Age of Exploration Questions

Vasco da Gama’s discovery of a route to India by sea proved to be

• very profitable, since da Gama returned with a valuable cargo of spices

• far too costly to be sailed on a regular basis.

• useless because of the difficulties and expenses of making the trip.

• too long to be repeated because the route by sea took longer than it would have taken by land.

The Treaty of Tordesillas, signed in 1494

• put an end to warfare between Portugal and Spain.

• established a line between territories controlled by Spain and those controlled by Portugal.

• ended violence between Portuguese and Muslim spice traders.

• made Portuguese the official language of the Americas.

The conquistadors’ main advantage over the Aztec and Inca Empires was their

• knowledge of the territory.

• vast army size

• types of weaponry

• superior intelligence

According to mercantilists, the prosperity of a nation depended on

• importing more goods rather than exporting.

• a large supply of bullion, or gold and silver.

• conquering new territories and settling them

• finding and maintaining a supply of cheap labor.

The Dutch competed successfully for trade in Asia because of the

• geographic location of the Dutch Republic, making it easier for the Dutch to get to Asia than for the Portuguese to do so.

• use of enslaved people by the Dutch traders.

• development of a new ship along with the growth of mercantilism in the Dutch Republic.

• Dutch Republic’s use of Portugal’s caravels for swift travel and large cargoes.

Why were enslaved Africans needed in the Caribbean islands?

• . Importing and paying Europeans for labor kept the existing balance of trade.

• Growing sugarcane was familiar to Africans.

• Spain respected Native Americans and did not want to enslave them.

• The Native American population was small due to diseases brought from Europe.

Why could only peninsulares hold important government positions in Latin America?

• . Native American people chose the peninsulares as their leaders

• Only peninsulares were educated enough to govern.

• . Each colony in Latin America chose to elect peninsulares to the highest offices

• Peninsulares were born in the parent countries that founded their colonies.

Social class in Latin America in the 1500s was based on

• Labor

• Earnings

• Status

• Intelligence

How did the Portuguese and Spanish make money from their Latin American colonies?

• Farming and mining

• Buying and selling land

• selling enslaved people

• governing the colonies

Why did the Catholic Church have so much influence in Latin America?

• The Catholic Church gave Native Americans food and clothing

• Spanish and Portuguese rulers wanted Native Americans to become Catholic

• The missions were well organized and profitable.

• Native Americans became docile members of the Spanish and Portuguese empires.