AP History P1
Exploring Pre-Columbian America
Test your knowledge of pre-Columbian societies and European encounters with the Americas through this comprehensive quiz. Dive deep into historical perspectives, notable events, and the complex interactions between Native Americans and Europeans from the late 1400s through the 1600s.
In this quiz, you will:
- Analyze significant historical texts
- Explore the impact of European colonization
- Understand the societal structures of Native American cultures
On the western side of the ocean, movements of people and ideas . . . Preceded the Atlantic connection. Great empires—in the Valley of Mexico, on the Mississippi River . . . —had collapsed or declined in the centuries before 1492. . . . As Columbus embarked on his first transatlantic voyage, the Mexica, or Aztecs, were consolidating their position [in Mexico]; their city was a center of both trade and military might. Tenochtitlán [the Aztec capital] . . . held 200,000 people, a population greater than in the largest city in contemporary Europe. “. . . The Mississippian culture spread east and west from its center, the city of Cahokia, on the Mississippi River near the site of modern St. Louis. It was a successor to earlier cultures, evidence of which can be seen in the great ceremonial mounds they built. Cahokia declined and was ultimately abandoned completely in the later thirteenth century. . . . Throughout the Southeast, smaller mound-building centers continued.” Karen Ordahl Kupperman, historian, The Atlantic in World History, 2012 Which of the following contributed most significantly to the population trend in pre-Columbian Mexico described in the excerpt?
Trade and settlement resulting from maize cultivation
Internal conflict between groups causing political instability
On the western side of the ocean, movements of people and ideas . . . Preceded the Atlantic connection. Great empires—in the Valley of Mexico, on the Mississippi River . . . —had collapsed or declined in the centuries before 1492. . . . As Columbus embarked on his first transatlantic voyage, the Mexica, or Aztecs, were consolidating their position [in Mexico]; their city was a center of both trade and military might. Tenochtitlán [the Aztec capital] . . . held 200,000 people, a population greater than in the largest city in contemporary Europe. “. . . The Mississippian culture spread east and west from its center, the city of Cahokia, on the Mississippi River near the site of modern St. Louis. It was a successor to earlier cultures, evidence of which can be seen in the great ceremonial mounds they built. Cahokia declined and was ultimately abandoned completely in the later thirteenth century. . . . Throughout the Southeast, smaller mound-building centers continued.” Karen Ordahl Kupperman, historian, The Atlantic in World History, 2012 Which of the following best characterizes the Mississippian societies described in the excerpt?
They lived in isolated, impermanent communities and left very little trace of their presence once a settlement had been abandoned.
They had mixed agricultural and hunter-gatherer economies that favored the development of permanent villages.
On the western side of the ocean, movements of people and ideas . . . Preceded the Atlantic connection. Great empires—in the Valley of Mexico, on the Mississippi River . . . —had collapsed or declined in the centuries before 1492. . . . As Columbus embarked on his first transatlantic voyage, the Mexica, or Aztecs, were consolidating their position [in Mexico]; their city was a center of both trade and military might. Tenochtitlán [the Aztec capital] . . . held 200,000 people, a population greater than in the largest city in contemporary Europe. “. . . The Mississippian culture spread east and west from its center, the city of Cahokia, on the Mississippi River near the site of modern St. Louis. It was a successor to earlier cultures, evidence of which can be seen in the great ceremonial mounds they built. Cahokia declined and was ultimately abandoned completely in the later thirteenth century. . . . Throughout the Southeast, smaller mound-building centers continued.” Karen Ordahl Kupperman, historian, The Atlantic in World History, 2012 Which of the following most directly contributed to the advanced development of both pre-Columbian American societies described in the excerpt?
Adaptation to and use of the natural environment for their own benefit
Access to waterways to transport goods and trade with other societies
The second chief and principal end [of colonization] . . . Consists in the [sale] of the mass of our clothes and other commodities of England, and in receiving back of the needful commodities that we now receive from all other places of the world. . . . This one thing is to be done, without which it were in vain to go about this; and that is the matter of planting [colonies] and fortification. . . . We are to plant upon the mouths of the great navigable rivers which are there [in America], by strong order of fortification, and there to plant our colonies. . . . And these fortifications shall keep the [native] people of [America] in obedience and good order. . . . “. . . Without this planting in due time, we shall never be able to have full knowledge of the language, manners, and customs of the people of those regions. . . . And although by other means we might attain to the knowledge thereof, yet being not there fortified and strongly seated, the French that swarm with [a] multitude of people, or other nations, might secretly fortify and settle themselves before us.” Richard Hakluyt, English government official, A Discourse on Western Planting, 1584 Which of the following developments in the 1500s is best illustrated by the excerpt?
