Migrations-&-World_History_ p_27.htm

What_Do_You_Know_About_the_World_p_28.htm

This is www.acurioustraveler.com, P. 29

ANSWERS TO

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT

THE WORLD, PAST & PRESENT ?

Note: Total the correct points. To discourage guessing, deduct 1 point for each three incorrect answers. This is a test of your present knowledge, do not look at maps or other information before answering.

GEOGRAPHY-ANSWERS-I

I. 1. A. Russia, Mongolia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, & Turkmenistan

I. 2. A. Syria, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, & Jordan

I. 3. A. Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, China, Pakistan, & Iran

I.4. A. Tashkent

I. 5.A. Aleppo.

I. 6.A. Iraq, Iran, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, & Kuwait

I.7.A. It began in Chang’an (Xi’an) China and extended, via several routes, to the Mediterranean. Caravansaries, like motels, were built a day’s journey apart, with shelter and food for travelers and their animals. Silk and other valuables from China were sent to Europe. It began in 106 BC with an agreement between China’s emperor and the king of Parthia, then a powerful nomadic kingdom in today’s Iran and Turkmenistan. It taught Europeans that there were great civilizations in Asia. At times bandits and high tolls were a handicap to travelers. Most of the route was little used after the 16th Century.

I. 8.A. Italy, Austria, Hungary, & Croatia

I. .9.A. France, Germany, Austria, & Italy

I. 10.A. Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, & Austria

I. 11.A. Finland, Japan, China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, & Estonia

I. 12.A. Mali, Niger, Benin, Togo, Ghana, & Ivory Coast

I. 13.A. Cameroon, Chad, Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) , & Republic of the Congo

I. 14.A. Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire), Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, & Angola

I. 15.A. Philippines, Northern Marianas, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, & Palau

I. 16.A. Australia, Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga, Cook Islands, USA, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rico, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, & Chile

I. 17.A. Mexico, Belize, Honduras, & El Salvador

I. 18.A. Panama, Venezuela, Brazil, & Ecuador

I. 19.A. Bolivia, Brazil, & Argentina

I. 20.A. Brasilia

I. 21.A. Montevideo

I. 22.A. Newfoundland, Nova Scotia , New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia

I. 23.A. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, & Maine

I. 24.A. Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Calgary, & Edmonton

I. 25.A. Ottawa

[up to 1 point]

I. 26.A. Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterey, & Naucalpan de Juarez

I. 27.A. Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, & Wisconsin

I. 28.A. Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska, & Hawaii

I. 29.A. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Antonio, Dallas, Detroit

I. 30.A. Tokyo, Mexico City, New York, Sao Paulo, Mumbai (Bombay), Kolkata (Calcutta), Shanghai, Buenos Aires, Delhi, Los Angeles, Osaka, Jakarta, Bejing, Rio de Janeiro, Cairo

I. 31.A. Russia, China, United States, Canada, Brazil, Australia, India, Argentina, Kazakhstan, Algeria

I. 32.A. Nile (4,160 mi.), Amazon (4,000 mi.), Chang or Yangtze (3,964 mi.), Missouri-Mississippi (3,710, Huang Ho or Yellow (3,395 mi.), Ob-Irtysh (3,362 mi.), Congo (2,900 mi.), Lena (2,734 mi.), Mekong (2,700 mi.), Niger (2,590 mi.), Parana (2,485 mi.),

I.33.A. Amazon and Congo

I. 34.A. Superior (31,700), Victoria (26,828), Huron (22,000), Michigan (22,300), Tanganyika (12,700), Baikal (12,162), Great Bear (12,096), Nyasa (11,150), & Great Slave (11,031)

I. 35.A. Everest (29,035 ft.), K2 (Godwin-Austen) (28,250), Kanchenjunga (28,208), Lhotse I (Everest, 27,923), Makalu I (27,824), Lhotse II (Everest, 27,560), Dhaulagiri (26,810)

I. 36.A. (McKinley 20,320 ft.), Logan (19,551), Pico de Orizaba, 18,555), St. Elias 18,008), Popocatepetl, 17,930)

I. 37.A. Aconcagua (22,834), Ojos de Salado (22,572)

I. 38.A. Mont Blanc (15,771)

I. 39. A. Kilimanjaro (19,340), Kenya (17,058)

!.40.A. North America, South America, Australia, Europe, Asia, and Africa

I.41.A. There are 193 independent countries.

I. 42.A. Scientists agree that the planet, or at least the northern hemisphere, is getting warmer. Summers are hotter and winters are not so cold. Ice is melting at a rapid rate in Antarctica, Greenland, and in mountains in the northern hemisphere. For millions of years the planet has been getting warmer or colder periodically. When a major volcano erupts it may blot out the sun for awhile, changing the temperature. A little change in the velocity or temperature of major ocean currents can change the temperature in a big area. A slight change in the tilt of the Earth on its axis changes exposure to the sun and temperature. Some temperate areas are getting more rainfall, others are getting droughts. Some cold areas, such as Siberia and Alaska, may be more comfortable in the future, other areas are getting too hot. Scientists do not agree to what extent changes made by man have caused the climate changes. The increase in carbon dioxide and methane in air in much of the planet is causing temperatures to rise. Burning fossil fuels and cutting plants tends to increase carbon dioxide, and animals such as cattle emit a lot of methane into the air. The prudent thing for governments and the rest of us to do is to limit emissions of carbon dioxide and methane as much as is practical.

