How languages and customs spread

Grade 9 Social Studies Worksheet

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Card D. Where potatoes, tomatoes and chili peppers grow. Before 1500: potatoes are first grown in the Andes, in today's southern Peru and northwestern Bolivia, about 7,000 to 10,000 years ago, and are still grown there today; tomatoes and chili peppers are grown in the Americas. 1500s to the 2000s: the Spanish bring potatoes to Europe in the second half of the 1500s, and the potato becomes an essential crop there, especially in the north and east; in the 2000s, potato growing expands fastest in southern and eastern Asia. Tomatoes reach Europe with the Spanish in the 1500s; chili peppers likely reach Africa and Asia with Portuguese and Spanish traders in the 1500s. Note: in relocation diffusion people carry a trait to a new place as they move. In expansion diffusion a trait spreads outward while staying strong where it began.

2. 1.

   Bo says the potato's diffusion ended once it reached Europe. Which fact on Card D most directly weakens that?

   • Tomatoes reach Europe with the Spanish in the 1500s, so the same process was still going on for other crops
   • Potatoes were first grown in the Andes 7,000 to 10,000 years ago, long before they reached Europe
   • The potato becomes an essential crop in northern and eastern Europe, which shows it kept spreading within Europe
   • In the 2000s potato growing expands fastest in southern and eastern Asia, centuries after it reached Europe
3. 2.

   Milo writes a sentence about chili peppers using Card D. Which sentence stays within what the card says?

   • Chili peppers spread across Africa and Asia in the 2000s, as the potato did in southern and eastern Asia
   • Chili peppers probably reached Africa and Asia with Portuguese and Spanish traders in the 1500s
   • Chili peppers reached Africa and Asia with Portuguese and Spanish traders in the 1500s, as the card shows
   • Chili peppers reached Africa and Asia before tomatoes reached Europe, since traders went to more places

4. Use this

   Card E. Where our numerals are used. 1st to 4th centuries: Indian mathematicians invent a numeral system with ten signs, zero to nine. 1200s to 1500s: Al-Khwarizmi's writings in Arabic have made the system widely known; Fibonacci's book Liber Abaci (1202) helps spread it in Europe; until printing in the 1400s, its use in Europe is mainly in northern Italy; printed books then carry it across Europe. Note: in relocation diffusion people carry a trait to a new place as they move. In expansion diffusion a trait spreads outward while staying strong where it began.

5. 3.

   Zee describes the numerals' spread in Europe from Card E. Which description fits both the 1200s and the 1400s?

   • Use stayed mainly in northern Italy after 1202; printed books carried it across Europe in the 1400s
   • Liber Abaci carried the numerals across Europe in the 1200s, since the book was the cause of their spread
   • The numerals spread through Europe in the 1200s because Al-Khwarizmi's Arabic writings were already known
   • Printing in the 1400s made northern Italy the first place in Europe to use the numerals
6. 4.

   Kira asks what Card E shows about contagious diffusion. Why did nearest-first contact not carry the numerals across Europe in the 1200s?

   • It did, because neighbors of northern Italy learned the numerals first and passed them on person to person
   • Contagious diffusion needs printing to work, so printed books are what made it contagious in the 1400s
   • Nearest-first contact was blocked by the language of Al-Khwarizmi's Arabic writings, which neighbors could not read
   • Use stayed mainly in northern Italy for roughly two centuries or more; printing, not neighbors' contact, carried it

7. Use this

   Card E. Where our numerals are used. 1st to 4th centuries: Indian mathematicians invent a numeral system with ten signs, zero to nine. 1200s to 1500s: Al-Khwarizmi's writings in Arabic have made the system widely known; Fibonacci's book Liber Abaci (1202) helps spread it in Europe; until printing in the 1400s, its use in Europe is mainly in northern Italy; printed books then carry it across Europe. Note: in relocation diffusion people carry a trait to a new place as they move. In expansion diffusion a trait spreads outward while staying strong where it began. Card D. Where potatoes, tomatoes and chili peppers grow. Before 1500: potatoes are first grown in the Andes, in today's southern Peru and northwestern Bolivia, about 7,000 to 10,000 years ago, and are still grown there today; tomatoes and chili peppers are grown in the Americas. 1500s to the 2000s: the Spanish bring potatoes to Europe in the second half of the 1500s, and the potato becomes an essential crop there, especially in the north and east; in the 2000s, potato growing expands fastest in southern and eastern Asia. Tomatoes reach Europe with the Spanish in the 1500s; chili peppers likely reach Africa and Asia with Portuguese and Spanish traders in the 1500s. Note: in relocation diffusion people carry a trait to a new place as they move. In expansion diffusion a trait spreads outward while staying strong where it began.

8. 5.

   Ren compares what traveled in Card E with what traveled in Card D. Which statement is supported?

