Deck 11: Crisis and Recovery in Afro-Eurasia 1300-1500

Question 1

Which of the following reflects a way that ruling families in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries consolidated their power after having established their legitimacy?

A) The rulers would overthrow the existing religious hierarchy and seize its wealth.
B) The rulers would enact coercive laws and establish standing armies.
C) The rulers would prevent foreign entanglements by only marrying their heirs to people within their own states.
D) The rulers would preserve wealth by not investing in frivolous art or architecture.

Answer 1

The rulers would enact coercive laws and establish standing armies.

Question 2

What was the Western European Christian church's response to challenges to its authority following the plague?

A) The church threw its support behind one ruler for all of Europe.
B) The church demanded strict obedience and persecuted those who questioned its doctrines.
C) The church gave up its attempts to reassert its former secular powers.
D) The church became less hierarchical.

Answer 2

The church demanded strict obedience and persecuted those who questioned its doctrines.

Question 3

Which of the following describes the reason the Ottoman sultan created the janissaries?

A) The janissaries maintained steadfast loyalty to the sultan,while limiting the autonomy of provincial rulers.
B) The janissaries were a group of Sufis whose task was to spread mystical insights throughout the region,connecting the Sultan to Allah.
C) The janissaries were used as conscript labor in Ottoman building projects,such as the Topkapi Palace.
D) The janissaries,conscripted from Muslim villages,were meant to maintain the religious purity of the bureaucracy.

Answer 3

The janissaries maintained steadfast loyalty to the sultan,while limiting the autonomy of provincial rulers.

Question 4

Which of the following statements best describes the Ottoman rulers' stance toward regional differences within their territory?

A) They demanded strict conformity to the Shiite branch of Islam.
B) They were flexible and tolerant.
C) Their policies forced the Turkish language upon both Arabs and Europeans.
D) They abandoned control of rural areas to local authorities and focused their attention exclusively on controlling urban areas.

Question 5

Which of the following is credited with forcing pastoral peoples and plague-bearing rodents into closer contact with settled agricultural villages?

A) Advancing glaciers across the central Asian steppes
B) Soil depletion from over-farming of the central Asian steppes
C) Drought in the central Asian steppes
D) Warmer winters and rainy summers in the central Asian steppes

Question 6

Which of the following was the most important factor in the Ottoman triumph over their rivals?

A) Speaking Arabic allowed the Ottomans to communicate effectively with neighboring states.
B) All competing rivals of the Ottomans had been destroyed by the Mongols.
C) The Ottomans integrated diverse religious groups and adapted techniques of administration from the Byzantines.
D) The Ottoman expansion was characterized by state craft and trade,not warfare.

Question 7

Which of the following contributed to the political fragmentation of Western Europe-in contrast to China and the Muslim world?

A) Trade never rebounded after the Black Death.
B) Europe lacked a common religious tradition that could support its rulers.
C) Feudalism was revived in the late fourteenth century.
D) Europe lacked a unifying written language.

Question 8

In Western Christendom during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries,which of the following events exemplifies warfare between dynastic monarchies that attempted to consolidate their rule?

A) The War of the Spanish Succession
B) The Beghard Rebellion
C) The Hundred Years' War
D) The Fourth Crusade

Question 9

Which of the following is the best description of the economic impact of the Black Death on Afro-Eurasia?

A) South Asian societies were most disrupted by the Black Death,with the destruction of the Brahman caste.
B) The plague left much of the Islamic world in a state of near political collapse,destroying the Umayyad caliphate.
C) Infected victims died slowly,coughing blood and oozing pus from sores the size of tennis balls.
D) The deaths of many farmers led to food shortages,which in turn led to rapidly rising prices,work stoppages,and unrest.

Question 10

Which of the following people was famous for supporting Portuguese maritime expansion in the North Atlantic and along the coast of Africa?

A) Isabella of Castile
B) Prince Henry the Navigator
C) Joan of Arc
D) King João the mapmaker

Question 11

Which of the following was a major difference between the rulers of Spain and Portugal and the Ottomans?

A) The Ottomans appointed leaders of local religions to their governmental bureaucracy; the Spanish and Portuguese monarchs did not.
B) The Spanish and Portuguese rulers expelled or forced the conversion of members of other religions; the Ottomans permitted those with diverse religious beliefs to remain in their territories.
C) The Ottomans taxed overseas trade to fill the imperial treasury; the Spanish and Portuguese rulers did not.
D) The Ottomans used marriage as a way to consolidate their political power; the Spanish and Portuguese monarchs did not.

Question 12

To reestablish political order following the crises of the fourteenth century,ruling households:

A) stated that their power had a divine source.
B) turned to popularly elected councils and civil servants for support.
C) rejected support from traditional religious leaders because of the people's loss of faith in the answers they provided.
D) closed trade routes to concentrate on the problems of the local populace.

