If an expedition did find something of value, it was split unevenly,
with the commander's home region receiving the largest share.
The Conquest of Mexico, 11. Why was Cortes able to defeat the powerful Aztecs?
Cortes had eleven ships with several hundred men and sixteen horses. He also had two interpreters, a
castaway formerly enslaved by Mayan speaking Indians and a female Indian slave named Malinche who
knew Mayan and Nahuatl, the language of the Aztec rulers. He used his interpreters to learn of unrest in
the Aztec empire and heard that Tenochtitlan had gold and other wealth. He burned his ships to keep his
mutinous troops in line and made allies with twenty thousand Indian allies, and together they went
toward Tenochtitlan.
The Spread of Spanish America, 12. What is the "Black Legend," and to what extent does our text agree
with it?
"Black Legend": says that the conquerors tortured and butchered the Indians, stole their gold, infected
them with smallpox, and left behind only misery; The text says that while the Spanish invaders did kill,
APUSH Chapter 1 Study Guide | American
History Review | Practice Questions & Answers
| Latest Update
This set covers the following topics:The Age of Exploration (1420 CE - c. 1650)The Age of Colonialism
and Absolutism (1519 CE - 1789 CE)The Revolutionary Era and 19th Century Reforms (c. 1750 CE -
1876 CE)Global Paleolithic Period (c. 3 MLN BCE - c. 10,000 BCE)The Age of Imperialism (1804 CE
- 1914 CE)Progress in the Early Modern Era (1453 CE - c. 1750 CE)Late Bronze Age (c. 1550 BCE -
c. 1200 BCE)Pre-Human History (C. 13.8 BLN BCE - C. 6 MLN BCE)Early Bronze Age (c. 3,300 - c.
2100 BCE)
APUSH Chapter 1 Study Guide <SECTOR I>
Introduction, 1. What conditions existed in what is today the United States that made it "fertile ground"
for a great nation?
Individual liberty, self-government, religious tolerance, economic opportunity
The Shaping of North America, 2. Speculate how at least one geographic feature affected the
development of the United States
The rivers like the Mississippi would have provided a means of transportation and food, especially in the
early years of the United States before cars
Peopling the Americas, 3. "Before the arrival of Europeans, the settlement of the Americas was
insignificant." Assess this statement.
The Americas already had people living there before the Europeans arrived, such as the Mayans, Incas,
and Aztecs, so to say that the settlement of the Americas was insignificant before the arrival of the
,2|Page
Europeans is incorrect. Also, there were 2,000 languages and possibly 54 million people before the
Europeans arrived.
The Earliest Americans, 4. Describe some of the common features of North American Indian culture
Growing corn, three-sister farming, living in small and scattered settlements, matrilineal cultures,
respected the physical world (spiritually)
Indirect Discoverers of the New World, 5. What caused Europeans to begin exploring?
Their governments wanted contact with a wider world, trade, conquest; found goods that were
previously unknown in Asian but the cost of getting them back to Europe was expensive so a new, less
expensive route to Asia was needed
Europeans Enter Africa, 6. What were the results of the Portuguese explorations of Africa
A route to the area south of the Sahara desert was discovered, they traveled down the West African
coast (15th century) and soon set up trading posts for gold and slaves, adopted Arab and African
practices separating and mixing slaves from different origins, used slaves for sugar plantations, slave
trading was a big business
Columbus Comes Upon a New World, 7. What developments set the stage for "a cataclysmic shift in the
course of history"?
Europeans wanted cheaper products from areas beyond the Mediterranean, Africa was known as a
source for cheap slave labor, Spain was developing into a national state with the resources and power to
explore, the Renaissance in the fourteenth century had a spirit of optimism and adventure, printing
presses were introduced in about 1450, the mariner's compass
When Worlds Collide, 8. Explain the positive and negative effects of the Atlantic Exchange
Both sides found new plants and food: the Europeans found tobacco, maize, beans, tomatoes, and
potatoes which revolutionized European diet and the international economy, the new food caused an
African population boom; Europeans brought new animals like cattle, swine and horses: North American
Indian tribes used the horses to travel and pursue buffalo, changed their cultures; Both sides gave each
, 3|Page
other diseases; the Europeans brought smallpox, yellow fever, and malaria which wiped out 90 percent
of the Native Americans and the Indians infected the Europeans with syphilis
The Spanish Conquistadors, 9. Were the conquistadors great men? Explain.
The conquistadors were great men in the sense that they traveled long distances to find new lands or
routes which required skill but they were not all good men. Hernando de Soto discovered and crossed
the Mississippi river in the search for gold but during his search he abused Indians. Francisco Pizarro
destroyed the Incas of Peru to add booty to Spanish coffers. While the conquistadors' accomplishments
helped their own people, they did not always achieve their accomplishments in a morally right way,
making some of the conquistadors great men and others not.
Makers of Americas, The Spanish Conquistadors, 10. Were the conquistadors' motives successfully
fulfilled? Explain.
Some of the conquistadors' motives were to win royal titles and favors, spread Christianity, escape
dubious pasts, find adventure, and become rich. Few received titles of nobility and those who had rank
were forever indebted to investors. If an expedition did find something of value, it was split unevenly,
with the commander's home region receiving the largest share.
The Conquest of Mexico, 11. Why was Cortes able to defeat the powerful Aztecs?
Cortes had eleven ships with several hundred men and sixteen horses. He also had two interpreters, a
castaway formerly enslaved by Mayan speaking Indians and a female Indian slave named Malinche who
knew Mayan and Nahuatl, the language of the Aztec rulers. He used his interpreters to learn of unrest in
the Aztec empire and heard that Tenochtitlan had gold and other wealth. He burned his ships to keep his
mutinous troops in line and made allies with twenty thousand Indian allies, and together they went
toward Tenochtitlan.
The Spread of Spanish America, 12. What is the "Black Legend," and to what extent does our text agree
with it?
"Black Legend": says that the conquerors tortured and butchered the Indians, stole their gold, infected
them with smallpox, and left behind only misery; The text says that while the Spanish invaders did kill,
