Chapter 01
The First Civilizations of North America

Multiple Choice Questions
 
1. (p. 3) Most modern archeologists would agree that the earliest inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere came from which of the following areas of the world? 
A. Europe
B. South America
C. Asia
D. the Arctic

Topic: Early Americans
 
2. (p. 3) About 15,000 years ago BP, which land bridge was used by migrants to cross between Siberia and Alaska? 
A. Bering Strait
B. Alaskan Strait
C. Siberian Strait
D. Straits of Asia

Topic: Early Americans
 
3. (p. 4) Which group was the first to build cities in the New World? 
A. Aztecs
B. Olmecs
C. Toltecs
D. Mayas

Topic: Early Americans

4. (p. 5) Both the Mogollon and the Hohokam peoples of the American Southwest tended to build their dwellings near which of the following? 
A. other villages
B. mountains
C. streams
D. sacred sites

Topic: Early Americans
 
5. (p. 5) Which of the following groups lived in what is now known as the Four Corners region of the United States? 
A. Woodlands
B. Hohokam
C. Ancestral Pueblo
D. Aztecs

Topic: Early Americans
 
6. (p. 5) The Mogollon, the Hohokam, and the Ancestral Pueblo were North American cultures from which region of the United States? 
A. Eastern Woodlands
B. Southwest
C. Great Plains
D. Great Basin

Topic: Early Americans
 
7. (p. 5) The Mississippian people were a culture from the 
A. Eastern Woodlands.
B. Pacific Northwest.
C. Great Plains.
D. Great Basin.

Topic: Early Americans

8. (p. 7) The Numic-speaking peoples were from which geographic region? 
A. Eastern Woodlands
B. Pacific Northwest
C. Great Plains
D. Great Basin

Topic: Early Americans
 
9. (p. 8) In which of the following areas did people live in a society with deep divisions among nobles, commoners, and slaves? 
A. Subarctic
B. Pacific Northwest
C. Great Basin
D. Eastern Woodlands

Topic: Early Americans
 
10. (p. 8) The inhabitants of which region moved from their summer fishing camps to berry patches in the fall, and into moose- and caribou-hunting groups in the winter? 
A. Eastern Woodlands
B. Subarctic
C. Great Plains
D. Pacific Northwest

Topic: Early Americans
 
11. (p. 8) What has proved to be the most important contribution of Native Americans to the course of human history? 
A. the domestication of large animals
B. the deforestation of the Great Plains
C. the manipulation of plants for agriculture
D. the development of pottery and other stone works

Topic: Innovations and Limitations in the Americas

12. (p. 8) What food, developed by Native Americans, forms the center of the contemporary American diet? 
A. corn
B. teosinte
C. beans
D. squash

Topic: Innovations and Limitations in the Americas
 
13. (p. 10) Which of the following was the most significant barrier to communication and technology transfer between groups in the Americas? 
A. lack of interest among inhabitants
B. groups that did not know of each other's existence
C. the perpetual state of war between groups
D. the north-south geography of the Americas

Topic: Innovations and Limitations in the Americas
 
14. (p. 11) Why were Native Americans spared the effects of most of the world's communicable diseases until contact with the Europeans in 1492? 
A. Until that time, they had eaten a nutrient-rich diet.
B. Until that time, they had not domesticated any animals.
C. Until that time, they did had not lived in large groups with close contact.
D. Until that time, they had rarely traveled out of their own communities.

Topic: Innovations and Limitations in the Americas
 
15. (p. 9) Recently, scholars have begun to find evidence of incredible manipulations of landscapes and environments in the least likely of places: 
A. the canyons of the Southwest.
B. the area now known as Mexico City.
C. the Amazon rainforest.
D. the Subarctic.

Topic: Innovations and Limitations in the Americas

16. (p. 10) One of the major logistical obstacles that hindered New World agriculture and advancement in comparison to the Old World was 
A. religion.
B. culture.
C. communication and technology.
D. illness.

