Pre-Columbian Hemisphere
What sacred food is at the core of Mayan religion and the sustenance for agricultural peoples throughout the Americas?
a. The potato
b. The squash
c. The bean
d. Corn
d. Corn
The author compares the United States' founding on a religious covenant to which two other modern states?
a. Canada and Mexico.
b. France and Great Britain.
c. Israel and the now-defunct apartheid state of South Africa.
d. Australia and New Zealand.
c. Israel and the now-defunct apartheid state of South Africa.
Sir Humphrey Gilbert is presented as a significant figure because he:
a. Argued for the humane treatment of the Irish and Native Americans.
b. Was a Christian pacifist who opposed all forms of colonization.
c. Implemented brutal tactics during the colonization of Ireland and later established the first English colonial settlement in North America.
d. Discovered a cure for smallpox that saved millions of Indigenous lives.
c. Implemented brutal tactics during the colonization of Ireland and later established the first English colonial settlement in North America.
The text contrasts the Indigenous view of land as sacred with the settler view, which regarded land as:
a. A temporary resource to be used and then abandoned.
b. The exclusive property of the king or the state.
c. Private property and a commodity to be acquired and sold.
d. A shared commons that no single person could own.
c. Private property and a commodity to be acquired and sold.
How did Calvinist doctrine, particularly the concept of predestination, serve as a justification for colonization?
a. It preached that all people, including colonists, were equally sinful in the eyes of God.
b. It focused solely on achieving salvation through good works and helping the less fortunate.
c. It encouraged colonists to convert Indigenous people so they could also become part of the "elect."
d. It allowed colonists to define natives as "immutably profane, and damned, and oneself as predestined to virtue".
d. It allowed colonists to define natives as "immutably profane, and damned, and oneself as predestined to virtue".
Which civilization is credited with developing the concept of zero by 36 BC and creating accurate astronomical charts?
a. The Aztec
b. The Anasazi
c. The Olmec
d. The Maya
d. The Maya
The author criticizes the "nation of immigrants" framework for US history because it:
a. Fails to celebrate the success of European immigrants.
b. Gives too much attention to non-European groups.
c. Obscures US settler colonialism by merging it with later immigration.
d. Does not recognize the continued importance of immigration today.
c. Obscures US settler colonialism by merging it with later immigration.
The "Doctrine of Discovery," established by the papal authority in the Treaty of Tordesillas, served to:
a. Promote scientific exploration and the discovery of new medicines in the Americas.
b. Create a system of free and fair trade between Europeans and Indigenous peoples.
c. Divide the non-Christian world for conquest between Spain and Portugal.
d. Ensure that all Indigenous populations would be converted to Christianity peacefully.
c. Divide the non-Christian world for conquest between Spain and Portugal.
Before migrating to North America, the Ulster-Scots were "seasoned settler colonialists" who had participated in the British colonization of:
a. India.
b. Northern Ireland.
c. South Africa.
d. The Caribbean.
b. Northern Ireland.
The official seal of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, designed in England, depicted a native with the inscription:
a. "Beware, we are a mighty people."
b. "This land is our sacred home."
c. "Come over and help us".
d. "Trade with us in peace and friendship."
c. "Come over and help us".
How did many Indigenous systems of governance make decisions?
a. Through the decree of a single, absolute ruler.
b. Through majority rule, with 51% needed to pass a measure.
c. Through consensus, where community cohesion was prioritized.
d. Through the interpretation of sacred texts by a priestly class.
c. Through consensus, where community cohesion was prioritized.
What are "terminal narratives," according to the scholarship cited in the text?
a. First-hand accounts from the last surviving members of an Indigenous nation.
b. Historical accounts that explain the absence, disappearance, or cultural death of Indigenous peoples.
c. Indigenous oral traditions that predict the end of the world.
d. Treaties signed by European powers that marked the final transfer of Indigenous lands.
b. Historical accounts that explain the absence, disappearance, or cultural death of Indigenous peoples.
The chapter traces the origin of white supremacy as a core ideology for colonialism to the:
a. Writings of ancient Greek and Roman philosophers.
b. Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century.
c. Christian Crusades in the Iberian Peninsula and the concept of limpieza de sangre (cleanliness of blood).
d. Scientific theories of social Darwinism that emerged in the nineteenth century.
c. Christian Crusades in the Iberian Peninsula and the concept of limpieza de sangre (cleanliness of blood).
