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B. The World, 1450–1650 · The World, 1450–1650

The World, 1450–1650: Unit Review

A1.1 A1.2 A1.3 A1.4 A1.7 A1.8 A1.9 A1 A2 B1 B2 B3About 40 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can recall key facts, people and ideas from every lesson in this unit.
  • I can use the historical thinking concepts to explain developments in several world regions.
  • I can find which lessons I need to review.

Let's review!

In this unit you investigated the world from 1450 to 1650: Ming China; the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal empires; African states from Songhai to the Swahili coast; the Mexica and Inca; the Renaissance, printing, the Reformations and the beginnings of the Scientific Revolution; European exploration; the conquest and colonization of the Americas; First Nations and Inuit and early contact in what is now Canada; the Columbian Exchange; and the beginnings of the transatlantic slave trade. You practised the full historical inquiry process along the way.

This review has a few questions from every lesson. Try each one, then press Show answer to check.

How to use this review

Do two or three sections at a time. Write your answer before checking. For every question you miss, note why (forgot a name or date? mixed up two empires? did not explain the significance?) and reread that lesson's explanation and modelled example. Then try the 10-question quiz at the end. For the essay-style challenge questions in each lesson, practise writing a thesis first.

The world, 1450 to 1650: ten key dates (evenly spaced, not to scale)1453Constantinoplec. 1455Gutenberg Bible1492Columbus1498da Gama, India151795 Theses1521Tenochtitlan1526Panipat1571Manila1591Tondibi1644Ming falls
Ten turning points from four continents. Can you explain the significance of each one?
The three strand B expectationsB1: Contextsocial, economic andpolitical systems:Ming exams, timar,mit'a, silver, plantationsB2: Relationsgroups in contact andconflict: conquest,alliances, wars ofreligion, slave tradeB3: Identityideas, values, art,individuals: humanism,Reformation, Akbar,Great Law of Peace
Every lesson connected to one or more of these overall expectations, while strand A skills ran through all of them.
Just for fun

You have now met an emperor who wept over a melon, a sultan's beard that was "shaved", and moons named after a banking family. History is serious, but it is never boring.

The World around 1450: Thinking Like a Historian

1

Name the four historical thinking concepts.

2

Give the five credibility questions for a source.

3

Why is "Age of Discovery" a Eurocentric label?

Ming China and East Asia

1

What were the dates of Zheng He's voyages?

2

How were Ming officials selected?

3

Why did silver flow into China?

The Ottoman Empire: From Constantinople to Vienna

1

What happened on 29 May 1453?

2

What was the devshirme?

3

Why do many historians reject the "Ottoman decline" story?

The Safavid and Mughal Empires

1

Which religion did Ismail I make Iran's state religion?

2

Name two policies Akbar used to govern a diverse empire.

3

Which three empires are called gunpowder empires?

African States: Songhai, Kongo, Benin, Ethiopia and the Swahili Coast

1

Who defeated Songhai at Tondibi in 1591?

2

What did Afonso I complain about in 1526?

3

What do the Benin plaques record?

4

Which Swahili cities did the Portuguese attack in 1505?

The Mexica (Aztec) and Inca Empires

1

Name the three members of the Triple Alliance.

2

Compare Mexica and Inca rule in one sentence.

3

What are khipu?

The Renaissance and Humanism

1

What did Lorenzo Valla prove?

2

What is linear perspective?

3

What question did Joan Kelly ask in 1977?

The Printing Press and the Spread of Knowledge

1

What is the Jikji?

2

Why did movable type suit Europe especially well?

3

Give one criticism of Eisenstein's "printing revolution".

The Reformations and the Wars of Religion

1

What were Luther's 95 Theses mainly against?

2

What did the Council of Trent do?

3

Name two results of the Peace of Westphalia (1648).

Beginnings of the Scientific Revolution

1

What did Copernicus propose in 1543?

2

What did Galileo see around Jupiter in 1610?

3

Contrast Bacon's and Descartes's methods.

European Exploration and Maritime Empires

1

Who reached Calicut in 1498?

2

What did the Treaty of Tordesillas do?

3

Why did Portugal control ports rather than territory in Asia?

Conquest and Colonization in the Americas

1

Why do historians call the fall of Tenochtitlan largely an Indigenous war?

2

What was the colonial mita at Potosí?

3

Who argued at Valladolid in 1550 to 1551?

First Nations, Inuit and Early Contact in Northern North America

1

Who selects Haudenosaunee chiefs?

2

What does the Two Row Wampum represent?

3

What happened to the Wendat between 1634 and 1649?

The Columbian Exchange

1

Name two crops from the Americas and two animals from Afro-Eurasia.

2

How did sugar link the Columbian Exchange to slavery?

3

Who coined "Columbian Exchange"?

The Beginnings of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

1

Which island's sugar plantations became a model for the Americas?

2

Name two forms of resistance by enslaved people.

3

What did the Vatican repudiate in 2023?

Inquiry: Was 1492 the Turning Point? (and Skills for Life)

1

What makes a thesis strong?

2

Name three significance criteria.

3

Give two careers that use historical-inquiry skills.

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

Which empire's capital was Isfahan from 1598?

2.

Which pair is correctly matched?

3.

What did Gutenberg's system add to earlier printing?

4.

What principle did the Peace of Augsburg (1555) set?

5.

Which factor do many historians emphasize most in the fall of Tenochtitlan?

6.

Which statement about the Haudenosaunee Confederacy is accurate?

7.

Which consequence of the Columbian Exchange affected China?

8.

Why was the period 1450 to 1650 significant for the transatlantic slave trade even though most captives were transported later?

9.

Which is the strongest source to corroborate Cortés's letters about the fall of Tenochtitlan?

10.

Which inquiry question is evaluative?

For parents and teachers

How to use the results: each mistake points to a lesson to revisit.

  • Weak inquiry questions, or confusing primary and secondary sources → The World around 1450: Thinking Like a Historian.
  • Errors on the exams, silver or the end of the voyages → Ming China and East Asia.
  • Mixing up the devshirme, timar or 1453 → The Ottoman Empire: From Constantinople to Vienna.
  • Mixing up Safavid and Mughal rulers and religions → The Safavid and Mughal Empires.
  • Treating Africa as one place, or errors on Songhai, Kongo, Benin, Ethiopia or the Swahili coast → African States: Songhai, Kongo, Benin, Ethiopia and the Swahili Coast.
  • Mixing up tribute and mit'a → The Mexica (Aztec) and Inca Empires.
  • Errors on humanism, perspective or Machiavelli → The Renaissance and Humanism.
  • Believing Gutenberg invented printing → The Printing Press and the Spread of Knowledge.
  • Mixing up Protestant groups or treaties → The Reformations and the Wars of Religion.
  • Errors on Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo or method → Beginnings of the Scientific Revolution.
  • Errors on motives, voyages or Tordesillas → European Exploration and Maritime Empires.
  • Crediting the conquest to Spanish weapons alone, or errors on encomienda and mita → Conquest and Colonization in the Americas.
  • Errors on the Haudenosaunee, Wendat, Cartier or Champlain → First Nations, Inuit and Early Contact in Northern North America.
  • Mixing up which crops and animals went which way → The Columbian Exchange.
  • Errors on the origins of the slave trade or resistance → The Beginnings of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
  • Thesis, criteria or citation problems → Inquiry: Was 1492 the Turning Point? (and Skills for Life).

Tip: before a test, have your teen explain one event from each region using one of the four historical thinking concepts.