Columbian Exchange/Slavery Quiz

Which of the following sentences from the article provides the STRONGEST evidence that the Columbian Exchange had a major impact on Europe, Africa and Asia?

• According to the McNeills, maize (corn), cassava (manioc) and potatoes had a large effect on people’s diets in Africa, Europe, and Asia.

• I was also surprised to learn what items traveled from the Americas to Europe after 1492: corn, potatoes, and turkeys, for example.

• They said that before the Columbian Exchange, foods like potatoes, tomatoes, chili peppers, and cocoa didn’t grow in Europe, Africa, or Asia.

• Today, I can’t imagine Italian food without tomatoes or Indian food without chili peppers.

Which section from the article BEST explains why the Columbian Exchange had a major impact on native populations in the Americas?

• “World population and the Columbian Exchange”

• “What was exchanged between 1492 and 1850?”

• “Conclusion”

• “Analyzing the numbers”

How does the information in the chart “Estimates of Changes in Population in Selected Regions, 1400-1700” support a MAIN idea of the article?

• It shows how estimates of the world’s population during the Columbia Exchange have changed over the years.

• It shows how Europe had a greater population than the Americas at the time of the Columbia Exchange.

• It shows the major impact that the Columbia Exchange had on the population of the Americas.

• It shows how the Columbia Exchange had little effect on the population of Africa at the time.

What is the BEST summary of the section “Plant and animal exchange surprises”?

• The movement of new plants during the Columbian Exchange was largely done with profit in mind.

• The Columbian Exchange was largely responsible for shaping the European diet as we know it today.

• The Columbian Exchange had many long-term effects both good and bad, accidental and intentional.

• The greatest impact of the Columbian Exchange came from the introduction of livestock to the Americas.

In this excerpt from his book, what was Olaudah Equiano describing?

• the conditions on the slave ships

• how difficult it was to learn English

• what the people who took him looked like

• what it was like to live in Africa

What conditions were the people faced with on the slave ship?

• The ship’s doctors checked each person to see if they were healthy.

• The people were able to walk freely on the ship.

• The ship was very overcrowded and the air was hot and hard to breathe.

• The families were allowed to be together.

Why does Olaudah Equiano’s include information about what happened to him at the merchant’s yard?

• to explain what the conditions on the slave ship was like

• to show families were separated and may not see each other again

• to show people how life compared to what it was like in Africa

• to show what life was like on the island where they anchored

Why might Olaudah Equiano’s have written this autobiography?

• to explain how he taught himself to read as a slave

• to explain how badly the slaves were treated and how cruel it was to separate families

• to explain what life was like in Africa

• to explain how he became an ambassador in England

Read 8 paragraphs in the second half of the article, beginning with the following:

But as historian Winthrop Jordan argues, the English had deep beliefs about race and color that allowed them to keep slaves while also talking about freedom in ways that the Spanish and Portuguese did not.

and ending with:

Even before the English began any sort of trade with Africans, “black” had a negative connotation. When English travelers and explorers finally met people with dark skin, “black” was much more than just a color.

Which selection BEST explains the idea that the British had a long history of seeing black as a negative color?

• Long before they found that some men were black, Englishmen found in the idea of blackness a way of expressing some of their most ingrained values.

• The impact of the Negro’s color was the more powerful upon Englishmen ... because England’s principal contact with Africans came in West Africa and the Congo where men were not merely dark but almost literally black…

• Enslaving Africans may have begun as an economic idea. But it was supported by racist ideas for more than 200 years.

• Jordan is saying that the idea that black was evil was a part of English thought since at least 1550.

Read the section "A huge trade network."

Enslaving Africans began as a way to make money. But racist ideas kept it alive for more than 200 years.

Slavery created a huge trade network across the Atlantic Ocean. Many slaves and natural resources moved back and forth. Europeans used the profits from this network to create settlements in the New World. Then the settlements made them even richer.

Slave traders became more efficient at their evil work. They wanted to make as much money as possible. This meant moving the most slaves at the lowest price.

Zoom-in

The image at right shows how slave traders crammed human bodies onto a ship. They also show the chains slave traders used during the long journey. Crossing the Atlantic took six to 12 weeks.

We know that Britain finally outlawed the slave trade in 1833. The image was printed about 10 years before that. This could mean the people who built the ship wanted to show others how to transport slaves efficiently. Or it's possible that it was used by people against slavery. They might have printed it to show how horrible the slave trade was.

There is no doubt that the Atlantic slave trade was evil. This evil allowed Europeans to begin producing new goods and sell them. It allowed Europeans to get rich.

Which sentence gives a reason why the slave trade continued for so long?

• Many slaves and natural resources moved back and forth.

• Slave traders became more efficient at their evil work.

• We know that Britain finally outlawed the slave trade in 1833.

• This evil allowed Europeans to begin producing new goods and sell them.