The "Founding Fathers" who established the United States are described as belonging to what social class?
a. The yeoman farmer class who worked their own land.
b. The working poor who had served as indentured servants.
c. English patricians, slave owners, large land barons, and successful businessmen.
d. The landless military officer corps.
c. English patricians, slave owners, large land barons, and successful businessmen.
Historian Francis Jennings is quoted as saying that Europeans were not capable of conquering a true wilderness, but were instead highly competent in:
a. Adapting to and peacefully coexisting with other cultures.
b. Developing new agricultural technologies from scratch.
c. Conquering other people and displacing a resident population.
d. Surviving for long periods with no outside resources or support.
c. Conquering other people and displacing a resident population.
In what way did Hernán Cortés succeed in overthrowing the Aztec state?
a. His forces possessed vastly superior numbers.
b. He co-opted an existing Indigenous insurgency against the Aztec regime.
c. He introduced diseases that immediately wiped out the entire Aztec army.
d. He paid the Aztec nobility with gold to stand down.
b. He co-opted an existing Indigenous insurgency against the Aztec regime.
The UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide lists five acts. Which of the following is NOT one of those acts?
a. Killing members of the group.
b. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
c. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.
d. Refusing to engage in diplomatic treaties with the group.
d. Refusing to engage in diplomatic treaties with the group.
The text states that English averted potential uprisings at home by using the colonies as an "escape valve" for the displaced peasant population from the enclosure movement in England by:
a. Creating a new class of wealthy entrepreneurs who invested in the English economy.
b. Providing a ready supply of indentured servants for the North American colonies.
c. Leading a political movement that successfully reclaimed the commons for public use.
d. Emigrating to Asia and Africa to establish new trade routes for English merchants.
b. Providing a ready supply of indentured servants for the North American colonies.
According to the chapter, why did the North American landscape appear more like a "forest primeval" in 1850 than it had in 1650?
a. A prolonged period of heavy rainfall allowed forests to grow unchecked.
b. After colonization began, Indigenous land management ceased and abandoned cornfields grew into dense forests.
c. European settlers planted millions of trees as part of a continent-wide reforestation effort.
d. A dramatic decline in the buffalo population allowed forests to reclaim the prairies.
b. After colonization began, Indigenous land management ceased and abandoned cornfields grew into dense forests.
The text refers to the Mayflower Compact as:
a. A failed treaty between the Pilgrims and the Indigenous peoples.
b. A secret agreement with the King of England to seize all of North America.
c. The first governing document of the Plymouth Colony and a key part of the US origin story.
d. A religious text that outlined the core beliefs of Calvinism.
c. The first governing document of the Plymouth Colony and a key part of the US origin story.
The text argues that precolonial Indigenous peoples actively shaped their environments, primarily through what method?
a. The use of fire to manage forests and create grasslands.
b. The construction of dams to create large artificial lakes.
c. The domestication of a wide variety of animals for labor.
d. The complete avoidance of altering the natural landscape.
a. The use of fire to manage forests and create grasslands.
The text argues that the "epidemic plus lack of acquired immunity" explanation for Indigenous depopulation is insufficient because it ignores socioeconomic factors such as:
a. The voluntary migration of Indigenous peoples to Europe.
b. A naturally low birth rate among Indigenous populations prior to European contact.
c. Warfare, overwork in mines, starvation from the breakdown of trade networks, and loss of land.
d. The superiority of European medicine and healthcare practices.
c. Warfare, overwork in mines, starvation from the breakdown of trade networks, and loss of land.
According to the text, who was the first population to be forcibly organized under a profit motive by Europeans?
a. Enslaved Africans transported to the Americas.
b. The Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean.
c. The European peasantry, who were forced off their lands.
d. Muslim traders in the Far East.
c. The European peasantry, who were forced off their lands.
The philosopher John Locke, also a Scot, is mentioned for secularizing the covenant idea into a "contract," known as:
a. The Bill of Rights.
b. The Doctrine of Discovery.
c. The Social Contract.
d. The Mayflower Compact.
a. The Bill of Rights.
b. The Doctrine of Discovery.
c. The Social Contract.
d. The Mayflower Compact.
The chapter describes "gold fever" as an ideology that:
a. Encouraged the preservation of Indigenous artwork made from precious metals.
b. Led to the development of modern, safe mining techniques in the Americas.
c. Promoted a system of equal wealth distribution between colonizers and the colonized.
d. Mobilized European settlers and justified the slaughter and subjugation of entire societies for the accumulation of wealth.
d. Mobilized European settlers and justified the slaughter and subjugation of entire societies for the accumulation of wealth.