AP US History: Geography & the Environment 2

Question 1

How did the fall line on the Atlantic coast shape early colonial settlement?

Accepted Answer

It created waterfalls and rapids that halted upstream navigation, fostering port cities

Answer

It marked the boundary of Spanish territory

Answer

It indicated where tobacco could not grow

Answer

It was the limit of the Appalachian Mountains

Question 2

The Columbian Exchange most dramatically reshaped Native American populations through which environmental factor?

Accepted Answer

Introduction of Old World diseases like smallpox

Answer

Deforestation of the eastern woodlands

Answer

The arrival of corn from Europe

Answer

Soil erosion from plantation farming

Question 3

Why did the geography of New England push colonists toward fishing, shipbuilding, and trade rather than large plantations?

Accepted Answer

Rocky, thin glacial soil and a short growing season limited cash-crop farming

Answer

Laws banned agriculture in the North

Answer

The region had no access to the ocean

Answer

The climate was too hot for grains

Question 4

The Appalachian Mountains influenced early American expansion primarily by

Accepted Answer

Acting as a natural barrier that confined settlement to the east until passes were found

Answer

Providing the richest gold deposits in the colonies

Answer

Marking the official border with Canada

Answer

Supplying most colonial drinking water

Question 5

How did the Chesapeake region's environment encourage the tobacco economy and indentured servitude?

Accepted Answer

Fertile soil and navigable rivers favored labor-intensive tobacco grown on dispersed plantations

Answer

Cold winters required heavy labor for heating

Answer

Mountainous terrain forced small subsistence farms

Answer

Lack of rainfall demanded irrigation crews

Question 6

What geographic feature made the Mississippi River valley strategically vital to the young United States?

Accepted Answer

It served as the main artery for shipping western farm goods to market via New Orleans

Answer

It was the only source of coal

Answer

It marked the Pacific coastline

Answer

It contained the nation's only gold

Question 7

The Great American Desert label applied to the Great Plains in the early 1800s discouraged settlement because explorers believed

Accepted Answer

The treeless, semi-arid grassland was unfit for farming

Answer

The land was permanently frozen

Answer

The region was a swampland

Answer

Hostile volcanoes covered the area