Early American History Quiz Answers: Indigenous Peoples and Colonization

Posted on Nov 28, 2025 in History

Quiz Questions: Early American History

Agriculture and Indigenous Societies

  • Agriculture in North America: Arose nearly simultaneously as in Asia/Eastern Hemisphere.
  • The Three Sisters Crops: The crops most commonly grown by Native Americans, known as the “Three Sisters,” include all of the following *except*: Wheat.
  • Native American Ancestry/Descent: The best term to describe this is: Matrilineal.
  • Largest City in the Mississippian Empire: Cahokia.
  • Native American Group in Chaco Canyon: Pueblo.
  • Native American Property Rights: Most Native Americans understood property rights as primarily relating to the concept of: Active use.

European Exploration and Contact

Maritime Advancements and Spanish Conquest

  • Portuguese Sea Power: Under Prince Henry the Navigator, the Portuguese emerged as an early sea power. The invention that contributed to Portuguese seafaring was the: Astrolabe.
  • Columbus’s Flag: Christopher Columbus sailed under the flag of: Spain.
  • First Native Group Encountered by Columbus: Arawaks.
  • Spanish Conquest of Aztecs: Essential to the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs were: All of the Above.
  • Mortality After Contact: In the 130 years after contact, approximately what proportion of Native Americans had died?: 95%.
  • Columbian Exchange Crops to Europe: All of the following crops were first introduced to Europe through the Columbian Exchange *except*: Grapes.

Historical Interpretation and Primary Sources

  • “The 1619 Project”: This suggests that: History is a dynamic and contested process by which an understanding of the past is formed and reformed.
  • Bartolomé de Las Casas (Primary Source): Stated that: Over 50 million indigenous people had died due to the Spaniards’ actions.
  • Author/Detail Match: Which of the following is a correct match between the authors and the details?: Columbus – (1); Morton – (2); Cabeza de Vaca – (3).

Later Encounters and Settlements

Florida, Southwest, and the Middle Ground
  • Most Powerful Sixteenth-Century Florida Group: Apalachee.
  • First Permanent European Settlement in the American Southwest: Santa Fe.
  • The Black Legend: The writings of which Spanish missionary most directly led to the development of the Black Legend?: Bartolomé de Las Casas.
  • Northwest Passage Goal: The Northwest Passage allegedly promised a water route to: Asia.
  • Iroquois Expansion and Algonquian Location: The expansion of the Iroquois pushed many Algonquian-speaking Indians into the “middle ground,” located in the: Great Lakes region.
Dutch and English Colonization
  • Religious Liberty: The European country that offered the most religious liberty was the: Netherlands.
  • Dutch Economic Activity in New Netherland: Trade with Indians.
  • Labor in New Amsterdam: The Dutch used: Enslaved Africans.
  • Treaty of Tordesillas (1494): According to this treaty: Land east of the Tordesillas Meridian, an imaginary line dividing South America, would be given to Portugal.
  • England’s “Golden Age” Monarch: England’s so-called “Golden Age,” which included the works of Shakespeare, occurred under the reign of: Elizabeth I.
  • Reasons for English Colonization (Hakluyt): In his 1584 “Discourse on Western Planting,” Richard Hakluyt listed the following reasons for English colonization of the New World *EXCEPT*: The New World resources could help England to defeat its main rival – Portugal.