How did the population of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán around 1500 compare to that of the European cities of London and Seville?
It was five times as large.
Who sparked the Protestant Reformation by writing a document called the Ninety-five Theses?
Martin Luther
Before 1500, the city of Timbuktu on the Niger River became famous as a center of learning and instruction for what religious tradition?
islam
Who conquered the Aztec empire?
Hernán Cortés
Among the northern Native American tribes, wars most often resembled what activity?
family fudes
In which country did John Calvin establish a Protestant regime in the 1530s?
Switzerland
Why did the Sahara region undergo a bout of inflation beginning about 1326 and lasting for more than a decade?
A powerful Mali emperor spent lavishly on his way to Mecca.
What factor made it possible for Portuguese mariners to sail down the West African coast in the early fifteenth century?
The Portuguese caravel (Ship)
Which activity was a crucial rite of passage for young Native American men in the north?
Engaging in warfare
Why did so many young people in fifteenth-century Europe join the ranks of the roaming poor?
They were left propertyless as a result of primogeniture ( oldest gets all the wealth)
How did the first empire of the northern Savanna, the Ghana Empire, pioneer trade across the Sahara around 800 A.D.?
By making use of the recently domesticated camel
Why did Portuguese merchants establish fortified posts in Africa for the slave trade in the late fifteenth century?
The posts were meant to redirect the trade from the Sahara into the Atlantic.
Why did Native Americans in Mesoamerica cultivate maize beginning around 6000 B.C.?
Maize had a high yield per acre.
Which statement summarizes the historical impact of the crusaders?
Their religious warfare intensified Europe’s Christian identity.
Why were people in the coastal kingdoms of Central Africa unable to raise livestock?
The tsetse fly was endemic to the region.
Why were Hernán Cortés and his fellow conquistadors able to defeat Moctezuma’s army?
The Europeans had an invisible ally—disease.
Why did powerful leaders in northern Native American groups redistribute their disproportionate share of the wealth?
It proved their generosity and strengthened their authority.
In what ways did the Catholic Church serve as a unifying force in Western Europe from late classical times to the Renaissance?
The Church provided a common understanding of God.
Why did large-scale Native American cultures emerge in the Mississippi Valley of North America around 1000 A.D.?
Maize spread to the Mississippi River Valley around that time.
Which statement characterizes the political transformation associated with the Renaissance?
Monarchs formed alliances with wealthy merchants and urban artisans.
Which of these developments was a consequence of the practice of primogeniture?
Many younger children were forced to join the ranks of the roaming poor.
In A.D. 1450, how was the life of European peasants and Native Americans similar?
The rhythm of their lives followed the seasons.
Why did the West Africans of the southern savanna and tropical regions treat their ancestors with such great respect?
They believed that the dead could intercede in their lives.
What do the corresponding graph lines of deaths and conceptions in the traditional peasant societies of the fifteenth century tell us about life in Europe at the time?
The annual cycle of nature had a strong impact on life and death.
Which group comprised most of the population of Europe in 1450?
Peasants
Why did the overland migratory stream from Asia to the Americas end about nine thousand years ago?
Rising oceans submerged the land bridge that had existed earlier.
Why were pre-Columbian trade networks in North America so remarkable?
Rare and valuable objects traveled virtually across the continent.
How would you characterize the role of trade in the small states on the coast of West Africa prior to 1450?
Trans-Saharan goods were scarce and expensive.
Why did the Aztecs practice human sacrifice?
To ensure agricultural fertility and the daily return of the sun
What change had brought an agricultural surplus and a burgeoning market economy to Europe by about 1450?
As European peasants lost their status as serfs, they had increasing incentives to work.
Which statement characterizes the kingdoms that existed in the lower savanna and the tropical rainforest of West Africa in the fifteenth century?
They were comparable to Italy’s city-states.
The three great empires of West Africa—the Ghana, Mali, and Songhai empires—were most similar politically to
Aztec and the Inca
