Ch. 18-19 MCQs
Respond to the prompts using the sources and your knowledge of world history.
Group 1
Questions 1-3 refer to the image below
Sugar Plantation in the Americas, 17th Century
Question 1a
Based on the image above, which of the following is an accurate description of the impact of the sugar industry?
It provided employment opportunities for European peasants to create wealth and social standing.
It provided Amerindians with an ability to develop successful business tactics and enter the global trade.
European agricultural practices in the Americas often required deforestation and other environment changes to facilitate sugar production.
Production was so high at such low costs that the global market in sugar plummeted, causing economic despair.
Question 1b
Sugar plantations were instrumental to the introduction of African slavery to the Americas because
only African slaves knew how to successfully grow the sugar.
disease wiped out large portions of the Amerindian population.
African slaves were cheaper to obtain than Amerindians who lived deep in the forest.
the Catholic Church forbade the use of Amerindians as slave labor.
Question 1c
The production of sugar was necessary because of which of the following developments?
Sugar was soon used as a major monetary instrument, similar to salt or silver.
The Catholic Church saw sugar plantations as a key way to spread religion.
American foods became staple exports with heavy demand in Europe.
Sugar spoiled so quickly it had to be constantly resupplied.
Group 2
Questions 4-5 refer to the image below
Transatlantic Slave Trade from Africa, 1551-1850
Question 2a
The graph supports which of the following assertions?
The number of slaves transported to the Caribbean remained constant for 3 centuries.
A greater number of slaves died in transit to Brazil than to North America.
Most slaves shipped to North America were men.
The use of slaves in Brazil increased over time.
Question 2b
Which of the following is an explanation for the trend in the graph?
Greater use of Amerindians in mining led to a decreasing need for African slaves.
Disease killed large numbers of Amerindians, leading to increased demand for African slaves.
Expansion of plantations in the Caribbean led to increased birth rates and slaves being transported back to Africa.
Increased urbanization led to a need for more household servants and domestic helpers.
Group 3
Questions 6-7 refer to the passage below
Andre Gunder Frank, ReOrient: Global Economy in the Asian Age, 1996“[In the 16th through the 18th centuries] Europeans derived more profit from their participation in trade within Asia than they did from their Asian imports into Europe. They were able to do so ultimately only thanks to their American silver. . . . Only their American money, and not any ‘exceptional’ European ‘qualities’ permitted the Europeans [to access Asian markets]. . . . However, even with that resource and advantage, the Europeans were no more than a minor player at the Asian, indeed world, economic table [until the 19th century].”
David Christian, This Fleeting World: A Short History of Humanity, 2008“The societies of Europe had been at the margins of the great trading systems, but they were at the center of the global networks of exchange created during the 16th century because they controlled the oceangoing fleets that knit the world into a single system. Western Europe was better placed than any other region to profit from the vast flows of goods and ideas within the emerging global system of exchange. . . . [European states] were keen to exploit the commercial opportunities created within the global economic system. They did so partly by seizing the resources of the Americas and using American commodities such as silver to buy their way into the markets of southern and eastern Asia, the largest in the world.”
Question 3a
The two interpretations of economic history of the early modern period differ most strongly concerning
the motivations for European colonization of the Americas.
the relative importance of Europe in the global economy.
the significance of economic developments in Europe prior to 1500.
the justification for European claims of economic superiority.
Question 3b
The main arguments of the two sources are most similar in their emphasis on the
importance of European-manufactured exports to Asia.
different economic relationships that specific European states had with Asia.
exceptional qualities of European states that enabled them to dominate the global economy.
significance of European access to precious metals from the Americas.
Group 4
Questions 8-9 refer to the image below
Question 4a
Which of the following best explains why the painting was seen as a challenge to social conventions when it was painted?
Women were rarely the subject of paintings in European art of the period.
Caribbean society was built on racial hierarchies that generally reserved elite status for people of European ancestry.
In most cultures of the period, children were not considered worthy of being portrayed in art until they reached adulthood.
Caribbean society was predominantly matriarchal, with men expected to play strictly domestic roles in the household.
Question 4b
Which of the following most directly led to the arrival of substantial numbers of Africans in the Americas at the time of the painting?
The collapse of the Inca and Aztec Empires as a result of Spanish invasion.
The growth of industrial production in the US.
The expansion of the plantation system for growing sugarcane and other crops.
The development of large-scale silver mining operations in South America.
