Font size
WorksheetsAPWH Exam Cycle 4 - The Early Modern Period 1450 CE to 1750 CE
Total questions: 100
Worksheet time: 50mins
Which of the following does NOT belong in a list of factors preventing European powers from establishing anything more than a limited coastal settlement on the African continent in the period 1450-1750?
Inferior weapons technology
Stiff organized African resistance
Impassable rivers
Disease
Climate
Which European power was first to establish large-scale slave-trading operations on the African continent for the purposes of export to plantations in the Americas?
Netherlands
France
Portugal
England
Spain
In which century did the Atlantic slave trade peak in terms of numbers of Africans transported?
Nineteenth
Eighteenth
Seventeenth
Sixteenth
Fifteenth
Which trend was most typical in slave-capturing coastal West African kingdoms, such as Dahomey, which supplied the Atlantic slave trade?
Development of representative democracy
Industrialization as a result of capital accumulation due to slave trade
Depopulation as younger generations were shipped away
Increasing hierarchy, centralization, and importance of military capacity including use of firearms
Mass conversion to Christianity
Which would be the LEAST typical trade transaction along Africa's northeast coast in the period 1450-1750?
Copies of the Koran imported to coastal towns
Female slaves exported to a West Indies sugar plantation
Female slaves exported to Arabian peninsula for domestic labor
Gold exported to Persia
Ivory exported to India
The Afrikaners who settled in southern Africa traced their origin back to which European region?
Spain
France
Netherlands
Germany
England
What is the best way to characterize relations between the British and the Afrikaners after the British arrived in southern Africa in 1795?
Negotiated division of southern Africa into British and Afrikaner spheres of roughly equal size and importance
Complete unity in the face of superior African military strength
Britain gains formal possession of the colony, but conflict persists with Afrikaners over land
and expansion
Maintenance of Afrikaner political supremacy
Hostility and complete social segregation
Which is most true of the Middle Passage?
It was not driven by the profit motive.
African naval expertise was key to guiding vessels across the Atlantic.
It generally lasted a year or more.
Mortality on marches to the African coast was higher than mortality on the ships.
It was generally a pleasant voyage.
In which New World society did the slave population grow mainly through natural increase and not continued importation?
Barbados
Southern British North American colonies
Argentina
Jamaica
Haiti
Where in the New World did slavery last the longest?
Mexico
The United States
Cuba
Brazil
Haiti
To which location was the greatest number of enslaved Africans transported?
French Saint-Domingue (Haiti)
Dutch Indonesia
British North America
Portuguese Brazil
Spanish Mexico
Which Western power was first to ban its citizens from engaging in the slave trade?
Spain
Portugal
United States
England
France
Which Western tradition did the continuation of the Atlantic slave trade violate most?
Absolutist
Mercantilist
Feudal
Greco-Roman
Enlightenment
Which monarchy constructed the largest contiguous land empire in history, second in size only to the Mongol Empire?
Qing
French
Russian
Mughal
British
In which neighboring region(s) did the Russian Empire gain the most land during the Romanov dynasty?
Scandinavia
Siberia and Central Asia
Black Sea region
Baltic States
Poland
The shift of the Russian imperial capital to which city indicated a shift in orientation toward the West under the rule of Peter the Great?
Belgrade
St. Petersburg
Vladivostok
Kiev
Moscow
Which of the following was unique to Russian industrial development in the czarist period?
Tremendous opportunities for profit making
Increased importance of the mining sector of the economy
Growing urbanization
Application of heavy industry to military uses
Use of serf labor in factories
Which of the following best describes the attitude of Peter and Catherine the Great toward adopting change along Western lines?
Emulation of Western gender roles but not economic practices would be pursued.
It was a key step on the road to Russian democracy.
It was a source of new ideas and methods to increase the power of the ruling family at home and abroad.
Its harmless influence was allowed to spread without interference.
It was a waste of time and an insult to Russian tradition.
Which Russian territorial possession lay farthest from the center of power in St. Petersburg?
Poland
Siberia
Crimea
Finland
Alaska
How did Russia tend to fit into the emerging global economy in the period 1450-1750?
