Exactly when in the early modern era Native Americans began exchanging

Can anyone explain the question 5 which is
It can be inferred from the passage that the author would agree with which of the following statements about the fur trade between Native Americans and Europeans in the early modern era?
A. This trade may have begun as early as the 1480s.
B. This trade probably did not continue much beyond the 1530s.
C. This trade was most likely at its peak in the mid-1520s.
D. This trade probably did not begin prior to 1500.
E. There is no written evidence of this trade prior to the seventeenth century.

Why not E? And why A?

The question asks you to infer and inference is something that will not be stated explicitly in the passage. since E is stated explicitly hence E is incorrect.

Hello vrindachopra ,

This is the statement the question is pointing to.
By the time Europeans sailing the Atlantic coast of North America first documented the fur trade, it was apparently well underway.

We have to find which out of the five statements strengthens the assertion author has made in the above statement.

Assertion : The trade was already on-going between Europeans and Americans, before the first documentation of the fur trade was done.

In strengthen questions you have to consider the statements given in the answer choices to be true.
Hence if choice D - Europeans and Native Americans had established trade protocols, such as body language assuring one another of their peaceful intentions, that antedate the earliest records of trade - is true, then we can infer that Europeans and Americans were in contact with each before any sort of documentation was done, since they had already discussed and established trade protocols.
Why would they otherwise set up trade protocols ?

I hope I have answered your question.

Regards
Dkingdom

The author claims that the fur trade was well underway by the time it was first recorded in 1501. Furthermore, the author says that by the time Cartier sailed the St. Lawrence (ten years after 1524, so 1534), Europeans may have been trading with Native Americans for a half century (50 years before 1534, so 1484). Thus, the author would agree that the trade may have begun as early as the 1480s, and choice (A) is correct.

The passage supports which of the following statements about sixteenth-century European fishing crews working the waters off Newfoundland?

A)They wrote no accounts of their fishing voyages.
Not mentioned: Even though there's no evidence or record found in the early stage, the author did not assert no one wrote accounts of the voyages.

B)They primarily sailed under the flag of Portugal.
Not mentioned: The author didn't mention anything about the flag.

C)They exchanged ship parts with Native Americans for furs.
Correct: The last line in the first passage directly support this one.

D)They commonly traded jewelry with Native Americans for furs.
Not mentioned: The author didn't mention anything about the jewelry trading. Though the earrings were mentioned, that is not explicitly enough.

E)They carried surplus metal implements to trade with Native Americans for furs.
Not mentioned: The author never said the metal implements are "surplus".

Please correct me if my understanding is wrong..

Very well late on this, but let me try to answer:

Look at the line 25:



The author tries to point out that by 1524, Native Americans had already became selective about the traded goods. This means that , in order to be selective, they must have prior knowledge of the all the available traded items. And this confirms that, they had been trading with Europeans for a significant period.

Dear AbdurRakib,

Kindly complete the Option E of Question 1:

Option E should be: a sixteenth-century account of Native Americans in what is now New England.

Fixed! Thanks GMATYoda for bringing that to our attention. (And that's a great username!)

Main point - trades of fur started at what time is not clear. writtn evidences given but it started way before that. How is also given.

(Book Question: 46)
The author of the passage draws conclusions about the fur trade in North America from all of the following sources EXCEPT

A. Cartier’s accounts of trading with Native Americans- Cartier’s accounts is not defined. Cartier’s voyage is.
B. a seventeenth-century account of European settlements - y
C. a sixteenth-century account written by a sailing vessel captain - y
D. archaeological observations of sixteenth-century Native American sites - y
E. a sixteenth-century account of Native Americans in what is now New England - y

--------------------------------------

(Book Question: 47)
The passage suggests that which of the following is partially responsible for the difficulty in establishing the precise date when the fur trade in North America began?
lack of any written doc.

