Trade Routes
Culture
Technology
Economy
100
Which of the following trade routes facilitated the exchange of goods, ideas, and cultures between the Mediterranean region and East Asia during the Classical Era?
A) The Silk Road
B) The Trans-Saharan Trade Route
C) The Indian Ocean Trade Route
D) The Andean Trade Route
A) The Silk Road
100
The Silk Road was an ancient trade and cultural exchange route. Which empire played a significant role in the development of the Silk Road?
a) Roman Empire
b) Arab Empire
c) Persian Empire
d) Chinese Tang Empire
d) Chinese Tang Empire
100
Which of the following advances in sailing technology was not a Chinese invention?
A. Multiple-Masted Junk
B. Stern-Post Rudder
C. Magnetic Compass
D. Triangular Lateen Sail
D. Triangular Lateen Sail
100
What was the primary economic system during the Middle Ages?
A. Capitalism
B. Socialism
C. Feudalism
D. Communism
C. Feudalism
200
The trade and cultural links with the Islamic world, on which Timbuktu's growth depended, could not have been forged without
A. horses.
B. camels.
C. the lateen sail.
D. wagons capable of traversing the desert.
B. camels.
200
The cultural exchange along the Silk Road led to the introduction of various religions. Which religion first entered China through the Silk Road?
a) Buddhism
b) Christianity
c) Islam
d) Sikhism
a) Buddhism
200
Who were the first to venture into the open sea outside the view of the coast, leading to the elaboration of universal systems of navigation based on the positions of the stars?
A. Chinese sailors
B. Indian sailors
C. Persian and Arab sailors
D. Greek sailors
C. Persian and Arab sailors
200
How did the Black Death impact the economy of the Middle Ages?
A. It led to an economic boom due to population decrease
B. It caused a severe economic depression
C. It had no significant impact on the economy
D. It led to the invention of modern medicine
A. It led to an economic boom due to population decrease
300
Silk was a lucrative and excellent merchandise for the overland trading route between China and the Middle East for which of the following reasons?
A) Silk was lightweight and compact, making it easy to transport over long distances.
B) Silk was highly valued as a symbol of status and luxury, driving demand along the trading route.
C) Silk production was a closely guarded secret in China, giving Chinese merchants a monopoly on its trade.
D) Silk was resistant to weather damage, ensuring its quality during the arduous journey across the Silk Road.
B) Silk was highly valued as a symbol of status and luxury, driving demand along the trading route.
300
The cultural exchange of the Silk Road had a profound impact on Europe. Which product was first introduced to Europe through the Silk Road?
a) Silk
b) Tea
c) Porcelain
d) Spices
c) Porcelain
300
Which of the following sciences originated in China, Egypt, and India, but underwent important developments in Islamic Asian countries and in Tibet and Mongolia throughout the Middle Ages?
A. Alchemy, Chemistry, Pharmacology and Pharmaceutics
B. Astronomy and Astrology
C. Mathematics and Geometry
D. Physics and Mechanics
A. Alchemy, Chemistry, Pharmacology and Pharmaceutics
300
This sculpture best supports which of the following inferences about the Mali?
A. The Mali aquired much of their wealth through horse breeding and trade.
B. Sculpture was an important artistic medium in Mali culture.
C. The Mali capital was sufficiently large and prosperous enough to support an artisan class.
D. Social status amongst the Mali middle classes was determined by victories in battle and conquests.
C. The Mali capital was sufficiently large and prosperous enough to support an artisan class.
400
The silk industry in China and the woolen industry in Europe were similar in the Medieval era for which of the following reasons?
A. Much of the production in each region was intended for regional consumption.
B. The collection of raw materials and the production of finished products occurred within one centralized location in both China and Europe.
C. Both Chinese silkworm farmers and European shepherds received special government protections in the form of tax breaks.
