BPQ: American Indians

Which of the following individuals is responsible for mis-naming the original inhabitants of the Americas?

• Erik the Red

• Mahatma Gandhi

• Christopher Columbus

• Ferdinand Magellan

According to many experts, how did the first wave of people arrive in the Americas?

• Taking a boat across the Pacific Ocean from what is now Japan.

• Walking over a land bridge in what is now the Bering Strait.

• Swimming across a channel separating modern Russia and Alaska.

• Canoeing across the Atlantic Ocean from northern Africa.

What can you infer from the fact that the first groups of people living in the Americas spoke so many different languages?

B.

C.

D.

• The early cultures of the Americas had no interest in one another.

• There were significant differences in the physical ways in which early inhabitants of the Americas spoke.

• American Indian languages were very difficult to learn.

• The societies that developed in the Americas were often quite different from one another.

Which of the following societies developed in Central America?

• The Maya

• The Iroquois

• The Aleut

• The Sioux

If you saw this object at a museum, what could you conclude about the American Indians who made it?

• They probably lived in the southeastern U.S.

• They probably lived somewhere in the Great Plains.

• They probably lived in the American Southwest.

• They probably lived in the Pacific Northwest.

Which of the following is part of a nomadic lifestyle?

• Setting up plots of land in order to grow crops

• Moving south for the winter to follow a bison herd

• Building houses out of mud bricks

• Constructing large cities

Put the following into the correct order: A) Indians were forced onto reservations; B) People walked across a land bridge into North America; C) Europeans spread disease among Native Americans

• B, A, C

• B, C, A

• C, B, A

• C, A, B

During westward expansion, the U.S. government retracted many of the treaties it signed with various Indian tribes. In this sentence, what does the word "retracted" mean?

• Went back on

• Supported

• Promised

• Subscribed to

Which of the following terms best sums up how most American Indians felt toward white settlers during the 1800s?

• Kinship

• Honor

• Distrust

• Loyalty

How would you compare the American Indian civilizations that existed before Columbus to those that live today?

• Pre-Columbian societies relied mostly on hunting, while their descendants today mostly farm

• American Indians no longer speak any of the languages of their ancestors.

• Most American Indians today live in the Northeastern U.S., but before Columbus they lived mostly on the West Coast.

• American civilizations of the past were much more numerous and widespread than they are today.