History of Early Civilizations Practice Exam
Course Introduction
History of Early Civilizations explores the emergence and development of the worlds earliest societies. The course examines the foundational civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, China, and Mesoamerica, focusing on their social structures, political organizations, economic systems, and cultural achievements. Through analysis of archaeological findings, primary sources, and scholarly interpretations, students gain insight into the factors that shaped early human communities and their lasting influence on global history. The course also addresses themes such as urbanization, technological innovation, religious beliefs, and the origins of written language.
Recommended Textbook
The World A History Volume 1 2nd Edition by Felipe Armesto
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Chapter 1: Out of the Ice: Peopling the Earth
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Q1) How did some societies perpetuate the foraging life after the Ice Age? How has the foraging life persisted today?
Answer: After the Ice Age, some societies perpetuated the foraging life by adapting to their changing environments. They developed sophisticated knowledge of local plants and animals, and utilized advanced hunting and gathering techniques to sustain themselves. Additionally, they formed social structures and cultural traditions that supported their foraging lifestyle, passing down knowledge and skills from generation to generation.
Today, the foraging life has persisted in some societies through the preservation of traditional practices and the continued reliance on natural resources for sustenance. While many societies have transitioned to agriculture and other forms of subsistence, there are still communities around the world that maintain a foraging lifestyle as a way of life. These societies often face challenges such as encroachment on their traditional lands and resources, but they continue to adapt and persevere in order to maintain their unique way of life. Additionally, there is a growing interest in foraging as a sustainable and environmentally friendly way of obtaining food, leading to a resurgence of interest in foraging practices in some modern societies.
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Chapter 2: Out of the Mud: Farming and Herding After the
Ice Age
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Q1) What were the relationships between foragers, herders, and farmers, and how did they develop over time?
In Perspective
Answer: not answered
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 NOT a reason to connect the development of agriculture with religion?
A) use of animals for sacrifice
B) use of plants in religious ceremonies
C) stories of floods and natural disasters
D) use of alcohol
Answer: C
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Chapter 3: The Great River Valleys: Accelerating Change and Developing States
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Q1) How did the development of government and religion in Mesopotamia compare with a similar development in the Indus River Valley?
Answer: The development of government and religion in Mesopotamia and the Indus River Valley had some similarities and differences. In Mesopotamia, city-states emerged with centralized governments ruled by kings, while in the Indus River Valley, there were large, well-planned cities with a more decentralized system of government. Both civilizations had complex religious beliefs and practices, with temples and priests playing important roles in society. However, in Mesopotamia, the gods were often seen as capricious and demanding, while in the Indus Valley, religion seems to have been more peaceful and less focused on appeasing angry deities. Overall, both civilizations developed sophisticated systems of government and religion, but with distinct differences in their structures and beliefs.
Q2) The Harappan writing that survives mainly
A) cannot be deciphered.
B) relates stories of heroes.
C) was used for religious texts.
D) records law codes.
Answer: A
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Chapter 4: A Succession of Civilizations: Ambition and Instability
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Q1) What elements do civilizations in the Andes and Mesoamerica share with early Eurasian civilizations? What differences are there?
Q2) When the Hyksos conquered Egypt, they
A) replaced the Egyptian gods and government with their own.
B) adopted the Egyptian religion and political system.
C) retained Egyptians as rulers and demanded only their tribute.
D) destroyed Egyptian culture and brought in a new language.
Q3) What role did external invasion and attack play in the collapse of civilizations in the Aegean World, Northern Anatolia, and Egypt? Why did Egyptian civilization survive these attacks, while the others were almost entirely wiped out?
Q4) Compare the transformations of Chinese and Egyptian civilizations. What common elements characterize their successful responses to change? In Perspective
Q5) How did the Zhou dynasty continue traditions that had been a part of the Shang dynasty? What new innovations were introduced?
Q6) What elements are common to the early civilizations of the Andes and Mesoamerica?
Q7) Why did Chinese civilization continue after collapse of the Shang dynasty?
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Chapter 5: Rebuilding the World: Recoveries, New Initiatives, and Their
Limits
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Q1) Assyria's empire was held together by A) fear.
B) love.
C) generosity.
D) good government.
Q2) Compare the Phoenicians and Greeks with the Assyrians and Babylonians. What did scattered colonizing peoples gain compared to imperial states? What did they give up in exchange?
Q3) Aristotle said that cities originated from A) families.
B) warfare.
C) religious associations.
D) trade.
Q4) Civilization in the Americas and sub-Saharan Africa was isolated from Eurasia mostly because of A) culture.
B) geography.
C) language.
D) lack of trade goods.
Page 7
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Chapter 6: The Great Schools
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Q1) What is meant by the term "axial age," and why is it an appropriate term for the intellectual developments of the ancient world?
Q2) A Chinese belief system that focuses on following proper ethical practices within a strict hierarchy is called
A) Daoism.
B) Legalism.
C) Buddhism.
D) Confucianism.
Q3) Which of the following lists of philosophers and religious leaders is correctly ordered from the oldest to most recent?
A) Confucius, Nyaya School, Zoroaster, Epicurus
B) Pythagoras, Mahavira, Zeno, Jesus
C) Zoroaster, Confucius, Nyaya School, Han Feizi
D) Jewish sages, Plato, Confucius, Epicurus
Q4) In the fragments of dialogues between sages and rulers that appear in the Vedas,
A) rulers sometimes defeat the arguments of the sages.
B) sages always defeat the arguments of the rulers.
C) sages simply lecture to the rulers.
D) rulers merely explain to sages the correct way.
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Chapter 7: The Great Empires
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Q1) 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.
Q2) What was the nature of the sea routes used by traders in Eurasia? What types of goods were traded over these routes? What effects did these routes have on state development?