As a center of industrial development based on export of finished goods
As a supplier of grain, timber, fur, and other raw materials to the West
As the primary Old World destination of the silver being taken out of the New World
As a market for grain grown in the New World
As a source of serf labor transported to till the soils of Western Europe
Which feature of the expanding Russian Empire in the period 1500-1800 was NOT a feature of expanding Western European empires in this period?
Expansion was mainly carried out over land and not sea.
Natural resources and agricultural products were extracted from the newly absorbed lands.
Territorial expansion was a major goal.
Multiple ethnicities fell under the rule of a single monarch.
Russia held military dominance over less technologically sophisticated peoples.
Which end result of industrial development was most important to Peter the Great?
More ideal conditions for the growth of the Bolshevik party
Ability to project naval power across the Pacific Ocean
A raised cultural level of the resultant urban masses
Growth of a vibrant merchant class
Russian capacity to produce modern weapons
Which impulse for the colonization of North America was generally missing from the colonization of the rest of the New World?
Missionary drive to convert Native Americans to Christianity
Expansion of royal authority
Freedom from religious persecution
The search for gold
Setting up slave plantations
The economic centrality of long-distance trade and the lack of long feudal traditions opened a path for which social class to rise to dominance relatively quickly in the New World?
Monarchy
Aristocracy
Merchant
Proletarian
Independent farmer/peasant
How was racial hierarchy on the North American continent different from racial hierarchy in Spanish Latin America?
Native American leaders enjoyed equal political and social status as European elites in colonial society.
European settlers formed a smaller minority of the overall population.
Native Americans were preferred over Africans to perform slave labor.
Enslaved Africans could as a rule look forward to manumission upon the death of his or her owner.
Intermarriage among Native American, African, and European populations was much less common.
In which colonized region of the globe did Western cultural practices supplant existing cultural practices most completely after 1450?
South Africa
South Asia
East Asia
North and South America
West Africa
In which way did the Spanish colonies reproduce existing Iberian social structures?
Extended families continued to live in clan compounds headed by matriarchal authority figures.
Religious toleration remained an important factor in integrating diverse peoples into a cohesive social unit.
Peninsulares sought to reproduce essentially feudal estates with indigenous labor filling the role of the Spanish serf.
Gender roles were preserved from the very start as equal proportions of Spanish males and females settled the New World.
Colonies were established as monarchies in their own right.
Which region of the New World saw the initial penetration by European explorers and subjugation of the Native population to slave labor?
Atlantic shoreline of South America
Atlantic shoreline of North America
Caribbean Islands
Andean South America
Mesoamerica
Which of the following accompanied the transition from conquest to settlement of the New World?
Transition from the search for gold to setting up of ranches and sugar plantations
Increased emigration of Spanish women to the New World
Disappearance of the majority of the indigenous population through disease or killing
Importation of African slaves to work plantations
All of the above
Which New World commodity was of the greatest value to the Spanish monarchy?
Quinine
Sugar
Silver
Tomato
Potato
What was the long-term impact of the massive influx of silver into the Spanish economy that
resulted from its domination of the New World?
I. Inflation and unwise government spending
II. A permanent economic advantage over other European powers
III. Development of the most sophisticated banking system in the world
I only
II only
III only
I and III
I and II
Which New World commodity was of the greatest value to the Portuguese monarchy in the early phases of the settlement of Brazil?
Quinine
Sugar
Silver
Tomato
Potato
Which of the following choices places Latin America's racial hierarchy in the proper order, from lowest to highest, in status?
Native American/African slave, Creole, mestizo/mulatto, Peninsular
Creole, mestizo/mulatto, Peninsular, Native American/African slave
Peninsular, Creole, mestizo/mulatto, Native American/African slave
Native American/African slave, mestizo/mulatto, Creole, Peninsular
Mestizo/mulatto, Native American/African slave, Peninsular, Creole
Which statement best characterizes the political situation in the West around 1450?
The Holy Roman Empire had united the West into a larger political unit than the Roman Empire of the classical era.
The nation-state had taken root and monarchy had passed from the scene.
