Montclair State University

Department of Anthropology

ANTH 140: Nonwestern Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

Questions on Weatherford, Chapters 1-3 and part of chapter 4

To prepare for the first midterm examination, be sure you can answer each of the following

questions in two to four sentences as needed. For future readings, make up your own set of similar questions.

	Chapter 1
1	Where is Potosí?
2	Why is Potosí important in the history of colonialism?
3	What is Potosí famous for?
4	Where did Europeans get their gold before the New World?
5	Why did Europeans want to find alternative routes to Asia?
6	Where did the Spanish conquistadors first find gold in the New World?
7	How did the Native American attitude towards gold differ from that of the Europeans?
8	What did the Inca of Peru use gold mostly for?
9	What was the greatest ransom ever paid?
10	Where is most of the Indian gold today?
11	What did Europeans do with most of the Indian gold objects?
12	How did Europeans use Indian gold in Euorpe?
13	What art styles developed in part to make use of Indian gold?
14	Why does Weatherford say that silver is more valuable than gold?
15	How was the silver brought from the New World different from the silver brought from other times and places?
16	How much did the American gold and silver increase the supply in Europe between 1492 and 1600?
17	What effects did Indian gold and silver have on European feudalism?
18	Why did gold and silver undermine land as a source of wealth and power?
19	Which European social class was largely created by Indian gold and silver?
20	How did Indian silver come to undermine the Ottoman Empire?
21	How did Indian silver affect China?
22	Why did Indian silver end up harming the economies of West Africa?
23	Why did the Spaniards give up using African slaves in Potosí?
24	Who replaced the African slaves?
25	What were conditions like for the Indian miners under Spanish rule?
26	What was the irony of the Indian miners having produced "the greatest economic boom in the history of the world?"
27	How does the mine of Cerro Rico differ today from earlier?
28	What is the "mountain that cried?" What use is it put to today?
29	Why does Weatherford call Potosí "the first city of capitalism?"

Franke's page ANTH 140 Syllabus

	Chapter 2
30	Why were beaver pelts so prized in Europe?
31	Why did Europeans so desire American furs in general?
32	How did the reality of the frontiersmen and voyageurs differ from the romantic images of them in novels and films?
33	Why did Spain allow the Dutch and British to develop the production side of colonialism in the New World?
34	Why in the lowland and coastal areas did Spain eventually go to Africa for slaves instead of using Indians?
35	How does the image of the early European settlers such as the pilgrims differ from the reality?
36	Why is Charleston such an important place in the history of Indians and of African Americans?
37	What did Adam Smith consider the two most important events in all of world history?
38	In what way did Karl Marx disagree with Smith?
39	In what way does the modern world economy depend on a gift from the American Indians?

	Chapter 3
40	Where is the village of Kahl?
41	In what ways was life in Kahl in 1700 AD different from in 700 AD?
42	Why was it that the Greeks and the Romans could not transform their substantial scientific and mathematical knowledge into the machines needed for an industrial revolution?
43	What effect did the potato have on the mills in Europe?
44	Why was American cotton so important in Europe's mills?
45	In what way was American cotton superior to India's cotton or that of the Near East?
46	What did Europeans use for clothing prior to the spread of American cotton?
47	Why was it so difficult to produce enough wool and leather to clothe Europe's people?
48	What did Eli Whitney invent and why was it so important?
49	How did cotton and the potato interact in Euorpe to help foster the industrial revolution?
50	Besides cotton and the potato, what other native American products contributed to the modern textile industry?

	Chapter 4

51	Where is Machu Picchu?
52	What is so remarkable about Machu Picchu?
53	How many varieties of potato did Andean farmers cultivate at the time of the Spanish conquest?
54	Before the potato, what did Europeans eat?
55	How does the potato compare to wheat in output of calories?

Franke's page ANTH 140 Syllabus