Topic 5 AP Exam Practice
Multiple-Choice Questions
Questions 1 to 3 refer to the passage below.
“Ibn Battuta traveled primarily in Muslim-ruled lands, the Dar al-Islam [House or Abode of Islam], while the Christian Polo, son of a European merchant, lived and worked in countries whose cultures and religions were foreign to him. This difference makes a comparison of their works most interesting. Marco Polo’s knowledge of four Asian languages as well as Italian allowed him to communicate with foreigners and even work as an administrator for the Chinese emperor. Yet, in all his travels, he remained culturally an “outsider” to the peoples he met, and this fact enhanced his power of observation and stimulated his natural curiosity. By contrast, Ibn Battuta usually traveled as an “insider” and his hosts accepted him as a respected Muslim jurist [qadi] and student of Islamic mysticism [Sufism]. Traveling to more than sixty Muslim courts, where he met rulers and their officials, Ibn Battuta was able to judge the behavior of his hosts in light of the Muslim scripture, the Koran, and the precepts of Islamic law. For him, the difference between their native cultures and his own North Arabic culture was a secondary importance.”
Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta: The Merchant and the Pilgrim
1. Which of the following would have been most likely to “set the stage” for Marco Polo to have been able to travel to the lands that he did?
- (A) The Pax Mongolica
- (B) The voyages of Vasco da Gama
- (C) The conquests of the Umayyad Dynasty
- (D) The development of the printing press
2. Which of the following were most responsible for influencing the point of view of the travelers mentioned in the passage?
- (A) Religion and economics
- (B) Military and technology
- (C) Social hierarchy and governance
- (D) Religion and philosophy
3. Which of the following statements most accurately describes the difference in the worlds in which Polo and Ibn Battuta traveled?
- (A) Polo traveled to areas that shared his language and religion while Ibn Battuta traveled to areas that did not.
- (B) Polo traveled primarily to areas that were less prosperous than where he grew up while Ibn Battuta traveled primarily to areas that were more prosperous than where he grew up.
- (C) Polo traveled to regions very different from Europe while Ibn Battuta traveled mostly within the Islamic world.
- (D) Polo traveled to regions that Europe was closely connected to while Ibn Battuta traveled to regions that were not closely connected to his home region.
Short-Answer Questions
1. Use the passage below to answer all parts of the question that follows.
“The borrowing and lending necessary for most of the crusaders stimulated credit formation and the development of credit institutions and instruments. Indeed, the money economy as a whole must have been stimulated by these great enterprises which took so much money. The transformation of gold and silver altar ornaments into coin for crusaders may have helped to heighten the inflation that occurred during the Crusades, especially in the later 12th century. The sale of land to finance most assuredly helped to make the market in real estate which was bringing about a new social order in the age of the Crusades. The principal beneficiaries of all these financial transactions were the bourgeoisie, who loaned the money, bought the land, sold the provisions, furnished the transportation, and generally benefited from the financial activity of the crusaders.”
Fred Cazel, “Financing the Crusades,” 1989 .
2. Answer all parts of the question that follows.