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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Some people argue that examining domination leads to what type of focus?

2. Australia was joined together with which other area at the time that humans arrived?

3. People in areas with a head start on food production gained what?

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

5. Which location did not see a mass extinction of large mammals that was as large as other locations?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Diamond believe that a shift in climate is not the best explanation for the mass extinctions of animals?

2. Why was a north-south axis a disadvantage in the domestication of plants?

3. How does food production relate to a greater population?

4. Why does Diamond object to many of the traditional views on the uneven distribution of wealth and power?

5. What advantages did the Bantu have over other African groups?

6. How are seeds dispersed?

7. Why did the developments happen later in the Americas than in Eurasia?

8. What misconceptions exist about the transition from hunter-gatherers to food producers?

9. What are the four stages in how diseases are transferred from animals to humans?

10. Where did writing develop and what was it like?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What influences a hunter-gatherer society to become food producers? What is surprising about this transition?

Essay Topic 2

What advantages did writing give a society? What was early writing typically used for? Using an example, show how writing gave one society an advantage over another.

Essay Topic 3

Why does Diamond use the Polynesian Islands as a test of his theory? What conclusions does Diamond get from his examination of these societies?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 945 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample