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History of the United States - Quiz
Contributed by: Lea
  • 1. Which Spanish explorer landed in Florida in 1513?
A) Christopher Columbus
B) Francisco Coronado
C) Hernando de Soto
D) Juan Ponce de León
  • 2. Who led the expedition in 1539 to explore the Southeast?
A) Hernando de Soto
B) Francisco Coronado
C) Giovanni da Verrazzano
D) Juan Ponce de León
  • 3. What animal, introduced by Coronado's party, transformed Plains Indian culture?
A) Cattle
B) Sheep
C) Horses
D) Dogs
  • 4. Which city was NOT listed as a city that grew from small Spanish settlements?
A) Albuquerque
B) San Antonio
C) St. Augustine
D) Los Angeles
  • 5. In what year did the Dutch East India Company send Henry Hudson to find a Northwest Passage?
A) 1539
B) 1664
C) 1609
D) 1621
  • 6. What was the primary purpose for the establishment of New Netherland in 1621?
A) To establish religious missions
B) To search for gold
C) To capitalize on the fur trade
D) To farm grain
  • 7. What was the capital of New Netherland?
A) New Amsterdam
B) Fort Caroline
C) Fort Christina
D) New York City
  • 8. What religious group were the Dutch primarily affiliated with?
A) Calvinists
B) Anglicans
C) Catholics
D) Lutherans
  • 9. When did Britain take over New Netherland and rename it New York?
A) 1655
B) 1638
C) 1664
D) 1609
  • 10. Who led the first expedition of the New Sweden Company?
A) Peter Minuit
B) Pedro Menéndez
C) Henry Hudson
D) Giovanni da Verrazzano
  • 11. What was the name of the fort founded at the site of modern-day Wilmington, Delaware?
A) Fort Christina
B) Fort Orange
C) Fort Caroline
D) Fort Amsterdam
  • 12. In what year was New Sweden incorporated into New Netherland?
A) 1638
B) 1621
C) 1655
D) 1664
  • 13. Which European explorer sailed into New York Harbor and Narragansett Bay in 1524?
A) Juan Ponce de León
B) Henry Hudson
C) Giovanni da Verrazzano
D) Peter Minuit
  • 14. Which city was NOT established by the French in the south?
A) New Orleans
B) Biloxi
C) San Antonio
D) Mobile
  • 15. What is the name of the land bridge that connected Siberia to Alaska?
A) Pacific Ridge
B) Atlantis
C) Panama
D) Beringia
  • 16. How long ago might the first inhabitants have spread southward into the Americas?
A) 50,000 years ago
B) 30,000 years ago
C) 5,000 years ago
D) 100,000 years ago
  • 17. What animal did Paleo-Indians hunt before switching to bison?
A) Horses
B) Ice Age megafauna
C) Bears
D) Deer
  • 18. In which region did farming first begin in the Americas around 8,000 BCE?
A) New York
B) Alaska
C) Arizona
D) Central Mexico
  • 19. By what year was corn being grown in the valleys of Arizona and New Mexico?
A) 3,000 BCE
B) 8,000 BCE
C) 300 BCE
D) 500 CE
  • 20. What culture is identified by the use of fluted spear points called the Clovis point?
A) Adena culture
B) Clovis culture
C) Hopewell culture
D) Folsom culture
  • 21. What group reached the Pacific Northwest by 5,000 BCE?
A) Mississippians
B) Hopewellians
C) Na-Dene-speaking peoples
D) Hohokam
  • 22. When did the Adena culture begin constructing large earthwork mounds?
A) 8,000 BCE
B) 600 BCE
C) 500 CE
D) 300 BCE
  • 23. Which trade system ran from the Southeast to the Canadian side of Lake Ontario?
A) Hopewell Exchange System
B) Mississippian Route
C) The Adobe Trail
D) Clovis Path
  • 24. What was the most important city of the Mississippian culture?
A) Chaco
B) Cahokia
C) Mesa Verde
D) Pueblo Bonito
  • 25. How tall was Monks Mound at Cahokia?
A) 25 feet
B) 50 feet
C) 100 feet
D) 200 feet
  • 26. What was the estimated peak population of Cahokia in the 12th century?
A) 50,000
B) 20,000
C) 100,000
D) 5,000
  • 27. What structure in New Mexico consisted of 800 rooms?
A) Cliff Palace
B) Monks Mound
C) Hopewell Earthwork
D) Pueblo Bonito
  • 28. When did the Anasazi begin constructing stone and adobe pueblos?
A) 500 CE
B) 900 BCE
C) 600 BCE
D) 300 BCE
  • 29. Which culture was absorbed into the Hopewell tradition?
A) Adena
B) Clovis
C) Hohokam
D) Oshara
  • 30. How many federally recognized tribes are there in the United States according to the text?
A) 1,000
B) 100
C) 50
D) 575
  • 31. When was Jamestown established?
A) 1607
B) 1776
C) 1620
D) 1787
  • 32. Which group of people landed the Mayflower at Plymouth in 1620?
A) French colonists
B) Indigenous tribes
C) Spanish explorers
D) English pilgrims
  • 33. What year were the Intolerable Acts issued by Parliament?
