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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. What are the environmental problems with many of Latin America's cash crops?

2. What resource is exploited in modern-day Potosi?

3. What was the great Aztec capital city?

4. What do coffee and petroleum have in common?

5. What are the origins of the Indian women's style of dress?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why was guano, or nitrate, so valuable to Europeans?

2. What illegal activity costs Brazil upwards of $100 million a year?

3. What is responsible for the collapse of Brazil's rubber industry?

4. Describe some of the technological accomplishments of the original inhabitants of Latin American--the Mayans, Incas, and Aztecs.

5. Why was a US government geological survey conducted of the Brazilian Amazon?

6. Why, according to the author, has the USA avoided many of the problems Latin America has faced?

7. Though coffee and petroleum are invaluable on a world market, why does Latin America still not profit from having these resources in abundance?

8. What were some of the factors in the conquistadors' victory over the native peoples of America?

9. What is the significance of the rainbow in Haiti?

10. What is a "pongo"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

"The internal market, limited by the poverty of the masses, cannot sustain the development of manufacturers beyond certain limits" (p. 169). How is this quote applicable again and again in Latin American history? Find three situations where this quote proves true, and unpack the reasons why.

Essay Topic 2

South America took the brunt of foreign interest ever since Columbus landed, but how was Central America drawn into the fray? What Central American exports continue to be of value to the international market? How was the land in Central America seized? Who is William Walker and what was his role in Central America? What was the situation in Nicaragua, and who was Jorge Ubico?

Essay Topic 3

Think about the phrase "History repeats itself." Do you think history really repeat itself? Why or why not? Use examples from the text to support your argument. Include specific cases in Latin American history.

(see the answer keys)

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