How Spain and Portugal built empires in the Americas

Grade 7 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   How the empires made money

   Potosí, high in the Andes at about 4,000 m, marked with a silver bar and labeled "silver found in 1545"; ships carry silver from the Americas to Spain; sugar cane marked in Brazil, labeled "sugar shipped to Lisbon by 1526"; an arrow from Africa to Brazil, labeled "enslaved Africans, about 4.9 million to Brazil, 1501 to 1866". Key: a silver bar is a silver mine; a sugar cane stalk is a sugar plantation; a gray arrow is enslaved people forced across the ocean; a ship is a cargo route. Below the map: at Potosí, Indigenous people were forced to work in the mines under the mita, a system of required labor; by the 1600s, UNESCO counts 13,500 such workers. Under the encomienda, Spanish settlers were granted the labor and tribute of Indigenous people; historians call it a system of forced labor.

2. 1.

   What crop does the map mark in Brazil, Kira asks?

   • Silver
   • Sugar cane
   • Potatoes and maize
   • Spices
3. 2.

   About how many enslaved Africans were forced to Brazil, by the map, Luz asks?

   • About 49 million
   • About 13,500
   • About 4.9 million
   • About 4.9 thousand
4. 3.

   What was the mita at Potosí, Milo asks?

   • A kind of silver coin
   • Required labor in the mines
   • A Spanish ship
   • A paid job that people chose
5. 4.

   How do historians describe the encomienda, by the note, Noah asks?

   • A treaty with Portugal
   • A system of forced labor
   • A free school for settlers
   • A fair trade deal
6. 5.

   How many Indigenous workers does UNESCO count at Potosí by the 1600s, Pia asks?

   • 1,350
   • 13,500
   • 4,000
   • 135,000
7. 6.

   Who gained most from Potosí's silver, by the map, Ren asks?

   • The enslaved Africans in Brazil
   • No one
   • The workers forced into the mines
   • Spain
8. 7.

   Which sentence about the empires' wealth is the most careful, Zee asks?

   • Forced labor made the wealth others kept
   • Brazil sent silver to Spain
   • The mines ran without workers
   • The wealth was shared fairly
9. 8.

   Ari's note says, "Workers at Potosí chose their jobs freely." Which fix is right?

   • Leave it: they chose freely
   • Change workers to ships
   • Change it: they were forced to work
   • Change Potosí to Lisbon
10. 9.

    Bo's note says, "Silver was found at Potosí in 1526." Which fix is right?

    • Change silver to gold
    • Leave it: 1526 is on the map
    • Change 1526 to 1625
    • Change 1526 to 1545
11. 10.

    Esme's note says, "Brazil's sugar was grown by paid workers from Spain." Which fix is right?

    • Change sugar to silver
    • Leave it: they were paid
    • Change it: enslaved Africans were forced to
    • Change Brazil to Potosí