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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. When stating that "modern science differs from all previous traditions of knowledge in three major ways" (250), Harari states that one quality of modern science is its acquisition of what?
(a) Practical application.
(b) True knowledge.
(c) Immortality.
(d) New powers.

2. In what century did cannons emerge to become a decisive factor in battle?
(a) The fifth.
(b) The fifteenth.
(c) The ninth.
(d) The thirteenth.

3. What is hubris?
(a) Humor.
(b) An unreasonable and blasphemous show of confidence.
(c) A system of agricultural processes.
(d) Human ingenuity.

4. In what year did Magellan circumnavigate the earth for the first time?
(a) 1602.
(b) 1499.
(c) 1620.
(d) 1522.

5. History's first known money consisted of what material?
(a) Gold.
(b) Barley.
(c) Copper.
(d) Silk.

Short Answer Questions

1. Part Three of Sapiens is entitled "The" what "of Humankind" (162)?

2. In what year was King Richard the Lionheart struck by an arrow, leading to his death two weeks later?

3. To what author does Harari allude when stating the author's depiction of "the liberal regimes of nineteenth-century Europe" giving "priority to individual freedom" (165)?

4. The Aztec Empire at its pinnacle was much smaller than what modern-day nation?

5. Since around what year have most humans lived in empires?

Short Essay Questions

1. For what purpose does Harari include the painting called Franklin's Experiment within the chapter entitled The Discovery of Ignorance?

2. What does Harari see as the significance of the First Millennium BC?

3. According to Harari, how did the Scientific Revolution affect humankind's notion of progress?

4. What are the two broad features of history that Harari uses to determine why culture developed as it did?

5. What evidence does Harari use to demonstrate the profound effect that empires and their belief systems have had on history, even among those cultures that consider themselves anti-imperialist?

6. Discuss Harari's treatment of the phenomenon of imperialism.

7. What distinction does Harari make between biological poverty and social poverty?

8. What is the author's view of the existence of an authentic, pure, and untouched culture?

9. What evidence does Harari provide for his assertion that "the practices of empire-builders were entangled with those of scientists"? (296)

10. How does Harari support his position that history is moving toward more unified and complex cultures?

(see the answer keys)

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