SJSU HIST15A Midterm 1 questions
and answers
Bering Strait Land Bridge✔✔crossed by a group of hunters and fishers when coming
to the Americas between 15-60 thousand years ago. From Eurasia into North
America, land/ice bridge called the Beringia.
Paleo-Indians✔✔The first group of people to enter and inhabit the North Americas.
They had stone tools, projectile points and scrapers.
Cahokia✔✔The central city for Indian culture in the Mississippi River Valley c. 1200;
the largest settle community in present-day United States until the 1800's.
Maya Empire✔✔Mayan civilization was culturally refined and distinguished by a
singular aptitude for the arts and crafts and by a high degree of scholarship. The
Maya defined all phenomena of nature and their causes, then represented them in
the shape of humans or animals.
Aztec Empire✔✔Tenochtitlan was the the capital (present-day Mexico). Aztecs were
people with strong religious beliefs. Cultured people who also had strong beliefs
about their heritage. They carried there strength in the knowledge and worship of
their pluralistic gods. Aztecs would often bring gifts to their capital city to decorate
and honor it. Some of these gifts were food, feathers, salt, arrows, and luxuries from
trade. Religious activities were mainly focused within the temples. These walled
precincts contained dorms, schools, sacred pools, altars, gardens, arsenals, and ball
courts. These temples usually contained the shrine to the deity in which it was
dedicated to as well.
Native American Religion✔✔Lives involved religious ceremonies directly related to
farming and hunting. Spiritual power suffused the world and sacred spirits could be
found in all kinds of living and inanimate objects. In these ceremonies, they aimed to
harness the aid of powerful supernatural forces. Shamans, medicine men, and other
religious leaders held positions of respect and authority. Believed in one single
"creator".
Prince Henry the Navigator✔✔Portuguese prince who helped launch the age of
European Exploration by founding a school for navigation and launching the program
of Portuguese exploration. During the first half of the 15th century, he sponsored
voyages down the west coast of Africa in search of an alternate sea route to the
fabled Spice Trade of East India (China). This was significant because the
Portuguese, at the end of the 15th century, would be the first to successfully reach
the east by a direct sea rout that bypassed the Arab middlemen. Ultimately,
Portuguese exploration and monopoly of the trade int he East made Portugal
wealthy and powerful for about 50 years.
Bartholomew Diaz✔✔Portuguese explorer that led the first European expedition
around the Cape of Good Hope in 1488.
, Vasco da Gama✔✔Portuguese explorer that sailed around Cape of Good Hope in
1498 and made it to India, showing a great new sea route to the East. First person to
sail directly from Europe to India.
Ferdinand and Isabella✔✔King and Queen of Spain that sponsored/financed
Christopher Columbus's expedition. Their marriage in 1469, united Aragon and
Castile. In 1492, they completed the conquest of Spain from African Muslims
(Moors). They ordered Muslims and Jews to convert to Catholicism.
Christopher Columbus✔✔Italian explorer that hoped to convert Asians to Christianity
and enlist them in a crusade to redeem Jerusalem from the Muslims. Discovered a
new westward spice trade route with Asia. One of the first European explorers to
reach the Americas. His voyages led to the first lasting European contact with the
Americas, inaugurating a period of European exploration, conquest, and colonization
that lasted for several centuries.
Hernan Cortes✔✔First explorer to encounter a major American civilization in 1519.
With only a few hundred armed mean (iron weapons and gunpowder), he conquered
Tenochtitlan.
Encomienda✔✔A grant by the Spanish Crown to a colonist in America conferring the
right to demand tribute and forced labor from the natives of an area.
The Black Legend✔✔A style of nonobjective historical writing or propaganda that
demonizes the Spanish Empire, its people and its culture in an in an intentional
attempt to damage its reputation.
Juan de Onate✔✔Led a group of 400 soldiers, colonists, and missionaries north
from Mexico to establish a permanent settlement in Acoma in 1598. Of the 600
Indians captured, the women and children were consigned to servitude in Spanish
families, while the men were punished by cutting off their foot. Said that any Indians
who resisted Spanish authority would be crushed.
Martin Luther✔✔German priest that posted his 95 Theses on the Wittenburg Church
door. He accused the then-corrupt catholic church of abuses such as the sale
indulgences, which promised forgiveness of sins and release of souls from
purgatory. He also propagated the idea that the Bible should be read by all and not
simply interpreted by the catholic church. His call for reform led to the rise of new
Protestant churches that were independent of Rome and plunged Europe into more
than a century of religious and political strife. Martin Luther, along with John Calvin,
are regarded as the Fathers of the Reformation.
Henry VIII✔✔Launched the Reformation in England. Severed the nation from the
Catholic Church, establishing the Church of England (Anglican Church), with himself
at the head after the pope refused to annul his marriage with Catherine. Died in
1553, passed on throne to Queen Mary (half-sister). Henry's motives were ill-
founded, as he would try 6 times to continue his monarchy, ultimately creating
Anglicanism to further that goal. This is quite different from Luther's start of the
and answers
Bering Strait Land Bridge✔✔crossed by a group of hunters and fishers when coming
to the Americas between 15-60 thousand years ago. From Eurasia into North
America, land/ice bridge called the Beringia.