RELIGION-ANSWERS-II

II.1.A. Mohammed or Muhammad (often called The Prophet)

II.2.A. About 570-632 AD

II.3.A. Mecca, Saudi Arabia

II.4.A. The Hijrah

II.5.A. [July 16] 622 AD

II.6.A. The Koran

II.7.A. Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei [acceptable: Palestine]

II..8.A. Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, Chad, Niger, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea [acceptable: Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau, Tanzania]

II.9.A.Sunni & Shia or Shiite

II.10.A. Men are called Haji, women are called Hijah.

II.11.A. No. Many countries have a law that prohibits a man from having more than one wife. It is also expensive to support more than one wife.

II.12.A. Siddartha Gautama

II.13.A. About 550-630 BC [acceptable: 7th & 6th centuries B.C.]

II.14.A. 531 B.C. [acceptable: 6th Century BC]

II.15A. northeast India [acceptable: India or Nepal]

II.16.A. China, Bhutan, Mongolia, South Korea, Japan, Burma or Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam [acceptable: Tibet, North Korea]

II.17.A. Theravada, Hinayana, Mahayana, Zen

II.18.A. India, Nepal

II.19.A. In Ephesus, Turkey, 431 A.D., leaders of the Christian Church first condemned the teachings of Nestorius, Patriarch of the Church in Constantinople. A majority of the pope’s delegates then approved the teachings of Nestorius that Mary‘s son Jesus was a human being, not God. The emperor dissolved the Council & later overruled the Council’s decision.

II.20.A. Islamic Seljuk Turks conquered part of Christian Asia in the 1070s, including Jerusalem in 1076. The pope asked for European armies to drive out the Turks & to re-conquer the “Holy Lands.” Many European kings and their followers responded by sending seven or more armies to fight the Moslems. Crusaders built several great castles, including Crac des Chevaliers, in Syria. For awhile Crusaders controlled much of the eastern Mediterranean. Many Crusaders never reached the Turks, but in the Fourth Crusade, 1204, they killed Jews and Orthodox Christians. The Children’s Crusade, 1212, was one of the worst. Orphan boys & girls were sent to the Middle East to fight but they got only to Marseille, where they boarded a ship that was captured by Moslems. The children who did not starve & who survived became slaves of the Moslems. Merchants in Venice became rich, selling supplies to both Christians and Moslems. The Crusades taught Europeans that there were great civilizations in Asia, they helped to modernize Europe & to improve trade. The Crusaders were finally chased out of Asia, Arwad Island, Syria, in 1302. .

II.21.A. The Spanish Inquisition began in Seville in 1480 but was greatly expanded when Ferdinand of Aragon & Isabella of Castile became Spain’s king & queen in 1492 and they expelled the last of the Moors (Moslems). The Roman Inquisition began about 200 years earlier and was strong in France, Italy, and elsewhere. The Escorial near Madrid became the headquarters of the Spanish Inquisition. Priests & others were required to determine who might be a heretic who may not agree completely with the Church‘s teachings. Heretics were cruelly tortured until they confessed. If they did not confess they were often hanged, then their body was burned. Women were often called a witch, then condemned, hanged & burned, by “loving Christians.” . . .

II.22.A. Luther was born in Germany in 1483, later becoming an Augustine monk. He believed many of the practices of the Roman Catholic Church were wrong, and in 1517 he prepared a manifesto or list of “95 Theses” or practices of the Church that he believed should be discussed. Luther had many supporters in Germany, who did not like to be controlled by the Roman pope. In 1520 Luther prepared a list of reforms he believed the Church needed. He was condemned as a heretic but the German Prince & others protected him. In 1521 Luther translated the New Testament from the original Greek into German, while hiding from the pope’s army in Wartburg Castle in Eisenach, Germany. Luther and a friend later translated the Old Testament. Soon, the Protestant movement spread, supported by European rulers who wanted to take some of the power & property of the Roman Catholic Church.

II.23.A. The Council of the Roman Catholic church, in Trent (Trento) & Bologna, Italy, held 1545-1564, responded to Luther’s new Protestant movement. It began an Index of Forbidden Books that must not be read, made some reforms, and condemned some abuses of the Church

II.24. A. Yes. Many religions and folk beliefs have a theory about the origin of Earth and mankind. Some are as detailed and believable, or unbelievable, as the Book of Genesis.

