Unit 1 Quiz: Africa, India, Europe, & the Americas

The following question(s) refer to the passage below.

Source: The Conversion of Melaka [Malacca] (excerpt from Russell Jones, “Ten Conversion Myths from Indonesia,” in Nehemenia Levtzion, ed. Conversion to Islam (New York: Holmes and Meier, 1979), pp. 136-37. Reprinted by permission of the published.

“And when the makhdum Sayid Abdul Aziz had finished his prayers, the Raja made his elephant kneel and he mounted the makhdum on the elephant and took him to the palace. And the Bendahara and the chiefs embraced Islam; and every citizen of Melaka, wheter of high or low degree, was commanded by the Raja to do likewise. As for the Raja himself, he received instruction in the Faith from makhdum Sayid Abdul Aziz, and he took the title of Sultan Muhammad Shah.”

The interaction described in the passage above is best understood in the context of which of the following?

• Growing patriarchy in agricultural societies.

• Government acceptance of commercial activities.

• The spread of Islam along established trade routes.

• The creation of entirely new trade routes into Southeast Asia.

The following question(s) refer to the passage below.

Source: The god Krishna speaks, Bhagavad Gita, Vedic sacred text, circa 5th century to 2nd century B.C.E.

“I am imperishable time;

The Creator whose face is everywhere;

Death that devours all things;

The source of all things to come.”

The excerpt above best represents which aspect of Hinduism?

• The desire to escape worldly suffering.

• The cyclical nature of death and rebirth.

• The belief in Karma

• The importance of caste.

Angkor Wat in Cambodia is example of

• the spread of Islam to Southeast Asia.

• the wealth generated by the spice trade.

• Japanese architecture.

• Hindu influence in Southeast Asia.

Map of Tenochtitlan created in 1524 for Hernan Cortes (pictured).

The square areas in the center show plazas, temples, pyramids, places to display sacrificial victims, and an area to house exotic animals sent by subject states. Historians estimate that the population of Tenochtitlan was at least 100,000.

In the pre-Columbian Americas, urban development of the scale shown in the image was primarily facilitated by which of the following?

• Improvements in sanitation and control of infectious diseases

• Encouragement of transoceanic trade.

• Abolition of coerced labor.

• Increased tax and tribute collection over wider areas.

Aztec and Incan societies were similar in that both

• developed from Maya civilization.

• acquired empires created through military conquest.

• independently developed iron technology.

• depended entirely on oral record keeping.

The following question refers to the map (pictured).

One reason offered in the reading for the expansion of the Inca state was

• need for humans to sacrifice to the state gods.

• each new Inca ruler had to secure new land and wealth for himself.

• changing environment and climate drove the Incas from their homeland.

• overpopulation and the need for new crop land.

The following question(s) refer the passage below.

Source: Terry H. Elkiss, historian, “Kilwa Kisiwani: The Rise of an East African City-State,” article published in African Studies Review, a scholarly journal, 1973.

“The East African coast was certainly known to the people of Arabia by the eighth century B.C.E. In fact, the ancient Southern Arabian state of Ausan traded extensively there and may have actually held a portion of the coast. Traders who reached the coast discovered a number of potentially valuable raw materials there. Among these were spices, tortoise shell, coconut oil, ivory, and later, gold and slaves.

It was not until almost 1000 C.E., however, that the first important commercial city-states emerged along the coast. These city-states fluctuated in wealth and prestige as they competed for coastal hegemony. Because of their way of life, they tended to have a broad regional perspective. Their destinies and fortunes were at least partly determined in distant lands by foreign merchants and rulers.

Information on early political aspects of East African states remains very limited. We know that they had kings or sultans, who wielded a good deal of power. Sultans were advised by councils of princes, elders, and members of the ruling household. It seems probable that the sultan and his close relatives controlled the religious and military offices of the state.”

Unlike the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa

• was never totally isolated from other civilizations.

• had little population migration or trade.

• developed its indigenous populations later.

• had no extensive river systems or grasslands.

The example of an ancient Arabian state that traded extensively and controlled territories on the East African coast can best be used as evidence of

• the contributions of East Africa to the development of Eurasian religions.

• the long-term continuities in state-building in coastal East Africa.

• the importance of the East African coast in the development of African national identities.

• the technological and logistical challenges faced by Eurasian merchants trying to reach the East African coast.

Islam was spread through West and East Africa as well as Southeast Asia by

• mass conversions ordered by the rulers and monarchs.

• migration to the areas by large groups of Muslims.

• merchants who established Muslim families and traditions.

• wandering Sufi mystics.

(pictured) MARIA, COUNTESS OF BÉARN,* ACCOMPANIED BY SEVEN OF HER MALE COURTIERS, SWEARS HOMAGE TO HER OVERLORD, KING ALFONSO II OF ARAGON, ILLUSTRATION IN A MANUSCRIPT PRODUCED FOR THE ROYAL COURT OF ARAGON CIRCA 1175 C.E.

Archivo de la Corona de Aragon, Barcelona, Spain Mithra-Index/Bridgeman Images.

*The fiefdom of Béarn was located in present-day southwestern France.

The act of the countess of Béarn in the image is most closely identified with which of the following political systems?

• Manorialism

• Serfdom

• Chivalry

• Feudalism