Test Chapters 19 –21
Directions:
Answer the following questions with at least three complete paragraphs for each.
Use the Bentley Traditions and Encounters as a primary source but if you also use another resource
please indicate what resource at the end of the question.
Each answer is worth 20 points.
Choose 5 of the 6 questions to answer.
This must be typed, double spaced and questions must be numbered.
This must be turned in by 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, November 25.
Points will be deducted if late.
1. Consider the northern Italian city-states that emerged during this period. How did they become so
successful and prosperous? What roles did they play in the economy, politics, and religion of Europe?
2. Some historians believe that the institutional foundations of modern Europe (and by extension North
America) first appeared during this period. What political, economic, and social institutions can you see
emerging of during this period? Explain their beginnings.
3. What aspects of Mexica society made them vulnerable to attack with the arrival of the Spanish in the
sixteenth century?
4. Compare the Aztec and Inca societies with those of the Pacific islands. What were the similarities?
What were the significant differences?
5. What are some of the common elements in the process of European state building? What specific
measures did the national monarchies take in order to establish and maintain their authority? Who did
they need to control?
6. Try to imagine the impact of a catastrophe such as the bubonic plague on European society. How did
people behave? What was the impact on social relations? (Consider this: How would you behave in such
a crisis? Would you live your life any differently?)