Foundations of World History
Exam Materials
Course Introduction
Foundations of World History explores the major civilizations, events, and cultural developments that have shaped human society from prehistoric times through the early modern era. The course examines key themes such as the rise and fall of empires, the impact of religion and philosophy, trade and economic systems, technological innovations, and interactions among societies. Students will develop an understanding of the interconnectedness of global historical processes and learn to analyze primary sources, historical arguments, and cultural artifacts, laying the groundwork for the study of more specialized topics in world history.
Recommended Textbook
The World A History Volume 1 2nd Edition by Felipe Armesto
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15 Chapters
768 Verified Questions
768 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Out of the Ice: Peopling the Earth
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Sample Questions
Q1) The diets of Ice Age peoples were
A) poorer than the typical modern diet.
B) more varied than the typical modern diet.
C) better than the typical modern diet but lacking in vitamin C.
D) poorer than the typical diet of later developed societies.
Answer: B
Q2) Foraging produces cultures that are
A) almost indistinguishable from one another.
B) as different from one another as those of agrarian societies.
C) very different from one another, but less so than those of agrarian societies.
D) successful only in places with ecosystems that humans could easily dominate.
Answer: C
Q3) In foraging societies, it is common for
A) members of both sexes to share equally in hunting and gathering.
B) men to be the primary foragers.
C) women to be the hunters and men to be the gatherers.
D) men to be the hunters and women to be the gatherers.
Answer: D
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3
Chapter 2: Out of the Mud: Farming and Herding After the
Ice Age
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Sample Questions
Q1) Anthropological studies of modern cultures making the transition to agriculture in Botswana and Lesotho support the
A) abundance theory of the development of agriculture.
B) religious theory of the development of agriculture.
C) political theory of the development of agriculture.
D) population pressure theory of the development of agriculture.
Answer: D
Q2) People first began to cultivate foods in the Nile Valley about
A) 12,000 years ago.
B) 9,000 years ago.
C) 7,000 years ago.
D) 2,000 years ago.
Answer: B
Q3) Which of the following is true about early agricultural societies?
A) The food supply becomes more reliable.
B) Diet becomes more varied.
C) Social and economic inequality and exploitation grow.
D) Disease becomes less of a problem.
Answer: C
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Chapter 3: The Great River Valleys: Accelerating Change and Developing States
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Q1) In the Indus Valley, cities
A) were large, but few in number.
B) were many in number and had similar layouts.
C) were many, but had very different layouts.
D) were few in number and were built on grid plans.
Answer: B
Q2) Egyptian expeditions such as Queen Hatshepsut's mission to Punt reveal all of the following EXCEPT:
A) Despite the phenomenal wealth enjoyed by the people of Punt, they could not produce food in quantities large enough to export it to others.
B) Egyptian society produced such an abundance of grain that its Pharaoh could use it to purchase rare and expensive luxuries from other regions.
C) Egyptian naval technology was so immature that it required five vessels to transport a few incense trees back to Egypt.
D) Queen Hatshepsut ruled effectively as a Pharaoh aware of Egypt's power and position in relation to its neighbors.
Answer: C
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Chapter 4: A Succession of Civilizations: Ambition and Instability
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Q1) Compare the role of technology in the rise of complex states among the Minoans, Mycenaeans, and Hittites.
Q2) By what means could rulers gain regular revenue from local trade?
A) raiding
B) leaving merchants alone
C) buying goods from them
D) tolls and taxes
Q3) What elements are common to the early civilizations of the Andes and Mesoamerica?
Q4) Elements in the archaeological evidence suggesting that the Olmec were shamanistic are
A) depictions of captives.
B) figurines of were-jaguars.
C) inscriptions describing religious observances.
D) records of their mythology.
Q5) What role did environment play in the collapse of civilization in Harappa and China? Why was the degree and timing of the collapse of these civilizations so different?
Q6) Why did Chinese civilization continue after collapse of the Shang dynasty?
Q7) What factors contributed to the end of the Shang dynasty?
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Chapter 5: Rebuilding the World: Recoveries, New Initiatives, and
Their Limits
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Q1) Communication between peoples in Africa and the Americas was hindered by A) differences in climatic zones.
B) the failure of people to develop the wheel.
C) the lack of seaborne transport.
D) the lack of written languages.
Q2) What difference did Africa's connections to Asia make in its development in this period as compared to American developments?
In Perspective
Q3) The basis for the alphabet developed by the Greeks came from A) Egypt.
B) Phoenicia.
C) Mesopotamia.
D) the Greeks themselves.
Q4) In addition to the advantages Eurasian civilizations gained from greater connections to each other, what dangers or challenges did greater connectivity pose for them? Conversely, what advantages did American and African civilizations gain from relative isolation?
