American History Unit 1

Question 1

Communities of people who move from place to place, relying on plants and animals found in the wild for food.

Answer 1

Nomadic hunter-gatherers

Question 2

The movement of a number of people (or animals) often to establish a new homeland

Answer 2

Migration

Question 3

The land connecting the northeast tip of Asia and present day Alaska

Answer 3

Bering Land Bridge (or Beringia)

Question 4

The area now called Central America

Answer 4

Mesoamerica

Question 5

The way a society behaves and it’s system of beliefs, laws, and customs

Answer 5

Culture

Question 6

An early form of corn

Answer 6

Maize

Question 7

A group of people living together as a group

Answer 7

Society

Question 8

An advanced and complicated society

Answer 8

Civilization

Question 9

Government where the priests are in charge

Answer 9

Theocracy

Question 10

What was Beringia? Where was it located?

Answer 10

Beringia was the land bridge between Asia and North America

Question 11

Why did people first come to the Americas? Why did they stop?

Answer 11

People were following animal migrations, but they stopped when Beringia was covered by water when the glacial period ended

Question 12

How do cultures become different from one another?

Answer 12

It happens over time, as they are separated from their roots and develop new traditions

Question 13

What is a nomadic hunter-gatherer society?

Answer 13

People who move regularly, and hunt and gather for food

Question 14

How did innovations in farming affect societies?

Answer 14

With food produced in one place, sedentary living increased

Question 15

What is one invention of the Maya people?

Answer 15

A calendar, canals

Question 16

What is Theocracy?

Answer 16

A government controlled by priests

Question 17

What was the capital of the Aztec Empire? When was it founded?

Answer 17

Tenochtitlan, founded 1325 CE

Question 18

What was the language of the Inca Empire?

Answer 18

Quechua

Question 19

Means “ancient ones”

Answer 19

Anasazi

Question 20

A kind of clay still used for building in the southwest

Answer 20

Adobe

Question 21

The millions of people who settled in what is now the U.S. and Canada

Answer 21

Native Americans

Question 22

Name three types of homes that the Anasazi created

Answer 22

Pit houses, pueblos, and cliff dwellings

Question 23

How did the Mound Builders use mounds?

Answer 23

To be used as temples and tombs

Question 24

What was Cahokia?

Answer 24

The largest settlement of the Mississippian people

Question 25

What was a major factor in the differences between the cultures of Native American tribes?

Answer 25

Where they lived: climate, geography, and resources

Question 26

What is an example of a nomadic Native American tribe?

Answer 26

Blackfoot/Apache/Comanche/Dakota

Question 27

What was the Iroquois League?

Answer 27

An alliance of northeastern tribes

Question 28

Which tribes were members of the League and when did it form?

Answer 28

The Cayuga, Onondaga, Seneca, Mohawk, and Oneid created the League in the 1500s: the Tuscarora joined in 1722

Question 29

A route that linked China and the West

Answer 29

Silk road

Question 30

A period characterized by growing knowledge and innovations in technology

Answer 30

Renaissance

Question 31

Device that improved the safety and efficiency of ocean travel by determining direction

Answer 31

Magnetic Compasses

Question 32

A current that moves clockwise between Europe and the Caribbean

Answer 32

North Atlantic Current

Question 33

A current that travels counterclockwise between Africa and South America

Answer 33

South Atlantic Current

Question 34

Small sailing ships that were speedy and maneuverable, and could sail into the wind

Answer 34

Caravels

Question 35

Nine expeditions by Europeans to win back control of their holy sites from the Muslims

Answer 35

The Crusades

Question 36

Built a school of navigation in the 1400's but didn't do any exploring himself

Answer 36

Prince Henry the Navigator

Question 37

Capital of Portugal

Answer 37

Libson

Question 38

Sail around (think circle)

Answer 38

Circumnavigate

Question 39

Resistance to a disease or sickness, particularly due to previous exposure to the germs

Answer 39

Immunity

Question 40

Person appointed by a king or queen to rule an area on his or her behalf

Answer 40

Viceroy

Question 41

A royal grant of land, including all people on it

Answer 41

Encomienda

Question 42

Persons from the peninsula of Spain

Answer 42

Peninsulares

Question 43

The first generation born to Spanish parents

Answer 43

Creoles

Question 44

Of mixed European and American race

Answer 44

Mestizos

Question 45

Large estates

Answer 45

Haciendas

Question 46

Large farms raising cash crops

Answer 46

Plantations

Question 47

A plant that farmers grow to make money

Answer 47

Cash Crop

Question 48

A water route through North America

Answer 48

Northwest Passage

Question 49

To revolt or rebel against authority, especially by sailors against their officers

Answer 49

Mutiny

Question 50

Permission from the monarch to start a colony

Answer 50

Charter

Question 51

Why did the Portuguese want to sail directly to India?

Answer 51

They wanted to cut out the middleman in their trade

Question 52

Why did Christopher Columbus have trouble getting funding?

Answer 52

Nobody knew how far it was if you sailed west from Europe

Question 53

Why is Portuguese spoken in Brazil?

Answer 53

Spain and Portugal agreed in the Treaty of Tordesillas that that land would belong to Portugal

Question 54

What does it mean to "circumnavigate" something?

Answer 54

To sail around it

Question 55

What was the Columbian Exchange?

Answer 55

The exchange of plants, animals, and germs between the two hemispheres

Question 56

How did the conquistadors conquer entire empires with only a few hundred soldiers?

Answer 56

They had surprise, the support of oppressed locals, technology, and immunities

Question 57

Although the Northwest Passage wasn't found by early explorers, what were two resulting explorations?

Answer 57

Example: John Cabot landed in Newfoundland, Canada and Henry Hudson explored the Hudson River

Question 58

How did the defeat of the Spanish Armada affect colonization of the Americas?

Answer 58

Spain could no longer enforce the Treaty of Tordesillas and its monopoly on colonization