D. Both finished silk and wool fabrics were exchanged along the Silk Roads, from the Mediterranean to East Asia.
A. Much of the production in each region was intended for regional consumption.
400
The Silk Road had a significant influence on the culture of Central Asia. Which city was an important commercial and cultural center on the Silk Road?
a) Chang'an
b) Damascus
c) Samarkand
d) Constantinople
c) Samarkand
400
Which of the following is the most powerful technology in the world
A. Astrolabe
B. Car
C.Mr. Martin’s whistle
C. Cattle
C. Cattle
400
“Increasing trade supported the Swahili language in the cosmopolitan environment of the coastal towns. New vocabularies were constantly being absorbed into Swahili in the course of people merchandizing, intermarrying, and practicing Islam while coming into contact with all manner of visitors to East Africa’s littoral. The elite classes of these towns had a cosmopolitan identity as 'the Swahili.' Towns made it possible to store and protect wealth in commercial goods, to impose tariffs, and thus to pay for the public services necessary in these emporia. With increasing wealth, towns became larger, and growing demands for security of merchandise led to the construction of more complex buildings and a political system in which the financiers and borrowers recognized Islamic political authorities, known as sultans. These Swahili townspeople came to think of their urban lifestyle as ustaarabu—a word built with Bantu extensions on Arab—with overtones of 'civilized' as opposed to 'traditional and rural.' In these towns, local communities remained devoted to hunting, agriculture, and pastoralism. Swahili leaders became deal makers, rulers, princes, and part of the elite of the transoceanic trade. And their language became the language of commerce and diplomacy among the numerous city-states on the coast."
"The trade goods that passed through Swahili hands between the tenth and fifteenth centuries CE were generating big fortunes. . . . With each transaction, Swahili life continued to be more globalized, and Swahili became more of a player in the Indian Ocean world.”
Mugane, John M. The Story of Swahili. Ohio University Press, 2015. 67-68.
Which of the following was MOST likely to have been one of the trade goods Mugane mentions in the second paragraph?
A. American turquoise
B. Chinese porcelain
C. Italian wool
D. Saharan salt
B. Chinese porcelain
500
Which of the following BEST explains the origin of Mali's Gold-Salt trade?
Select one answer
A. Both gold and salt were used in religious rituals in Mali, meaning that traders received the highest possible prices for both in Mali.
B. The relative rareness of gold and salt artificially increased the value of these commodities and made them logical forms of currency.
C. The uneven distribution of natural resources like gold and salt created supply and demand in Northern Africa and drove regional trade.
D. The Gold-Salt trade originated because of the strong demand for salt in Europe and the Middle East, dramatically inflating the value of salt.
C. The uneven distribution of natural resources like gold and salt created supply and demand in Northern Africa and drove regional trade.
500
The exchange along the Silk Road facilitated the spread of technology and knowledge. Which invention first reached the Western world through the Silk Road?
a) Gunpowder
b) Compass
c) Printing Press
d) Light Bulb
b) Compass
500
"From 1000 to 1500, the major activity of European rulers was warfare: preparing for war, paying for war, recovering from war. This circumstance, plus the fact that wars became even costlier with the introduction of cannons and other guns, drove European polities toward a common form: a territorial state with sufficient wealth generated in towns and cities, and a population sufficiently large to sustain armies.
I...] Those [states] who had these weapons could claim to be sovereign within their territories and then by force, if necessary, make others subject to them. In the fifteenth century, the consolidation of political power - not just by European rulers - proceeded apace as cannons blazed the way.
In 1453 the Ottoman Turks used cannons to capture Constantinople, and by the same year the king of France had used cannons to drive the English out of France by leveling their fortifications and pushing them back across the English Channel, thereby bringing the Hundred Years' War to an end. By 1453, cannons had proved their worth to the leaders of the hundreds of various-sized political entities spread across Europe. A few decades later in Spain, the "Catholic Kings" Ferdinand and Isabella used a siege train of 180 guns to drive the Muslims from Granada, their last stronghold on the Iberian peninsula.
Because Europe was so fragmented politically, no one leader could get or maintain a monopoly on these new weapons and use them to establish an empire in Europe I...]"
- Robert Marks, The Origins of the Modern World: A Global and Environmental Narrative from the Fifteenth to the Twenty-First Century (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015).
Which of the following arguments is BEST supported by this passage?
a. The expansion of trade spread new technology across large distances.
b. Economic and political competition drove technological innovation.
c. Europe was the source of most new technology in the 15th century.
d. cannons upset the balance of power in the early modern period.
a. The expansion of trade spread new technology across large distances.
500
Which of the following was a direct result of the cultural interactions in East Africa by 1300 C.E.?
A. The people of East Africa began to use Turkic languages to better facilitate trade with regions to their north.
B. East Africans embraced the Arabic language just as they embraced Islam but later abandoned it for Portuguese.
C. Swahili developed which blended Arabic and Bantu languages and allowed for better trade relations.
D. The development of the Urdu language led to a new connection with India which fostered further trade.
C. Swahili developed which blended Arabic and Bantu languages and allowed for better trade relations.