Paleo-Indians✔✔The first group of people to enter and inhabit the North Americas.
They had stone tools, projectile points and scrapers.
Cahokia✔✔The central city for Indian culture in the Mississippi River Valley c. 1200;
the largest settle community in present-day United States until the 1800's.
Maya Empire✔✔Mayan civilization was culturally refined and distinguished by a
singular aptitude for the arts and crafts and by a high degree of scholarship. The
Maya defined all phenomena of nature and their causes, then represented them in
the shape of humans or animals.
Aztec Empire✔✔Tenochtitlan was the the capital (present-day Mexico). Aztecs were
people with strong religious beliefs. Cultured people who also had strong beliefs
about their heritage. They carried there strength in the knowledge and worship of
their pluralistic gods. Aztecs would often bring gifts to their capital city to decorate
and honor it. Some of these gifts were food, feathers, salt, arrows, and luxuries from
trade. Religious activities were mainly focused within the temples. These walled
precincts contained dorms, schools, sacred pools, altars, gardens, arsenals, and ball
courts. These temples usually contained the shrine to the deity in which it was
dedicated to as well.
Native American Religion✔✔Lives involved religious ceremonies directly related to
farming and hunting. Spiritual power suffused the world and sacred spirits could be
found in all kinds of living and inanimate objects. In these ceremonies, they aimed to
harness the aid of powerful supernatural forces. Shamans, medicine men, and other
religious leaders held positions of respect and authority. Believed in one single
"creator".
Prince Henry the Navigator✔✔Portuguese prince who helped launch the age of
European Exploration by founding a school for navigation and launching the program
of Portuguese exploration. During the first half of the 15th century, he sponsored
voyages down the west coast of Africa in search of an alternate sea route to the
fabled Spice Trade of East India (China). This was significant because the
Portuguese, at the end of the 15th century, would be the first to successfully reach
the east by a direct sea rout that bypassed the Arab middlemen. Ultimately,
Portuguese exploration and monopoly of the trade int he East made Portugal
wealthy and powerful for about 50 years.
Bartholomew Diaz✔✔Portuguese explorer that led the first European expedition
around the Cape of Good Hope in 1488.
, Vasco da Gama✔✔Portuguese explorer that sailed around Cape of Good Hope in
1498 and made it to India, showing a great new sea route to the East. First person to
sail directly from Europe to India.
Ferdinand and Isabella✔✔King and Queen of Spain that sponsored/financed
Christopher Columbus's expedition. Their marriage in 1469, united Aragon and
Castile. In 1492, they completed the conquest of Spain from African Muslims
(Moors). They ordered Muslims and Jews to convert to Catholicism.
Christopher Columbus✔✔Italian explorer that hoped to convert Asians to Christianity
and enlist them in a crusade to redeem Jerusalem from the Muslims. Discovered a
new westward spice trade route with Asia. One of the first European explorers to
reach the Americas. His voyages led to the first lasting European contact with the
Americas, inaugurating a period of European exploration, conquest, and colonization
that lasted for several centuries.
Hernan Cortes✔✔First explorer to encounter a major American civilization in 1519.
With only a few hundred armed mean (iron weapons and gunpowder), he conquered
Tenochtitlan.
Encomienda✔✔A grant by the Spanish Crown to a colonist in America conferring the
right to demand tribute and forced labor from the natives of an area.
The Black Legend✔✔A style of nonobjective historical writing or propaganda that
demonizes the Spanish Empire, its people and its culture in an in an intentional
attempt to damage its reputation.
Juan de Onate✔✔Led a group of 400 soldiers, colonists, and missionaries north
from Mexico to establish a permanent settlement in Acoma in 1598. Of the 600
Indians captured, the women and children were consigned to servitude in Spanish
families, while the men were punished by cutting off their foot. Said that any Indians
who resisted Spanish authority would be crushed.
Martin Luther✔✔German priest that posted his 95 Theses on the Wittenburg Church
door. He accused the then-corrupt catholic church of abuses such as the sale
indulgences, which promised forgiveness of sins and release of souls from
purgatory. He also propagated the idea that the Bible should be read by all and not
simply interpreted by the catholic church. His call for reform led to the rise of new
Protestant churches that were independent of Rome and plunged Europe into more
than a century of religious and political strife. Martin Luther, along with John Calvin,
are regarded as the Fathers of the Reformation.
Henry VIII✔✔Launched the Reformation in England. Severed the nation from the
Catholic Church, establishing the Church of England (Anglican Church), with himself
at the head after the pope refused to annul his marriage with Catherine. Died in
1553, passed on throne to Queen Mary (half-sister). Henry's motives were ill-
founded, as he would try 6 times to continue his monarchy, ultimately creating
Anglicanism to further that goal. This is quite different from Luther's start of the
