All SAT II World History Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Global Trade
The Dutch East India Company largely gained its success through
the slave trade.
the spice trade.
silver mining.
lumber production.
gold mining.
the spice trade.
The Dutch East India Company was arguably the world's first large scale corporation with a monopoly over the Asian markets. This meant that the Company had exclusive control of the extremely lucrative spice trade coming out of the East Indies. The Dutch East India Company operated with full authority over a huge area covering South Africa through India to modern day Indonesia. This lasted until its dissolution in 1800.
Example Question #2 : Global Trade
What direct impact did the British introduction of opium have on China?
It encouraged Chinese peasants to convert to Christianity.
It ensured British control over the whole Chinese territory.
It helped pacify the Chinese population and made them less resistant to British incursions.
It opened the way for French intervention and impaired British interests.
It reversed China’s favorable balance of trade with European nations.
It reversed China’s favorable balance of trade with European nations.
Prior to the introduction of opium in China, the Chinese had a very favorable balance of trade with the British and the other European nations. For clarification, a favorable balance of trade is when you export more than you import. To the mercantilist European powers, this seemed to suggest that China was benefitting more from exchange with the Europeans than the Europeans were. To combat this situation, the British furiously introduced opium into China, fostering individual and community dependence on the drug and then increasing the price of it. The result was an economically stagnant nation whose favorable balance of trade swiftly disappeared.
Example Question #2 : Global Trade
Which American figure is credited with opening trade with Japan?
Robert Peel
James Garfield
Martin Van Buren
Daniel Webster
Matthew Perry
Matthew Perry
Matthew Perry was a commodore in the U.S. Navy for several decades. He is most well-remembered for his forcible role in opening up Western trade with Japan in the 1850s. At the time, Japan was operating under a “closed country” policy that heavily restricted official trade with all the Western powers. Perry, acting on the orders of President Millard Fillmore, threatened the Japanese with destruction at the hands of superior American technology and backed up his threats with several “demonstrations.” The Japanese, fearing complete annihilation, acquiesced to all of Perry’s demands and opened up trade with the United States.
Example Question #4 : Global Trade
The Treaty of Kangawa __________.
granted Manchurian territory to Japan
blamed the Japanese for the causes of the Sino-Japanese War
ended the Boxer Rebellion
ended British influence over Chinese port cities
granted the United States exclusive trading rights with Japan
granted the United States exclusive trading rights with Japan
The Treaty of Kangawa granted the United States exclusive trading rights with Japan. Prior to the signing of the Treaty, Japan had operated as a “closed country”; this meant that the Japanese people were forbidden from trading with any of the Western powers. The United States’ Commodore Matthew Perry gained trading rights with Japan through a spectacular and threatening display of technological might that sufficiently intimidated the Japanese officials such that they were left with little choice but to acquiesce to American demands.
Example Question #3 : Global Trade
In the Atlantic slave trade, slaves sold to Europeans usually came from __________.
North Africa
the Caribbean
West Africa
Southern Africa
the Arab World
West Africa
The Atlantic slave trade went along routes known as the "triangle trade." Empty ships left northern Europe to go to West Africa, near the present day countries of Ghana, the Ivory Coast, and Liberia, where they would pick up slaves, which then went to the Caribbean, where the slaves were sold and items such as sugar were picked up for European markets. This triangle trade resulted in most American slaves coming from West African tribes and principalities.
Example Question #4 : Global Trade
All of these crops originated in the New World and were transported to the Old World EXCEPT for __________.
Corn
Potatoes
Tobacco
All of these were originally found in the Old World.
Sugarcane
Sugarcane
Corn, potatoes, and tobacco were all originally found in the New World and then transfered to the Old World. They would each have profound effects on the nature of life in Europe and Asia. Potatoes in particular changed much of European history with their ability to grow in many types of soil. Sugarcane, on the other hand, is native to India and South Asia and was transported to the New World, where it was grown in massive quantities on plantations. Sugar plantations would have a profound effect on the structure of political, economic, and social life in many American colonies for hundreds of years.
Example Question #5 : Global Trade
The spread of which disease to the New World by European explorers, settlers, and traders is thought to have contributed the most to the decline of Native American populations?
Smallpox
Influenza
Syphilis
Polio
Bubonic Plague
Smallpox
Throughout human history, particularly during the Middle Ages and the Enlightenment Era, smallpox has been one of the worst diseases in European society in terms of the number of people it has afflicted and killed. Due to its longstanding existence within the population, many people had a natural genetic defense against it and populations were never decimated by the disease; however, when Europeans arrived in the New World, they brought smallpox with them, and the Native American populations were not biologically protected. The disease obliterated the population, in many places killing as many as ninety percent of the population. It is one of the primary reasons why Spanish conquest of Central and South America was relatively swift and unchallenged.
Example Question #6 : Global Trade
The Middle Passage __________.
was the period of religious conversion undertaken by Christian missionaries of the Native populations of Africa and the Americas
was the period of native resistance to conversion by Christian missionaries in North America and Africa
was the part of the triangular trade route where raw resources were shipped from the New World to Europe
was the part of the triangular trade route where manufactured goods were shipped from Europe to the African continent
was the part of the triangular trade route in which slaves were brought from Africa to the New World
was the part of the triangular trade route in which slaves were brought from Africa to the New World
The term "Middle Passage" refers to the part of the triangular trade shipping route where Africans were bought or kidnapped in Africa and transported across the Atlantic Ocean to North and South America to serve as slaves on plantations. In the triangular trade route, raw resources were shipped to Europe from the New World, manufactured goods were shipped from Europe to Africa, and slaves were shipped from Africa to the New World.
Example Question #7 : Global Trade
Which member of the United States Navy is credited with opening up trade relations with Japan?
Robert Peel
Matthew Perry
Mark Cavendish
Humphry Davy
William Pitt
Matthew Perry
For two centuries following the original arrival of Europeans in Japan, Japan had operated a closed-door policy to foreign trade and effectively completely isolated itself; however, with the naval expedition of Matthew Perry in the 1850s, Japan was opened to American trade (forcefully and under the threat of total destruction).
Example Question #8 : Global Trade
The so-called Triangular Trade involved the trade between which three continents?
North America, Europe, and Africa
Africa, Asia, and Australia
Europe, Africa, and Asia
North America, Europe, and South America
South America, Africa, and North America
North America, Europe, and Africa
The Triangular Trade is a term used to describe the three-way exchange of goods, products, and human beings across the Atlantic between North America, Europe, and Africa. In the system, slaves were sent from Africa to North America, raw resources were then sent from North America to Europe, and finished products and luxury items were then sent from Europe to Africa. The system is a crucial part of the economic system of Mercantilism which prevailed in European thought at the time.
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