1200 - 1450 America & Africa

Which was NOT a method of state-building used by the Inca empire?

• Travel infrastructure

• Military threat

• Bureaucratic officials

• City-state independence

Which of the following is a potential LIMITATION for a primary source?

• Author strongly motivated by a particular agenda

• Author had firsthand knowledge of the events described

• Document was produced during the events

• Document captures multiple potential points of view

What is a griot?

• Storyteller preserving African history

• Muslim temple found in East Africa

• Coin used as currency in Mali empire

• Ship used by Indian Ocean merchants

Which society had the LEAST centralized authority?

• Mali

• Aztec/Mexica

• Swahili coast

• Inca

Which was NOT a method of state-building used by the Mexica/Aztec?

• Collecting tribute from conquered people

• Taxing trade with Muslim merchants

• Using religion to justify power

• Military superiority over neighboring peoples

Which is true of the study of American history prior to 1450?

• We have lots of rich sources written before European arrival.

• It's impossible to know anything about the Americas before colonization.

• Historians focus most on societies with large states and empires.

• Native peoples had no history before 1450.

By 1450, what portion of Africans lived in empires?

• Almost all

• Most

• About half

• Very few

Ibn Battuta's account of the Mali Empire particularly illustrates the empire's...

• Strong networks of infrastructure

• Support for and regulation of trade

• Sophisticated bureaucracy

• Association of the emperor with God

If we only start the history of Africa and the Americas after 1450, we make it seem like...

• They've dominated world history since the beginning.

• They were totally uncivilized until the introduction of Islamic culture.

• Their history begins with European colonization and the slave trade.

• The Industrial Revolution never would have happened without Europe.

What is Eurocentrism?

• Understanding the world only in relation to European "superiority."

• European religions and cultural traditions that spread around the world.

• Belief that Central Europe was more important that Western or Eastern Europe.

• Europeans' ability to dominate the global economy before 1450.