European settlers faced resistance from Native Americans.
Europeans sought new sources of wealth in the Americas.
The second chief and principal end [of colonization] . . . Consists in the [sale] of the mass of our clothes and other commodities of England, and in receiving back of the needful commodities that we now receive from all other places of the world. . . . This one thing is to be done, without which it were in vain to go about this; and that is the matter of planting [colonies] and fortification. . . . We are to plant upon the mouths of the great navigable rivers which are there [in America], by strong order of fortification, and there to plant our colonies. . . . And these fortifications shall keep the [native] people of [America] in obedience and good order. . . . “. . . Without this planting in due time, we shall never be able to have full knowledge of the language, manners, and customs of the people of those regions. . . . And although by other means we might attain to the knowledge thereof, yet being not there fortified and strongly seated, the French that swarm with [a] multitude of people, or other nations, might secretly fortify and settle themselves before us.” Richard Hakluyt, English government official, A Discourse on Western Planting, 1584 Hakluyt’s call for the English to learn about Native American “language, manners, and customs” best represents which of the following developments in the 1500s?
Native Americans and Europeans partnered for trade.
Native Americans were sent in large numbers into slavery in Europe.
The isolation of the [native peoples] of the Americas . . . from Old World germs prior to the last few hundred years was nearly absolute. Not only did very few people of any origin cross the great oceans, but those who did must have been healthy or they would have died on the way, taking their pathogens with them. . . . [Native Americans] were not without their own infections, of course. [But Native Americans] seem to have been without any experience with such Old World maladies as smallpox [and] measles. . . . “Indications of the susceptibility of [Native Americans] . . . to Old World infections appear almost immediately after the intrusion of the whites. In 1492, Columbus kidnapped a number of [Arawak Indians] to train as interpreters and to show to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Several of them seem to have died on the stormy voyage to Europe [in 1493]. . . . In 1495, Columbus . . . sent 550 [Arawak] slaves . . . Off across the Atlantic. . . To be put to work in Spain. The majority of these soon were also dead. . . . “. . . What killed the Arawaks in 1493 and 1495? . . . Columbus certainly did not want to kill his interpreters, and slavers and slaveholders have no interest whatever in the outright slaughter of their property. . . . The most likely candidates for the role of exterminator of the first [Native Americans] in Europe were those that killed so many other Arawaks in the decades immediately following: Old World pathogens.” Alfred W. Crosby, historian, Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900–1900, published in 1986 Which of the following developments in the late 1400s and early 1500s is depicted in the excerpt?
Europeans undertook voyages across the Atlantic to the Americas in search of new sources of wealth.
Native Americans adapted to diverse geographical environments and developed complex societies.
The isolation of the [native peoples] of the Americas . . . from Old World germs prior to the last few hundred years was nearly absolute. Not only did very few people of any origin cross the great oceans, but those who did must have been healthy or they would have died on the way, taking their pathogens with them. . . . [Native Americans] were not without their own infections, of course. [But Native Americans] seem to have been without any experience with such Old World maladies as smallpox [and] measles. . . . “Indications of the susceptibility of [Native Americans] . . . to Old World infections appear almost immediately after the intrusion of the whites. In 1492, Columbus kidnapped a number of [Arawak Indians] to train as interpreters and to show to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Several of them seem to have died on the stormy voyage to Europe [in 1493]. . . . In 1495, Columbus . . . sent 550 [Arawak] slaves . . . Off across the Atlantic. . . To be put to work in Spain. The majority of these soon were also dead. . . . “. . . What killed the Arawaks in 1493 and 1495? . . . Columbus certainly did not want to kill his interpreters, and slavers and slaveholders have no interest whatever in the outright slaughter of their property. . . . The most likely candidates for the role of exterminator of the first [Native Americans] in Europe were those that killed so many other Arawaks in the decades immediately following: Old World pathogens.” Alfred W. Crosby, historian, Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900–1900, published in 1986 In the excerpt, Crosby makes which of the following claims about the transmission of Old World diseases to the Americas?
It was an unintended consequence of contact between the New World and the Old World.
It had minimal effect on Native Americans.