Question 13

Populations in both China and Western Europe succumbed to the plague in large numbers because both had:

A) been conquered by the Mongols and had no strong political structure.
B) suffered from years of famine and food shortages that had weakened the populations.
C) little settled agriculture.
D) large pastoral populations who spread the plague.

Question 14

Which of the following explains why South Asia was less severely affected by the Black Death than were China,Europe,or the Islamic world?

A) South Asian societies had escaped the Mongol conquest and were not directly linked to Mongol-controlled trade routes.
B) South Asians had a natural immunity to the microbes that caused the plague.
C) No rats live in South Asia because the climate does not support them.
D) Indian Ocean merchants were never hit by the Black Death.

Question 15

Approximately what percentage of the European population had died from the Black Death by around 1400?

A) 15 percent
B) 50 percent
C) 70 percent
D) 90 percent

Question 16

Which of the following did the rulers of Ming China,the Ottoman Empire,and Western Europe use to unify their expanded territories?

A) A single official language of governance
B) Centralized governments with strong bureaucracies
C) Overseas trade to generate revenue
D) Artists and architects who projected each ruler's grandeur and power

Question 17

Seeing themselves as "the shadow of God" on the Earth,Ottoman sultans:

A) forced all of their subjects to convert to Islam.
B) assumed the role of protector of holy cities in Greece and Italy.
C) funded construction of elaborate mosques.
D) made Arabic the official language of administration.

Question 18

Which of the following is a way that Christian rulers on the Iberian Peninsula attempted to consolidate power during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries?

A) They rejected the Catholic Church and aligned themselves with Greek Orthodox Christians.
B) They tried to establish closer ties to the other states on the Iberian Peninsula.
C) They channeled their subjects' religious fervor toward fighting the Moors.
D) They adopted a pacifist ideology and built a lasting state around it.

Question 19

Which of the following was used by the Ottomans to recruit followers?

A) The Ottomans offered freedom to all slaves,regardless of their religion,who joined their military.
B) The Ottomans ruled through tributary states,permitting local elites to remain in control.
C) The Ottomans promised wealth and glory to new subjects.
D) The Ottomans declared a holy war to push the Moors out of Granada.

Question 20

To consolidate rule over their conquered empire,the Ottoman sultans:

A) adopted Byzantine administrative practices while maintaining devotion to Islam.
B) left the protection of Islamic holy cities to the local inhabitants.
C) left the city of Istanbul to crumble while building their new imperial capital at Bursa.
D) embraced a warrior ideal,while shunning civil bureaucratic administration.

Question 21

Later Ming officials,in contrast to rulers in Portugal and Spain,viewed overseas expansion as:

A) an important source of government revenue.
B) a means of expanding the influence of the ruler.
C) a potential source of disorder and instability.
D) a means of expanding the reach of Buddhism.

Question 22

The main goal of Zheng He's voyages was to:

A) learn more about the cultures beyond China's borders.
B) generate scientific knowledge.
C) reestablish trade and collect tribute.
D) search for new lands in which to export the surplus population.

Question 23

Ming rulers strengthened their role in traditional rites and ceremonies to:

A) successfully undermine the practice of Confucianism among their subjects.
B) show that the gods favored the Ming.
C) eliminate civil and military cults as a threat to Ming authority.
D) ensure that farmers would pay their taxes to distant rulers.

Question 24

Following the devastation of the plague,which of the following responses was shared by Ming,Ottoman,and European elites?

A) The ruling elites of all three societies accepted limitations on their power to pacify the middle and lower classes.
B) The ruling elites of all three societies opened their countries to new religious groups.
C) The ruling elites of all three societies reverted to core traditions for guidance as they rebuilt.
D) The ruling elites of all three societies favored realistic portrayals of the human form in art.

Question 25

To project imperial power and grandeur,the Yongle Emperor of the Ming dynasty:

A) constructed the Forbidden City.
B) overthrew the Yuan dynasty.
C) began building the Great Wall.
D) began building the Grand Canal.

Question 26

Which of the following was a major milestone in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain?

A) The monarchs became politically isolated in Europe as other monarchs refused to make alliances with these "new" rulers.
B) The last Muslim stronghold in Spain-Granada-fell to Christian forces.
C) Spain instituted broad religious toleration so that Jewish learning and finance could be used to support naval exploration.
D) The Spanish economy oriented itself toward the Mediterranean to take advantage of new trade with the Ottoman Empire.

Question 27

Following the crises of the fourteenth century,which of the following was the most resistant to change?

A) Patterns of trade and commerce
B) Political systems
C) Feudalism
D) Religious and cultural systems

Question 28

The group that eventually drove the Mongols out of China was known as:

A) the Red Turbans.
B) the Yellow Turbans.
C) the Beghards.
D) the Uighurs.