Small political units led by local and regional aristocrats were the rule, not the exception.
Renaissance ideas had spread, making democracy the preferred political system.
Highly centralized and powerful monarchies governed linguistically homogeneous kingdoms.
Which label best characterizes the Italian Renaissance?
A global movement
A mass movement
A religious movement
A cultural movement
A political movement
Why did the Renaissance originate in the city-states of northern Italy?
Techniques left behind after Ottoman occupation formed the basis for new explorations in art.
The bubonic plague depopulated the countryside more heavily, destroying rural centers of artistic innovation.
Urban elites grown rich in trade hubs provided financial backing.
Expatriate Chinese artists settled there, provided artistic training.
Urban artisans provided financial backing.
Which of the following were targeted in the Spanish "Reconquista" of the late fifteenth century?
Catholics and Huguenots
Muslims and Jews
Catholics and Jews
Huguenots and Jews
Muslims and Huguenots
Which event is most closely associated with the "reintroduction" of the West to the knowledge and trade of the Middle and Far East after the year 1000?
The travels of Marco Polo
The Crusades
The travels of Ibn Battuta
The Black Death
The voyages of Vasco da Gama
Which modern-day European nation projects farthest west off the Eurasian landmass and into the Atlantic Ocean?
Netherlands
Portugal
England
France
Germany
Which European naval power is generally credited with breaking the grip on Atlantic maritime trade previously held by the Spanish monarchy?
Norway
Germany
England
Denmark
Holland
Which of the following does NOT belong in a list of Catholic doctrines rejected by Martin Luther?
Acceptance of the Holy Trinity
Priestly celibacy
Monasticism
Granting of indulgences
Papal authority
Where did Luther's movement first take root?
Germany
Italy
Spain
England
France
Which group traces its roots to the Catholic Reformation, sometimes referred to as the Counter-Reformation?
Calvinists
Liberation theologians
Coptic Christians
Benedictine monks
Jesuits
Which social class experienced the most growth in absolute numbers as a result of the commercialization of the Western economy in the period 1450-1750?
Clergy
Aristocracy
Merchants
Proletarians
Peasantry
Which movement from the following list established a tradition of seeking answers to questions about nature through the application of reason and methodical investigation of the world?
Renaissance
Enlightenment
Protestant Reformation
Scientific Revolution
Phenomenology
Which of the following movements applied reason to the problems of human affairs and can be understood as an extension of the Scientific Revolution into the field of politics?
Bolshevik Revolution
Protestant Reformation
Enlightenment
Green Revolution
Renaissance
Who is credited with bringing awareness of the heliocentric nature of the solar system into Western civilization?
Descartes
Copernicus
Columbus
Galileo
Aristotle
Which of the following thinkers established the principles of objects in motion and defined the forces of gravity?
Galileo
Bacon
Newton
Rousseau
Descartes
The following ideas from the Declaration of Independence can be attributed most directly to the influence of whom?
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
John Locke
Rene Descartes
Michel de Montaigne
Alexis de Toqueville
George Washington
Compared, broadly speaking, with other centers of civilization in the world, which of the following had become the most distinctive characteristic of Western intellectual life by about 1750?
Innovation resulting from exposure to the knowledge and practices of other civilizations
Importance of the written word in preservation of the wisdom of the past
Appreciation of poetry in elite circles
Centrality of science in understanding reality
Concern with manipulation of nature to serve human interests
Which group suffered the greatest loss of authority as absolute monarchy took hold in the West beginning in the seventeenth century?
Artisans
Aristocrats
Peasants
Merchants
Monarchs
Which of the following kingdoms serves as an exception to the rule of the growing power of absolute monarchies in the West in the period 1450-1750?
England
Prussia
Austria-Hungary
France
Spain
Which event established the basic sovereignty of Parliament over the king of England?
The American Revolution
The Glorious Revolution
The Magna Carta
The Corn Laws
Reform Act of 1832
The relationship between supply and demand, as well as the concepts of "laissez-faire" and the "invisible hand of the market," can be traced to the writings of _____ .
