Chapter 1 Alien Encounters: Europe in the Americas
1.1 Multiple Choice Questions
1) Columbus and other early explorers searched for a direct all-water route to Asia because they
A) hoped to gain easier access to highly valued Asian goods.
B) could help western Europe win the Crusades against the Muslims.
C) could prove that the earth was round rather than flat.
D) thought Japan and China were rich and not the poor countries Marco Polo described.
Answer: A
(p. 14)
Topic: Columbus’s Great Triumph—and Error
Skill: Conceptual
2) The map “European Voyages of Discovery,” depicts the 1497–1499 journey around Africa by
which of the following?
A) da Gama
B) Cabot
C) Cartier
D) Magellan
Answer: A
(p. 15)
Topic: Columbus’s Great Triumph—and Error
Skill: Factual
3) Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal was noted for
A) voyaging to the area of Brazil long before Columbus.
,B) sponsoring the slave trade which brought so much profit to his nation.
C) discovering the southern tip of Africa.
D) improving and codifying navigational knowledge in order to find a route to Asia.
Answer: D
(pp. 15–16)
Topic: Columbus’s Great Triumph—and Error
Skill: Conceptual
4) When Columbus landed in America, the chief reason that he thought he had landed in “the
Indies” was
A) the ease with which the natives understood his language.
B) his discovery of the place of the Grand Khan.
C) his firm belief that he had sailed far enough westward to reach them.
D) the plants there were similar to those in Asia.
Answer: C
(p. 16)
Topic: Columbus’s Great Triumph—and Error
Skill: Conceptual
,5) By the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), Spain had authority to exploit all of
A) North and South America except Brazil.
B) Africa and the Middle East except Egypt.
C) South America except Colombia.
D) North America and Central America, but not South America.
Answer: A
(p. 17)
Topic: Spain’s American Empire
Skill: Factual
6) Your textbook describes Spain’s American empire as
A) treating the Indians as equals by establishing joint ventures with them.
B) seeing the Americas as lands of opportunity and freedom, yet fearing other countries might
introduce slavery.
C) failing totally to transplant Spanish culture in the Americas.
D) trying to implant Spanish civilization and introduce Christianity, but also committing
unprovoked aggression.
Answer: D
(p. 18)
Topic: Spain’s American Empire
Skill: Conceptual
7) In the 1670s thousands of Pueblo rebelled to drive the
A) Spanish from New Mexico.
B) Portuguese out of Brazil.
C) Spanish from Florida.
D) French out of Texas.
, Answer: A
(p. 20)
Topic: Extending Spain’s Empire to the North
Skill: Factual
8) When discussing the question of the terrible decimation of the Native American peoples after
1500, your text concludes that most deaths resulted from
A) European diseases.
B) intertribal warfare.
C) modern weaponry.
D) extermination of traditional game.
Answer: A
(p. 20)
Topic: Disease and Population Losses
Skill: Conceptual