Exploration & Colonization — Answer Key
Part A: Multiple Choice
Circle the best answer for each question.
1. Why did Spain build missions throughout the Americas?
A) To set up trading posts for the fur trade
B) To convert Native Americans to Christianity and claim territory
C) To create schools where colonists learned Native languages
D) To establish democratic governments in each region
Spain built missions as religious and military outposts where priests worked to convert Native Americans to Christianity while Spain expanded its territorial claims.
2. Which best explains why England was late to establish permanent colonies in North America?
A) England had no ships capable of crossing the Atlantic
B) England was busy with internal conflicts and wars with Spain
C) English people had no interest in the New World
D) England had already claimed all of South America
England focused on its own civil conflicts and its rivalry with Spain for most of the 1500s, so it did not establish a lasting colony until Jamestown in 1607.
3. What was the main result of the French and Indian War for colonial America?
A) France gained control of all English colonies
B) Spain took over the fur trade in North America
C) Britain gained nearly all French territory east of the Mississippi
D) Native Americans won back all of their ancestral lands
After winning the French and Indian War in 1763, Britain took control of nearly all French land east of the Mississippi River, doubling the size of British North America.
4. How did the Roanoke colony's disappearance affect later English colonization?
A) England gave up on colonizing the Americas entirely
B) It showed that colonies needed better planning, supplies, and support
C) It proved that only the Spanish could survive in the Americas
D) It led England to colonize Africa instead of the Americas
Roanoke's mysterious failure in the 1580s taught England that colonies needed steady supply ships, strong leadership, and better planning to survive in the New World.
Part B: Fill in the Blank
Write the correct answer on each line.
1. The lost colony of Roanoke was England's first attempt at settlement in North America.
Roanoke (established 1585) was England's first colonization attempt, but every settler vanished by 1590. The only clue left behind was the word "CROATOAN" carved on a post.
2. Spain built missions to convert Native Americans and control territory in the Southwest.
Spanish missions were religious settlements where priests tried to convert Native Americans to Christianity while Spain used them to claim and control land across the Southwest.
3. Robert La Salle claimed the Mississippi River valley for France and named it Louisiana.
Robert La Salle traveled the entire length of the Mississippi River in 1682 and claimed all the land it drained for France, naming the vast territory Louisiana after King Louis XIV.
4. The English defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 helped England become a sea power.
England's defeat of the massive Spanish Armada fleet in 1588 weakened Spain's control of the seas and opened the way for England to build its own overseas empire.
5. Joint-stock companies helped fund early English colonies by sharing the financial risk.
Joint-stock companies let many investors pool money to fund a colony, so no single person bore the full cost if the venture failed. The Virginia Company funded Jamestown this way.