Semester A Unit 6

Question 1

1. What characteristics make the camel well-suited to desert travel? How did the use of the camel influence trade in Africa?

Answer 1

Can go without water for over a week; go without food for 2x pack ox or horse; feet well adapted to walking in sand; allowed Berber traders the ability to open lucrative trade routes across the desert and beyond

Question 2

2. By what means did Berber traders influence the spread of Islam throughout Africa?

Answer 2

They interacted with sub-Saharan peoples, introducing Islam and Arb culture to the inhabitants of lands south of the Sahara

Question 3

3. What was the first great empire to rise in West Africa, and how did it achieve its power and wealth?

Answer 3

Ghana; it gained power and wealth through the trade of gold and iron–two metals that were plentiful in the region

Question 4

4. What was the most important item that Muslim traders exchanged for gold?

Answer 4

Salt

Question 5

5. In what way did European kingdoms influence the gold trade in the thirteenth century?

Answer 5

European kings stockpiled gold to mint coins. As the demand for gold increased, gold prices rose

Question 6

6. What West African empire rose to take Ghana’s place in the mid-thirteenth century? How did it gain power, and what did its emperor to do unite the kingdom?

Answer 6

Mali; emerging victorious in control of the gold trade

Question 7

7. Describe how Mansa Musa made Mali into a great Muslim empire and helped spread Islam throughout Africa. Include his hajj to Mecca and his achievements in the spread of Islam and the rebuilding of Timbuktu.

Answer 7

He made a famous hajj to Mecca, and rebuilt Timbuktu

Question 8

8. What West African kingdom rose as Mali declined, and what was its major city?

Answer 8

Songhai; Gao

Question 9

9. Who was Aksia Muhammad and how did he influence his empire and its government?

Answer 9

Askia Muhammad was a Songhai general who overthrew the emperor. Under his rule, Songhai grew rich in trade and reached its greatest size, stretching westward to the Atlantic Ocean, and rebuilt Timbuktu

Question 10

10. Place the empire and its ruler(s) in the correct location in the timeline.
    Tenth - Fourteenth - Fifteenth
    Askia Muhammad, Sunni Ali, Mansa Musa, Sundiata
    Mali, Ghana, Songhai

Answer 10

TENTH - Ghana
FOURTEENTH - Mali: Sundiata; Mansa Musa
FIFTEENTH - Songhai: Sunni Ali; Askia Muhammad

Question 11

1. Besides bringing goods for trade in Africa, what else did Muslim traders bring?

Answer 11

Their religion, Islam

Question 12

2. Which people subdued the local people of Africa’s east coast when they brought iron tools and weapons to the region?

Answer 12

Bantu

Question 13

3. Between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries, what two influences merged to form the Swahili culture on the coast of East Africa?

Answer 13

African and Arabic

Question 14

4. What is the origin of the word Swahili?

Answer 14

Arabic, meaning “people of the coast”

Question 15

5. What were three of the largest and most prosperous Swahili city-states in the late eleventh century, and how did they grow rich?

Answer 15

Mogadishu, Mombasa, and Kilwa; they grew rich from the growing commerce with traders seeking goods from deep within Africa

Question 16

6. Though slave trade was common in Africa for centuries, it was relatively limited until the 1500s. What spurred the expansion of the African slave trade?

Answer 16

The Portuguese arrived on Benin’s Atlantic coast in the late 1400s and Benin sold war captives to them as slaves causing the slave trade to expand dramatically.

Question 17

7. In what significant way did the culture of Ethiopia differ from most other East African cultures?

Answer 17

Ethiopia remained predominantly Christian; most other East African cultures were Muslim.

Question 18

8. Why did the Portuguese send troops to Africa in the sixteenth century?

Answer 18

They wanted to take over the East African gold trade

Question 19

9. How did Great Zimbabwe achieve its power?

Answer 19

It controlled trade on two rivers that flowed to the coast of Africa. Zimbabwe kings grew rich by demanding tribute on all ivory and gold that was traded in the region

Question 20

10. What characteristic made Great Zimbabwe unique in the region until recent times?

Answer 20

It was the largest human construction in sub-Saharan Africa.

Question 21

11. List three theories that historians use to explain why Great Zimbabwe was abandoned.

Answer 21

Disease may have devastated the population; trade routes may have shifted and ended the region’s source of wealth; the people may have destroyed the grasslands through overgrazing

Question 22

2. What was the main point of contention between the Ottoman and Safavid empires in terms of religious conflict?

Answer 22

The Ottomans were Sunni Muslims and the Safavids were Shia Muslims. The Ottomans resented the cruel treatment of Sunnis who lived in the Safavid Empire, and they retaliated by persecuting Shias who lived in the Ottoman Empire

Question 23

11. What subcontinent formed the main area of the Mughal Empire?

Answer 23

India

Question 24

What are janissaries?

