US History

Question 1

How long ago is the first truly solid evidence for people living in the Americas?

Answer 1

15,000 years ago

Question 2

We have reasonable but not perfect evidence that people lived in the Americas as long ago as: _____

Answer 2

17,000 years ago

Question 3

What are two countries Christopher Columbus might have been from?

Answer 3

Italy or Spain

Question 4

What is a nomadic lifestyle?

Answer 4

You move around instead of living in one spot.

Question 5

The Mississippian culture is best known for building what?

Answer 5

Large mounds

Question 6

What was the land bridge called that people probably crossed to reach the Americas a long time ago?

Answer 6

Beringia

Question 7

Around 10,000 years ago what invention changed people’s lives in the Americas?

Answer 7

Farming

Question 8

Before they could farm what was the main source of food for people in the Americas?

Answer 8

Hunting giant animals like woolly mammoths

Question 9

The Olmec culture was located in:

Answer 9

Southern Mexico

Question 10

The Olmec culture is best known for making:

Answer 10

Giant stone faces

Question 11

A major city of the Mississippian culture was:

Answer 11

two answers: Cahokia/Moundville

Question 12

The Aztec civilization was located in:

Answer 12

Central Mexico

Question 13

The Incan civilization was located in:

Answer 13

West Coast of South America (Andes Mountains)

Question 14

The Kwakiutl people lived in:

Answer 14

Northern California

Question 15

Kwakiutl were known for this kind of celebration and gift-giving:

Answer 15

Potlatch

Question 16

Kwakiutl recorded their family history on:

Answer 16

Totem poles

Question 17

Some Native American societies were Matrilineal. This means:

Answer 17

Family line goes through the mother instead of the father. Father takes wife’s name instead of the other way like we do it.

Question 18

What year did Christopher Columbus reach America?

Answer 18

1492

Question 19

This device improved how quickly new information could spread, helping to popularize America in Europe in the late 1400s.

Answer 19

Printing Press

Question 20

This theory said that a country should try to gather as much money as it can by being self-sufficient and trading effectively.

Answer 20

Mercantilism

Question 21

Europe was a world leader in this in the late 1400s, which allowed them to travel long distances and conquer new lands easily.

Answer 21

Military Technology

Question 22

What is the term for the ability to change your status in society, usually by changing job or moving where you live?

Answer 22

Social Mobility

Question 23

What was the name of the first culture Christopher Columbus encountered when he landed on San Salvador?

Answer 23

Arawak

Question 24

What was Columbus’s primary objective in his quest to reach India?

Answer 24

Find money (gold/silver).

Question 25

What is the Great Spirit?

Answer 25

A supreme deity (god) that appears in many Native American religions.

Question 26

During the Renaissance, which cultures were Europeans obsessed with?

Answer 26

Ancient Greece / Ancient Rome

Question 27

What was a new style of ship the Europeans had invented well-suited for both ocean and coastal travel?

Answer 27

Caravel

Question 28

Before 1492 much of Spain was controlled by what group besides the Spanish?

Answer 28

Muslims

Question 29

Who were king and queen of Spain in 1492?

Answer 29

King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella

Question 30

Columbus wanted to repay the cost of his second expedition with these two things.

Answer 30

Slaves, gold

Question 31

This is the Spanish term for a systematic use of slave plantations (large farms w/ slaves).

Answer 31

Encomienda

Question 32

By 1650 how many Natives survived on the Caribbean islands conquered by Columbus?

Answer 32

Zero

Question 33

What was the biggest cause of premature death for Natives after contact with the Europeans in the 1400s?

Answer 33

Disease

Question 34

This man conquered Florida for Spain in the early 1500s.

Answer 34

Juan Ponce de Leon

Question 35

Spanish term for an explorer/conqueror in the period 1490-1700.

Answer 35

Conquistador

Question 36

This conquistador began the conquest of the Incas in South America.

Answer 36

Francisco Pizarro

Question 37

This conquistador explored the American Southeast and crossed the Mississippi River in the 1530s and 1540s.

Answer 37

Hernando de Soto

Question 38

This conquistador took his followers around the American Southwest looking for gold unsuccessfully.

Answer 38

Francisco Vasquez de Coronado

Question 39

This conquistador conquered Mexico from the Aztecs around 1520.

Answer 39

Hernando Cortes

Question 40

What three factors led to the downfall of the Aztec Empire?

Answer 40

• Mistook Spanish as gods
• Conquered tribes didn’t like them
• Disease

Question 41

Bartolome de Las Casas’s job was:

Answer 41

Friar (priest/monk)

Question 42

Bartolome de Las Casas was famous for his position taken against:

Answer 42

Enslaving Native Americans

Question 43

Bartolome de Las Casas is controversial because:

Answer 43

He recommended using African Slaves instead of Native Americans

Question 44

The Columbian Exchange was:

Answer 44

The flow of goods between Europe, Africa, and North America

Question 45

In the Columbian exchange what things flowed out of Europe?

Answer 45

Technology/tools, livestock, disease

Question 46

In the Columbian exchange what things flowed out of Africa?

Answer 46

Slaves

Question 47

In the Columbian exchange what things flowed out of America?

Answer 47

New crops (corn, potatoes), gold/silver.