Student Name:______________________________________ Date:______________

Teacher: ___________________________________________ Hour: ____________

5th Grade Social Studies: Unit 2

SPSD Common Assessment Pre/Post-test

1. Choose all the questions that a historian might want to know about a societys past. Circle all
letters that apply.

a. What happened?
b. Why did it happen?
c. What was the best-tasting food?
d. Who lived there at the time?
e. How did seasons change?

2. If you were a historian, what is one question you would ask about life as an American Indian?

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3. What is one thing you can learn from studying the past?
a. Where the tallest mountains are located
b. How people used their environment to survive
c. Who was the best dancer
d. Why the trees change color
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/b6/9a/c7/b69ac7b5eea711bf3ffc677784b4704e.jpg

Use the map above to answer the following questions.

4. In which region of the United States did the Chinook tribe live?
a. Southwest
b. Eastern Woodlands
c. Plains
d. Pacific Northwest

Name two tribes that lived in the southwestern region of the United States?

5. ____________________________ 6. ____________________________

7. In which U.S. region were the people nomadic, because they were forced to follow their food
source?
a. Pacific Northwest
b. Great Plains
c. Eastern Woodlands
d. Desert Southwest
 8-11. List four ways American Indians in the Southwest adapted to life in their desert
environment. Make sure that you include the adaptation and why they needed to adapt.
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11._______________________________________________________________
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12. Which resource was most important to Americans Indians who lived in the Pacific
Northwest?

a. Buffalo
b. Salmon
c. Clay
d. Fertile Soil

13. If you were a historian, what would you teach people about life in the Southwest Native
American region?
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14. . If you were a historian, what would you teach people about life in the Pacific Northwest
Native American region?
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15. What was the main reason people in this region traded?

a. They wanted to own as many goods as they could.

b. They wanted to use rivers and lakes as trade routes.
c. They wanted to get goods that could not be found or made from the resources they had.
d. They had few resources of their own.

16. How was land viewed by most Eastern Woodlands American Indians?

a. Land was something to be owned and cared for by only chiefs and other leaders.
b. Land was only important because it could be used for hunting.
c. Land should be divided up among families and fenced off.
d. Land was something you could use but not really own.

17. What best describes the five nations of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) Confederacy or
League before they formed a confederation?

a. The five nations lived in peace and got along well.

b. The five nations were often in conflict with one another.
c. The five nations did not interact with each other.
d. The five nations were mainly trading partners.

18. Which is an example of a tool that improved navigation and made sea exploration possible?

a. Telescope
b. Aqueducts
c. Atlatl
d. Astrolabe
e.
19. Explain why early maps were not very accurate.
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Age of Exploration:

By the end of the 15th century many thing were changing in Europe. The population started to
grow more quickly and a new class of merchants emerged. They wanted to buy and sell
expensive and valuable products from Asialike gold, jewels and silk.

In those days, people had no refrigerators to preserve their food. They dried meat and often
used salt to make it last longer. To make food taste better they used spices , like pepper or
cinnamon.

For centuries Europeans brought these goods on a land route from Asia over thousands of
dangerous kilometres . In the 15th century the overland routes were being controlled by the
Turkish Empire, which made it even more difficult for European merchants to pass through.

As a result, some European countries, like Spain and Portugal, decided to find out if there was a
sea route to India. With the help of new kinds of ships that could sail faster and instruments, like
the quadrant, they started the Age of Exploration.

http://www.english-online.at/history/age-of-exploration/age-of-exploration-text-exercises.pdf

20. Choose all the factors that led to European Exploration based on the article you just read.
Circle all that apply.
a. They needed more land to farm.
b. They wanted ways to make food taste better.
c. Their trading routes were controlled by Turkey.
d. They had new and better ships and instruments.
e. They wanted to meet new people.

21. Which countries were involved in the exploration of North America? (Select all that apply)

a. Spain
b. Egypt
c. France
d. Greece
e. Italy
f. England

22. Which was NOT a reason explorers were interested in exploring the Americas?

a. To find a new route to Asia

b. To claim land for their country
c. To find gold and other riches
d. To find weapons
23-25. List three outcomes of European exploration in the Americas?

23. _______________________________________________________________________

24. _______________________________________________________________________

25. _______________________________________________________________________

Use the map and the following information to help answer questions 26 and 27.

http://malitradevseuropeantrade.weebly.com/ancient-mali-gold-trade-routes.html

Gold was seen as a valuable trade good. It was desired in Europe and in Asia as well as other regions
of Africa.

There was so much gold in Ghana and the forest regions south of it that it wasnt considered valuable.

Salt was critical to people living in the tropical rainforests. It kept food from spoiling and replaced the
salt the body loses in sweating.

26-27. What are two factors that led to the growth and rise of Western African Empires?

26._______________________________________________________________

27._______________________________________________________________
28. What was the main reason that trade routes began to cross the Sahara Desert?

a. The Sahara was easy to cross because it was mainly flat land.
b. People on each side of the Sahara wanted goods from the other side.
c. Muslim traders knew how to cross the desert quickly.
d. There was no other place to trade in Africa.

Use the maps below to answer question 29.

http://mama.indstate.edu/users/geboen/ch3_s00.html http://www.whereig.com/africa/

29. Ghana, Mali and Songhay were located in which vegetation region of West Africa?
a. Savanna
b. Pine forest
c. Desert
d. Rainforest

30. Which of the following is NOT a way that we learn about the early history of African
civilizations?

a. Oral Histories
b. Geography
c. Written Histories
d. Artifacts
31. What is a factor that led to the decline and downfall of Western African Empires?

a. Excellent leadership
b. Floods
c. Control over trade
d. Attacks by outsiders

32. What was a major factor in the rise and growth of all three empires in West Africa?

a. Their religion
b. Their village structure
c. Their location
d. Their language

33. In addition to land, Europeans gained which of the following from coming to the Americas?

a. New foods like tomatoes, corn, pineapples, and potatoes

b. Horses
c. A direct route to Asia
d. Slaves

34. Which of the following was NOT something brought to North America by the European
explorers?

a. Diseases
b. Corn
c. Wheels
d. Horses

35. Pretend you are a Native American in the time of European exploration. Are you happy that
the Europeans came to your land? Why or why not?
Choose a side and have reasons from the lessons to support your position.
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36. Which of the following was NOT something that was exchanged through the Columbian
Exchange?
a. People
b. Sickness
c. Money
d. Goods
e. Ideas

37. What were some benefits of the Columbian Exchange for the Europeans?
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38. How did the Columbian Exchange impact American Indians? (Select all that apply)

a. European diseases like smallpox and measles killed many Native Americans
b. Horses were brought to North America allowing tribes to hunt buffalo
c. The population of Native American tribes grew quickly
d. Native Americans lost the land they used for hunting, fishing, and farming
e. Cows, sheep, and pigs were brought to the New World causing problems with Native
American hunting and farming
f. Native American tribes made money selling land to settlers
g. New farming methods were introduced

39. Choose all the reasons that Europeans brought slaves to North America.
a. Native American slaves had died from overwork and disease
b. They needed help mining for gold and silver.
c. They wanted to purchase land.
d. They needed workers on the plantations.
e. The African people wanted the freedoms found in America.