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Pre-Columbian America and European Exploration (pre-1607) — High School U.S. History practice questions

20 multiple-choice questions and 8 flashcards on Pre-Columbian America and European Exploration (pre-1607), about 7% of the High School U.S. History bank. Every one carries a written rationale.

Written and maintained by the CoStudy team · last updated 2026-10-12 · how we write and review questions

What this chapter covers

Pre-Columbian America and European Exploration (pre-1607) is one of 13 chapters in CoStudy's High School U.S. History bank, and it holds 20 of the bank's 270 multiple-choice questions — roughly 7% of the total. That proportion is not arbitrary: chapters follow the certifying body's published exam outline, and the number of questions in each is set by that domain's published weight, so the share of your practice time this chapter takes matches the share of the real exam it accounts for.

Studying by chapter is worth doing once you have a diagnostic score. A single overall percentage tells you whether you are close; it does not tell you which domain is dragging. Working a weak chapter in isolation, and re-testing it in isolation, is the fastest way to move a score that has stalled — and it is why the mock exams in CoStudy report by domain rather than as one number.

Free Pre-Columbian America and European Exploration (pre-1607) practice questions

5 questions drawn from this chapter, with the full rationale shown — the controlling principle behind the right answer, and why each wrong option tempts and fails.

The large earthen mounds at Cahokia, near modern St. Louis, were built by:

  1. the Ancestral Puebloan peoples
  2. the Aztecs
  3. the Mississippian culture
  4. the Iroquois Confederacy

Answer: C — the Mississippian culture

C) Correct — Cahokia was the largest Mississippian city, at its height around 1050–1200. A) Built cliff dwellings and pueblos in the Southwest. B) Lived in central Mexico. D) Was a later alliance in the Northeast, not a mound-building society.

Bartolomé de las Casas is known for:

  1. leading the conquest of Peru
  2. founding the first permanent English colony
  3. defending the encomienda system
  4. condemning Spanish abuse of Native peoples

Answer: D — condemning Spanish abuse of Native peoples

D) Correct — The priest wrote detailed accounts of cruelty and argued against the encomienda. A) Was Francisco Pizarro. B) He was a Spanish priest. C) Reverses his stance; he attacked it.

French colonization in North America centered on:

  1. the fur trade and alliances with Native peoples
  2. large tobacco plantations worked by indentured servants
  3. gold and silver mining
  4. a refuge for Puritans

Answer: A — the fur trade and alliances with Native peoples

A) Correct — New France had few settlers; trade and partnership with Native nations drove it. B) Describes the English Chesapeake. C) Describes Spanish colonies. D) Describes New England.

Hernán Cortés is known for conquering:

  1. the Aztec Empire
  2. the Inca Empire
  3. the Maya city-states
  4. the Pueblo peoples

Answer: A — the Aztec Empire

A) Correct — With Native allies and the help of smallpox, he took Tenochtitlan in 1521. B) Was conquered by Francisco Pizarro. C) Fell over a much longer period, not to Cortés. D) Were colonized later in New Mexico.

The Columbian Exchange was the transfer of:

  1. enslaved people to Europe
  2. land between Spain and Portugal
  3. plants, animals and diseases between hemispheres
  4. European ideas of self-government to the Americas

Answer: C — plants, animals and diseases between hemispheres

C) Correct — Horses, wheat and smallpox crossed west; corn, potatoes and tomatoes crossed east. A) Most enslaved Africans were carried to the Americas, and the exchange covered far more than people. B) Describes the Treaty of Tordesillas. D) Isn't what the term means.

Pre-Columbian America and European Exploration (pre-1607) flashcards

1 cards from the 8 in this chapter.

Who funded Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage?

King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain.

Practise the full chapter

These are a sample. The full Pre-Columbian America and European Exploration (pre-1607) chapter runs 28 items with per-chapter progress tracking, on the web and in the iOS app.

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