II.25.A. Yes. The Jewish people who wrote parts of the Old Testament lived several centuries in Babylon, where the most popular religion then was Zoroastrianism. Zoroasters believed there was a great flood but a religious man built an ark long before Noah. Zoroasters believed there was a wise Lord, an evil Satan, angels, demons, and fiends, and that a Messiah will save his people. They believed there will be a Judgment and Resurrection, and a paradise for the soul in the heavens. The Jewish people also apparently lived in Egypt from about the 18th to the 13th centuries before Christ. There they naturally adopted many of the beliefs and practices of ancient Egyptians. If any religion is popular in a large area, other religions naturally copy some aspects or beliefs of that popular religion.

II.26.A. Yes, the founder or gods of many religions and important leaders in the real world are said to have had a virgin birth. That improves the status or importance of a god or leader. For example, Buddha is said to have had a virgin birth from his mother’s side.

Ancient Greeks believed that the god Agdistis was castrated, but an almond tree grew from its penis. Nana, the daughter of a river god, picked one of the almonds from the tree, put it into her lap, and became pregnant. Attis was an important god in ancient Phyrgia, part of today’s Bulgaria. His mother, Nana, was said to be a virgin. She put a ripe almond into her bosom, causing her, miraculously, to become pregnant with Attis. Greeks also believed that the goddess Athena, though a virgin, gave birth to a son when the god Hephaestus ejaculated on her leg. She quickly wiped his semen off with a piece of wool and threw it onto the ground. Mother Earth was thus fertilized, giving birth to Athena’s son, Erechtonius. Ancient Romans believed that a goddess, though a virgin, gave birth to Caeculus. When a girl sat by the fire, a spark flew onto her and into her bosom. She became pregnant; Vulcan, god of fire, was considered to be the father. Alexander the Great, who controlled most of the known world in the 4th Century B.C., was believed to have had a virgin birth. Sir James George Fraser, a great anthropologist, concluded, in The Golden Bough, at page 403 “Such tales of virgin birth mothers are relics of an age of childish ignorance when men had not yet recognized the intercourse of the sexes as the true cause of offspring.”

HISTORY-ANSWERS-III

III.1.A. Pakistan & India

III.2.A. Mohenjo-daro, & Harappa

III.3.A. Old Kingdom, 3rd & 4th Dynasties, about 2700 to 2400 BC

III.4.A. Ramses III, about 1190 to 1158 BC.

III.5.A. Re

III.6.A. 5th & 4th centuries B.C.

III.7.A. Athens & Sparta

III.8.A. Macedonia, in or just north of modern Greece

III.9.A. He defeated the Persian empire, led by Darius III, in 330 B.C.

III.10.A. From Egypt & Greece, to western India, north to the Black Sea & Caspian Sea, south to the Persian Gulf & Arabian Sea

III.11.A. Carthage, or Carthaginians, from what is now Tunisia

III.12.A. Gaul or France, Belgium, Britain, northern Italy, & Switzerland

III..13.A. Octavian or Augustus, 27 B.C. to 14 A.D.

III..14.A. Britain, most of North Africa’s coast, Egypt, the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf, Greater Armenia, Turkey, Greece, north including Bulgaria & Romania, Albania & the former Yugoslavia, Italy, Switzerland, France, & Spain

III.15.A. External causes: aggressive barbarian tribes from eastern & northern Europe invaded. Internal causes: weakening of traditional society by Christianity, hostility among classes, a mixture of too many races & cultures, the plague, manpower shortages, economic collapse, weakening of health by lead poisoning from pipes, civil wars, & some incompetent emperors.

III.16.A. Mayans of Mexico & Central America

III.17.A. Priests baptized and tranquilized local peoples so they made more productive slaves, to help Spanish extract and take mineral wealth, and food. Priests therefore save the lives of several thousand Spanish soldiers and tens of thousands of local peoples

III.18.A. The renaissance or rebirth of medieval Europe, ending the “dark” ages” began in Italy in the 14th and 15th centuries. Beliefs and practices of ancient Greece and Rome were revived, expanding into northern Europe. Artists, mathematicians, philosophers, writers, and others produced new cultural concepts and ideas. In the age of the “Enlightenment”: Europeans were released from the stranglehold on new ideas held by the Roman Catholic Church .

III.19.A. In the 16th Century Martin Luther began the Protestant separation of northern Europe from control by the Roman Catholic Church. Kings began to take power and property away from the Roman Catholic hierarchy. The reformers had some success, although many did not agree with Luther. New Protestant churches were formed. New ideas began in Germany and spread to much of Europe.

III..20.A. From 1618 to 1648 pro-Roman Catholic countries and pro-Protestant countries fought each other. It began in Bohemia (now part of Czech Republic) and expanded to much of Europe. Leaders of the Roman Catholic countries included Austria’s Habsburg and Spain’s rulers. Leaders of Protestants included Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Britain. France, though it remained Roman Catholic, fought Spain and the Habsburgs. The area in today’s Germany suffered the most, with divided loyalties and much suffering. “Good Christians” killed each other by the thousands, and they destroyed much property. The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 ended the fighting.

