DSST Introduction to the Modern Middle East Practice Questions Answer Key
1. C: The word asparagus (c) does not have an Arabic etymology; its origins are from Greek (asparagos) and thence to New Latin. The word apricot (a) comes from the Arabic al-birquq. The word artichoke (b) ultimately is from the Arabic al-khurshuf, and then came into Italian as articiocco in the 16th century and thence to English. Since answer c is the only word of the three without an Arabic etymology, answers d, none of these, and e, all of these, are incorrect.
2. D: It is not a correct statement that (d) Israel governed the Gaza Strip from 2007 to 2009. Israel and Egypt have blockaded this area for that time period; however, it has been governed during that time by Hamas, an Islamic Palestinian militant organization. It is correct that the majority of the population of Israel is Jewish (a). At the same time, it is also correct that Israel includes about four million Arabs (b). This includes about 1.5 million Arabs living within the borders that existed before the 1967 war, plus another 2.5 million Arabs (both Muslim and Christian) living on the West Bank, which was occupied in the war of June 1967 by Israel. Israel has continued to control the West Bank since then (c). Since answer d is not correct, answer e, these are all correct, is a wrong answer.
4. C: Yemen (c) is not known for having major oil deposits. The Middle Eastern countries having the largest deposits of petroleum are Iran (a), Iraq (b), Kuwait (d), Saudi Arabia (e), and the United Arab Emirates.
5. D: All of these (d) words come from Middle Eastern sources. Cotton (a) derives from the Arabic qutn. Muslin (b) is a cloth that originally came from the Iraqui city of Mosul. Damask (c) was a type of cloth first made in Damascus, Greece. Since all of these answers are correct (e), none of these (answer d) is incorrect.
6. B: Answer b is not true: the location where the species of humans originated is considered to be Africa, not the Middle East. However, the Middle East has the most recorded history of any place in the world (a). It is also regarded as the place where the major breakthroughs in civilization took place (c). The Middle East is the area where the majority of staple food crops were first cultivated (d), and it is also the place where the majority of farm animals were first domesticated (e).
7. E: All of these (e) sporting words have their etymologies in Middle Eastern vocabulary. Tennis (a) is thought to have come from the name of a medieval town in Egypt named Tinnis, where cotton was made, which was once used as a covering for tennis balls. Also in tennis (as well as in racquetball, handball, badminton, ping pong, etc.), the word racquet (b) comes from an Arabic word that literally means the palm of the hand. In chess, the term “checkmate” (c) comes from the Persian words shah mat, meaning “the king is dead,” and the chess piece the rook (d) is named from the Persian rukh, or “castle.”
8. A: Baseball (a) did not come to Western culture from the Middle East. Although baseball’s origins are not perfectly clear, as many similar games were played in different countries throughout history, the American game of baseball is commonly believed to have originated in England. Backgammon (b), card games (c), chess (d), and polo (e) are all contributions from Middle Eastern cultures to Western civilizations.
9. D: Selim I (d) “the Inexorable” ruled from 1512 to 1520 and changed the Ottoman Empire from a peripheral ghazi state into the greatest empire since the earlier caliphate. His conquest of Cairo made him the most prominent Muslim leader at that time, which was the zenith of the Ottoman Empire. Mehmet I (a), son of Bayezid I, defeated his three brothers, who were competing for the empire. He ruled from 1413 to 1421 and began rebuilding the empire after his father was defeated by Timur and died in captivity. Mehmet II (b) ruled from 1451 to 1481 and succeeded in capturing Constantinople, where his predecessors had repeatedly tried and failed. Constantinople eventually came to be named Istanbul. Mehmet II conquered southern Greece, the majority of Albania, and the coast of present-day Croatia. The Ottomans were on the way to conquering the Romans as well, but Mehmet II “the Conqueror” died before this could happen. His son Bayezid II (c) did not conquer much additional territory. However, he did settle disputes among groups, gave land that had been confiscated by his father back to its owners, and restored the value of the empire’s money. Selim I “the Inexorable” (d) was Bayezid II’s son. He took control from his father when a rebellion of Anatolian Turkish nomads had spread west as far as Bursa by 1511. Suleyman (e) “the Lawgiver” or “the Magnificent” ruled from 1520 to 1566, succeeding Selim. Though Selim was responsible for transforming the Ottoman Empire, Suleyman was considered the greatest of the sultans. He captured Rhodes, Belgrade, and most of the North African coast. He defeated the Safavids twice and also defeated the Hungarians in battle. His forces besieged Vienna and also drove the Portuguese Navy out of the Red Sea. He additionally overhauled the government and legal system of the Ottoman Empire.
10. A: A military organization (a) does not fit the definition of a millet in the Ottoman Empire. Millets were political (b) and social (c) organizations or (d) religious communities. Millets were groups composed of members of the empire’s subject class or re’aya, in other words, all those not part of the ruling class.