Q3) With the growth and development of trade during the last centuries of the first millennium B.C.E.,
A) large states became too cumbersome to keep up with the change.
B) large states developed on a scale previously unknown.
C) large states developed with little connection to or interest in trade.
D) most states were detrimental to the development of trade.
Q4) Beyond the great Eurasian empires, other states and societies thrived. Can they justifiably be called "empires"? Why or why not?
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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) 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
Q2) The division between Shia and Sunni Muslims originally arose over A) an understanding of the nature of Allah.
B) how one should pray.
C) who should be caliph.
D) how Christians and Jews should be treated.
Q3) What was a situation common in both the Roman and Chinese worlds during the third century C.E.?
A) peace
B) civil war
C) economic growth
D) new military innovations
Q4) How was the world that recovered from the crises of the third through the seventh centuries a world of civilization?
Q6) What led to the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West? Page 10
Q5) 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) Of the foreign merchant communities in Guangzhou (Canton) in 879 C.E., the largest was
A) Buddhist.
B) Christian.
C) Muslim.
D) Jewish.
Q2) How did the Muslim and Buddhist faiths change or modify their practices in order to attract new followers?
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) Why does monastic practice not exist in the Islamic faith? What has taken the place of a monastic movement in Islam?
Q5) How did the Christian church change or modify its practices in order to attract new followers?
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Q6) What doctrinal or practical accommodations did Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism make with the exercise of violent force by its believers?
Chapter 10: Remaking the World: Innovation and Renewal
on Environmental Frontiers in the Late First Millenium
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Q1) What policies did the early rulers of Japan engage in that encouraged greater productivity?
Q2) Which of the following were crops that were transmitted to West Africa as a result of exchange with the Muslim world?
A) sorghum and yams
B) taro and cacao beans
C) cotton and limes
D) potatoes and oranges
Q3) The transfer of new foods from the Islamic to the Christian world was
A) rapid.
B) slow.
C) rapid at first, but slow later.
D) non-existent.
Q4) 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
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) In the region dominated by the Mixtec culture, civilization was characterized by
A) large, densely inhabited cities and elite craftsmen.
B) elite craftsmen, but a lack of any community life.
C) large cities, but a lack of literacy.
D) small communities with a literate class.
Q2) 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.
Q3) To appeal to the gods to gain safe passage on the sea, Japanese voyagers would reportedly
A) sacrifice animals.
B) sacrifice people.
C) fling tokens from the ships.
D) leave matters to fate and not worry.
Q4) What effect did the connection with the Indian Ocean region have on the development of Ethiopia?
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Chapter
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Q1) What was the nature of art and learning in the Byzantine Empire? What sort of art and learning was valued by its artists and scholars?
Q2) What were relations like between the Byzantine Empire and its neighbors? How did the Byzantines deal with conflicts that arose between themselves and those on its frontiers?
Q3) What was the appeal of Sufism for many Muslims? Why was it rejected by much of the elite in the Islamic Empire?
Q4) The majority of the wealth of the Byzantine Empire was based on A) tribute from neighboring states.
B) military conquest of new territories.
C) agriculture and trade.
D) private commercial ventures.
Q5) One nomadic people of the steppe that were successfully integrated into Europe was the
A) Magyars.
B) Mongols.
C) Turks.
D) Uighurs.
Page 15
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Chapter 13: The World the Mongols Made
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Q1) The Mongols attempted and failed to maintain control over A) the islands of Java.
B) Japan.
C) Vietnam.
D) All the answers are correct.
Q2) In what regions did Latin Christendom expand during the period of the early Mongol expansion?
A) Middle East and Spain
B) Prussia and North Africa
C) Finland and Estonia
D) Britain and Spain
Q3) The battle of Ain Jalut in 1260 between the Mongols and the Mamluks is significant because
A) it allowed the Mongols to establish their rule in the Middle East.
B) it ended the existence of the crusader states.
C) it limited the Mongol advance to the West.
D) it ended the Mongol advance into Europe.
Q4) What were the overall effects that the creation of the Mongol Empire had on the history of Eurasia?
Q5) How did the Mongols manage and expand trade across the Silk Roads?
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) What moral, social, and political effects did the plague have on fourteenth-century China?
Q2) Who were the "winners" and "losers" in the plague years (other than the immediate survivors and victims)?
Q3) Why is it unlikely that the frequent epidemics in China between the 1320s and 1360s were the bubonic plague familiar to modern medicine?
A) There was insufficient contact between regions for it to be the same pathogen.
B) Contemporary accounts refer to a different illness.
C) There were no black rats in China during this period.
D) The suddenness and virulence of the disease suggests a new pathogen.
Q4) Explain the process of climate change and its consequences on agriculture and habitation in Europe and Eurasia in the fourteenth century.
Q5) Which of the following is NOT a form of evidence for climate change?
A) the disappearance of water-demanding plants
B) population decline
C) the growth of glaciers
D) the size of tree rings
Q6) How was Japan affected by the plague?
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Chapter 15: Expanding Worlds: Recovery in the Late
Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries
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Q1) How did the rise of nationalism and the state system drive European expansion?
Q2) Zheng He was
A) a mercenary.
B) a Buddhist priest.
C) a Muslim leader of naval expeditions.
D) the founder of the Ming dynasty.
Q3) Which of the following problems did the Aztec Empire share with the Inca Empire?
A) conquered peoples were resentful and rebellious
B) expansion was so rapid it overwhelmed available resources
C) alliances were expensive and difficult to maintain
D) all of the above
Q4) Which of the following was an important source of wealth for the emerging Ethiopian empire?
A) trade in slaves
B) trade in grain
C) taxation
D) banking
Q5) Discuss the geographic and scientific challenges that affected the course of European maritime activity in the thirteenth through fifteenth centuries.
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