Giovanni Boccaccio
Napoleon Bonaparte
Adam Smith
David Ricardo
Karl Marx
Which of the following does NOT belong in a list of principles we can identify with the intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment?
People have rights.
Blind faith in religion is wrong.
Humans are naturally good.
Rulers are blessed by the divine.
Reason is the way to truth.
Which of the following is another way to express the immediate precursor to the factory system of production that arose in England that is sometimes termed proto-industrialization?
Guild production
Cottage industry
The three-field system
Mass assembly line production
Specialization of labor
The factories of the Industrial Revolution depended most heavily on the labor of which of the following groups?
Master craftsmen
Merchants
Proletarians
Aristocracy
Landed peasantry
Which of the following branches of Protestantism can trace its roots to a royal figure?
Anglican
Anabaptist
Lutheranism
Calvinism
Presbyterian
Which of the following effects best captures the impact of the Mongol Empire on world history?
I. Spread of the bubonic plague across the Eurasian landmass
II. Stabilization of long-distance trade routes, which sparked greater demand for goods from distant lands
III. The exposure of old centers of civilization to new religious and intellectual trends
II only
I, II, and III
I and III
II and III
I and II
Which statement best characterizes power relations among the centers of Eurasian civilizations as they approached the year 1450?
South and East Asia are no longer important sources of luxury items in long-distance trade networks and become increasingly isolated.
Western Europe dominates world trade.
A power vacuum of sorts has opened, as Byzantine, Abbasid, and Ming Chinese powers become less of a force in global affairs.
Ming rulers of China have redoubled their efforts to move to the center of maritime trading networks in the East Asian and Indian Ocean.
Islamic caliphates are reaching the height of their power and influence.
How do historians explain the Ming dynasty's 1433 decision to abandon the treasure ship voyages to the Indian Ocean basin that could have placed China at the core of the developing world economy?
Internal economic development was flourishing, making long-distance trade unnecessary.
State-backed exploration of distant lands was an unusual experiment in Chinese history.
A dominant neo-Confucian worldview de-emphasized the value of non-Chinese ideas and products.
State resources were required to thwart nomadic incursions from beyond the Great Wall.
All of the above
Which of the following were the first slave-based island plantation colonies set up by Western powers?
Jamaica
Hispanola
Canary and Madeiras Islands
Ireland
Bahamas
Which of the following can be characterized as outside the world network of trade in 1450?
The Philippines
Mesoamerica
East Africa
Scandinavia
Ireland
We associate the Maori people with which of the following locations?
Polynesia
Hawaii
New Zealand
Azores
Tasmania
Which of the following established a line of demarcation separating Spanish and Portuguese claims in the New World?
Luther's 95 Theses
Treaty of Tordesillas
Treaty of Westphalia
Edict of Nantes
Treaty of Versailles
Which European power won the colony of Indonesia away from the Portuguese in the seventeenth century?
Italy
Holland
France
Spain
England
Which colony was claimed by Spain as a result of Ferdinand Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe in 1519-1521?
Canary Islands
The Philippines
Mexico
Hispanola
Madagascar
Which event outside the West contributed to creating an opening for the West to move to the core of a global maritime trade network?
Ming reversal of treasure ship voyages in 1433
Fall of the Byzantine Empire after the Ottoman sacking of Constantinople in 1453
Mongol destruction of Abbasid power in 1253
Collapse of Mongol power in the mid-fifteenth century
All of the above
Which is an example of a new disease Europeans were exposed to as a result of interaction with the peoples of the New World?
Syphilis
Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)
Smallpox
Mumps
Measles
What was the demographic impact of the Columbian Exchange on the populations of the Old World?
Greatly increased life expectancy aided by new medicinal plants from New World tropical rainforests
Sharp decrease in male populations as many sailors died at sea
Sharp increase in the West African population to furnish individuals for the slave trade
Massive depopulation of Western Europe due to migration to the Americas
Population growth across the Old World based on New World crops such as corn and the potato
In which regional waterways did the West most rapidly emerge into a dominant position after 1450?
