View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why does Nxumalo decide not to return to his home village after seeing Zimbabwe?
(a) The journey back home would be too perilous.
(b) Zimbabwe is more exciting than his village.
(c) He has fallen in love with a woman from Zimbabwe.
(d) He can make more money in Zimbabwe.

2. What does Mfecane mean?
(a) The crushing.
(b) Blessings of the gods.
(c) The great warrior.
(d) Death.

3. What does the king of Zimbabwe put Nxumalo in charge of moving?
(a) The royal palace.
(b) The city of Zimbabwe.
(c) The diamond mine.
(d) The gold mine.

4. To what prosperous trade center does Malacca open access?
(a) The Spice Islands.
(b) China.
(c) Spain.
(d) Zimbabwe.

5. When Nxumalo gains the king's attention, what new job is he given?
(a) Dream interpreter.
(b) Head scribe.
(c) Physician.
(d) Supervision of the gold mines.

Short Answer Questions

1. What outcast from the Langeni does Nxumalo meet once he leaves his own tribe?

2. Why does Naoka initially reject Gao as a prospective husband?

3. Who asks Hilary Saltwood to serve as a character witness for him, and help him defend himself against the Black Circuit commision's charge of cruelty and murder?

4. What marks the territory of each individual family in Gumsto's clan?

5. What does Hilary Saltwood name his church?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do the Dutch respond when Chinese workers are recruited to work the mines?

2. What is the significance of Zimbabwe's origins to Cecil Rhodes' arguments for English rule of South Africa?

3. Explain the trade established between the city of Zimbabwe and the Arabians.

4. What is Willem Van Doorn's relationship with Jack, the Hottentot tribesman, and how does this relationship bring Willem into conflict with the Dutch leadership in the settlement?

5. Explain how Tjaart Van Doorn goes from having everything at the beginning of Chapter Eight to losing everything.

6. Who is Pik Prinsloo, and what exciting find does he make in 1978?

7. What is Willem Van Doorn's relationship with Ateh the slave girl?

8. What does the imagery of the opening pages of The Covenant, with animals grazing around a dying watering hole, convey about South Africa?

9. Why does Vera, the woman Richard Saltwood finds to marry his brother, Hilary, decide not to marry Hilary?

10. How does the white race respond to apartheid in South Africa under Detleef Van Doorn's new laws?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 924 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample