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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The ability of societies to have non-food producing specialists, like soldiers, was due to what?
(a) A capitalist society
(b) The ability to store food
(c) Large populations
(d) The ability to conquer other groups

2. Which Spanish conquistador first encountered the Incas?
(a) Francisco Pizarro
(b) Christopher Columbus
(c) Ferdinand Magellan
(d) Francis Drake

3. How does Diamond explain the mass extinction of large mammals in some areas?
(a) Germs introduced by humans
(b) A large large comet hit the earth.
(c) Humans killed or indirectly eliminated them.
(d) The ice age

4. Why were domesticated plants able to spread from the Fertile Crescent to nearby areas more easily?
(a) Differing amounts of rainfall
(b) They were already adapted to the climate
(c) Reindeer spread the seeds
(d) They were already adapted to the people's tastes

5. Because of its axis, food production spread more rapidly in which of the following?
(a) Africa
(b) The Americas
(c) Greenland
(d) Southwest Asia

Short Answer Questions

1. Most domesticated mammals have been what?

2. What weapon was used by the Incas?

3. Which of the following did the inhabitants of the Polynesian islands not share?

4. What advantage did horses provide?

5. What allowed the Maori to have specialists and warriors as part of their society?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was the biggest difference between the histories of Old World Europe and the New World Americas? Why was this important?

2. Why are the societies of Asia and the Pacific important according to Diamond?

3. Why did plant domestication and food production did not develop earlier in some of the ecologically better areas?

4. How did the domestication of animals give some societies an advantage?

5. What are some of the changes that have occurred in plants because of domestication?

6. Why does an early colonization date not ensure a head start, according to Diamond?

7. How did the ability to use domesticated plants and animals differentiate the Polynesian societies?

8. What is Diamond's objective in studying the societies of Polynesia?

9. What advantages did the Spanish have over the Incas?

10. Did hunter-gatherers adopt the crops and agriculture from neighboring groups or did invaders bring with them the knowledge and crops?

(see the answer keys)

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