B. A lack of written documentation before 1501 -
------------------------------------------
(Book Question: 48)
Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the author’s assertion in the first sentence of the second paragraph?
assertion - By the time Europeans sailing the Atlantic coast of North America first documented the fur trade, it was apparently well underway.
PT - Clearly trade was going on for some time. as this one is strengthening question, outside information is allowed. Something on the lines that trade was well established, will be good .
A. When Europeans retraced Cartier’s voyage in the first years of the seventeenth century, they frequently traded with Native Americans. --- we are talking about a different period. this time line is quiet later.
B. Furs from beavers, which were plentiful in North America but nearly extinct in Europe, became extremely fashionable in Europe in the final decades of the sixteenth century. ----- again time line is quiet later. we are talking around 1501 period.
C. Firing arms were rarely found on sixteenth-century Native American sites or on European lists of trading goods since such arms required frequent maintenance and repair. ----- Soemthing does not found>>> this will not explain the established trade.
D. Europeans and Native Americans had established trade protocols, such as body language assuring one another of their peaceful intentions, that antedate the earliest records of trade. ----- this make sense. rules of trade were defind by this time make a solid stand for established trade.
E. During the first quarter of the sixteenth century, an Italian explorer recorded seeing many Native Americans with what appeared to be copper beads, though they may have been made of indigenous copper. ----- makes a stand but time line a littile bit later, we can not say for sure any conclusion around 1501, almost a quarter century early.

-------------------------------------------------

(Book Question: 49)
Which of the following best describes the primary function of lines 11–16?

sites were strewn with iron bolts and metal
pins. Only later, upon reading Nicolas Denys’s
1672 account of seventeenth-century European
settlements in North America, did archaeologists
realize that sixteenth-century European fishing
(15)
crews had dismantled and exchanged parts of their
ships for furs.

how trade happens for fur ?
B. It reveals how archaeologists arrived at an interpretation of the evidence mentioned in the preceding sentence. - y

------------------------------------------------

(Book Question: 50)
It can be inferred from the passage that the author would agree with which of the following statements about the fur trade between Native Americans and Europeans in the early modern era?
anchor - fur trade between Native Americans and Europeans in the early modern era

A. This trade may have begun as early as the 1480s. - best of the lot.

------------------------------------------------
(Book Question: 51)
Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about the Native Americans mentioned in line 25?
Another early chronicler noted in 1524 that
Native Americans living along the coast of what is now
(25)
New England had become selective about European
trade goods: they accepted only knives, fishhooks,
and sharp metal.
PT - what is the observation from first record.

E. The selectivity of their trading choices indicates that they had been trading with Europeans for a significant period of time prior to 1524. - best of the lot.
-------------------------------------------------

(Book Question: 52)
The passage supports which of the following statements about sixteenth-century European fishing crews working the waters off Newfoundland?
anchor - sixteenth-century European fishing crews

What is fairly certain is that the first Europeans to conduct such trade during the modern period were fishing crews working the waters around Newfoundland.

European fishing crews had dismantled and exchanged parts of their ships for furs.

A. They wrote no accounts of their fishing voyages. - no, wrote ans written by some one has diff.
B. They primarily sailed under the flag of Portugal. - no
C. They exchanged ship parts with Native Americans for furs. - yes
D. They commonly traded jewelry with Native Americans for furs. - no
E. They carried surplus metal implements to trade with Native Americans for furs. - no; surplus is not mentioned.

-----------------------------------------------------

(Book Question: 53)
Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about evidence pertaining to the fur trade between Native Americans and Europeans in the early modern era?
anchor - evidence pertaining to the fur trade between Native Americans and Europeans in the early modern era?

A. A lack of written evidence has made it difficult to establish which Europeans first participated in this trade. - no
B. In general, the physical evidence pertaining to this trade has been more useful than the written evidence has been. - no comparison given.
C. There is more written evidence pertaining to this trade from the early part of the sixteenth century than from later in that century - comparison is not given.
D. The earliest written evidence pertaining to this trade dates from a time when the trade was already well established. - yes
E. Some important pieces of evidence pertaining to this trade, such as Denys’s 1672 account, were long overlooked by archaeologists. - no

-------------------------------------------------------

(Book Question: 54)
The passage suggests which of the following about the sixteenth-century Native Americans who traded with Europeans on the coast of what is now called New England?

A. By 1524 they had become accustomed to exchanging goods with Europeans. - by POE seems the best

Hello

This doubt is regarding Question 1 from the passage:

The author draws inferences about the fur trade in North America from

The archaeologists’ observations about sixteenth-century Native American sites
And from their understanding derived after reading about the seventeenth-century European settlements in Denys’ narration.
The Portuguese captain’s account of 1501



Doubt :

In this question, I have not been able to understand how option E is incorrect.

Option E .a sixteenth-century account of Native Americans

Account refers to a report/description/observation of an event. 

The passage mentions that :

Another early chronicler noted in 1524 that Native Americans living along the coast of what is now New England had become selective about European trade goods: they accepted only knives, fishhooks, and sharp metal.

It explains the observation/account of an early traveller about the Native American behaviour.

The passage mentions no ACCOUNT OF NATIVE AMERICANS.



