AP European History

Exam review Questions – Volume 2

The New Monarchs, Exploration & 16th Century Society

  1. What are the dates of the “New Monarchs” period?C. 1460-1520
  2. What did “New Monarchs” do?Consolidated power and laid the foundation for Europe’s first modern nation states
  3. Name a characteristic of New Monarchies:
  1. Reduced the power of the nobility through taxation and confiscation of lands
  2. Reduced the political power of the clergy
  3. Created more efficient bureaucracies
  1. Who resisted / opposed monarchial power?
  2. Nobles resented the decline of political influence
  3. Clergy saw the pope as their leader, not the monarch
  4. Independent towns resisted more centralized monarchial control
  5. Which two countries fought the 100 Years War? England and France
  6. After the 100 Years War, what country was expelled from France?England
  7. Which family ruled France during the New Monarchies period?The Valois
  8. What was King Louis XI of France called? The Spider King
  9. Why?
  10. He dealt ruthlessly with nobles
  11. He increased taxes
  12. He exerted power over the clergy
  13. King Francis I forced an agreement upon the church where he had the power to appoint bishops to the Gallican (French) Church. What was the agreement called? Concordat of Bologna
  14. King Francis instituted a direct head tax on all land and property. What was it called? The Taille

England

  1. In England, the fight between the House of York and the House of Lancaster to gain the crown was called… The War of the Roses
  2. Who won the War of the Roses?The Yorkists (Thus began the Tudor dynasty)
  3. What family was Henry VII from?The Tudor family
  4. How did Henry VII reduce the influence of the nobility?
  5. Used the “Star Chamber” (secret trials)
  6. Nobles were tried without a jury, could not confront witnesses, were tortured
  7. Nobles were not allowed to have private armies with their own insignias

Spain

  1. Which two rulers united Spain?Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile
  2. Which term describes the Spanish goal of removing the last of the Moors and the Jews from the country in order to Christianize Spain? The Reconquista
  3. Some Jews converted to Christianity in order to avoid being deported in the Reconquista. Eventually some of those Jews were backsliding into Judaism. What were they called? Conversos
  4. Which Spanish movement targeted, tortured and put to death the Jewish Conversos who converted to Christianity, but were backsliding into Judaism? The Inquisition
  5. Who Conceived the Inquisition?Queen Isabella
  6. Which Dominican monk oversaw the Inquisition?Tomas de Torquemada

The Hapsburg Empire (Holy Roman Empire)

  1. How many semi-autonomous German states were in the Holy Roman Empire? About 300
  2. What nation was the center of Hapsburg power? Austria
  3. Why wasn’t the Holy Roman Empire a “new monarchy”? The emperor didn’t have centralized control. He couldn’t levy taxes or raise armies outside of his own hereditary lands.
  4. Who was the most powerful ruler in Europe n the 16th century?Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
  5. Why was Charles V the most powerful ruler of Europe?He controlled the Austrian Hapsburg lands while he ruled the Spanish Empire
  6. What city did the armies of Charles V attack in 1527?Rome
  7. What was the effect of the attack on Rome?It symbolically ended the Renaissance in Italy

The Commercial Revolution

  1. During the Commercial Revolution, what was the trend in prices?Long, slow upward trend in prices
  2. What caused the increase in prices? An influx of gold and silver into the economy
  3. Where did the gold and silver come from?The New World
  4. A new economic strategy emerged where countries tried to control all trade in their country. They also tried to control trade in their colonies so that they could gather as much wealth as possible for their own country. What was this economic policy called? Mercantilism
  5. There was also a rise in capitalism.
  6. Which new social class was created during the commercial revolution?The middle class (bourgeoisie)
  7. What family led the banking industry in Italy?The Medici
  8. What family led the banking industry in Germany? The Fugger
  9. Which Dutch city became a center of banking?Amsterdam
  10. A mercantile association of German cities and towns banded together to control trade in northern Europe. What were they called? The Hanseatic League
  11. Name a chartered company that had a monopoly on trade in certain areas of the world:The Dutch East India Company, The British East India Company
  12. When investors pooled resources for a common purpose, they created a… Joint Stock Company
  13. Stock Markets emerged during the commercial revolution
  14. When wealthy land owners enclosed their lands to improve sheep herding and supply wool for the production of textiles, it was called… The Enclosure Movement
  15. Some farmers, displaced by the enclosure movement, supplemented their income by producing textiles at home. That was called the ______system. Putting out system
  16. What is the name for the system where counties try to create a favorable balance of trade, exporting more than they import so that their country will have a self sufficient economy? Mercantilism