Q5) How did the reemergence of civilization in China compare with the new societies that developed in the Greek world?
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Chapter 6: The Great Schools
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Q1) The Jewish diaspora to Babylon began in
A) 700 B.C.E.
B) 680 B.C.E.
C) 580 B.C.E.
D) 500 B.C.E.
Q2) How are population density, density of communications networks, and social complexity related to the rise of axial age thinking? In Perspective
Q3) In what key ways did scientific and medical knowledge challenge old illusions about physical reality?
Q4) The Greek philosopher Epicurus believed that A) one should lead a life in pursuit of pleasure.
B) there are moral absolutes.
C) the key to happiness was participation in the life of the community.
D) the gods participate in our lives.
Q5) According to the Greek medical writer Hippocrates, disease could be explained A) by some natural causes and by oaths sworn by doctors.
B) by natural causes alone.
C) as a result of atoms swerving about.
D) as a result of acts of the gods.
Page 8
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Chapter 7: The Great Empires
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Q1) What were the main characteristics of the axial age in terms of philosophy and religion? Provide at least two examples.
Q2) During the period of the Han dynasty, the population of China
A) doubled in size, but continued to be concentrated along the banks of the Yellow River.
B) remained relatively constant and gradually expanded to different regions of the growing empire.
C) decreased in size because of famine, warfare, and disease.
D) tripled in size and was often forced to migrate to different places in an expanding empire.
Q3) The reason that Asoka paid his military leaders was
A) to provide them with wealth.
B) to give them a share of booty taken in battle.
C) to keep political power in his own hands.
D) to keep in step with tradition.
Q4) How did Rome interact with its neighbors during the last half of the first millennium B.C.E.?
Q5) What were shared characteristics of the early large states of Mesoamerica?
Q6) How did Shi Huangdi unite China into an imperial state?
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Chapter 8: Postimperial Worlds: Problems of Empires in
Eurasia and Africa, Ca 200 to 700 Ce
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Q1) The Emperor Marcus Aurelius favored
A) Christianity.
B) Stoicism.
C) Epicureanism.
D) Platonism.
Q2) In what ways was Teotihuacán similar to the great Eurasian empires? How was it different?
Q3) Germanic warriors during the early centuries were usually organized into
A) loose groups which swore loyalty to an individual.
B) large groups organized on similar lines of the Roman legions.
C) armies with a unique but centralized organization.
D) groups that held closely to traditional kinship structures.
Q4) What perennial problem did China share with Rome?
A) lack of educated people to serve in government
B) a primarily agricultural economy
C) an insecure method of succession for leaders
D) an inability to get foreigners to accept their culture
Q5) What were the consequences of the rise of Islam as a political and religious movement during the seventh to eighth centuries C.E.?
Page 10
Q6) What happened to China in the aftermath of the collapse of the Han dynasty?
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Chapter 9: The Rise of World Religions: Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism
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Q1) Which of the following is NOT common to Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam?
A) They each insist on monotheism.
B) Their founders left no writings of their own.
C) They prohibit forcible conversion.
D) They prohibit killing.
Q2) Of the foreign merchant communities in Guangzhou (Canton) in 879 C.E., the largest was
A) Buddhist.
B) Christian.
C) Muslim.
D) Jewish.
Q3) By the end of the eleventh century C.E., Buddhism was
A) becoming less popular in India.
B) being used by more Indian rulers to justify their rule.
C) developing more monasteries throughout India.
D) adopting the traditions of blood sacrifice to its practice in India.
Q4) How did the Muslim and Buddhist faiths change or modify their practices in order to attract new followers?
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Q5) How did the Christian church change or modify its practices in order to attract new followers?
Chapter 10: Remaking the World: Innovation and Renewal
on Environmental Frontiers in the Late First Millenium
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Q1) What served as a primary model and motivator for Charlemagne in his military expansion of the Frankish kingdom?
A) a desire to spread Christianity
B) the challenge of outdoing his predecessors
C) the memory of Rome
D) the Pope's call to spread his power
Q2) The Mayan civilization of Central America was characterized by the formation of
A) a great empire.
B) the first democratic state in the Americas.
C) a series of kingdoms that followed one after the other.
D) city-states.
Q3) What new technologies and extensions of settlement came about with the Islamic Empire?
Q4) Peoples in Central and South America
A) regularly were in contact with one another for trade, but seldom exchanged technological developments.
B) were often at war with one another for resources.
C) had little contact.
D) passed important technological advances like writing to one another.
Q5) What role did Charlemagne play in the expansion of the Christian world?