The isolation of the [native peoples] of the Americas . . . from Old World germs prior to the last few hundred years was nearly absolute. Not only did very few people of any origin cross the great oceans, but those who did must have been healthy or they would have died on the way, taking their pathogens with them. . . . [Native Americans] were not without their own infections, of course. [But Native Americans] seem to have been without any experience with such Old World maladies as smallpox [and] measles. . . . “Indications of the susceptibility of [Native Americans] . . . to Old World infections appear almost immediately after the intrusion of the whites. In 1492, Columbus kidnapped a number of [Arawak Indians] to train as interpreters and to show to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Several of them seem to have died on the stormy voyage to Europe [in 1493]. . . . In 1495, Columbus . . . sent 550 [Arawak] slaves . . . Off across the Atlantic. . . To be put to work in Spain. The majority of these soon were also dead. . . . “. . . What killed the Arawaks in 1493 and 1495? . . . Columbus certainly did not want to kill his interpreters, and slavers and slaveholders have no interest whatever in the outright slaughter of their property. . . . The most likely candidates for the role of exterminator of the first [Native Americans] in Europe were those that killed so many other Arawaks in the decades immediately following: Old World pathogens.” Alfred W. Crosby, historian, Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900–1900, published in 1986 Which of the following describes Crosby’s overall argument in the excerpt about the reason for the change in Native American populations after 1492 ?
Christopher Columbus pursued a policy of genocide against Native Americans.
Native Americans had no immunity to new diseases introduced by Europeans.
The isolation of the [native peoples] of the Americas . . . from Old World germs prior to the last few hundred years was nearly absolute. Not only did very few people of any origin cross the great oceans, but those who did must have been healthy or they would have died on the way, taking their pathogens with them. . . . [Native Americans] were not without their own infections, of course. [But Native Americans] seem to have been without any experience with such Old World maladies as smallpox [and] measles. . . . “Indications of the susceptibility of [Native Americans] . . . to Old World infections appear almost immediately after the intrusion of the whites. In 1492, Columbus kidnapped a number of [Arawak Indians] to train as interpreters and to show to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Several of them seem to have died on the stormy voyage to Europe [in 1493]. . . . In 1495, Columbus . . . sent 550 [Arawak] slaves . . . Off across the Atlantic. . . To be put to work in Spain. The majority of these soon were also dead. . . . “. . . What killed the Arawaks in 1493 and 1495? . . . Columbus certainly did not want to kill his interpreters, and slavers and slaveholders have no interest whatever in the outright slaughter of their property. . . . The most likely candidates for the role of exterminator of the first [Native Americans] in Europe were those that killed so many other Arawaks in the decades immediately following: Old World pathogens.” Alfred W. Crosby, historian, Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900–1900, published in 1986 Which of the following best describes evidence used by Crosby to support his argument about the change in Native American populations after 1492 ?
Columbus trained Native Americans as translators and guides.
Native Americans who were taken to Europe as slaves experienced high mortality rates.
In which of the following ways did the Spanish impose racial hierarchies in the regions of the Americas that they controlled during the 1500s and 1600s?
The Spanish created a caste system that incorporated people of European, Native American, and African descent.
The Spanish banned interracial marriages and sought to maintain a racially distinct Spanish population as a colonial elite.
What was a major difference between the Spanish encomienda system and the Spanish caste system in the Americas?
The encomienda system relied on the support of the Catholic Church, while the caste system was opposed by the Catholic Church.
The encomienda system was based on using Native Americans for forced labor, while the caste system was based on a diverse and racially mixed population.
How were European economic systems in the American colonies in the 1500s and 1600s different from existing economic systems in Europe?
Spanish colonists used enslaved Africans to work on plantations.
Most colonial economies were tightly regulated by the imperial and colonial governments.
I . . . Write an account to Your Majesty as the first [person] to come among these natives. . . . “These Indian people of New Spain [Mexico] are vassals of Your Majesty. . . . I dare plead with you for a remedy because, for their people to be saved, they are in great need of relief in order to devote themselves at least somewhat to matters of Faith. After all, it is the struggle for their salvation that justifies their discovery. . . . “I firmly believe that if the decrees Your Majesty sent here for their benefit were implemented, and if the governors and judges did more than pretend to do so, great good would have come to these people. Even more firmly I believe that Your Majesty’s intention is that they be saved and that they know God. For this to happen, they must have some relief, so that with the moderate labor needed to meet their tribute obligation, they can still give themselves wholeheartedly to our teachings. . . . Otherwise, God will have good reason to complain, for Spaniards came to this land and have taken their property for their own benefit, and Your Majesty has extracted great benefit from them, too. . . . “. . . Your Majesty . . . Should know that the Indians who are required to labor for a master in Mexico City in domestic service and bring firewood, fodder, and chickens leave their pueblo for a month at a time. . . . And the poor Indians often have to buy these things because they are not to be found in their pueblos. . . . Take pity on them and consider what is happening to the poor Indian woman who is in her house with no one to support her and her children, for her husband is hard pressed to meet his tribute requirement. . . . “. . . I advise you that if Your Majesty does not establish that . . . [the Indians] be required to pay tribute only from what they have, within thirty years these parts will be as deserted as the [Caribbean] islands, and so many souls will be lost.” Fray (Friar) Pedro de Gante, Spanish Catholic friar and missionary, letter to Emperor Charles V, king of Spain, 1552 Which of the following best describes an argument made by de Gante in the letter?