A) 1783
B) 1773
C) 1776
D) 1775
  • 34. Which battle marked the commencement of the Revolutionary War?
A) Battle of Gettysburg
B) Battles of Lexington and Concord
C) Battle of Yorktown
D) Battle of Fort Sumter
  • 35. Who was selected as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in June 1775?
A) Thomas Jefferson
B) George Washington
C) Alexander Hamilton
D) James Madison
  • 36. When was the United States Declaration of Independence formalized?
A) July 2, 1776
B) July 4, 1776
C) September 17, 1787
D) September 3, 1783
  • 37. What treaty resulted in the British acknowledging the independence of the Thirteen Colonies?
A) Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
B) Treaty of Versailles
C) Treaty of Paris
D) Treaty of London
  • 38. When was the U.S. Constitution signed by a majority of delegates?
A) March 4, 1789
B) September 17, 1787
C) September 3, 1783
D) July 4, 1776
  • 39. Who served as Washington's Treasury Secretary?
A) James Madison
B) Thomas Jefferson
C) Alexander Hamilton
D) James K. Polk
  • 40. What was added to the U.S. Constitution in 1791 to guarantee inalienable rights?
A) Bill of Rights
B) Declaration of Independence
C) Articles of Confederation
D) Lee Resolution
  • 41. Who was the nation's third president?
A) George Washington
B) James K. Polk
C) Thomas Jefferson
D) Abraham Lincoln
  • 42. Which president was the most notable advocate of manifest destiny?
A) James K. Polk
B) Abraham Lincoln
C) Thomas Jefferson
D) George Washington
  • 43. What treaty resulted in the U.S. acquiring the American Southwest from Mexico?
A) Treaty of the Southwest
B) Treaty of Mexico
C) Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
D) Treaty of Paris
  • 44. Which battle was the deadliest in American military history?
A) Battle of Concord
B) Battle of Lexington
C) Battle of Fort Sumter
D) Battle of Gettysburg
  • 45. What event marked the onset of the Great Depression?
A) Wall Street crash of 1929
B) The attack on Pearl Harbor
C) World War I
D) The Roaring Twenties
  • 46. What year did the Cold War end?
A) 1989
B) 1991
C) 1952
D) 1945
  • 47. What is the name of the U.S. program in the 2020s aiming to create a permanent moonbase?
A) Space Race
B) Star Wars Initiative
C) Apollo program
D) Artemis program
  • 48. Which animal served as a central resource and spiritual symbol for the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest?
A) Bear
B) Salmon
C) Eagle
D) Buffalo
  • 49. What was the name of the gift-giving feast celebrated by Pacific Northwest communities?
A) Great Law
B) Potlatch
C) Grand Council
D) Condolence
  • 50. During which century did the Haudenosaunee form their confederacy?
A) Mid-15th century
B) Mid-14th century
C) Mid-17th century
D) Mid-16th century
  • 51. How many nations were part of the initial Haudenosaunee confederacy?
A) Five
B) Six
C) Seven
D) Four
  • 52. Who condoled the 50 chiefs of the Grand Council?
A) The Mohawk elders
B) The Great Law council
C) Haudenosaunee Clan Mothers
D) The European settlers
  • 53. Which of these tribes is NOT mentioned as one of the original Haudenosaunee nations?
A) Mohawk
B) Cayuga
C) Osage
D) Oneida
  • 54. How were the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest described in terms of wealth?
A) Nomadic and poor
B) Least affluent
C) Most affluent
D) Equal to all other nations
  • 55. How many chiefs sat on the Grand Council of the Haudenosaunee?
A) 5
B) 100
C) 50
D) 15
  • 56. Who began settling Hawaii around 1200 CE?
A) Spanish explorers
B) British explorers
C) Tahitian explorers
D) Norse explorers
  • 57. In what year did James Cook arrive in the Hawaiian Islands?
A) 1493
B) 1778
C) 1898
D) 1075
  • 58. Who unified the Hawaiian islands for the first time?
A) A Taíno chief
B) James Cook
C) Kamehameha I
D) Adam of Bremen
  • 59. What culture started the settlement of Puerto Rico?
A) Arawak
B) Ortoiroid
C) Taíno
D) Norse
  • 60. When did the Arawak people arrive in Puerto Rico?
A) 1075 CE
B) 1000 CE
C) 1493 CE
D) 1200 CE
  • 61. Who were the native people encountered by the Spanish in Puerto Rico in 1493?
A) Vinland settlers
B) Ortoiroid
C) Taíno
D) Tahitians
  • 62. What title was given to the chief who led the Puerto Rican natives?
A) Cacique
B) Emperor
C) King
D) Explorer
  • 63. When was Puerto Rico annexed by the United States?
A) 1898
B) 1493
C) 1900
D) 1778
  • 64. Where is the strongest archaeological evidence for Norse settlements in America located?
A) Canada
B) New England
C) Puerto Rico
D) Hawaii
  • 65. Which crop did Europeans take back from the Americas to Europe?
A) Hogs
B) Maize
C) Horses
D) Cattle
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