Exploration & Colonization — Answer Key
Part A: Fill in the Blank
Write the missing word or number on each line.
1. European diseases killed between 50 and 90 percent of some Native populations.
Epidemics of smallpox, measles, and other diseases devastated Native American populations — sometimes killing 90% of a tribe.
2. The Spanish used the encomienda system to force Native Americans to work.
The encomienda system granted Spanish colonists the labor of Native Americans on plantations and in mines.
3. Native Americans were displaced from their traditional lands.
European colonization pushed Native Americans off their ancestral lands through force, disease, and broken treaties.
4. Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztec Empire in Mexico.
Hernan Cortés and a small Spanish force, aided by Native allies and disease, conquered the Aztec Empire by 1521.
5. Francisco Pizarro defeated the Inca Empire in South America.
Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca Empire in Peru by 1572, exploiting civil war and disease.
6. The colony of Rhode Island was founded on religious tolerance.
Roger Williams founded Rhode Island in 1636 after being banished from Massachusetts for his beliefs in religious freedom.
7. Native Americans taught colonists to grow crops like corn and squash.
Native Americans shared agricultural knowledge (corn, squash, beans — the Three Sisters) that helped colonists survive.
8. Many Native American cultures and languages were destroyed by colonization.
Colonization killed millions of Native Americans and erased many cultural practices, traditions, and languages.
9. The first Thanksgiving celebrated cooperation between Pilgrims and Wampanoag people.
The Wampanoag people, led by Massasoit, helped the Pilgrims survive their first winter and celebrated with them in 1621.
Part B: Matching
Match each item on the left to the correct answer on the right.
1. Match each item to its correct answer.
Hernan Cortes
→ conquered the Aztecs
reached the Caribbean
Francisco Pizarro
→ conquered the Incas
conquered the Aztecs
Christopher Columbus
→ reached the Caribbean
explored St. Lawrence
Jacques Cartier
→ explored St. Lawrence
conquered the Incas
Cortes=conquered Aztecs(idx1); Pizarro=conquered Incas(idx3); Columbus=reached Caribbean(idx0); Cartier=explored St. Lawrence(idx2)