Topic 3 AP Exam Practice

Multiple-Choice Questions

Questions 1 to 3 refer to the passage below.

“And so at the rumor of the rich deposits of mercury . . . in the years 1570 and 1571, they started the construction of the town of Huancavelica de Oropesa in a pleasant valley at the foot of the range. It contains 400 Spanish residents, as well as many temporary shops of dealers in merchandise and groceries, heads of trading houses, and transients, for the town has a lively commerce. . . . Up on the range there are 3,000 or 4,000 Indians working in the mine. . . . The ore was very rich black flint . . . and when they have filled their little sacks, the poor fellows, loaded down with ore, climb up those ladders or rigging, some like masts and others like cables, and so trying and distressing that a man empty-handed can hardly get up them.”

Antonio Vazquez de Espinosa, Compendium and Description

of the West Indies, 1622

1. The excerpt implies that Espinosa felt

(A) sympathy for those working in the mine
(B) loyalty to the Spanish government
(C) concern for the souls of the indigenous population
(D) interest primarily in making profits from the mine

2. The conditions faced by the Indian laborers described in the passage were most similar to those of

(A) enslaved Africans in North America
(B) bureaucrats serving in Song China
(C) guild members in European cities
(D) merchants involved in the trans-Saharan trade

3. What impact did the products of mines described in the passage, along with metals extracted from other mines, have on Spain and the rest of the world?

(A) It enabled the Spanish navy to defeat the English navy in 1588.
(B) It resulted in inflation and a worldwide devaluation of silver.
(C) It caused gold to become the new form of worldwide currency.
(D) It allowed many South Americans to move to Europe.

Short-Answer Questions

1. Use the passages below to answer all parts of the question that follows.

“On the evening of October 11, 1492. . . . The two worlds [Old and New world], which God had cast asunder, were reunited, and the two worlds, which were so very different, began on that day to become alike. That trend toward biological homogeneity is one of the most important aspects of the history of life on this planet since the retreat of the continental glaciers.”

Alfred W. Crosby Jr., The Colombian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492 (1972)

“Maize was the most important grain of the American Indians in 1491, and it is one of the most important grain sources in the world right now. It is a standard crop of people not only throughout the Americas, but also southern Europe. It is a staple for the Chinese. It is a staple in Indonesia, throughout large areas of Africa. If suddenly American Indian crops would not grow in all of the world, it would be an ecological tragedy. It would be the slaughter of a very large portion of the human race.”

Alfred W. Crosby Jr., Smithsonian.com, October 4, 2011

(A)(A) Describe Crosby’s argument about the interactions that occurred between the Americas and Europe/Africa in the period c. 1450–c. 1750.

(B)(B) Explain ONE way in which the biological impact referred to in the passage differed from other encounters between the Americas and Europe/Africa in the period c. 1450–c. 1750.

(C)(C) Explain ONE historical situation in the period 1450–1750, other than the one illustrated in the passage, in which states experienced environmental impact.

2. Answer all parts of the question that follows.

(A)(A) Explain ONE way in which disease transformed the Americas, Africa, and Europe in the period c. 1450–c. 1750.

(B)(B) Explain ONE way in which commodities affected economies in the Americas, Africa, and Europe in the period c. 1450–c. 1750.

(C)(C) Explain ONE way in which European practices affected the environment in the Americas in the period c. 1450–c. 1750.

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