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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through DeSoto and the New World.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What happens when Montezuma asks his people not to fight back against the Spanish?
(a) He frightens the Aztecs and they run away.
(b) He is hit on the head by a stone, which kills him.
(c) He stirs the Aztecs to resist even more fiercely than before.
(d) He convinces the Aztecs to lay down their arms peacefully.

2. What happens when the Greenlanders fight with the people they meet in the New World?
(a) Helgi and Finnbogi save Freydis' life, rescuing her just as their enemies in the New World were about to kill her.
(b) The other Greenlanders begin to flee, but Freydis grabs a sword and fights so hard that she frightens their enemies into fleeing.
(c) The Greenlanders are defeated by the people of the New World and flee in shame.
(d) Eric the Red appears with a group of young Greenlander sailors, and the Greenlanders gain the advantage in the fight.

3. How does Montezuma try to get Cortez to stay on the coast and not enter the interior?
(a) He sends troops to attack.
(b) He sends poisoned food.
(c) He sends a threatening letter.
(d) He sends gifts to Cortez.

4. Toward the end of the introduction, Gregory quotes the following passage: "Question him in hell, O Muse, where he has gone, and when there is an answer, sing and make clear the reasons that he gave for that last blow. Why did he send his son into that tropic jungle and not go himself, upon so dangerous an errand?" Why does Gregory include this quote?
(a) To prove that Walter Raleigh was a coward.
(b) To show the lyricism of Williams' prose.
(c) To suggest that even Williams cannot answer all of history's questions.
(d) To demonstrate that history must judge the actions of historical figures.

5. How does De Soto keep his men alive when the maize crop fails?
(a) He gives each man 1/2 pound of pork daily.
(b) He writes to Spain for help.
(c) He sends the men out to hunt and fish.
(d) He rations corn.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who or what is Mabilla?

2. Which chapter does Gregory say is in some ways the product of the era in which it was written?

3. What does Gregory mean when he says that "if anyone is looking for the secret of their good health and the freedom they exert within an individual speech and manner, it may be found in their determination to 'stay at home,' to accept the roots of their being and to grow slowly to their own maturity."

4. What happens to Cortez when the Aztecs counterattack from outside the city?

5. How does Williams suggest that Ponce de Leon feels when he hears about Cortez and the wealth of Montezuma?

(see the answer key)

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