Chapter 7: Commerce and Culture learning curve

Question 1

Which of the following was a sought-after item produced in sub-Saharan West Africa?

Answer 1

Gold

Question 2

Which state’s effort to control trade between China and Southeast Asia led to warfare with its commercial rivals?

Answer 2

Champa

Question 3

Who among the survivors in Europe benefited from the Black Plague that struck the region between 1346 and 1350?

Answer 3

Peasants

Question 4

States in West Africa used slaves for which of the following tasks?

Answer 4

To serve as state officials

Question 5

Which of the following was the only clearly demonstrated connection between the Americas and the Afro-Eurasian world in the thousand years before Columbus’s voyage in 1492 C.E.?

Answer 5

Vikings made several voyages to the Americas around 1000 C.E.

Question 6

Unlike most early Indian Ocean trading peoples, members of this culture traveled thousands of miles over open ocean to trade and settle.

Answer 6

Malays

Question 7

What percentage of the European population perished between 1346 and 1350 C.E.?

Answer 7

About 33 percent

Question 8

Which of the following regions adopted many elements of Indian culture, including a writing system, art, and god-kings, thanks to the Indian influence that came with trade?

Answer 8

Southeast Asia

Question 9

Which European city emerged by 1000 C.E. as a major center for commerce, generating much of its wealth by transshipment of Asian goods?

Answer 9

Venice

Question 10

By 1200 C.E. which of the following was an important development in terms of gender hierarchy in West African empires?

Answer 10

People increasingly traced their descent through their fathers rather than their mothers.

Question 11

What was Jenne-jeno’s role in West African long-distance trade in the first millennium B.C.E.?

Answer 11

It served as a transshipment point where goods were shifted from the Niger River to donkey caravans and vice versa.

Question 12

What best describes the political culture of Srivijaya?

Answer 12

It adopted many Indian elements, while retaining the local tradition that rulers in the region possessed magical powers.

Question 13

Which statement is true of the Silk Roads during the third-wave era?

Answer 13

The term refers to a network of roads, along which goods changed hands many times before reaching their final destination.

Question 14

In comparison to the civilizations and cultures of the Afro-Eurasian region, those of the Americas were

Answer 14

less closely connected through long-distance trade networks.

Question 15

Which of the following is a true statement concerning contact between the Americas and the Afro-Eurasian region in the thousand years before Columbus’s voyage in 1492 C.E.?

Answer 15

No sustained interaction between the peoples of the two regions occurred before 1492 C.E.

Question 16

Which of the following was an important similarity between East and West Africa during the period between 500 and 1500 C.E.?

Answer 16

Islam accompanied trade into both regions.

Question 17

Why was Srivijaya important to world history?

Answer 17

It dominated the critical choke point of Indian Ocean trade for over three centuries.

Question 18

What distinguished trade in the Inca from the Aztec Empire?

Answer 18

The Inca state controlled trade except at the local level and at fairs along the border of the empire.

Question 19

Which of the following statements best describes interaction between the Aztecs and Incas in the fifteenth century?

Answer 19

They had little if any direct contact with each other.

Question 20

Which of the following was a West African manufactured product that was traded over long distances around 1000 C.E.?

Answer 20

cotton textiles

Question 21

How did Islam first make its way into West Africa?

Answer 21

Traders carried information about the faith across the Sahara.

Question 22

Which of the following is true of silk as a trade item on the Silk Roads?

Answer 22

It was used as a form of currency.

Question 23

This new kind of ship, which included sternpost rudders and keels for greater stability, emerged to sail the monsoon winds of the Indian Ocean during the early centuries C.E.

Answer 23

Junk

Question 24

Which of the following was an important long-term outcome of the Silk Road trade for the societies that participated along the routes during the third-wave era?

Answer 24

Elite groups in society were able to distinguish themselves from commoners by acquiring prestigious goods from a distance.

Question 25

Which of the following is a product of the Sahara?

Answer 25

Salt

Question 26

Which of the following is a trade product of the Sahara?

Answer 26

Dates

Question 27

Which is true of all the West African kingdoms that emerged between 500 and 1600 C.E.?

Answer 27

They all relied on the wealth of the trans-Saharan trade.

Question 28

Which of the following statements best describes West African slavery in the period 600-1500 C.E.?

Answer 28

Many West African slaves worked on large estates controlled by the king.

Question 29

What are the steppes?

Answer 29

Vast region of semi-arid northern grasslands in Eurasia

Question 30

Which of the following statements best describes West African slavery in the period 600-1500 C.E.?

Answer 30

At first most slaves were women, but male slaves were increasingly employed for heavy labor.

Question 31

What caused the massive slave revolt that badly disrupted the Abbasid Empire in the later ninth century?

Answer 31

Horrible conditions experienced by thousands of African slaves on plantations and in salt mines

Question 32

Which of the following was a sought-after item produced in sub-Saharan West Africa?

Answer 32

Gold

Question 33

Which of the following statements best describes the impact of Swahili Islam on East Africa by 1500 C.E.?

Answer 33

Much of the Swahili civilization had voluntarily converted to Islam.

Question 34

Which of the following statements is true of Buddhism in China during the third-wave era?

Answer 34

It remained the religion of foreign merchants and foreign rulers for many centuries, only gradually winning popularity among the Chinese themselves.

Question 35

The Swahili city states emerged in which century?

Answer 35

700s C.E.

Question 36

How did disease shape the encounter between Europeans and Americans after 1492 C.E.?

Answer 36

Americans suffered heavily at the hands of European diseases, whereas Europeans suffered much less from American diseases.

Question 37

What region was the fulcrum or focal point where traders from across the Indian Ocean basin met to trade?

Answer 37

India

Question 38

Which of the following was an important outcome for women of the silk trade in China?

Answer 38

The Chinese state became heavily reliant on the work of women to fund its operations.

Question 39

Which of the following statements best describes the role of women in the production of silk in China during the third-wave era?

Answer 39

Women produced the silk.

Question 40

In what manner did Buddhism spread to the oasis cities of Central Asia?

Answer 40

Its spread was voluntary, reaching these locations through trade.

Question 41

Which region of Southeast Asia was more influenced by China than India?

Answer 41

Vietnam

Question 42

The Swahili political system most closely resembles

Answer 42

classical Greece.

Question 43

Which of the following statements best describes the products produced in North Africa that were much in demand in the Saharan trade network?

Answer 43

Manufactured goods

Question 44

How did the geography of West and North Africa stimulate trade in the first millennium B.C.E.?

Answer 44

Varied environments, from desert to savannah to tropical forest, created different trade products.

Question 45

The political history of Southeast Asia most closely parallels which of the following regions?

Answer 45

East Africa

Question 46

Aside from Chinese silk, what other textile from a distant land was much sought after in the Roman Empire?

Answer 46

Cotton textiles from India

Question 47

Which of the following statements best describes the trade routes of West Africa during the first millennium B.C.E.?

Answer 47

The Niger River was a central artery for trade that was also conducted across sub-Saharan West Africa using donkeys.

Question 48

How was Buddhism changed as it spread from India to other regions?

Answer 48

Buddhist monasticism became wealthy and deeply involved in secular affairs.

Question 49

Which of the following statements was true of women in Southeast Asia in the third-wave era?

Answer 49

Women had fewer restrictions and a greater role in public life than in East or South Asia.

Question 50

Which statement best describes the cities and states of Southeast Asia in the period 500-1500 C.E.?

Answer 50

These cities and states first emerged during the third-wave era.

Question 51

Before about 1500 C.E., which sea-based system of exchange was the largest in the world?

Answer 51

Indian Ocean

Question 52

Which of the following is a reason why the Silk Road trade networks flourished in the second-wave era?

Answer 52

Large states on both ends of the Silk Roads provided security for merchants.

Question 53

Long-distance trade along the Silk Roads resulted in which of the following during the third-wave era?

Answer 53

Spread of Buddhism

Question 54

Which of the following statements best describes the goods traded along the Silk Roads?

Answer 54

Luxury goods destined for a wealthy market

Question 55

What was an outcome of the widespread diseases that devastated the populations of Han China and the Roman Empire in the first centuries C.E.?

Answer 55

Strengthening of the appeal of the Christian and Buddhist faiths

Question 56

Which of the following statements best describes the role of the Swahili civilization in the Indian Ocean trading network?

Answer 56

Swahili cities primarily accumulated goods from the interior and traded them for the goods of the Indian Ocean world.

Question 57

Why did China extend its authority westward into central Asia under the Han?

Answer 57

The Chinese wished to control the nomadic Xiongnu.

Question 58

How were local gods along the Silk Roads integrated into the Buddhist faith?

Answer 58

They became bodhisattvas, beings that compassionately refrain from entering nirvana in order to help others.

Question 59

Which already established faith blocked the spread of Buddhism to the West from its homeland in India after around 100 B.C.E.?

Answer 59

Zoroastrianism

Question 60

When did the knowledge and technology for producing raw silk spread beyond China?

Answer 60

About 600 C.E.

Question 61

Which state was the sole source of silk for many centuries during the third-wave era?

Answer 61

China

Question 62

Who was Shi Le?

Answer 62

Ruler of much of northern China who allowed the construction of hundreds of Buddhist temples

Question 63

What slowed the spread of crops in the Americas as compared to Eurasia?

Answer 63

It was the north/south geographical axis of the Americas.

Question 64

What was a pochteca in Aztec civilization?

Answer 64

Professional merchant

Question 65

What did merchants from the Roman world bring to Kerala in southern India?

Answer 65

Christianity

Question 66

What Southeast Asian third-wave era site was the largest religious structure in the premodern world?

Answer 66

Angkor Wat

Question 67

Which of the following became the principal religion of Swahili cities?

Answer 67

Islam

Question 68

Which form of Buddhism featured the Buddha as a deity, numerous bodhisattvas, emphasis on compassion, and the possibility of earning merit flourished on the Silk Roads?

Answer 68

Mahayana