Answer 24

Soldiers that were taken from Christian families in conquered territories, converted to Islam as boys, and given intense military training

Question 25

What did Suleyman do, and what was his nicknames?

Answer 25

Suleyman the Lawgiver; Suleyman the Magnificent; expanded the empire to its greatest extent, forging an intricate set of regulations for administering his realm

Question 26

Who made the Ottoman empire?

Answer 26

Osman I

Question 27

Who made the Safavid empire?

Answer 27

Shah Ismail

Question 28

What did Shah Abbas do?

Answer 28

They won back most of the land they lost to the Ottomans;

Question 29

Who made the Mughal empire?

Answer 29

Babur

Question 30

1. Which dynasty ruled China before the Ming Dynasty took power?

Answer 30

Yuan

Question 31

2. What brought about the end of Mongol rule in China?

Answer 31

Chinese rebelled and Zhu Yuanzhang defeated the Mongols and Chinese rivals

Question 32

3. What key changes did China’s first Ming emperor make in government and society?

Answer 32

He did away with the office of prime minister to gain more control of the government. He executed many government officials to prevent rebellion. He also revived the Confucian value system, which helped unify China but also locked it into a rigid order.

Question 33

4. What changes to China’s infrastructure did Ming emperors make in order to improve commerce?

Answer 33

They restored China’s irrigation systems. They also rebuilt the Grand Canal, and improved roads and waterways to allow crops to be transported more efficiently

Question 34

5. How did the manufacture of porcelain change city life?

Answer 34

The state set up huge imperial workshops to produce porcelain for both foreign and domestic sale, which gave rise to crowded, noisy, industrial cities.

Question 35

6. What was the function of the Forbidden City?

Answer 35

It was the emperor’s home, office, and retreat.

Question 36

7. Why did Zheng He undertake voyages to distant lands?

Answer 36

Zheng He and his fleet explored foreign lands, left behind Chinese wares and picked up local products for Chinese scholars to study, brought back visitors and captives from different countries, brought back exotic items and animals, and mapped the places he visited.

Question 37

8. Why did Ming emperors eventually dismantle Zheng He’s fleet and have his navigational charts burned?

Answer 37

They wanted to isolate China from the outside world.

Question 38

9. The rebuilding and strengthening of the Great Wall was a response to which events?

Answer 38

Mongols began raiding northern China

Question 39

10. How did Ming rulers of the 1500s, who wanted China to remain isolated from outside influences, respond to the European demand for Chinese goods?

Answer 39

They allowed European ships to dock in only a few port cities and kept European traders from going inland.

Question 40

11. How did the Qing dynasty come to power in China? How did they control the enormous Chinese population?

Answer 40

When the Ming emperor’s leading general asked the foreign Manchu for help, the Manchu took over and proclaimed the Qing dynasty. The Manchu of the Qing dynasty left traditional systems, such as the civil service, in place to govern the country for the next two centuries.

Question 41

2. What was the attitude of Qing emperors toward foreign influences?

Answer 41

Qing emperors wanted China to be isolated from the rest of the world.

Question 42

3. What caused China to fall behind Europe in technology after centuries of progress?

Answer 42

They isolated themselves from the outside world

Question 43

1. How did European influence bring about change to Japan’s feudal structure in the mid-1500s?

Answer 43

Europeans introduced firearms to Japan. Shoguns who took advantage of the new weaponry soon overwhelmed those who did not, and power became distributed among many different daimyo. Soon one man, Tokugawa leyasu, vanquished all the other warlords.

Question 44

3. How did the peaceful years of the Tokugawa Shogunate affect the Japanese economy?

Answer 44

Trade and industry expanded; some rich merchants became wealthier even than the daimyo.

Question 45

4. What changes took place in education, art, and literature?
   and theater.

Answer 45

Many people were literate, and the market for literature such as novels, historical fiction, and poetry expanded. Newly rich city-dwellers demanded more sources of art and entertainment including puppetry and theater.

Question 46

5. Why did Japanese rulers eventually decide to restrict Japan’s interaction with foreigners?

Answer 46

With the influx of European traders came missionaries who sought to convert many Japanese. The shogun feared that Christianity might undermine Japanese culture and traditions. He also feared that European nations might someday threaten his rule.

Question 47

6. What steps did Japanese rulers take to isolate the country from foreign influences?

Answer 47

In 1614, the shogun ordered all daimyo to renounce Christianity. He also banned nearly all trade with Europeans and forbade Japanese ships to sail abroad. In the 1630s, a new set of regulations prohibited Japanese people from leaving the country, and if they did leave, they could not come back.