Chapter 22: Asian Transitions in an Age of Global Change

Question 1

When the Portuguese arrived in India in 1498, they

a) established cordial relations with Muslim merchants.
b) quickly integrated themselves on peaceful terms into the Asian trade system.
c) found they had little to offer in trade, but could get rich by forcing themselves into the existing trade network.
d) exchanged valuable European goods for Asian luxury items.

Answer 1

c) found they had little to offer in trade, but could get rich by forcing themselves into the existing trade network.

Question 2

Which of the following characterized the Asian trading system as the first Europeans encountered it?

a) The Indian Ocean trade was dominated by Muslim merchants.
b) It was highly militarized.
c) The trade in slaves was the principal cargo traversing the Indian Ocean.
d) The Indian Ocean trade was monopolized by Hindu merchants.

Answer 2

a) The Indian Ocean trade was dominated by Muslim merchants.

Question 3

What circumstances prevented the Portuguese from establishing a monopoly over the Asian spice trade?

a) Access to the most profitable spices was controlled by the Chinese.
b) French traders offered too much competition.
c) Portugal was a small nation and lacked the ships and manpower needed to overcome its Asian and European competition.
d) The Mughal and Ottoman navies were too strong.

Answer 3

c) Portugal was a small nation and lacked the ships and manpower needed to overcome its Asian and European competition.

Question 4

What Asian society witnessed the largest percentage of its population converted to Christianity?

a) the Philippines
b) Japan
c) China
d) India

Answer 4

a) the Philippines

Question 5

The raw material with the broadest demand and highest price was

a) cottons from India to the Middle East.
b) bulk items, usually foodstuffs, exchanged among each of the main zones.
c) silk from China to the Middle East.
d) spices from the East Indies.

Answer 5

d) spices from the East Indies.

Question 6

Following the defeat and expulsion of the Mongols from China,

a) peasants were granted equality with the scholar-gentry and noble classes.
b) the civil service exam system of the Mongols was ended.
c) Chinese manufacturing expanded further.
d) China converted to Buddhism.

Answer 6

c) Chinese manufacturing expanded further.

Question 7

In the 17th century, the Japanese dealt with the startling arrival of the Europeans to East Asia by

a) permitting the Jesuits to convert the Japanese to Christianity.
b) permitting the Europeans to establish control over Japan’s foreign trade.
c) allying with the Portuguese against the other Europeans.
d) self-imposed isolation and forbidding most contact with Europeans.

Answer 7

d) self-imposed isolation and forbidding most contact with Europeans.