Chapter 2 Key Terms and Assessments

Key Terms

colonialism a practice in which one group of people attempts to establish control over another group, usually for purposes of economic exploitation

Columbian Exchange the flow of plants, animals, and diseases between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres

conquistadors Spanish explorers in the Americas during the Age of Exploration

encomienda a system of coerced labor based on a grant by the Spanish Crown that entitled conquistadors to the labor of specified numbers of Indigenous people

indentured servants people bound by a contract to work for someone for an agreed-upon number of years

indulgences a way to reduce or cancel the time after death during which people needed to suffer in purgatory to atone for their sins before reaching heaven

mercantilism an economic theory in which a nation’s power depended on the wealth it gained by exporting goods of greater value than it imported, and in which a gain for one nation was a loss for another

Middle Passage the middle (or second) leg of the three-legged triangular trade that carried enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas

Treaty of Tordesillas a 1494 agreement awarding land to Portugal and Spain by dividing the Atlantic Ocean along a line one hundred leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa

triangular trade the trade in goods and enslaved people that took place between the Americas, Europe, and West Africa from the late fifteenth through the early nineteenth centuries

 

Assessments

Review Questions

1. In what part of Europe did Christian humanism develop?

a. the British Isles

b. southern Europe

c. northern Europe

d. eastern Europe

 

2. What practice of the Catholic Church did Martin Luther protest in the Ninety-five Theses?

a. prayer for souls in purgatory

b. the sale of indulgences

c. the translation of the Bible from Latin to German

d. the doctrine of transubstantiation

 

3. For what reason did Henry VIII reject the authority of the Catholic Church?

a. He did not believe the pope had the power to forgive people’s sins.

b. He was angry that the pope had sided with France in its military conflicts with England.

c. He was angry that the pope would not annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.

d. He rejected the Catholic Church’s doctrine of transubstantiation.

 

4. Why was the Jesuit order founded?

a. to educate young Catholic men

b. to care for the sick

c. to pray for souls in purgatory

d. to provide charity for the poor

 

5. Their adoption of non-European navigational technology in the Age of Exploration allowed Europeans to

a. treat sailors who fell sick on long sea voyages

b. preserve the plant and animal specimens they found in the Americas

c. sail out of sight of the European coast

d. detect and avoid storms at sea

 

6. How did the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans help initiate the Age of Exploration?

a. It made allies of Portugal and Spain, who then became partners in the exploration of the globe.

b. It provided Portuguese and Spanish soldiers with valuable military experience they used in conquering the Indigenous peoples of the Americas.

c. It freed funds that had been spent fighting the Ottomans for use in outfitting voyages of exploration.

d. It motivated European nations to search for an all-water route to the Indies that bypassed the Muslim Ottomans.

 

7. Along with the desire to grow rich, what motivated Portugal and Spain to explore new lands?

a. the desire to spread Christianity and counter the influence of Islam

b. the desire to acquire new medicinal plants to treat infectious diseases

c. the desire to find new land to relieve population pressure in Europe

d. the desire to find new food sources to feed Europe’s starving population

 

8. What was a result of the Treaty of Tordesillas?

a. Spain was able to colonize the Philippines.

b. Brazil became a Portuguese colony.

c. The Portuguese were prohibited from trading in Africa.

d. Spanish conquistadors could no longer be granted encomiendas.

 

9. How did other European nations respond to the Treaty of Tordesillas between Spain and Portugal?

a. They ignored the treaty.

b. They requested the pope grant them territory as well.

c. They declared war on Spain and Portugal.

d. They abandoned their efforts to explore and colonize the Americas.

 

10. Why were animal-borne infectious diseases more deadly for Indigenous peoples in the Americas than for Europeans?

a. The Indigenous peoples led a nomadic lifestyle so they could not rest when they fell ill.

b. A genetic mutation made Indigenous peoples more susceptible to bacterial infections.

c. Indigenous peoples had no experience treating illnesses of any kind.

d. Indigenous peoples had never been exposed to the infectious diseases originating in European domesticated animals.

