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

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

Answer 18

Printing Press

Question 19

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

Answer 19

Mercantilism

Question 20

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

Answer 20

Military Technology

Question 21

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

Answer 21

Social Mobility

Question 22

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

Answer 22

Arawak

Question 23

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

Answer 23

Find money (gold/silver).

Question 24

What is the Great Spirit?

Answer 24

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

Question 25

During the Renaissance, which cultures were Europeans obsessed with?

Answer 25

Ancient Greece / Ancient Rome

Question 26

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

Answer 26

Caravel

Question 27

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

Answer 27

Muslims

Question 28

Who were king and queen of Spain in 1492?

Answer 28

King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella

Question 29

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

Answer 29

Slaves, gold

Question 30

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

Answer 30

Encomienda

Question 31

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

Answer 31

Zero

Question 32

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

Answer 32

Disease

Question 33

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

Answer 33

Juan Ponce de Leon

Question 34

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

Answer 34

Conquistador

Question 35

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

Answer 35

Francisco Pizarro

Question 36

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

Answer 36

Hernando de Soto

Question 37

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

Answer 37

Francisco Vasquez de Coronado

Question 38

This conquistador conquered Mexico from the Aztecs around 1520.

Answer 38

Hernando Cortes

Question 39

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

Answer 39

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

Question 40

Bartolome de Las Casas’s job was:

Answer 40

Friar (priest/monk)

Question 41

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

Answer 41

Enslaving Native Americans

Question 42

Bartolome de Las Casas is controversial because:

Answer 42

He recommended using African Slaves instead of Native Americans

Question 43

The Columbian Exchange was:

Answer 43

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

Question 44

In the Columbian exchange what things flowed out of Europe?

Answer 44

Technology/tools, livestock, disease

Question 45

In the Columbian exchange what things flowed out of Africa?

Answer 45

Slaves

Question 46

In the Columbian exchange what things flowed out of America?

Answer 46

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