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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. Which of the following is not an area very suitable for food production?
(a) Iraq
(b) The Cape region of South Africa
(c) The Argentine pampas
(d) The Pacific states in North America

2. Why was literacy important for the Spanish?
(a) It gave them more knowledge about the situation.
(b) It allowed them to sail to the Americas.
(c) It increased their faith in God.
(d) They were able to read the King's demands.

3. What crop was domesticated in Ethiopia before spreading around the globe?
(a) Teff
(b) Millet
(c) The coffee bean
(d) Manioc

4. Which of the following is not poisonous in the wild?
(a) Watermelons
(b) Eggplants
(c) Squash
(d) Lima beans

5. Independent food production began in how many places?
(a) Many places
(b) Only one
(c) Only one place on each continent
(d) A few

Short Answer Questions

1. What argument about the mass extinction of large mammals does Diamond argue against?

2. Germs from what produced epidemics in Native American and Australian societies?

3. When did the history of humans begin?

4. What influenced life in the island societies of Polynesia?

5. Some people have argued that those living in warm, humid climates were inhibited in their development by what?

Short Essay Questions

1. How are seeds dispersed?

2. How is the production of food related to the advantages of guns, germs, and steel?

3. What are some reasons why hunter-gatherers would adopt food production?

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

5. What are several stages in the development of plant domestication? Which plants were domesticated in each stage?

6. Why do some scholars argue that Europeans expanded and conquered others but China did not?

7. Why does Diamond believe that China was once more diverse than it is now?

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

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

10. Why did infectious diseases give some groups an advantage over others?

(see the answer keys)

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