III..21.A. The 13 original American colonies sought independence from Britain. Soon after the colonies passed a resolution declaring independence, on July 4, 1776, they fought a war, 1776-1783, and finally won, with the help of France.

III.22.A. 1789. France was almost bankrupt, due to excessive spending by royalty and the rich. France’s agriculture and industry was behind that of some other European countries. The aristocrats wanted to restore their traditional control or limitations on royalty, and the masses wanted more democracy. They successfully insisted that the Estates General be re-established. It consisted of the nobility, clergy, and commoners-the “Third Estate.” The commoners insisted that each have one vote. As the royalty hesitated, the commoners on July 14, 1989 attacked and captured the Bastille, the big prison in Paris. After months of turmoil a new constitution was established in 1791, removing many rights of aristocrats and feudalism. Property of the rich Roman Catholic Church and monasteries was taken and sold. In 1790 most of the monks had fled from their rich monasteries, disguising themselves. In June 1791 the royal family attempted to flee France, to seek help from the family of Queen Marie Antoinette, then the Habsburg royal family of Austria. France’s royal family was caught and brought back to Paris. King Louis XV! lost his head on the guillotine on January 21, 1793, Marie Antoinette lost her head a few months later. France’s new Legislative Assembly, on April 20, 1792, declared war against the Habsburgs. Revolutionists created terror and executed some of their own leaders and moderate leaders. Royalty throughout Europe feared for their own safety as the French got rid of their royalty. Armies of Britain, Russia, and Germany took land that France had controlled. General Napoleon Bonaparte’s army was in Egypt when the British destroyed France’s fleet that could have brought the army home. However, in 1799 Napoleon returned to France and got the approval of a new constitution that soon permitted him to act like a dictator. The French were so tired of anarchy that they welcomed a strong leader. Napoleon established the military draft and soon built an army that conquered much of Europe. He inaugurated tariffs to protect French farmers and industry, raised taxes, and drafted modern laws and roads that applied to France and much of Europe. He modernized and organized the army When the pope excommunicated him in 1809, Napoleon put the pope into prison. However, Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812 turned into a disaster as cold winter began. In 1814 Napoleon abdicated, was imprisoned in Elba, escaped, and raised another army. When he was defeated in Waterloo in 1814, Napoleon was exiled to distant St. Helena island, without his new beautiful young Austrian bride. He died of arsenic poisoning apparently delivered by his friends who wanted to return to Paris.

III.23.A. In 1803 the .U.S.A. bought from France Louisiana Territory, which included most of modern western US, west of the Mississippi River and north of the Missouri-to-Oregon borders. The U.S.A. paid about 15 million dollars. France’s Napoleon needed the money to fight his European wars. France conquered much of Europe but its attempted conquer of Russia ended in France’s defeat. .

III.24.A. The U.S. continued to trade with Napoleon’s France, which Britain was then fighting. Americans wanted the profits from trading and they wanted to get part of Canada, a colony of Britain. The British navy stopped some American merchant ships at sea and took some of their sailors. Americans were expanding into the West but Britain gave some American Indians rifles to resist that advance. Americans made little progress in Canada. British invaded the US in three places, and captured the new capital, Washington, D.C. Americans won some battles, the war ended in a draw. The Treaty of Ghent, on December 24, 1814, should have ended the fighting, but on January 5, 1815, Andrew Jackson defeated British in New Orleans

III.25.A. Texas decided to become independent from Mexico in the 1830s, then it was annexed by the U.S. The U.S. wanted more territory south of Texas and its troops were fired upon by Mexican troops. The US. won in 1848 and acquired a huge area in the southwest, including California to Texas and north to the land bought in the 1803 Louisiana Purchase.

III.26.A. 1861 to 1865. Leaders and many others in the southern or Confederate states wanted to continue their practice of using negro slaves, helpful in their agricultural economy. They believed their “States Rights” under the U.S. Constitution permitted them to withdraw from the Union if they wanted to withdraw. They believed that slaves were property and that slaves, like any other property, was protected. Leaders in the North, including Abraham Lincoln, believed a State had no right to withdraw, and the Union must be preserved. Many people in the North opposed slavery. In 1850 Congress reached a compromise that was not popular, but it preserved the Union temporarily, by admitting California as a free state, but slavery was not made unlawful in other new states and territories. The North’s leaders agreed that slaves who fled from their owners were fugitives and could be forcefully returned. Southern leaders wanted to admit Missouri and Kansas as slave states, the Northerners opposed it. Fighting began in those territories in 1855.. In 1857 the U.S. Supreme Court, dominated by southerners, ruled that slavery could not be prohibited in a territory. Lincoln won the Republican Party nomination for president in 1860. He recognized the right of Southerners to keep slaves, but not to withdraw from the Union. When he won, seven Southern states seceded from the Union. In 1861, southerners fired on the federal Fort Sumter in South Carolina, starting the Civil War. The South had many slave owners who had graduated from military school. Southerners thought that Britain would support them, since it needed the South‘s cotton for its busy textile factories. The South won many battles. The North had more people and industry. When Lincoln in 1863 issued the Emancipation Declaration to free slaves, Britain, which had abolished slavery in 1834, decided not to support the South. The North finally got better generals, began to win battles and finally decisively defeated the South, preserving the Union and abolishing slavery.