Effects of the Commercial Revolution

  1. What was an outcome of the influx of gold?Inflation of prices
  2. What was an effect of inflation?Producers got more money for their goods  so they produced more goods
  3. What was the effect of the commercial revolution on the middle class?Bourgeoisie acquired much of their wealth from trading and manufacturing  social status increased
  4. What happened to the nobility as a result of the price revolution?Nobility’s income was fixed (based on feudal rents), suffered a diminished standard of living in the inflationary economy
  5. What was the overall effect of the commercial revolution? An increased standard of living  greater varieties of foods, spices, utensils, etc.

Age of Exploration and Conquest

  1. Why did exploration occur?For “God, glory and gold”
  2. Which two countries wanted to break the Italian monopoly on trade?Spain & Portugal
  3. What technological advances facilitated sea travel?
  4. Magnetic compass
  5. Quadrant
  6. Astrolabe
  7. Sextant
  8. Cross staff
  9. The Axial Rudder
  10. How was the Portuguese caravel a better ship than Spanish galleons?
  11. It was lighter, faster. It could sail into the wind.

Portugal

  1. Why did Portugal explore?
  2. Economic: Sought an all-water route to Asia to tap the spice trade
  3. Religious: sought to find the mythical Prester John (a Christian king)
  4. He rounded the southern tip of Africa for the first time:Bartholomew Dias
  5. He completed an all-water expedition to India in 1498:Vasco da Gama
  6. He was the first to realize that he had discovered a new continent in the New World:Amerigo Vespucci

Spain

  1. Who financed Columbus’ voyage to America?Ferdinand & Isabella
  2. In 1492, when Columbus reached the Bahamas, where did he believe he had reached? The “Indies”, somewhere west of India
  3. This Spanish priest accompanied Columbus and criticized the ruthless treatment of Amerindians: Bartholomew de las Casas
  4. The writings of las Casas helped to spread the “Black Legend”. What was it? Where Spain was accused of using Christianity to ostensibly for killing countless natives
  5. Which treaty divided the New World between Spain and Portugal?Treaty of Tordesillas (It was a north-south line drawn down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean)
  6. He discovered the Pacific Ocean by crossing the Isthmus of Panama in 1513:Vasco Nunez de Balboa
  7. The system where Amerindians worked for an owner for a certain number of days per week, but retained other parcels of land to work for themselves was called the… Encomienda System
  8. What is the difference between “Old Imperialism” and “New Imperialism”?
  9. Old Imperialism: characterized by establishing posts and forts on coastal regions of Africa, but not penetrating inland to conquer regions or subjugate populations.
  10. New Imperialism: Where entire nations were conquered and exploited for the benefit of European colonial powers.

The Columbian Exchange

  1. How did the Columbian exchange negatively affect native American populations: it brought diseases, enslavement and cultural change
  2. What diseases were brought to America by Europeans?Smallpox, influenza, typhus, measles
  3. What diseases were brought to Europe from the Americas?Syphilis
  4. Which new crops were brought to Europe from the Americas? The potato, corn, pineapples, tomatoes, tobacco, vanilla, chocolate
  5. What was probably the most important crop brought from the New World? Potatoes
  6. What livestock was brought from Europe to the New World?Cows, pigs, goats, sheep, and chickens
  7. What was the effect of bringing the horse to the Americas?Plains Indians developed a horse based culture.

Witch Hunts

  1. How many people were killed between 1400 and 1700 by witch hunts?70,000 – 100,000
  2. What were “cunning folk”? Villagers who claimed to know magic
  3. Which villagers claimed to have powers?The elderly or impoverished, especially women
  4. What did the Catholic Church say about where magical power came from? All power came either from God or the Devil
  5. What percentage of witch hunt victims were women?80%
  6. Why were women persecuted more often?They were seen as “weaker vessels” and prone to temptation, misogyny, most midwives were women – if babies died the midwife might be blamed
  7. What caused the end of the witch hunts?
  8. The Scientific Revolution discredited superstition
  9. Advances in medicine and insurance companies made people better able to take care of themselves and avoid calamity
  10. Witch trials became chaotic  the accusers became the accused
  11. Protestant reformation emphasized God as the only spiritual force in the universe