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Chapter 11: Contending With Isolation: Ca 1000-1200
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Q1) One of the great revolutions in the art of medieval Europe during the eleventh to twelfth centuries C.E. is
A) the naturalism of the depiction of human figures.
B) the new focus on the portrayal of scenes from classical mythology in churches.
C) the appearance of commoners in religious scenes.
D) the use of new types of oil paints.
Q2) What were the political effects of Japan's isolation during the ninth to twelfth centuries?
Q3) Despite its isolation from foreign threats, Japan came to be dominated by a warrior class. What does this tell us about politics in the twelfth-century world?
Q4) In eleventh century India it is particularly remarkable that
A) the Brahman caste had fallen from its place as the political elite.
B) the warrior caste was successful in expanding its power through the prosecution of a series of wars that created a large, stable empire.
C) the merchant caste presented themselves as warriors.
D) the peasant caste gained new political and social rights.
Q5) How did trade in the Indian Ocean connect peoples in Africa with Eurasia?
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Page 14
Chapter
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Q1) In what manner did the Islamic Empire integrate the Turkic peoples into its world?
A) It converted them and turned their military values to its service.
B) It either fought or bought them off.
C) It seduced them into their culture and convinced them to give up their language and traditions.
D) It allowed them to maintain their traditional ways and beliefs as long as they fought in the service of Islam.
Q2) In order to maintain peaceful relations with the neighboring Liao Empire, the Song Empire
A) maintained only a small army so as not to appear threatening.
B) paid tribute to the Liao.
C) had its children educated in schools in Liao territory.
D) kept common religious shrines and practices that emphasized a unity between the two powers.
Q3) The Dede Korkut portrays the Turkic peoples in
A) an epic story of love and peaceful achievements.
B) a series of hymns devoted to their gods.
C) an historic account of the early Turks' integration into the Islamic world.
D) an epic that celebrates their virility and violence.
Page 15
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Chapter 13: The World the Mongols Made
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Q1) How did geography hinder the development of the continent-wide empires in Africa and the Americas?
Q2) In terms of religion, twelfth-century Mongol communities largely practiced
A) Islam.
B) various religions.
C) Christianity.
D) Buddhism and Christianity.
Q3) The idea that excessive deference to authority was a cause of ignorance was held by
A) the Parisian professor Siger of Brabant.
B) the Franciscan monk Roger Bacon.
C) the Nestorian scholar Rabban Bar Sauma.
D) the Dominican monk Thomas Aquinas.
Q4) How did the Mongols affect the development of civilization in China, Persia, Russia, and India? What are two specific ways they had an impact in each of these areas?
Q5) Did the Mongols, as creators of their empire, benefit the most from it? Why or why not?
Q6) How did the Mongols come to play a unique and constructive role in the history of Eurasia?
Page 16
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Chapter 14: The Revenge of Nature: Plague, Cold, and the
Limits of Disaster in the Fourteenth Century
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Q1) From 1318 on, the Japanese Emperor Godaigo
A) sought to maintain stability by maintaining his traditional position and accommodating the warrior class.
B) became famous for his introduction of Zen Buddhism into Japan.
C) continued the fight against the Mongols.
D) attempted to take the power that the shoguns exercised in the emperor's name.
Q2) In his relations with his largely Hindu subjects, the Muslim Ibn Tughluq
A) was mostly tolerant of their religion.
B) discriminated against Hindus.
C) regularly forced conversions.
D) regularly destroyed Hindu religious sites.
Q3) Discuss how religious and political leaders sought to explain and respond to natural disasters such as the Black Death. Consider and compare social and political effects on Christian Europe, the Islamic world, and China.
Q4) What was the most effective remedy against the plague?
A) Armenian clay
B) abstaining from certain foods
C) quarantine
D) snake venom
Page 17
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Chapter 15: Expanding Worlds: Recovery in the Late
Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries
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Q1) A "Zimbabwe" was
A) a band of warriors.
B) a trade route through the desert.
C) a tribal leader.
D) an administrative center.
Q2) What is an example of the new economic divisions in the European peasantry that began to appear during the fourteenth century?
A) Peasants living west of the Elbe became freer.
B) Peasants living in the Balkans became freer.
C) Peasants living east of the Elbe became freer.
D) Peasants throughout Europe became poorer.
Q3) Both Incas and Aztecs saw themselves as continuing older traditions. In what ways was this correct, and in what ways did they innovate?
Q4) Explain the role of ecological imperialism in the success of large-scale state building in Mesoamerica and the Andes.
Q5) Discuss the geographic and scientific challenges that affected the course of European maritime activity in the thirteenth through fifteenth centuries.
Page 18
Q6) Explain the role of peasants in the establishment of the Ming dynasty.
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