European Expansion and Conquest, 15th-18th Centuries
European Expansion and Conquest, 15th-18th Centuries is one of 9 topics in the Grade 10 History CAPS syllabus, covered across 3 lessons on Study Vault. Below are real practice questions from this topic with full worked answers.
Sample practice questions
Easy
1. Which Spanish conquistador led the conquest of the Aztec Empire between 1519 and 1521?
Hernan Cortes
Francisco Pizarro
Christopher Columbus
Vasco da Gama
Answer: Hernan Cortes — Hernan Cortes led a small Spanish force that conquered the Aztec Empire in present-day Mexico between 1519 and 1521.
Easy
2. Which Spanish conquistador led the conquest of the Inca Empire in present-day Peru from 1532?
Francisco Pizarro
Hernan Cortes
Ferdinand Magellan
Christopher Columbus
Answer: Francisco Pizarro — Francisco Pizarro led the conquest of the Inca Empire in present-day Peru from 1532, capturing and eventually executing the Inca ruler Atahualpa.
Medium
3. Which European disease had the most devastating demographic impact on Indigenous American populations after European contact?
Answer: Smallpox — Smallpox, to which Indigenous Americans had no prior immunity, killed a very large proportion of the Indigenous population, far exceeding deaths caused by warfare itself.
