1. Probable reasons for the collapse of Mayan civilization include all of the following except
A) foreign invasion.
B) population growth that outstripped available resources.
C) prolonged droughts.
D) an increase in the frequency of warfare.

2. In which present-day state did the Chaco canyon culture exist?
A) California
B) Ohio
C) New Mexico
D) Maine

3. Which of the following cultures did not produce a written language?
A) Maya
B) Axumite
C) Meroë
D) Ancestral Pueblo

4. This great classical city was apparently centrally planned, with a grid of streets, temples, and grand homes for the elite.
A) Axum
B) Chavín
C) Teotihuacán
D) Jenne-jeno

5. This classical civilization developed significant cities but no encompassing state structure.
A) Teotihuacán
B) Meroë
C) the Niger Valley
D) the Maya


6. Silk was the key trade item along the Silk Roads because
A) it was used as currency in Central Asia.
B) it was a symbol of high status in the Byzantine Empire and China.
C) it was linked to the sacred in both Christianity and Buddhism.
D) all of the above

7. In the first centuries following its arrival in China, Buddhism had its greatest success converting which sector of the population?
A) the peasantry
B) government officials
C) merchants
D) townspeople

8. Despite its successful spread into Central Asia along the Silk Roads, Buddhism was largely blocked from spreading westward by which faith?
A) Christianity
B) Zoroastrianism
C) Hinduism
D) Judaism

9. During a period of intensified interaction in the fourteenth century in which much of the Eurasian landmass was unified by the Mongol Empire, the _________ spread along the trade routes of Eurasia, devastating the populations of China, the Middle East, and Europe.

10. The _________ winds made Indian Ocean commerce possible.

11. Which of the following was not a major development in Chinese society that took shape in the centuries following the collapse of the Han dynasty?
A) the conquest of some portions of China by northern nomads
B) the beginning of Chinese migration southward toward the Yangzi River valley
C) the rejection of Daoism
D) the growing influence of Buddhism on Chinese culture

12. Which of the following technological innovations spread from China during the Tang or Song dynasty periods?
A) the processing of sugar
B) printing
C) cannons
D) windmills

13. During the Tang dynasty period, _________ became a common practice, especially among elite women in China, in part because small size and delicacy had come to represent female beauty and eroticism.


14. The Sui dynasty sought to solidify the unity of the Chinese state by a vast extension of the _________ system.

15. Which of the following was not a goal of the Chinese tribute system?
A) to confirm China’s superiority over other civilizations
B) to “civilize” the peoples who lived along China’s borders
C) to extort wealth from neighbors to make up for China’s trade deficit
D) to manage China’s relationships with northern nomads and other non-Chinese peoples

16. Which of the following groups ultimately brought an end to the Byzantine Empire through a successful siege of Constantinople?
A) Persians
B) Ottoman Turks
C) Germanic tribesmen
D) Mongols

17. Which of the following Western European rulers was the first to be crowned by the pope as emperor of a revived Roman Empire?
A) Charlemagne
B) Odoacer
C) Otto I
D) none of the above

18. The conversion of Prince _________ to the Christian faith led to the expansion of Eastern Orthodoxy into Rus.

19. Following the collapse of the Roman Empire, slavery was replaced in Western Europe by a new economic and social relationship between lord and worker known as _________.

20. The _________ were wars that in European thinking were undertaken at God’s command.

21. The development of _________ after gunpowder arrived from China is a good example of how borrowed technologies spurred European inventions.

22. The scientific study of nature, known as _________, separated itself from theology in the universities of Western Europe.

23. The works of the classical Greek philosopher _________ became the basis for university education in the West for the five centuries after 1200.


24. The special tax imposed on Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians, payment of which permitted them to continue to practice their own religion, was known as the
A) jihad.
B) umma.
C) jizya.
D) dhimmis.

25. Located in Mecca, the _________ was the most prominent shrine in pre-Islamic Arabia.

26. _________ Muslims believed that the caliphs were rightful political and military leaders, selected by the Islamic community.

27. _________, an extensive body of Islamic law, is based on the Quran, the life and teachings of Muhammad, deductive reasoning, and the consensus of scholars.

28. The religious tradition known as _________ blends elements of Islam, such as belief in one universal God, with Hindu concepts, such as karma and rebirth.

29. Who founded the Mongol Empire and became known as Chinggis Khan?
A) Ogodei
B) Temujin
C) Khubilai
D) Mongke

30. Why did pastoral societies emerge only in the Afro-Eurasian world and not in the Americas?
A) a lack of environments suitable for pastoral societies
B) the military prowess of settled societies
C) a lack of large animals that could be domesticated
D) none of the above

31. All of the following regions were incorporated into the Mongol Empire except
A) Japan.
B) Persia.
C) Korea.
D) China.

32. In comparison to agrarian societies, pastoral societies in general
A) had less productive economies.
B) offered women fewer restrictions and a greater role in public life.
C) were frequently on the move.
D) all of the above


33. Which of the following resulted from Mongol rule over Russia?
A) the adoption by Russian princes of completely mounted armies
B) the rise of Kiev to renewed prominence in Russian history
C) the adoption by Russian princes of the Mongols’ diplomatic rituals and court practices
D) all of the above

34. Which of the following is true of Aztec religion?
A) Human sacrifice, though important, was a very rare occurrence.
B) Aztec religion encouraged the killing of enemies on the battlefield because their blood was key to nourishing the gods.
C) The sun was central to all of life but tended to lose its energy in a constant battle against encroaching darkness.
D) all of the above

35. In both the Inca and Aztec empires, women and men operated in two separate but equivalent spheres, a gender system that scholars call
A) gender parallelism.
B) gender equivalency.
C) gender equality.
D) none of the above

36. A key center of Islamic learning and culture in West Africa was the city of
A) Malacca.
B) Timbuktu.
C) Benin.
D) Igbo.

37. The European Renaissance began in present-day
A) Italy.
B) Germany.
C) France.
D) England.

38. The Chinese admiral _________ captained a large imperial fleet into the Indian Ocean as far as the East African coast.

39. In 1497, the Portuguese explorer _________ launched a voyage that took him around the tip of South Africa and into the Indian Ocean.

40. The _________ Empire was the most impressive and enduring of the new Islamic states of the fifteenth century.




Essay Questions: 10 points each

Instructions- Answers must clearly express your opinions, while providing historical evidence to explain why you think the way you do. Please write one to two extremely detailed paragraphs. Essays may be either typed and/or legibly handwritten.

1. Personal Reflection: Do you find convincing the long-established interpretation of pastoral societies being a destructive force in human history?


2. Personal Reflection: Of all the fifteenth-century societies explored in Chapter 13, which would you have preferred to live in, and why?