Yellow Sea
Caribbean Sea
Arabian Sea
South China Sea
Eastern Mediterranean
What common characteristic can be ascribed to the key cash crops of the period 1450-1750, sugar, tobacco, and coffee?
Each one has addictive qualities.
Chinese demand for all three drove expansion of these crops.
Revenues from the sale of these goods did not cover the costs of production and transportation.
European indentured servants performed the labor involved in their cultivation.
They require temperate climate to grow.
Which of the following regional civilizations was least able to control and regulate its trade relations with the West in the period 1450-1750?
Mughal India
Ming China
Kongo kingdom
Tokugawa Japan
Safavid Persia
Which Western power established trade forts at crucial locations in the Indian Ocean basin including Ormuz, Goa, and Malacca in the early sixteenth century?
France
Portugal
Netherlands
England
Spain
Which was the first Asian commodity Western merchants were able to gain control over in terms of both production and trade?
Silk
Porcelain
Spices
Opium
Cotton
The rule of which Chinese dynasties overlap with the time period 1450-1750?
I. Yuan
II. Ming
III. Qing
IV. Song
III and IV
II and III
I and IV
II and IV
I and III
Which three Muslim empires emerged from the wreckage left behind after the Mongol invasions?
Ottoman, Umayyad, Safavid
Mughal, Umayyad, Abbasid
Abbasid, Ottoman, Umayyad
Mughal, Safavid, Ottoman
Umayyad, Safavid, Mughal
Which is the most distinguishing characteristic of the Safavid civilization when compared to its Ottoman and Mughal empires?
Architectural and artistic splendor
Growing interaction with maritime Western powers
Adherence to Shia and not Sunni Islam
Limited public roles for women
High levels of palace intrigue and violent fights for succession to the throne
Which of the following does NOT belong in a list of regions under Ottoman control at the height of their rule in terms of territory gained?
Balkan peninsula
Spain
Anatolia
Middle East
North Africa
Which of the following does NOT belong in a list of characteristics of the Janissary corps in the Ottoman Empire?
It carried out operations against foreign enemies and also served an internal police function.
It launched successful invasions of Central Europe culminating with the sack of Vienna.
It intervened in dynastic succession disputes more frequently over the years.
It relied on gunpowder musketry and artillery for weaponry.
It was composed of young men taken from conquered lands as children and conscripted for training in military arts.
Religious tolerance, Hindu-Muslim intermarriage, and abolition of the jizya head tax are all most closely associated with which Mughal ruler?
Shah Jahan
Aurangzeb
Babur
Akbar
Selim II
Which of the following is most closely associated with the rule of Akbar the Great?
Lifting of the majority of the Indian population out of poverty
Prohibition of sati
Assimilation of central Asian nomads into high posts in the ruling bureaucracy
Intensified taxation of the subcontinent's Hindu majority
State-sponsored trade missions to the New World
Which of the following belief systems had little to no following in India by 1750?
Confucianism
Christianity
Jainism
Islam
Hinduism
Which destabilizing influence did the Ottoman, Mughal, and Safavid empires face in the period 1450-1750?
Bubonic plague outbreaks that reduced populations by one-third
Unprecedented drought
Western siege and occupation of their capital cities
Revived threats from central Asian nomads
A growing influx of silver through trade with the West leading to widespread inflation
Which development in a contemporary civilization had the greatest impact on the foreign relations of the Ottoman, Mughal, and Safavid empires in the period 1450-1750?
Polynesian settlement of Pacific Islands
Flooding of global markets in precious metals through massive expansion of the gold-salt trade by West African kingdoms
Mounting trade expeditions into the Indian Ocean basin launched by the Ming dynasty
Drive of the Romanov dynasty in Russia for territorial expansion
Movement of the maritime West toward the core of a new global trade network
How did rulers of the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires respond to the rising influence of the West in world affairs after 1500?
Gender roles in the Muslim empires began to more closely match Western models, in particular greater opportunities for secular education.
Adoption of firearms and artillery enabled coordinated assaults on the homelands of the Western merchants.
They pursued increased diplomatic and military dependence on Ming and Qing dynasties in China to organize resistance to Western domination.
