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AP United States History Unit 1: Period 1: 1491–1607

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Unit 1: Period 1: 1491–1607

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Question 1

The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) is best understood as an attempt by Spain and Portugal to:

A.Establish a joint military alliance against French and English colonial competitionB.Divide the non-European world between their two empires along a papal meridian lineC.Regulate the slave trade between Africa and the AmericasD.Guarantee the religious conversion of all indigenous peoples within ten years

Question 2

How did the economies of the Pacific Coast peoples of present-day California and the Pacific Northwest differ from those of Southwestern pueblo societies in the pre-contact era?

A.Pacific Coast peoples relied on intensive agriculture, while Southwestern peoples were primarily huntersB.Pacific Coast peoples used acorn processing and salmon fishing, while Southwestern peoples practiced irrigation-based farmingC.Both regions relied exclusively on bison hunting as their primary food sourceD.Both regions developed identical economies based on long-distance overland trade

Question 3

Which of the following best explains why the Spanish crown imposed the New Laws of 1542 restricting the encomienda system?

A.The crown was responding purely to humanitarian arguments with no concern for its own political powerB.A combination of humanitarian pressure from clergy and crown concern that powerful encomenderos threatened royal authorityC.The indigenous population had recovered from disease and no longer needed protectionD.The New Laws were primarily designed to increase colonial revenues by replacing labor tribute with cash taxation

Question 4

A pamphlet circulated in Spain around 1550 argued: 'The natives of the Indies are by nature suited to be servants, lacking in reason sufficient for self-governance.' This argument most directly served to justify:

A.The Spanish crown's mercantilist restrictions on colonial tradeB.The forced conversion of indigenous people to Protestant ChristianityC.The Spanish use of indigenous forced labor under encomienda and later repartimiento systemsD.The return of conquered territory to indigenous rulers

Question 5

Which of the following most accurately describes the long-term demographic consequence of the Columbian Exchange for the Americas?

A.Indigenous populations declined initially but fully recovered within one century due to European medical assistanceB.The Americas were largely depopulated by disease, enabling European colonization and creating demand for enslaved African laborC.Only coastal indigenous groups declined; interior populations were unaffected because they had no contact with EuropeansD.Population decline was limited to Central Mexico and had little effect on North American indigenous peoples

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Question 6

Which of the following best describes the agricultural systems of Mississippian mound-builder societies before European contact?

A.Nomadic hunting and gathering with no permanent settlementsB.Intensive maize agriculture supporting large, hierarchical urban centersC.Exclusively maritime economies based on fishing and tradeD.Pastoralism centered on domesticated cattle and sheep

Question 7

Which factor most directly explains why the Spanish were able to conquer the Aztec Empire with a relatively small military force in 1519–1521?

A.Spanish firearms were so superior that indigenous warriors refused to resistB.Alliance with indigenous peoples who resented Aztec tribute demands, combined with epidemic diseaseC.The Aztec emperor voluntarily surrendered to avoid bloodshedD.The Spanish arrived during a period when the Aztec Empire had already collapsed due to internal civil war

Question 8

In what way did the development of the Atlantic slave trade in the sixteenth century reflect broader patterns of the Columbian Exchange?

A.It was an unintended consequence with no economic motivation for European powersB.It arose partly to replace indigenous labor lost to epidemic disease, connecting African labor to American land and European capitalC.It was identical in structure to pre-existing indigenous American slavery practicesD.It was initially confined to the English colonies and only later spread to Spanish America

Question 9

A Spanish colonial administrator writing in the 1540s described the encomienda system as 'a grant of Indian labor owed to those who served the Crown.' Which criticism most directly challenged this system?

A.That it violated mercantilist trade policies restricting colonial exportsB.That Spanish colonists were not generating sufficient revenue for the CrownC.That it reduced indigenous people to a condition functionally equivalent to slavery, violating their rights as human beingsD.That it undermined Spanish military power by distracting soldiers from conquest

Question 10

A Spanish chronicler writing in the 1570s noted: 'When we arrived, whole towns stood empty, the people dead and the houses still holding their corn. We took the land and the grain without contest.' This account most directly illustrates which historical process?

A.The effectiveness of Spanish military campaigns against organized indigenous resistanceB.The role of epidemic disease in creating conditions that facilitated European territorial expansionC.The voluntary abandonment of towns by indigenous peoples to avoid Spanish taxationD.The success of Spanish missionary conversion campaigns in persuading indigenous peoples to relocate

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Question 11

A traveler describing the Great Plains around 1500 would most likely observe which of the following?

A.Mounted warriors following vast bison herds across the prairieB.Semi-sedentary peoples like the Mandan farming and hunting bison on footC.Dense urban settlements comparable in size to European capitalsD.Extensive cattle ranching operations managed by indigenous peoples

Question 12

The Columbian Exchange most directly contributed to population decline among indigenous peoples of the Americas primarily because of:

A.Warfare alone, as European armies systematically exterminated native populationsB.The introduction of Old World diseases to which indigenous peoples had little immunityC.Famine caused by European destruction of indigenous agricultural systemsD.Voluntary emigration of indigenous people to Europe

AP United States History Unit 1: Period 1: 1491–1607 — Free with Answer Explanations | Test Practice Hub