 

11. Which plant was introduced to the Eastern Hemisphere in the Columbian Exchange?

a. apples

b. maize

c. wheat

d. rice

 

12. What was a key feature of mercantilist theory?

a. the measuring of a nation’s wealth in gold and silver

b. an emphasis on importing more goods than were exported

c. competition among businesses

d. a focus on free trade rather than tariffs

 

13. According to mercantilist theory, what is the main purpose of colonies?

a. to serve as a home for excess population in the home country

b. to offer a haven for religious and political dissidents

c. to increase national prestige

d. to provide natural resources for the home country

 

14. How did mercantilist policies hurt the working class?

a. The desire to extract profits from colonies led to the abuse of working-class settlers.

b. Mercantilism advocated keeping wages low.

c. The building up of surpluses of gold and silver led to inflation.

d. Mercantilist policies often led to wars, which had to be fought by working-class soldiers.

 

15. What item exchanged in Africa as part of the triangular trade was made using a by-product of the labor of enslaved people?

a. cloth

b. guns

c. rum

d. coffee

 

16. What is chattel slavery?

a. a form of slavery that results from indebtedness

b. a form of slavery in which enslaved people are treated as pieces of property

c. a form of slavery in which children do not inherit the status of enslaved parents

d. a form of slavery in which those enslaved are captured as a result of armed conflict

 

17. Which crop were most enslaved laborers in the Americas used to grow?

a. sugar

b. wheat

c. tobacco

d. rice

 

18. How did the slave trade affect the growth of African manufacturing?

a. African manufacturing suffered because so many people were taken in the slave trade that there were not enough laborers left.

b. The availability of large numbers of enslaved workers kept production costs low for African manufacturers.

c. The need to produce weapons to fight back against European slave traders spurred the development of the firearms industry in Africa.

d. The exchange of European textiles for enslaved people harmed African cloth producers, who could not compete on quantity or price.

 

Check Your Understanding Questions

1. How did Martin Luther’s teachings regarding salvation differ from those of the Roman Catholic Church?

2. What did Anabaptists believe?

3. Which Roman Catholic teachings that Martin Luther challenged were later affirmed at the Council of Trent?

4. How did Muslim and Chinese inventions help Europeans explore the Atlantic Ocean in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries?

5. What motivated ordinary Spanish people to embark on voyages of exploration?

6. What role did the popes play in the early years of Spanish and Portuguese exploration and conquest?

7. How effective were the Treaty of Tordesillas and the Treaty of Zaragoza in establishing which nations could control which territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia? Why?

8. What was the Columbian Exchange?

9. How did the introduction of European livestock affect the Indigenous people of the Americas?

10. According to mercantilist theory, what is the value of colonies?

11. What made the French colonies in Canada and the Caribbean valuable?

12. How were people sometimes hurt by their own country’s mercantilist policies?

13. Briefly describe the three legs of the triangular trade.

14. What were some differences between African slavery and slavery in the Americas?

15. How did mercantilism contribute to the rise in slavery in the Americas?

Application and Reflection Questions

1. What were the causes of the Protestant Reformation? What did the Council of Trent do to address those problems?

2. In what ways did Martin Luther’s beliefs differ from those of the Roman Catholic Church? What challenges to Catholic doctrine were introduced by other reformers?

3. In your opinion, did the religious zeal of Spain and Portugal help them accomplish their goals or interfere with their accomplishment? Explain your answer.

4. Imagine a world in which the Columbian Exchange did not occur. What would that world look like today? Why?

5. Consider the ways in which mercantilism benefited and harmed people in the nations that adopted it. Was mercantilism an ethical policy, or did it encourage exploitation? Why?

6. What did Jean-Baptiste Colbert do to enrich France? In what ways were his actions guided by mercantilist theory?

7. How did mercantilism influence the relationship between European nations and their colonies?

8. What were some of the ways in which slavery benefited Europeans?

9. What were some ways enslaved persons maintained their dignity and humanity amid their hardship?

10. How is the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade still affecting Africa today?