Topic: Innovations and Limitations in the Americas
 
17. (p. 12) Which of the following, built around 1300, contained more than 2,000 rooms and had a water and sewage-removal system? 
A. Navajos
B. Ancestral Pueblo
C. Paquime
D. Pueblos

Topic: Crisis and Transformation in the Americas
 
18. (p. 12) The Muskogean speakers rejected hierarchical societies in favor of egalitarian ones as they matured into three great southeastern confederacies, the 
A. Iroquois, Algonquian, and Mohawk.
B. Creek, Choctaw, and Chickasaw.
C. Chickasaw, Mohicans, and Iroquois.
D. Choctaw, Creek, and Apache.

Topic: Crisis and Transformation in the Americas
 
19. (p. 12) The distinctive feature of Iroquois and Huron architecture was not the temple mound, but the 
A. pueblo.
B. tipi.
C. longhouse.
D. wigwam.

Topic: Crisis and Transformation in the Americas

20. (p. 13) The Algonquians were part of which cultural group? 
A. Eastern Woodlands
B. Subarctic
C. Great Plains
D. Southwestern

Topic: Crisis and Transformation in the Americas

Fill in the Blank Questions
 
21. (p. 3) A(n) ________ is a member of a group of people who have no fixed home and who move about, usually seasonally, in pursuit of food, water, and other resources. 
nomad

Topic: Early Americans
 
22. (p. 3) The emergence of new _________—climates, waterways, and land environments in which humans interacted with other animals and plants—made for even greater diversity in the Americas. 
ecosystems

Topic: Early Americans
 
23. (p. 3) The first inhabitants of the Americas hunted a vast array of huge mammals like mammoths and giant bison, otherwise known as _______. 
megafauna

Topic: Early Americans

24. (p. 4) Between the third and ninth centuries, the ________ civilization founded some 50 urban centers scattered throughout the Yucatán Peninsula, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. 
Mayan

Topic: Early Americans
 
25. (p. 5) The master potters of the American Southwest were the ________ people. 
Mogollon

Topic: Early Americans
 
26. (p. 12) The ________ was a distinctive feature of Iroquois and Huron architecture. 
longhouse

Topic: Crisis and Transformation in the Americas
 
27. (p. 5, 15) The adoption of ________ gave people in the Southwest and the Eastern Woodlands the security necessary to develop complex societies. 
agriculture

Topic: Innovations and Limitations in the Americas
 
28. (p. 13) The ________ lived along the Atlantic seaboard and the Great Lakes, in communities smaller than those of either the Muskogeans or the Iroquois. 
Algonquians

Topic: Crisis and Transformation in the Americas
 
29. (p. 5-6) ________ was the port city and hub of the Mississippian trading network. 
Cahokia

Topic: Early Americans

30. (p. 13) The Natchez practiced a(n) ________ form of kinship in which women owned land, tools, and even children. 
matrilineal

Topic: Crisis and Transformation in the Americas

Essay Questions
 
31. Explain how early peoples evolved into stable and secure cultures. 
Answer will vary

Topic: Early Americans
 
32. Explain how the emergence of ecosystems made for ever greater biological diversity. 
Answer will vary

Topic: Early Americans
 
33. Compare and contrast the early cultures of ancient Mexico. 
Answer will vary

Topic: Early Americans
 
34. Describe the early cultures of the American Southwest. 
Answer will vary

Topic: Early Americans

35. Analyze the differences between the cultures of the Pacific Northwest and the other Native American cultures in North America. 
Answer will vary

Topic: Early Americans
 
36. Analyze and explain the rise of agriculture and the worldwide spread of American crops. 
Answer will vary

Topic: Innovations and Limitations in the Americas
 
37. Explain why Native Americans were largely spared the effects of most of the world's communicable diseases until 1492. 
Answer will vary

Topic: Innovations and Limitations in the Americas
 
38. Describe the Americas on the eve of contact with European civilizations. 
Answer will vary

Topic: Crisis and Transformation in the Americas
 
39. In an evolutionary context, why were Native Americans at a disadvantage compared to Europeans? 
Answer will vary

Topic: Crisis and Transformation in the Americas

40. Discuss the historical detective work involved in tracking the movements of the earliest Americans. 
Answer will vary

Topic: Crisis and Transformation in the Americas