Period 1: 1491–1607

“I saw that if I did not distribute the native inhabitants to the Spaniards who had served your Majesty in these conquests, they would be unable to support themselves, and would abandon the country. This would result in the loss of all that had been gained... Therefore, I felt compelled to grant these repartimientos, despite the royal instructions to the contrary, under the condition that the Spaniards protect and instruct the natives in our holy faith.”

—Adapted from Hernán Cortés, letter to King Charles V, 1522

The conflict described in the excerpt most directly reflects which of the following tensions during the early Spanish colonial period?

The introduction of American crops—particularly maize and potatoes—to the Old World had profound demographic consequences. Unlike European grains, which were highly vulnerable to weather and soil conditions, the potato grew well in poor soils and yielded far more calories per acre. In northern and eastern Europe, the adoption of the potato helped alleviate chronic food shortages and fueled a significant population boom in the centuries following European contact. This demographic expansion, in turn, provided the labor force necessary for the subsequent rise of industrialization.

Based on the passage, which of the following was a major consequence of the Columbian Exchange on the Old World?

"Because the mixed-blood populations, such as Mestizos and Mulattoes, continue to grow in the towns of New Spain, it is necessary to clarify their obligations. While Spaniards are exempt from head taxes and indigenous people must pay tribute and perform labor, those of mixed descent frequently attempt to claim Spanish privileges to avoid their duties. Therefore, we decree that parish priests must record the precise parentage of all children, so that their legal caste, tax rates, and labor requirements can be properly enforced by royal officials."

— Royal Ordinance of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, 1642

The administrative concerns described in the passage best reflect which of the following purposes of the Spanish casta system?

Read the excerpt below.

'The reason why the Christians have killed and destroyed such an infinite number of souls is that they have been moved by their desire for gold and their wish to enrich themselves in a very short time...'
— Bartolomé de las Casas, A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, 1552

Which of the following was a primary result of the ideas expressed in the excerpt?

In a 1516 petition to the Spanish Crown, priest Bartolomé de las Casas wrote:

'The remedy for this land is that your Majesty should free the Indians from the power of the Spanish colonists, who hold them in the encomienda. Under this system, the settlers care only for their own enrichment and work the Indians in the mines and fields without mercy...'

Based on this excerpt, which of the following was the primary purpose of the Spanish encomienda system?

In the late 1400s, Portuguese merchants sailing along the coast of West Africa established trading posts known as *feitorias*. Rather than colonizing the interior or conquering local kingdoms, Portuguese traders negotiated agreements with West African rulers to trade European goods like metalwares and textiles for gold, ivory, and enslaved people.

Which of the following best explains why early Portuguese traders established coastal trading posts (*feitorias*) rather than conquering inland West African kingdoms in the late fifteenth century?

Read the excerpt below.

'We define and declare... that the said Indians and all other people who may later be discovered by Christians, are by no means to be deprived of their liberty or the possession of their property, even though they be outside the faith of Jesus Christ; and that they may and should, freely and legitimately, enjoy their liberty and the possession of their property; nor should they be in any way enslaved; should the contrary happen, it shall be null and of no effect.'
— Pope Paul III, *Sublimis Deus*, 1537

The declaration in the excerpt was most directly shaped by which of the following sixteenth-century developments?

"Item, We order and command that henceforward for no cause of war or any other... can any Indian be made a slave, and we will that they be treated as our vassals of the Crown of Castile, as they are. ... We also order and command that all encomiendas holding Indians... be placed under our Royal Crown, so that the labor and tribute of these people shall be managed directly by our officials."
— King Charles I of Spain, *New Laws of the Indies*, 1542

The royal decree excerpted above was primarily a response to which of the following developments in the Spanish colonies?

Source: Toribio de Benavente Motolinía, a Spanish Franciscan missionary, *History of the Indians of New Spain*, 1541.

'God struck this land with ten terrible plagues... The first was a plague of smallpox, which broke out at the time when Pánfilo de Narváez arrived in this land... As the Indians did not know the remedy for this disease and were accustomed to bathe frequently, they died in heaps, like bedbugs. In many places it happened that everyone in a house died, and, as it was impossible to bury the great number of dead, they pulled down the houses over them, so that their homes became their tombs.'

Which of the following developments in the Americas was a direct long-term consequence of the demographic trends described in the excerpt?

“The tribute which the Indians are forced to pay is so excessive, and the demands made upon them by their encomenderos are so great, that they cannot support themselves or their families. Many have fled their homes to escape these burdens, while others have perished from the grueling labor in the mines and on the Spanish estates. Those who justify this system claim it is necessary to civilize the natives and instruct them in the Christian faith. Yet, we see that it leads only to their physical ruin and prevents them from truly embracing the Gospel, as they see in their masters only cruelty and greed.”

— Alonso de Zorita, Spanish royal judge (oidor) in New Spain, c. 1570

The arguments presented in the excerpt most directly reflect which of the following developments in the Spanish Empire during the sixteenth century?

Source: José de Acosta, Spanish missionary, *Natural and Moral History of the Indies*, 1590.

"The Spaniards have introduced into the Indies all kinds of European plants, and they have succeeded better there than Indian plants have in Europe... But what is more admirable is the great abundance of European animals: sheep, cows, goats, pigs, and horses. These have multiplied in such numbers that in many places they roam wild... providing an abundance of meat and leather where none existed before."

Which of the following was a major consequence in the Americas of the process described in the excerpt?