Highly centralized drives to confront the West on the high seas thwarted Western encroachment on trade routes and port cities.
A tendency to underestimate Western capacities led to a failure to adopt Western military, technological, and scientific advances.
Which leadership tradition dating from the earlier caliphates continued to impact Muslim empires such as the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals into the period 1450-1750?
I. Females in political power suffered crises of legitimacy due to stubborn gender norms.
II. Lack of clear succession principles led to recurrent crises when replacing leaders.
III. Dependence of Confucian bureaucrats undermined the authority of Islamic scholars.
II only
I only
I and III
II and III
I and II
Which of the following empires in the period 1450-1750 ruled the territory with the greatest degree of religious homogeneity?
Holy Roman
Ottoman
Safavid
Spanish
Mughal
Which of the following descriptions does NOT belong in a list of elements common to Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal dynasties in the period 1450-1750?
Were weakened by failed land invasions into Western Europe
Were initially dominated by warrior aristocracies
Had difficulty maintaining centralized rule over regions
Faced mounting challenges from rising maritime Western powers
Were founded by nomadic Turkic peoples
Which civilizations were most able to pursue a policy of isolation in relation to the maritime West in the period 1450-1750?
East Asian
Russian
Mesoamerican
South Asian
West African
Which European trade product met with the greatest demand in East Asia in the period 1450-1750?
Silk
Steam engines
Mechanical clocks
Bullion
Opium
Which of the following best characterizes Western presence in Africa and Asia by 1750?
Conversion of a majority of Africans and Asians to Christianity made military conquest redundant.
Substantial immigration of Europeans into Asian and African societies served as a basis for Western dominance.
Westerners had failed to establish a lasting presence of any sort.
Western presence was limited to coastal forts.
Westerners had toppled indigenous political powers and set up direct rule of extensive colonial holdings.
Which description best characterizes the period of Ming rule in China?
Turn to isolationism, deterioration of Confucian values, economic and demographic expansion
Turn to isolationism, deterioration of Confucian values, economic and demographic contraction
Turn from isolationism, consolidation of Confucian values, economic and demographic expansion
Turn from isolationism, deterioration of Confucian values, economic and demographic contraction
Turn to isolationism, consolidation of Confucian values, economic and demographic expansion
By 1750 what was the most populous region on the globe?
North and South America
South Asia
East Asia
Western Europe
Sub-Saharan Africa
Which best explains the Ming decision to bring a brief period of extensive overseas exploration guided by admiral Zheng He in the early fifteenth century to a halt?
Grievous naval defeats at the hands of Portuguese maritime power
Attitudes toward the expeditions within the imperial bureaucracy that ranged from indifference to hostility
A rare suspension of monsoon winds that made long-distance voyages impossible
Muslim dominance of the Indian Ocean basin, which led, in general, to hostility at ports of call from East Africa to Western India
Growing preference of Chinese merchants and elites for goods produced in foreign lands, undermining customary notions of the superiority and centrality of China in world affairs
Aside from the Yuan, which other Chinese dynasty was founded by nomadic invaders?
Ming
Song
Han
Qin
Qing (Manchu)
In which non-European society did the conversion of the local population to Christianity reach hundreds of thousands before there was a state crackdown on the new religion that accompanied a more comprehensive move toward isolation from the West?
Tokugawa Japan
Ottoman Empire
Mughal India
Ming China
Kongo kingdom
What significance did Nagasaki Bay hold in Japanese history before the United States dropped a second atomic bomb there?
It is the spiritual center of the indigenous Ainu people.
Western trade was restricted to contact with the Dutch only at Deshima Island, allowing for limited exposure to European ideas during a period of isolation.
Matthew Perry's gunboat visit to Japan occurred here.
Invading Mongol navy was wrecked by a typhoon in a failed invasion attempt there.
It was the imperial capital of the Tokugawa regime.
Which group made the most sustained efforts to spread Christianity in South and East Asia in the period 1450-1750?
Anabaptists
Anglicans
Jesuits
Franciscans
Huguenots
Which was Spain's Asian colony?
Okinawa
Java
Philippines
Malacca
Siam