Question 29

Rulers in both the Ottoman Empire and Ming China used monumental architecture to project imperial grandeur and power.

Question 30

In what way was the popular effect of the Forbidden City similar to that of Topkapi Palace?

A) Both created labor for unemployed peasants.
B) Both provided an educational center for training the bureaucracy.
C) Both showcased Mongol arts.
D) Both projected a sense of awe and power.

Question 31

Why did many European intellectuals turn to humanism as they attempted to rebuild their society following the devastation of the Black Death?

A) Humanism supported the scientific teachings of Islamic scholars.
B) Humanism provided more scope for secular individuals to act in a changing world.
C) Humanism adopted the ideals of the successful Ming bureaucracy.
D) Humanism endorsed traditional scholarship.

Question 32

In The Prince,Niccolò Machiavelli argued that:

A) the prince had a responsibility to demonstrate good morals to his subjects.
B) the main goal of the prince was holding and exercising power.
C) the prince should rule based on the principles of modern statecraft instead of moral or religious values.
D) the prince had a natural right to force religious uniformity on his kingdom.

Question 33

Which of the following statements best describes a way that the Hongwu emperor sought to reestablish order and consolidate his rule?

A) He built on the economic success and stability of the Yuan dynasty.
B) He tried to reestablish order and stability in China by supporting Islam,which the Mongol Yuan dynasty had introduced.
C) He chose bureaucrats because of their success on the restored Confucian civil service exams.
D) He faced the challenge of establishing foreign rule over the Chinese people by relying on the support of fellow Turkic tribesmen

Question 34

Why did the Ming dynasty abandon official support for oceanic expeditions after the death of the Yongle Emperor?

A) Markets for Chinese goods were saturated and overseas trade was in decline.
B) The Ming believed they needed to reallocate resources to prevent invasion from the north.
C) The Ming wanted to position themselves to more effectively defend against military threats from Korea.
D) European navies had conquered key Chinese ports in the fourteenth century,making maritime trade more difficult.

Question 35

In the late fifteenth century,Ferdinand and Isabella reacted to the Ottoman expansion by:

A) using the Inquisition to create a more homogeneous state.
B) opening new trade routes in the Mediterranean.
C) financing exploration along the western coast of Africa.
D) establishing a society where Muslims,Jews,and Christians lived in relative harmony.

Question 36

Emperor Hongwu's reputation for a harsh and cruel disposition was tempered in which of the following ways?

A) His wife,Empress Ma,was known for her compassion and emerged as the kinder face of the regime.
B) He placed governance in rural regions into the hands of sympathetic local leaders.
C) He emphasized social equality in order to earn loyalty from the marginalized members of society.
D) His prime minister took responsibility for the care of the poor.

Question 37

Which of the following was a major consequence of the Renaissance?

A) Peasants revolted against the feudal order in Western Europe.
B) The church regained much of the power it lost in the aftermath of the Black Death.
C) Italian ruling elites created city-states based on Athenian models of democracy.
D) A network that consisted of independent,educated people-and those who were not totally reliant on either the state or the church-developed.

Question 38

Identify the primary reason that many Renaissance scholars were able to access ancient Greek and Roman texts for the first time.

A) The persecution of Renaissance humanists in Spain forced them to move to Northern Europe,bringing their scrolls with them.
B) Rich patrons gave scholars money to purchase more books.
C) The use of the printing press made many more texts available to western scholars.
D) Muslim intellectuals fled to Europe after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire,bringing their texts with them.

Question 39

In Spain,a strong dynasty was created primarily through:

A) marriage.
B) warfare.
C) the leading role of the rulers of Granada.
D) the establishment of a merit-based bureaucracy.

Question 40

Rulers in the fourteenth century were unable to deal with or explain the causes of the Black Death.

Question 41

Compare the ways that the bureaucratic structures of the Ming and Ottoman dynasties supported the strength of the ruling family.

Question 42

Analyze the similarities and differences between the persistence of traditional belief systems in Ming China and Western Europe.

Question 43

The bureaucratic structure of the Ottoman Empire was much more extensive than that of the Ming dynasty.

Question 44

Compare Chinese and Portuguese maritime exploration in the fourteenth century.What were the long-term effects of each?

Question 45

Several contemporary paintings offer evidence that giraffes were included in the exotic tribute Zheng He brought back to China.

Question 46

Analyze the effects of the Black Death on Western Christendom and China.

Question 47

How did the basic tenets of European Renaissance humanism challenge political and religious assumptions?

Question 48

While the Ming,the Ottoman,and the Iberian kingdoms all acquired territory through military conquest,only the Ottomans and the Ming also pursued state-sponsored naval expansionism.