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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How many basic writing systems exist?
(a) 1
(b) 25
(c) 3
(d) 10

2. What are the smallest societies known as?
(a) Bands
(b) States
(c) Chiefdoms
(d) Tribes

3. Where did technology grow the fastest according to Diamond?
(a) In large productive regions with large human populations
(b) In nomadic societies
(c) In areas where food production was just beginning
(d) In isolated areas with small populations

4. Why didn't Australians develop food production in ancient times?
(a) Fertile soils
(b) Too many plants that could be domesticated
(c) Too much rainfall to support domesticated plants
(d) The dry conditions on the continent

5. Which of the following was not a disease that killed large number of peoples in the Americas?
(a) Influenza
(b) Smallpox
(c) Ringworm
(d) Measles

6. What was the source of power in New Guinea when food production arose?
(a) Cows
(b) Humans
(c) Electricity
(d) Horses

7. Why is food production important for inventions?
(a) People had the energy to create.
(b) People did not get diseases which stopped inventions.
(c) It allowed people to be nomadic and spread inventions.
(d) It allows for a sedentary life.

8. Where were the earliest known stone tools with ground edges found?
(a) Europe
(b) Australia
(c) Asia
(d) Africa

9. The language that did most of the conquering or "engulfing" in Africa was which of the following?
(a) Nilo-Saharan
(b) Khoisan
(c) Bantu
(d) Niger-Congo

10. Who invented things like firearms and steel equipment?
(a) Africans
(b) Australians
(c) Eurasians
(d) Americans

11. Larger populations created the need for which of the following?
(a) Decentralized food production
(b) More nomadic populations who wouldn't compete for resources
(c) A more complex, centralized government
(d) A writing system beyond the alphabet

12. Who introduced pottery, chickens, dogs, and pigs to New Guinea?
(a) Indians
(b) Austronesians
(c) Native Americans
(d) Europeans

13. Archeological evidence links what early culture with later Pacific island cultures?
(a) Indian
(b) Japan
(c) Taiwan
(d) Cherokee

14. How many "little" languages does China have?
(a) 100
(b) 200
(c) 70
(d) 130

15. What invention sped up the spread of plants and technologies in Polynesia?
(a) Yachts
(b) Wagons
(c) Wheels
(d) "Outrigger" canoes

Short Answer Questions

1. Why do pockets of the three language families other than Sino-Tibetan exist in China?

2. Which type of society uses a monopoly of force?

3. Diamond argues that China is which of the following?

4. How many large mammals in Africa were suited to domestication?

5. Why did Australians not develop writing, more complex technologies, or more complex societies?

(see the answer keys)

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