Historical Context:

"The Columbian Exchange was not simply a transfer of agricultural commodities; it was an ecological revolution. The introduction of Old World crops like wheat and sugarcane, alongside domesticated animals such as sheep and cattle, fundamentally reshaped the American landscape. Native ecosystems, previously managed through controlled burning and localized agriculture, were overrun by European livestock. In return, the global spread of American staples like maize, potatoes, and cassava triggered a demographic explosion in Afro-Eurasia. These crops, rich in calories and adaptable to marginal soils, acted as a buffer against famine, fueling population growth that would ultimately supply the labor force for subsequent global migrations. Thus, the biological integration of the hemispheres laid the groundwork for modern global systems."
—Adapted from Alfred W. Crosby, *The Columbian Exchange*, 1972

Which of the following developments was a direct consequence of the New World crop transfers described in the passage?

"The ninth plague was the labor in the mines, to which the Indians went from great distances to seek gold, carrying their own provisions... Some Spaniards treated them with such cruelty that they died at the mines or on their journey back. The greed of the Spaniards for gold led to the destruction of entire towns, as the tribute demanded of the native inhabitants exceeded their capacity to produce. These labor demands disrupted their traditional agriculture, leading to widespread famine."

��� Toribio de Benavente (Motolinia), *History of the Indians of New Spain*, c. 1541

Based on the excerpt, the labor practices described most directly contributed to which of the following developments in the Spanish colonies during the sixteenth century?

Read the excerpt below and answer the following question.

"The Mississippian culture, which flourished in the American Midwest and Southeast from about 800 to 1600 CE, was characterized by the construction of monumental earthen mounds, intensive maize agriculture, and highly stratified chiefdoms. The largest city, Cahokia, situated in the fertile bottomlands of the Mississippi River, became a hub of regional trade networks that stretched from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. This complex society developed not merely through cultural choice but as a direct response to the rich alluvial soils and riverine highways of their environment, which supported dense populations and agricultural surpluses."

Based on the excerpt, which of the following was a major way that Mississippian societies adapted to their physical environment?

“Since it is just and reasonable that the free mulattoes and mestizos who live in our Indies should pay tribute to us, just as the Indians do, we order and command that they be registered and compelled to pay a certain amount each year... For they reside in our territories and are protected by our laws, and many of them hold property and engage in trade, yet they do not share in the public burdens as Spaniards do.”

— King Philip II of Spain, Royal Decree regarding the tribute of free mulattoes and mestizos in the Spanish Colonies, 1574

The social divisions and regulations described in the excerpt most directly reflect which of the following developments in the Spanish colonies?

Source: John Gerard, English herbalist, *The Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes*, 1597:

'These kinds of grain were first brought into Spain, and thence into other provinces of Europe: not (as some suppose) out of Asia Minor, which is the Turks' Dominions, but out of America and the West Indies, in our time, where it serveth for their daily bread, and is called Maize... It is a more convenient food for barbarous and brute beasts than for man, or at least for those who are fed with better meats...'

Which of the following developments was a direct consequence of the trade flows illustrated by the introduction of the crop described in the excerpt?

Source: Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, Spanish chronicler, *Historia general y natural de las Indias* (*General and Natural History of the Indies*), 1535

"There were no cattle, nor sheep, nor goats, nor pigs in these Indies when they were discovered... but after the Spaniards settled, they brought these animals, which have multiplied in such numbers that it is a thing of wonder. The pigs, especially, have spread into the woods and mountains... and they have caused great damage to the native plants and the fields of the Indians, who have no fences to protect their crops."

Based on the passage, which of the following was a major consequence of the introduction of European livestock to the Americas?

The debate over the nature of the American Indians and the legitimacy of Spanish rule in the New World was unprecedented in the history of European expansion. Thinkers at the Spanish court did not merely dispute the legal title of the Crown to the Indies; they grappled with the fundamental question of whether the indigenous peoples possessed the rational capacity to govern themselves and receive the Christian faith. While defenders of the conquest argued that the Indians were naturally subservient and required paternalistic tutelage, their opponents insisted on the shared humanity of all peoples. This intellectual conflict shaped not only royal policy and labor systems but also the very language of human rights in the early modern era.

Based on the excerpt, the ideological debates concerning the rational capacity of Native Americans were central to resolving which of the following questions in the Spanish colonial empire?

"The land is very fertile and produces many trees. . . . The Indians sow corn, beans, and squash in their fields, which they clear from the forest. They also gather wild berries and nuts, and they hunt deer and turkey in the woods, and fish in the rivers. Because they rely on both farming and hunting, they live in large, permanent villages. . . ."
—Adapted from a French explorer’s account of the St. Lawrence River valley, 1535

Which of the following environmental adaptations of indigenous societies in the Northeast is best described in the excerpt?

"The diversity of lineages in these territories of New Spain has created a complex social order that requires careful vigilance by the Crown. In our cities and towns, individuals born of Spanish fathers and Indian mothers, known as Mestizos, often seek to escape the tribute obligations placed upon the native populations. However, they are frequently denied access to municipal offices, guild membership, and holy orders, which are strictly reserved for those of pure Spanish blood born either in Spain or the Americas. This separation is necessary to preserve the hierarchy of the republic and to ensure that each group remains in its proper station under the authority of the Church and the King."

— Letter from the Archbishop of Mexico to the Council of the Indies, 1602

The social distinctions described in the excerpt most directly reflect which of the following developments in Spain's American empire?