III.27.A. 1898. Brutality by Spanish against Cubans who wanted independence caused Americans to be angry against Spain. President McKinley sent the battleship Maine to Havana, Cuba to limit Spain‘s atrocities. On February 9, 1898, the Maine blew up, for unknown reasons. Four months later a U.S. army, led by Theodore Roosevelt, landed in Cuba, soon forcing the Spanish to surrender. The US took Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines from Spain, but paid $20 million to Spain for the Philippines.

III.28.A. In 1907 Austria annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina, which angered Serbians in the area. In 1913 Austria insisted that Albania have an area on the sea that Serbians wanted. On June 28, 1914, in Sarajevo, a Serbian assassinated the heir to the Austrian Habsburg throne. Austria declared war against Serbia. Austria, Germany, and Italy had earlier signed a treaty in which they agreed to help each other in any war, but Italy claimed that it was not bound because Austria had not given proper notice. On August 1 Germany declared war against Russia, Serbia’s ally, then against France and Britain. France hoped to regain the Alsace--Lorraine region that Germany (Prussia) had taken from France in 1870. Britain was also soon in the war. Millions of men were killed in the trench warfare, which became almost stagnant. Poison gas killed many. President Wilson and others in the USA tried to remain neutral but German submarines sunk US merchant ships, causing the US Congress to declare war on April l6, 1917. The fresh American “Doughboys” changed the stalemate, and the US and its allies caused the surrender of Germany, Austria, Turkey, and Bulgaria on November 11, 1918.

III.29.A. In October 1917 Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, began a revolt in St. Petersburg. Many Russians were unhappy with their leaders, they had sought more democracy in 1905, February 1917, and other times. They were unhappy with Russia’s defeat by Japan in1905 and with the poor supplies that Russian troops had been given during their battles with Germany, beginning in 1914. The Civil War soon began between White and Red armies. Bolsheviks, with Germany’s encouragement, insisted that Russian troops withdraw from fighting in the World War In Russia’s Civil War millions were killed or died from starvation and exposure. Bolsheviks had won by 1923. Bolsheviks took property from the rich and later began communism, giving private property to the government, with a huge bureaucracy. Russia’s royal family was killed. Communism was expanded in Russia and later to 11 more Soviet republics: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldavia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyztan, and Tajikistan. During World War II, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia were added to the Soviet republics.

III.30.A. By 1925 agriculture and mining in the US suffered from low prices due to poor markets. Stock prices had risen too fast, and on “Black Friday,” in October, 1929, stock prices dropped drastically. Many employees were laid off. The unemployed in the U.S. quickly increased from 1.5 million to 15 million. There was little government help. Banks closed. Europe was also suffering, because of stagnant economies and big war debts that France, Britain, and the U.S. insisted that Germany pay. In 1930 the U.S. passed the Hawley-Smoot Tariff, that put more tariffs on imports. Other countries also increased their tariffs, resulting in less trade. The Republicans lost the U.S. election in 1932. The new Democrat President, Roosevelt, closed all banks for awhile, then began the “New Deal” programs of more government help. Many laws were passed to regulate industry and to help the needy. Many millions of men and women worked for the N.I.R.A.(National Recovery Act) or W.P.A. programs, getting at least a small salary. The conservative U.S. Supreme Court ruled that some of the New Deal programs were unconstitutional. Some of those judges were replaced, and the New Deal began to pass laws to increase incomes. Farmers were paid to plant less, so there would not be a food surplus to drive down market prices. Laws were passed to create strong unions to negotiate higher wages, and Social Security was begun to help older retirees. Dams were built to provide cheap electricity and irrigation water. The economy slowly recovered, but it was not until the late 1930s when the economies of the U.S. and several other countries began to boom, because of manufacturing war supplies. .

III.31.A.Several droughts hit the U.S. Great Plains states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, and Colorado between 1933 and 1938. Much of that area is too dry to be cultivated. Crops died, sand and dust covered fields and the air. Many farmers moved to California, to Detroit’s auto factories, or elsewhere. The federal Soil Conversation Program encouraged farmers to let some land lie idle, to strip farm, with trees and grass between rows, and to build terraces and contour rows to control erosion from the occasional rains.

III.32.A. Germany’s dictator Adolf Hitler wanted more land that may have once been controlled by Germans. He told industrialists that he could get their idle factories working again. He led the Nazis to expand Germany’s military and attacked Czechoslovakia in1938. Britain and France did little then to stop Germany, as it conquered much of the area. In 1939 Hitler and the Soviet Union’s Stalin entered into a then-secret agreement to each take part of Poland. Poland was an ally of Britain and France, which declared war against Germany on September 3, 1939. The Soviet Union took part of Finland, and Germany took part of Norway. Germany’s powerful air force and army began to take the Low Countries and invaded France, quickly making a run around France’s Maginot defense line, similar to what Germany (Prussia) had done in 1870. France did not resist much but surrendered in June 1940. Germany also attacked eastern Europe’s little countries, but resistance fighters in Yugoslavia delayed the Nazi’s advance by several weeks, delaying Germany’s planned attack against its former “ally,“ the Soviet Union. The delay caused German troops to be caught in the severe winter. Italy’s dictator Mussolini had become Hitler’s ally and won a few battles. In Asia, Japan had built a powerful military and conquered much of eastern China by 1937. Japan made a surprise attack against Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 11, 1941.Germany and Italy then declared war against the U.S. The powerful Japanese military quickly captured much of southeast Asia and Pacific islands that had been controlled by France, Britain, or the US. Britain stopped Hitler’s planned invasion in 1940 and 1941, with fighter planes and radar, to intercept German warplanes. The Soviet Union quickly built up its military, trading land for time. The U.S. quickly built a powerful military and began to push back the Japanese in the Pacific. Britain and the U.S.A. began to push back Germany and Italy, in North Africa, then Sicily and Italy, and southern France. On “D Day,“ June 6, 1944 a massive US and British military force landed in Normandy, France, and slowly pushed back Germany. The powerful Soviet military slowly pushed German troops westward. U.S. and British bombers pounded Germany’s cities. Italy withdrew from the war in 1944 and Germany unconditionally surrendered in May 1945. Japan unconditionally surrendered within four months, after the U.S. dropped two new atom bombs on its cities.

III.33.A. In the last days of WWII, the Soviet Union, upon request of the U.S., attacked Japan in the Far East, capturing northern Korea from Japan. Efforts to reconcile differences between the Soviets, .U.S, and Korea were not successful. Korea was divided, with the area north of the 38th Parallel becoming communist North Korea, the South remained independent. On June 25, 1950 the North’s army suddenly moved across the dividing line and soon controlled most of the Korean Peninsula. The US sent a large army to Korea and landed many military near Inchon, in the center of the peninsula, far behind the North‘s military lines. The US moved quickly through the North, but when China threatened to join the war and the Soviet Air Force helped the North, the U.S. retreated to the 38th Parallel. Efforts to negotiate peace have been unsuccessful. South Korea, with much military and other help from the U.S., has prospered but many in the North do not have enough food. The stalemate costs everyone a lot of money. .

III.34.A. France controlled much of Vietnam and southeast Asia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1946 Ho Chi Minh led opposition to the French and fighting began in the north. In 1954 the North’s military defeated the French at Dien Bien Phu. France and the North signed an agreement, with the dividing line to be the 17th Parallel, and national elections to be held in 1956. France left Vietnam in mid-1954. The U.S. supported Diem’s government in the South but he refused to agree to national elections. The North declared itself to be a republic in 1955. Diem was autocratic, so the Vietcong resistance grew fast in the South. The South’s military officers overthrew Diem in 1963 and became rulers in the South, with help from US. President Johnson’s “advisers.” In 1964 Johnson, by modifying the “facts,” persuaded Congress that the North had attacked a U.S. patrol boat in the Gulf of Tonkin. The U.S. and South Vietnam military leaders later agreed that was not true. Politicians sometimes lie or exaggerate and hide relevant facts to get what they want. The U.S. greatly increased its military but so did the North and the Vietcong, with help from the Soviet Union and China. Many men in the South did not believe their government was worth fighting for. The Vietcong and North won battles, including the “Tet Offensive” in 1968. The war became very unpopular in the U.S. When the South’s army officer’s fled in 1975, the U.S. left a few months later and the North occupied the South and united Vietnam