The Spanish should require less tribute after conquest to avoid Native American depopulation.
The Catholic Church should abandon conversion efforts in the Americas.
I . . . Write an account to Your Majesty as the first [person] to come among these natives. . . . “These Indian people of New Spain [Mexico] are vassals of Your Majesty. . . . I dare plead with you for a remedy because, for their people to be saved, they are in great need of relief in order to devote themselves at least somewhat to matters of Faith. After all, it is the struggle for their salvation that justifies their discovery. . . . “I firmly believe that if the decrees Your Majesty sent here for their benefit were implemented, and if the governors and judges did more than pretend to do so, great good would have come to these people. Even more firmly I believe that Your Majesty’s intention is that they be saved and that they know God. For this to happen, they must have some relief, so that with the moderate labor needed to meet their tribute obligation, they can still give themselves wholeheartedly to our teachings. . . . Otherwise, God will have good reason to complain, for Spaniards came to this land and have taken their property for their own benefit, and Your Majesty has extracted great benefit from them, too. . . . “. . . Your Majesty . . . Should know that the Indians who are required to labor for a master in Mexico City in domestic service and bring firewood, fodder, and chickens leave their pueblo for a month at a time. . . . And the poor Indians often have to buy these things because they are not to be found in their pueblos. . . . Take pity on them and consider what is happening to the poor Indian woman who is in her house with no one to support her and her children, for her husband is hard pressed to meet his tribute requirement. . . . “. . . I advise you that if Your Majesty does not establish that . . . [the Indians] be required to pay tribute only from what they have, within thirty years these parts will be as deserted as the [Caribbean] islands, and so many souls will be lost.” Fray (Friar) Pedro de Gante, Spanish Catholic friar and missionary, letter to Emperor Charles V, king of Spain, 1552 In the third paragraph of the excerpt, which of the following pieces of evidence does de Gante use to support his argument about the emperor of Spain’s obligations to Native Americans?
The emperor has benefited from the riches acquired in the Americas.
Native American workers were eager to fulfill the emperor’s wishes.
I . . . Write an account to Your Majesty as the first [person] to come among these natives. . . . “These Indian people of New Spain [Mexico] are vassals of Your Majesty. . . . I dare plead with you for a remedy because, for their people to be saved, they are in great need of relief in order to devote themselves at least somewhat to matters of Faith. After all, it is the struggle for their salvation that justifies their discovery. . . . “I firmly believe that if the decrees Your Majesty sent here for their benefit were implemented, and if the governors and judges did more than pretend to do so, great good would have come to these people. Even more firmly I believe that Your Majesty’s intention is that they be saved and that they know God. For this to happen, they must have some relief, so that with the moderate labor needed to meet their tribute obligation, they can still give themselves wholeheartedly to our teachings. . . . Otherwise, God will have good reason to complain, for Spaniards came to this land and have taken their property for their own benefit, and Your Majesty has extracted great benefit from them, too. . . . “. . . Your Majesty . . . Should know that the Indians who are required to labor for a master in Mexico City in domestic service and bring firewood, fodder, and chickens leave their pueblo for a month at a time. . . . And the poor Indians often have to buy these things because they are not to be found in their pueblos. . . . Take pity on them and consider what is happening to the poor Indian woman who is in her house with no one to support her and her children, for her husband is hard pressed to meet his tribute requirement. . . . “. . . I advise you that if Your Majesty does not establish that . . . [the Indians] be required to pay tribute only from what they have, within thirty years these parts will be as deserted as the [Caribbean] islands, and so many souls will be lost.” Fray (Friar) Pedro de Gante, Spanish Catholic friar and missionary, letter to Emperor Charles V, king of Spain, 1552 One piece of evidence that de Gante used in the excerpt to support his overall argument about the treatment of the people of Mexico is that Native Americans
had sufficient time to learn about Christianity
Did not have enough supplies to support their families
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