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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. After forming his private investment syndicate, Ferdinand de Lesseps next obtains the Wyse Concession when he purchases the Turr Syndicate for $2 million to be paid how?
(a) All in cash.
(b) All in new company stock.
(c) 1/4 in cash, and 3/4 in new company stock.
(d) 1/2 in cash and 1/2 in new company stock.

2. Who ensures the 1879 Congris International d'Ytudes du Canal Interocyanique opens in May, the best time to be in Paris, has final say as to the agenda, rules, committee make-up, and entertainment?
(a) Ferdinand de Lesseps.
(b) Jules Flachet.
(c) Alexandre Gustave Eiffel.
(d) Admiral de La Ronciere-Le Noury.

3. Going past Panama swamp in late 1879, Ferdinand de Lesseps and others reach a huge, iron bridge washed out by the worst recorded flood at Barbacoas, so they cross the river how to board another train?
(a) Swimming.
(b) By canoe.
(c) By ferry.
(d) Using planks.

4. What 100+ edition, 1,000+ page book holding Jews responsible for all woes appears in 1886, and when the Compagnie Universelle fails, whose "history" of the firm is a best seller in 1890?
(a) Ferdinand de Lesseps' La France Juive and La Derniire Bataille.
(b) Ydouard Drumont's La France Juive and La Derniire Bataille.
(c) Madame de Bonnemains' La France Juive and La Derniire Bataille.
(d) General Boulanger's La France Juive and La Derniire Bataille.

5. What results from the six-month expedition led by Lieutenant Lucien Napoleon-Bonaparte Wyse that leaves France in early November of 1876?
(a) All had malaria, three died, and he calls for a nine-mile tunnel.
(b) All had yellow fever, one died, and two remained to pan for gold in the Bogotá River.
(c) All had cholera, six died in the jungle, and two died on the return trip at sea.
(d) All had heat stroke, one was temporarily insane, and two died.

6. Upon their arrival in Panama in late 1879, Ferdinand de Lesseps and his group take the train into the jungle and enter the valley of what wide, brown, looping waterway?
(a) Rio Grande.
(b) Rio Obispo.
(c) Panama River.
(d) Chagres River.

7. In late 1879, a large entourage sails to Panama arriving in what season?
(a) Dry.
(b) Rainy.
(c) Hurricane.
(d) Typhoon.

8. On his 1879 trip to New York, Lieutenant Lucien Napoleon Bonaparte Wyse travels to Washington and sees whom?
(a) Chief of Navigational Planning, Vice Admiral T. J. Miller; Secretary of State William Evarts; and President Rutherford B. Hayes.
(b) Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, Admiral Daniel Ammen; Secretary of State William Evarts; and President Rutherford B. Hayes.
(c) Director of Naval Archives, Christian Francis Stephenson; Secretary of State William Evarts; and Ulysses S. Grant.
(d) Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, Admiral Daniel Ammen; Secretary of State William Evarts; and President James A. Garfield.

9. Who rebuilds Colon after it goes up in flames, killing 18 and leaving some 8,000 homeless?
(a) Railroad officials.
(b) French engineer officials.
(c) U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
(d) "Seabees" (construction battalions of the Civil Engineer Corps of the U.S. Navy).

10. An initial stock offering after the1879 Congris International d'Ytudes du Canal Interocyanique goes poorly, so Ferdinand de Lesseps gives back investors' funds, has another issue offered, and declares what?
(a) He will depart for Panama with a team of experts by October 1879.
(b) He will complete the survey required by the Wyse Concession.
(c) The survey requirement of the Wyse Concession is void.
(d) A double return within three years is guaranteed.

11. As the U.S. establishes a naval base at Cuba, annexes Hawaii, and acquires Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico, the canal Theodore Roosevelt has been advocating becomes what?
(a) Enormously popular.
(b) Enormously unpopular.
(c) Of minimal concern.
(d) Of concern.

12. After leaving the bottom lands of Panama in late 1879, while en route to Panama City, the Ferdinand de Lesseps entourage follow what river toward the summit at Culebra?
(a) Rio Grande.
(b) Chagres River.
(c) Rio Obispo.
(d) Panama River.

13. The Chamber of Deputies is lobbied by stockholders to grant a Suez-style lottery bond issue proposed by Ferdinand de Lesseps, and he announces what?
(a) He will send noted engineer, Armand Rousseau, to independently inspect.
(b) A new director general will accompany noted engineer, Armand Rousseau, to independently inspect.
(c) He will accompany noted engineer, Armand Rousseau, to independently inspect.
(d) He will inspect Panama personally.

14. Although Lieutenant Lucien Napoleon-Bonaparte Wyse completes his trip to Bogota, Colombia, in mid-May of 1878, and subsequently conducts a preliminary trip to Nicaragua, where does the lieutenant travel next?
(a) New York.
(b) Washington, D.C.
(c) San Francisco.
(d) New Orleans.

15. Ferdinand de Lesseps is from a family entrenched in the diplomatic services, which he enters at age 19, and he becomes interested in construction of canals when?
(a) In the late 1820s while posted in Holland.
(b) In the 1830s while posted in Egypt.
(c) In the late 1830s while posted in Venice.
(d) In the 1840s while posted in Prussia.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which survivors enjoy lifelong immunity from the disease that comes and goes in waves?

2. A. G. Menocal tells the 1879 Congris International d'Ytudes du Canal Interocyanique he had been in Panama in 1875 planning a sea-level canal, but abandoned that idea when he grasped what?

3. Based on various exploratory expeditions through 1875, at least how many points in Central America are determined to be sufficiently narrow to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans?

4. A Compagnie Nouvelle du Canal de Panama is incorporated on October 20, 1894 and the liquidator extends the Wyse Concession through what year?

5. When Jules Dingler quits upon approaching mental and physical collapse and Maurice Hutin steps in for a month before resigning also, who becomes acting head of the entire effort?

(see the answer keys)

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