III.35.A Iraq was once Mesopotamia, one of the cradles of ancient Semite civilizations. It was settled by farmers by 6,000 years B.C. At the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, its ancient cultures include the Ubaid, the Uruk, the Sumerian, and the Akkad. Its ancient cities include Babylon, Babylonia, and Nineveh, Assyria. For several centuries Iraq and nearby areas were controlled by Turkey‘s. Ottoman Empire. When Turkey and its allies lost the World War in 1918, the area was put under the protectorate of Britain. Iraq was governed by Britain under a mandate from the League of Nations, although some Arabs wanted immediate independence. Faisal became king, but when he died a year later, his son Ghazi became king. When Ghazi died in 1939 his cousin became regent for Ghazi’s infant son Faisal II. In 1958 a military coup helped to kill the king, regent, and their families. General Kassem became dictator. His attempt to get Kuwait was thwarted by British, he quarreled with neighbors, was unpopular after a separatist movement in Kurdistan, and was assassinated in 1963. A colonel led a military coup, was killed in a crash, and his brother became dictator, who was expelled by Baathists in 1968. Baathists could not control Kurdish separatists who wanted the Kirkuk oil fields, but gave them an autonomous region. When President Bakr resigned due to poor health in 1979, Saddam Hussein took control of the ruling Baathist Party. He purged the government of communists, some of whom were sympathetic with Iran’s new ruler, Khomeini. In September 1980 Iraq invaded Iran over a dispute who controls the water-way near the Persian Gulf. In June 1980 Israel attacked and destroyed Iraq’s nuclear plant reactor near Baghdad. Both Iraq and Iran suffered greatly before their war ended with few gains in 1988. Saddam Hussein used poison gas in 1988 to kill many Kurdish villagers and in 1991 he bombed villages in Kurdistan, northern Iraq. The US. and other military began “no-fly zones” in Kurdish areas, where Iraqi planes would be shot down. In August 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait, doing much damage and setting oil wells ablaze. A United Nations resolution authorized force to re-take. Kuwait. On January 16, 1991 a coalition of the U.S. and several other nations began to bomb the area, and on February 24 Operation Desert Storm began a massive ground invasion. On March 3, U.S. General Schwarzkopf forced Iraq’s general to sign a cease-fire. When Schwarzkopf was asked why his strong military did not continue to Baghdad to capture and prosecute Saddam Hussein, he replied that the .U.N. did not authorize him to do so. When Islamic terrorists bombed 2 New York skyscrapers on 9/11/01, Saddam Hussein was one of several Islamic rulers who soon expressed sympathy to the U.S. The U.S. intelligence had warned the new U.S. president, George Bush, in a memo a month before the attack that an attack was likely, but Bush ignored it. Two months before 9/11/01 the CIA also briefed National Security Advisor Condi Rice, and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, and Attorney General Ashcroft about the likelihood of an attack soon by al-Qaida. After the attack, intelligence found that the terrorists, mostly from Saudi Arabia, represented al-Qaida and were trained in Afghanistan or Pakistan. However, Bush announced that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and that Iraq gave safe harbor to Al-Qaidia. US intelligence experts found there then was no connection between Hussein and Al-Qaidia. A long exhaustive search by experts for the UN never found WMDs. Bush also said Saddam had once threatened to kill his Daddy. The Bush administration presented fictitious information to the United Nations and the U.S. Congress to try to get them to approve the invasion of Iraq. When the UN refused, Bush announced that the US alone, if necessary, would invade Iraq. Experts warned Bush before the invasion that Iraqis might welcome elections, but they would not agree to share power among the three main groups--the minority Sunnis who held power under Saddam, plus Shias in the South and Kurds in the North. The invasion on March 19, 2003, by a massive military force, mostly the U.S. and Britain, soon controlled Iraq. The U.S. intelligence had warned the Bush administration not to oust Hussein because Iraqi groups would fight each other, and they warned Bush not to purge the Iraqi army of Baathists, because that might invite Iranians to enter. But that is exactly what Bush did. Baathists, the core of the former army, still had access to stored weapons, which they used as “terrorists” to attack Shias and supporters of the invaders. The Iraqi groups began to kill each other and the invaders in a civil war, with massive amounts of weapons. Later, al-Qaida and many other Islamic young men entered Iraq to join the fighting. Saddam Hussein disappeared during the invasion but he was found hiding on December 13, 2003. He was tried in an Iraqi court, found guilty of crimes against humanity on 11./5/06, sentenced to die, and hung on 12/30/06. Violence continued to escalate. There was much opposition to the war in the U..S. and abroad, and war costs in casualties, U.S. and Iraqis, and money increased rapidly.

III.36.A. The “Big Bang” created the universe about 13 billion years ago, most scientists believe. Earth is about 4.5 billion years old. [acceptable answers: within a billion years]

III.37.A. A tectonic plate is a large portion of the Earth’s crust, which may include a continent or part of an ocean. Tectonic plates are believed to be slowly moving, rubbing into each other, sometimes causing an earthquake..

III.38.A. Chad, Africa, seven billion years ago. [acceptable: Africa, over three billion years ago]

III.39.A. The U.N. was formed in 1945.in San Francisco but soon moved to New York City. The United Nations General Assembly has one member from each member, an independent country. It has many committees. The Security Council has five permanent members--the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, and France. It also has ten rotating temporary members, which are selected for two-year periods from the General Assembly. Only the five permanent members have a veto power. The Secretariat is the administrative organ, the secretary general is chosen by the General Assembly to serve a five-year term. Other councils include the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, and the International Court of Justice. Subsidiary organs of the General Assembly include the United Nations Children Fund (UNICF) and the World Food Program (WPF).The U.N. is financed by mandatory contributions from member countries.