Group 5
Questions 10-12 refer to the passage below
Letter from the directors of the Dutch West India Company to the States General of the Netherlands, 1623."To Your Highnesses of the States General:* We have been informed by our agent Joris Pietersen, who recently returned from the coast of Angola, that a war arose between the king of Kongo and the Portuguese. The war started because the Portuguese, according to their nature, attacked the region of Mpemba, which the king of Kongo also claims, without any reason but to enslave the inhabitants and conquer the entire country. In this war, the king of Kongo's armies performed so well that all of the Portuguese were driven out of the conquered region with many losses. After this victory, the king took the hats and shoes of all captured Portuguese soldiers as a sign of contempt and took the sails and rudders off their two ships that were anchored off Mpemba. Then the king of Kongo, being of the opinion that all the Portuguese should be driven off his lands forever, sent letters to Joris Pietersen, our agent in Angola, requesting to enter into an alliance with the Dutch state and asking your Highnesses to provide them with four or five warships as well as five or six hundred soldiers for assistance on the water as well as the land, in order that he might secure the coasts from the Portuguese and their supporters. The king is offering to pay for the ships and the monthly wages of the soldiers with gold, silver, or ivory. If successful, he promises to put into your hands the fort and city of Luanda—a place so useful to the king of Spain that more than twenty-four thousand Africans are shipped annually from there to the West-Indies and other places in the Americas. Your Highnesses, it is the Company's judgment that the king of Kongo's proposal will likely bring harm to our enemies and increase our commerce. Therefore, if the king's proposal is accepted, the Company will contribute according to its capacity." *a legislative body of the Dutch Republic, comprising representatives of the various provinces of the Netherlands
Question 5a
The contents of the letter are best understood in the context of which of the following aspects of the historical situation in sub-Saharan Africa in the early 1600s?
Political, religious, and economic rivalries shaped European colonial policies in Africa.
State centralization in Europe led to a change from joint-stock company control to direct imperial control in many colonial territories.
The arrival of Europeans led to the conquest and destruction of many native African states.
Religious conflicts stemming from the spread of Islam from North Africa made sub-Saharan African states vulnerable to European conquest.
Question 5b
The point of view expressed by the Dutch West India Company's directors in the letter can best be described as
evenhanded in describing the benefits and detriments of various proposed options to the States General
shaped by views of European cultural and religious superiority over African peoples, which the States General representatives would have been likely to share
dismissive in its evaluation of the military and strategic importance of the kingdom of Kongo to the Netherlands
seeking to steer the States General representatives into taking action that would benefit the company financially
Question 5c
The report's position on the proposed transfer of Luanda to the Dutch is best understood in light of the authors' goal to
secure profits from the rapidly expanding trans-Atlantic slave trade
highlight the gender and family imbalances created by the slave trade
recommend that the company expand its operations to the Indian Ocean and the spice islands of Southeast Asia
offer a comparison between the profitability of East African versus West African slave trade routes
Group 6
Questions 13-15 refer to the passage below
Jean-Baptiste Labat, French clergyman and travel writer, account of his visit to the British Caribbean island of Barbados, 1690s."I admit that the punishments of the slaves on Barbados for all sorts of offenses are indeed very cruel, but one must consider before condemning the [White] inhabitants that they often have no choice but to set moderation aside and use punishment as a way to intimidate their slaves. The Whites need to impress fear and respect upon their slaves in order not to one day find themselves the victims of their fury. Unless the slaves are kept in a constant state of fear of punishment, they would always be ready to revolt, to take over everything, and to commit the most horrible crimes in order to liberate themselves. The plantations on Barbados are smaller than those in the French [Caribbean] islands. This is not surprising because although the island is small, its population is very large, and land is scarce and therefore very valuable. Nonetheless, the plantation owners are very wealthy and the houses on the plantations are even better built than those in the towns. The plantation houses are large in size, have numerous glass windows, and have fine rooms that are conveniently arranged. Nearly all plantation houses have rows of shade trees around them to keep them cool. One observes the wealth and good taste of the inhabitants in their furniture, which is very fine, and their silver, of which they have so large a quantity that if this island were to be sacked the silver utensils from the plantations alone would be worth more than the value of several Spanish galleons."
Question 6a
Which of the following best describes the author's argument in the first paragraph?
The demographic makeup of Barbadian society and the structure of its economy make existing punishments for slaves justified.
Barbadian slaves are punished more leniently than slaves working on the larger plantations of French Caribbean islands.
Plantation owners who punish their slaves too harshly are not fulfilling their duties as Christians to treat the less fortunate kindly.
The punishments of slaves in Barbados are the result of a long experience of deadly slave uprisings and anti-planter violence on the island.
Question 6b
Which of the following best describes the author's claim in the second paragraph?
The extensive mining of precious metals on Caribbean islands has destroyed the islands' natural environment.
Despite the small size of Barbadian plantations, the landowners on Barbados are very wealthy.
Slave political grievances are threatening the political order in American colonial societies.
Barbadian plantation owners are the wealthiest social group in the Caribbean.
Question 6c
Which of the following is an implicit argument made by the author in the passage?
The current political and economic makeup of European colonies in the Caribbean is not sustainable over the long term.
Christianity will provide a solution to the social ills of colonial societies in the Caribbean.
Coerced labor systems have allowed a minority of the population of Caribbean colonial societies to reap enormous economic benefits.
It is incumbent upon France to try to wrest control of Barbados from Great Britain.
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