Chapter 1 - The Americas, Europe, and Africa before 1492

Question 1

Beringia

Answer 1

a land bridge between Asia and North America that existed between 9,000 and 15,000 years ago

Question 2

When did humans cross the land bridge between Asia and North America?

Answer 2

Approx. 13,000 to 7,000 BCE

Question 3

When was corn domesticated in North America

Answer 3

Approx. 5000 BCE

Question 4

When did Leif Ericson arrive in present-day Canada?

Answer 4

Approx. 1000

Question 5

In what year did the “Black Death” decimate approx. 1/3 of Europe?

Answer 5

1346

Question 6

In what year did Columbus arrive in the Bahamas?

Answer 6

1492

Question 7

Mesoamerica

Answer 7

Geographic area stretching from north of Panama up to the desert of Central Mexico

Question 8

The Olmec

Answer 8

(1200-400BCE) Known as the first Americans, recognizable for their giant head sculptures, built aqueducts for irrigation

Question 9

The Maya

Answer 9

(2000BCE-900CE) Present-day Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and Guatemala: Teotihuacan was cultural center with more than 100,000 people at peak; devised a written mathematical system, many temples including Chichen Itza

Question 10

Codex

Answer 10

Folding Books used by the Maya with recorded glyphs (later destroyed by Spanish Bishop Diego de Landa in 1562)

Question 11

The Aztec

Answer 11

(1325-1521) Present day Mexico, Tenochtitlan pop. 200,000, neighborhoods, trash collection, fresh water, chinampas, slaves, daily human sacrifice

Question 12

The Inca

Answer 12

(1400-1532) South American Pacific Coast, sprawling step-roads through mountains, relay runners-chasquis, communicated using system of colored strings, Machu Picchu

Question 13

In what year was the fall of the Roman Empire?

Answer 13

476

Question 14

In what century did the European Renaissance begin?

Answer 14

Late 14th Century

Question 15

In what year did Christianity encounter Islam?

Answer 15

622

Question 16

In what year did the Crusades begin?

Answer 16

1095

Question 17

In what year did the Inquisition begin?

Answer 17

1480

Question 18

What Royal marriage united two of the strongest kingdoms on the Iberian peninsula in 1469?

Answer 18

King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabelle of Castille, layed foundation for modern day Spain, funded much exploration and trade with East, Q. Isabelle instrumental in beginning the inquisition, ended 800-year Reconquista with Moors in Granada, daughter Catherine of Aragon is first wife of Henry VIII

Question 19

In what year did the prophet Muhammad die?

Answer 19

632

Question 20

Black Death

Answer 20

two strains of the bubonic plague that simultaneously swept western Europe in the 14th century, causing the death of nearly half the population

Question 21

chasquis

Answer 21

Incan relay runners used to send messages over great distances

Question 22

Crusades

Answer 22

a series of military expeditions made by Christian Europeans to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries

Question 23

feudal society

Answer 23

a social arrangement in which serfs and knights provided labor and military service to noble lords, receiving protection and land use in return

Question 24

Inquisition

Answer 24

a campaign by the Catholic Church to root out heresy, especially among converted Jews and Muslims

Question 25

Koran

Answer 25

the sacred book of Islam, written by the prophet Muhammad in the seventh century

Question 26

matriarchy

Answer 26

a society in which women have political power

Question 27

mita

Answer 27

the Incan labor tax, with each family donating time and work to communal projects

Question 28

polygyny

Answer 28

the practice of taking more than one wife

Question 29

quipu

Answer 29

an ancient Incan device for recording information, consisting of variously colored threads knotted in different ways

Question 30

Reconquista

Answer 30

Spain’s nearly 800-year holy war against Islam, which ended in 1492

Question 31

serf

Answer 31

a peasant tied to the land and its lord

Question 32

3 Pueblo societies of early America

Answer 32

Mogollon, Hohokam, and Anasazi

Question 33

Which Indian people built homes in cliff dwellings that still exist?

Answer 33

Anasazi

Question 34

Which culture developed the only writing system in the Western Hemisphere of the time?

Answer 34

The Maya

Question 35

Which culture developed a road system rivaling that of the Romans?

Answer 35

The Inca

Question 36

What were the major differences between the societies of the Aztec, Inca, and Maya and the Indians of North America?

Answer 36

…

Question 37

The series of attempts by Christian armies to retake the Holy Lands from Muslims was known as ______

Answer 37

The Crusades

Question 38

_________ became wealthy trading with the East.

Answer 38

Venice

Question 39

In 1492, the Spanish forced these two religious groups to either convert or leave.

Answer 39

Jews and Muslims

Question 40

Why did Columbus believe he could get to the Far East by sailing west? What were the problems with this plan?

Answer 40

…

Question 41

The city of _____ became a leading center for Muslim scholarship and trade.

Answer 41

Timbuktu