I!!..40.A. In 1650, there were 508 million people on Earth, in 1800, 912 million, in 1900 1,590 million, today, .6.5 billion. Today more than two billion get a dollar a day or less, more than one billion get less than two dollars a day. Birth control may avoid massive starvation.

LANGUAGES & CULTURE ANSWERS-IV

IV.1.A. Ugarit, Canaan, about 1500 B.C. A small stone in Syria’s National Museum has inscribed the 30 letters, all consonants, no vowels, written left to right.

IV.2.A. Portugal, Brazil

IV.3.A. Spain, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador [acceptable: Andorra]

IV.4.A. Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Romansch (Switzerland), & Romanian

ECONOMICS ANSWERS-V

V. A.1 . The GDP is the market value of all the goods and services that have been bought for final use, usually for a year. For the U.S., it includes all production by residents of the U.S., regardless of where it takes place.

V. A.2. GDP does not include the value of barter exchanges and services within a family, such as the labor of a housewife or children. .

V. A. 3. Per capita income of a country is the total income of a country, divided by the number of people living there.

V.A.4. The money supply of a country is currency held by the public, plus checking accounts in commercial banks and savings institutions.

V. A. 5. The national debt of a country is debt of the national government, as distinguished from the debts of political subdivisions of the nation and of private business and individuals. In the U..S.A., Congress sets a debt ceiling, but it is often raised.

V.A.6. The public debt of a country is the total of a country’s debts owed by state, local, and national governments. Increases in this sum indicate how much is being borrowed, rather than by being raised from current taxes.

V. A. 7 Total exports of a country is the total value of goods and services, in both cash and credit, that leave the country for other countries..

V. A. 8. Total imports of a country is the total value of goods and services, in both cash and credit, that enter the country from other countries

V. A.9.The balance of payments of a country is the difference between all payments, made to or from a country, for a period of time, such as a month or a year. When more payments are coming into a country than are going out, that country has a favorable balance of payments. When more payments are going out than are coming in, it has an unfavorable balance of payments.

V.A10. Typical causes of a country’s unfavorable balance of payments are imports exceed imports, or the country is fighting or has fought a war abroad

V.A11. The balance of trade of a country is the difference between exports and imports, both cash and on credit- a trade gap.. A country’s balance of trade is favorable when exports exceed imports. It is unfavorable when imports exceed exports

V. A. 12.Inflation is an increase in prices. Causes are wanting to buy more goods and services than are readily available at a price, and by price increases made by those who can still sell their products at a higher price. Inflation may be controlled by increasing the supply of goods and services, by reducing money available to buy things, such as by increasing taxes, or by rationing or limiting the goods or services that anyone can buy, and by price controls on goods and services., During wartime a country often has wage and price controls, and rationing.

V. A.13.Anyone living on a fixed or almost-fixed income is hurt by inflation. This includes elderly pensioners, those on a fixed salary, and those who cannot sell more of their product or cannot raise the price for their goods or services. A lender of money for a fixed value is hurt. A borrower who assumes an international debt is hurt if his own currency becomes worth less.

V. A. 14 Those who may be helped by inflation are debtors, including governments, who re-pay a loan with money that has less value. Owners of property, such as a home, that increases in value may be helped if he sells, but not if he buys another property..

V.A.15. The cost of living is the cost of maintaining a standard of living measured in terms of purchased goods and services. Inflation typically measures changes in the cost of living. The Consumer Price Index (CPI )is a statistical measure of the change in the price of typical consumer goods, made by the national government periodically.

V. A. 16. The causes of high interest rates include inflation or anticipated inflation, poor credit of a borrower, war, and uncertainty in the future. .

V. A. 17 Advantages to a country whose currency (money) is valued below its true value, are that the country can sell more of its exports, in goods and services. Tourists can go there cheaper

V. A. 18 Advantages to a country whose currency (money) is valued above its true value, are that residents of that country can travel abroad cheaper, they can re-pay international debts cheaper, and they can buy goods and services from other countries cheaper.

V. A. 19 A balanced budget of a country is when receipts equal expenditures over a particular period of time, such as a year, the budget is balanced. If receipts are less than expenditures there is a deficit, but if receipts exceed expenditures, there is a surplus. ..

V.A..20. Full employment in a country is when everyone who wishes to work at the going wage rate for his/her type of labor is employed, except only or the small amount of unemployment due to the time it takes to switch from one job to another.

_______________________________________

Total possible score: I- 376, II - 149 , III-150 , !V - 26 , V -45, = 746

My score: I- ,      II-     , III -     , IV -    , V -   , = total; ,

My percent of possible points %

__________________________________________

Exam prepared 5/31/07 by Wesley M. Wilson, B.S., M.B.A., J.D., author of 8 books: Five Languages Made Simpler, Countries & Cultures of the World Then & Now ( 3 volumes), Curious Customs & Bizarre Beliefs Around the World, & 3 books on U.S. labor and employment laws. He wrote a daily journal during travels in 217 countries (only 159 independent countries). Website: www.acurioustraveler.com

______________________________________________