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.

   Jun asks which feature of Card D shows the potato's spread to Europe was expansion, not pure relocation.

   • In the 2000s potato growing expands fastest in southern and eastern Asia, which shows relocation continuing
   • The Spanish brought potatoes to Europe, since people carrying a crop is what makes diffusion expansion
   • Potatoes are still grown in the Andes, so the trait stayed strong where it began as it spread outward
   • Potatoes became essential in northern and eastern Europe, which shows the trait spread outward from its source
3. 2.

   Pia looks at how tomatoes, chili peppers and potatoes reached the Old World on Card D. What do the three routes have in common?

   • The three crossed in the 1500s because the Spanish liked their taste, so taste explains the shared date
   • The three became essential crops in Europe, so each had the same effect on the places it reached
   • All three crossed from the Americas in the 1500s with Spanish or Portuguese carriers
   • The three reached Asia in the 1500s, so each spread there at the same speed as it did in Europe
4. 3.

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

   • The potato becomes an essential crop in northern and eastern Europe, which shows it kept spreading within Europe
   • Tomatoes reach Europe with the Spanish in the 1500s, so the same process was still going on for other crops
   • In the 2000s potato growing expands fastest in southern and eastern Asia, centuries after it reached Europe
   • Potatoes were first grown in the Andes 7,000 to 10,000 years ago, long before they reached Europe
5. 4.

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

   • Chili peppers reached Africa and Asia before tomatoes reached Europe, since traders went to more places
   • 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

6. 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.

7. 5.

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

   • Liber Abaci carried the numerals across Europe in the 1200s, since the book was the cause of their spread
   • Printing in the 1400s made northern Italy the first place in Europe to use the numerals
   • The numerals spread through Europe in the 1200s because Al-Khwarizmi's Arabic writings were already known
   • Use stayed mainly in northern Italy after 1202; printed books carried it across Europe in the 1400s
8. 6.

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

   • Nearest-first contact was blocked by the language of Al-Khwarizmi's Arabic writings, which neighbors could not read
   • 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
   • Use stayed mainly in northern Italy for roughly two centuries or more; printing, not neighbors' contact, carried it

9. 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.

10. 7.

    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
    • Both began in India, so India is where they spread from to the whole Old World
    • 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

11. 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;.

12. 8.

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

    • Port Brenn, 90 km along the coast, which got Quillo in year 8, after Port Alba at 20 km
    • Hill Town, 30 km inland, which got Quillo in year 25, after places 90 km and 150 km away
    • Port Alba, 20 km away, which got Quillo in year 5, the earliest of the places
    • Corvan, 150 km away, which got Quillo in year 12, after both Port Alba and Port Brenn
13. 9.

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

    • 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
    • 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
14. 10.

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

    • 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
    • Hill Town, nearer to Dunmore than Port Brenn or Corvan, got Quillo after both, so nearest-first fails there
    • Corvan, the capital, which got Quillo in year 12 after the two ports nearer to Dunmore