1. Ancient America, Before 1492

Quiz for Beyond America’s Borders: Corn: An Ancient American Legacy

Select the best answer for each question. Click the “submit” button for each question to turn in your work.

1. Why was corn an attractive crop in the ancient Americas?

It could be transported across long distances without rotting.

It could be grown in a variety of conditions and had a high nutritional value.

Corn husks were useful in the production of baskets and fishing lines.

Corn plants attracted helpful insects to eat the pests that threatened other crops.

2. The fact that the Taino Indians Christopher Columbus encountered referred to corn as “life-giver” is evidence that

corn was the most popular trade good among ancient Americans.

ancient American women cultivated corn.

the worship of corn gods was intended to help heal the sick.

corn was an extremely important source of nutrition for ancient Americans.

3. Why did Europeans initially resist eating corn?

They did not like the way it tasted.

They did not know how to prepare it.

The seeds would not grow outside of the Americas.

They thought it would function better as medicine.

4. According to this essay, what is the benefit of turning corn into ethanol, which can be used as a fuel source?

Producing ethanol limits the amount of the American corn crop that is exported.

Ethanol reduces the United States’ dependence on oil from foreign countries.

Ethanol is a more efficient fuel than gasoline.

Ethanol is an environmentally friendly fuel source.

5. The evidence presented in this essay supports which of the following historical arguments?

Today, the diverse uses of the corn crop as food, feed, and fuel mirror its many uses in ancient America.

Animals in the Americas were larger than their European counterparts because they ate nutritionally dense corn.

The modern proliferation of corn across the globe is the result of its cultivation by ancient Americans.

The consumption of corn is what allowed European explorers to develop relationships with Native Americans.