   • Both spread in the 1500s, once ships and printing presses had made long-distance travel possible
   • The numerals spread by relocation, because Indian mathematicians moved to Europe and carried them there
   • Numerals traveled as an idea in writings and books; the crops traveled as plants that people carried
   • Both began in India, so India is where they spread from to the whole Old World

9. Use this

   Card F (made up for practice). The board game Quillo, invented in the port of Dunmore in year 0. First played in: Port Alba, 20 km along the coast (year 5); Port Brenn, 90 km along the coast (year 8); the capital, Corvan, 150 km along the coast (year 12); and Hill Town, a village-size town 30 km inland (year 25). Corvan is the largest city on the island. Note: in relocation diffusion people carry a trait to a new place as they move. In expansion diffusion a trait spreads outward while staying strong where it began. Hierarchical diffusion passes a trait from larger places or people to smaller ones; contagious diffusion passes it from person to person, nearest first;.

10. 6.

    Esme tests "a trait reaches nearer places before farther ones" on Card F. Which place breaks it?

    • Hill Town, 30 km inland, which got Quillo in year 25, after places 90 km and 150 km away
    • Port Brenn, 90 km along the coast, which got Quillo in year 8, after Port Alba at 20 km
    • Corvan, 150 km away, which got Quillo in year 12, after both Port Alba and Port Brenn
    • Port Alba, 20 km away, which got Quillo in year 5, the earliest of the places
11. 7.

    Noah asks which model best explains why Hill Town came last in Card F, and what it adds to nearest-first spread.

    • Relocation: players who left Dunmore carried Quillo to Hill Town last, which is why the date is late
    • Contagious diffusion alone: Quillo reached the nearest places first, so Hill Town's 30 km should have come before the ports
    • Stimulus diffusion: Hill Town took up the idea of the game in a changed form, which delayed its arrival
    • Hierarchical diffusion: the largest city, Corvan, got Quillo in year 12, before the nearer village-size town
12. 8.

    Ari says Quillo's order proves that sea routes mattered more than distance. What does Card F support?

    • The order proves it, since three coastal places got Quillo before the inland town that was nearer to Dunmore
    • The order disproves it, since Hill Town, the closest place by distance, got Quillo last of the places
    • The order fits sea routes, with three coastal places first, but Card F gives no reason, so it only suggests it
    • The order shows Corvan's size caused its early date, since it was the largest city and got Quillo in year 12
13. 9.

    Luz says: "Quillo spread by contagious diffusion, so every place got it after the one before." What does Card F show against this?

    • Hill Town, nearer to Dunmore than Port Brenn or Corvan, got Quillo after both, so nearest-first fails there
    • Port Alba, which got Quillo at year 5 before Port Brenn at year 8 even though both are on the coast
    • Nothing, because a made-up island cannot test a real model of diffusion
    • Corvan, the capital, which got Quillo in year 12 after the two ports nearer to Dunmore

14. Use this

    Card F (made up for practice). The board game Quillo, invented in the port of Dunmore in year 0. First played in: Port Alba, 20 km along the coast (year 5); Port Brenn, 90 km along the coast (year 8); the capital, Corvan, 150 km along the coast (year 12); and Hill Town, a village-size town 30 km inland (year 25). Corvan is the largest city on the island. Note: in relocation diffusion people carry a trait to a new place as they move. In expansion diffusion a trait spreads outward while staying strong where it began. Hierarchical diffusion passes a trait from larger places or people to smaller ones; contagious diffusion passes it from person to person, nearest first;. Card D. Where potatoes, tomatoes and chili peppers grow. Before 1500: potatoes are first grown in the Andes, in today's southern Peru and northwestern Bolivia, about 7,000 to 10,000 years ago, and are still grown there today; tomatoes and chili peppers are grown in the Americas. 1500s to the 2000s: the Spanish bring potatoes to Europe in the second half of the 1500s, and the potato becomes an essential crop there, especially in the north and east; in the 2000s, potato growing expands fastest in southern and eastern Asia. Tomatoes reach Europe with the Spanish in the 1500s; chili peppers likely reach Africa and Asia with Portuguese and Spanish traders in the 1500s. Note: in relocation diffusion people carry a trait to a new place as they move. In expansion diffusion a trait spreads outward while staying strong where it began.

15. 10.

    Tala compares Quillo's order on Card F with the chili pepper's on Card D. What is a fair comparison?

    • No comparison is possible, because Quillo is a game and the chili pepper is a crop, so the two cannot be tested alike
    • Quillo's dates by place can test nearest-first, but Card D gives the chili pepper only a century, so it cannot
    • The chili pepper spread faster than Quillo did, because trade routes make a crop travel faster than a game
    • Both follow nearest-first, since each went first to the places that traders and sailors reached from the coast