Conquest and its impact practice questions.

Which ruler surrendered the city of Granada to the Catholic Monarchs on 2 January 1492?

• Abd al-Rahman III of Córdoba
• Yusuf I
• Boabdil (Muhammad XII)
• Almanzor

Answer: Boabdil (Muhammad XII)

Boabdil (Muhammad XII), the last Nasrid emir, surrendered Granada to Ferdinand and Isabella after a ten-year war (1482–1492), ending almost eight centuries of Muslim rule in Iberia. Abd al-Rahman III and Almanzor belong to the much earlier caliphal period.

What did the Treaty of Granada (1491) initially promise to the Muslim population of the conquered emirate?

• Freedom to keep their religion, laws and property
• Immediate expulsion from the Iberian Peninsula
• Compulsory baptism within one year
• Resettlement in Castilian cities away from the coast

Answer: Freedom to keep their religion, laws and property

The capitulations of 1491 guaranteed Granada's Muslims religious freedom, their own courts and property. These generous terms were progressively broken, especially after Cardinal Cisneros began forced conversions from 1499.

Which indigenous people became Cortés's most important allies in the campaign against the Aztec Empire?

• The Maya of Yucatán
• The Tlaxcalans
• The Mapuche
• The Taíno

Answer: The Tlaxcalans

Tlaxcala, an independent state long at war with the Aztecs, allied with Cortés after initial fighting in 1519 and supplied tens of thousands of warriors. Indigenous alliances were essential to the fall of Tenochtitlán in 1521.

In which year did Francisco Pizarro capture the Inca ruler Atahualpa at Cajamarca?

• 1519
• 1526
• 1532
• 1541

Answer: 1532

Pizarro ambushed and captured Atahualpa at Cajamarca in November 1532, exploiting the aftermath of the Inca civil war. 1519 is the year Cortés landed in Mexico; 1541 the year Pizarro was assassinated.

Which of the following best describes the encomienda system in Spanish America?

• A treaty system regulating trade between Spain and indigenous states
• A network of missions run exclusively by the Jesuit order
• The direct enslavement and sale of indigenous people in Spanish markets
• Rights to indigenous labour and tribute for protection and instruction

Answer: Rights to indigenous labour and tribute for protection and instruction

An encomienda entrusted a group of indigenous people to a Spanish colonist (encomendero), who could demand labour and tribute while nominally providing protection and religious instruction. In practice it enabled severe exploitation, which reformers like Las Casas attacked.

The forced conversions and book burnings ordered by Cardinal Cisneros in Granada from 1499 led directly to which event?

• The signing of the Treaty of Granada
• The first revolt of the Alpujarras (1499–1501)
• The voluntary emigration of all Granadan Muslims to North Africa
• The restoration of Nasrid rule in the mountains

Answer: The first revolt of the Alpujarras (1499–1501)

Cisneros's aggressive policy broke the 1491 capitulations and provoked the Alpujarras uprising of 1499–1501. After its suppression, Muslims in Castile were forced in 1502 to choose between conversion and expulsion, creating the Morisco population.