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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Lieutenant Lucien Napoleon Bonaparte Wyse sails back to New York in early 1879 to buy the Panama Railroad Company, but its president is the major stockholder with the leverage to demand what price?
(a) $300 per share, three times the market value.
(b) $100 per share, full market value.
(c) $400 per share, four times the market value.
(d) $200 per share, two times the market value.

2. Lieutenants Lucien Napoleon-Bonaparte Wyse and Armand Reclus plan a sea-level canal for Central America between Wyse's 1878 and 1879 visits to Washington, while Ferdinand de Lesseps does what?
(a) Organizes the 1879 Congris International d'Ytudes du Canal Interocyanique.
(b) Accompanies Wyse to Washington and New York in early 1879.
(c) Sails for the Isthmus of Panama.
(d) Returns to the Suez Canal after ten years to examine it for stability and engineering techniques.

3. "The Incredible Task" is the subtitle for Chapter 5 which chronicles the initial years of the Compagnie Universelle, marked by what?
(a) Soaring hopes, misleading propaganda, real but costly progress, and massive logistical and natural challenges.
(b) Low hopes, misleading propaganda, minimal and costly progress, and massive logistical and natural challenges.
(c) Soaring hopes, misleading propaganda, minimal but economical progress, and reasonable logistical and natural challenges.
(d) Cautious hopes, honest promotion, real but costly progress, and massive logistical and natural challenges.

4. The results of Commander Selfridge's initial orders for exploration in Central America in 1870, together with those of an additional six expeditions, were to be submitted for appraisal to which agency?
(a) The Bureau of Science and Engineering (BSE).
(b) The Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
(c) The Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
(d) The Interoceanic Canal Commission (ICC).

5. As the U.S. establishes a naval base at Cuba, annexes Hawaii, and acquires Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico, the canal Theodore Roosevelt has been advocating becomes what?
(a) Of concern.
(b) Enormously popular.
(c) Of minimal concern.
(d) Enormously unpopular.

Short Answer Questions

1. When, on March 29, 1885, Haitian-born, xenophobic Pedro Prestan and a handful of barefoot followers take six U.S. hostages and demand guns, an American consul orders compliance; what happens next?

2. Gustave Eiffel eventually is able to clear his name, but what does he do afterward?

3. Chapter 8 summarizes what evolves in the courtrooms and subsequent to massive corporate collapse that affects how many French investors?

4. Upon their arrival in Panama in late 1879, Ferdinand de Lesseps and his group take the train into the jungle and enter the valley of what wide, brown, looping waterway?

5. Theodore Roosevelt is in what position when he initially thrusts himself into shaping policy for an American canal?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is notable about the date of October 20, 1893?

2. The chances against Panama being selected as the location for a canal over Nicaragua are reportedly 100 to 1, until what two events occur?

3. How do the French account for 1/3 of all their canal digging?

4. What is the result of Gaston Blanchet's proposal for a 400' wide swath to ease surveying?

5. In mid-November 1887, what sort of new locks does Ferdinand de Lesseps state Alexandre Gustava Eiffel will be designing and building?

6. What is the professional path for potential French civil engineers in the 19th-century?

7. Why does Ferdinand de Lesseps lose interest in the Suez Canal?

8. As hard as they work, what are some of the problems the French engineers encounter?

9. What are the reasons Admiral Ammen opposes the official U.S. plan?

10. Why is it yellow fever causes instant panic in comparison to other tropical diseases?

(see the answer keys)

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