The passage also mentions:

What is fairly certain, even though they left no written evidence of having done so:

Here they refers to Native Americans and not Europeans.

So Native Americans have left no account whatsoever. The only thing we have is an observation of a early chronicler. 

Can someone please point out where I am going wrong in my understanding here?
Would really be grateful!

GMATNinja
DmitryFarber
daagh


Regards

Nitesh

Can someone explain why Q48, option E is wrong?

The assertion in question is that "by the time Europeans sailing the Atlantic coast of North America first documented the fur trade, it was apparently well underway."

To answer the question we need to strengthen the assertion that the fur trade was well established BEFORE Europeans actually documented that trade activity. The earliest documentation of the fur trade was in 1501 -- so we are looking for additional evidence showing that the fur trade was already "well underway" by that time.

Take another look at (E):

"Many Native Americans" had copper beads in the early 16th century -- IF those beads came from trade with Europeans, maybe they would provide evidence that trade was already well underway by that time.

However, the answer choice makes it clear that this is NOT necessarily the case: the beads "may have been made of indigenous copper." So, the beads may have nothing to do with the fur trade -- perhaps Native Americans used indigenous copper and made the beads themselves. For this reason, (E) does not provide evidence to strengthen the author's assertion.

Compare that with (D):

(D) tells us that there were "established trade protocols" in place BEFORE the earliest records of trade. If trade protocols were already in place, then we can infer that the fur trade itself must also have been in place. This directly supports the author's assertion that trade was well underway before the first records of trade.

I hope that helps!

I don't know option C is correct for this one. Can someone explain:


I marked D, but couldn't understand why C is correct.

The passage supports which of the following statements about sixteenth-century European fishing crews working the waters off Newfoundland?

A. They wrote no accounts of their fishing voyages.
B. They primarily sailed under the flag of Portugal.
C. They exchanged ship parts with Native Americans for furs.
D. They commonly traded jewelry with Native Americans for furs.
E. They carried surplus metal implements to trade with Native Americans for furs.

To answer this question, we need to know precisely what the passage says about sixteenth-century European fishing crews working the waters off Newfoundland.

Lines 4-9 tell us that "fishing crews working the waters around Newfoundland" were the first Europeans to trade European-made goods with modern era Native Americans. Lines 9-16 elaborate on this trading, by telling us:

...Archaeologists had
noticed that sixteenth-century Native American
(10)
sites were strewn with iron bolts and metal
pins. Only later, upon reading Nicolas Denys’s
1672 account of seventeenth-century European
settlements in North America, did archaeologists
realize that sixteenth-century European fishing
(15)
crews had dismantled and exchanged parts of their
ships for furs.

This is all the information we need to keep choice (C). Lines 14-16 explicitly matches what is stated by choice (C), while reading the paragraph as a whole confirms that that the "fishing crews" mentioned at the end of this paragraph are in fact the same ones that were mentioned "working the waters around Newfoundland" and trading with Native Americans.

Now let's take a look at choice (D):


Jewelry trading is never associated with the sixteenth-century European fishing crews that the question is asking us about. In fact, jewelry is not mentioned in the passage at all.

Choice (D) is not supported by anything in the passage, while (C) is explicitly supported by the passage.

I hope this helps!

Hi, If you look at this portion,

Archaeologists had
noticed that sixteenth-century Native American
sites were strewn with iron bolts and metal
pins
Only later, upon reading Nicolas Denys???s
1672 account of seventeenth-century European
settlements in North America, did archaeologists
realize that sixteenth-century European fishing
crews had dismantled and exchanged parts of their
ships for furs.

there is at a difference of 70+ years between archaelogists noticing the sites and picking up ND's account. Why can't we infer that this evidence was long overlooked as suggested by choice E?

Regarding Choice D, if we read the relevant portion:

By the time Europeans sailing the Atlantic coast
of North America first documented the fur trade, it
was apparently well underway
The use of the word apparently means the truth of this statement has not been established. How can we infer choice D: the earliest written evidence pertaining to this trade dates from a time when the trade was already well established?

Thanks in advance

Can someone explain why option E is wrong in Question 54. Thanks!

Hi Mansi

Let us examine what the relevant portion of the passage says about this topic. Lines 23-27 state: Another early chronicler noted in 1524 that Native Americans living along the coast of what is now New England had become selective about European trade goods: they accepted only knives, fishhooks, and sharp metal.

From this, all we can gather is that the Native Americans were selective about what European goods they were willing to accept. We do not know what the criteria for such selectiveness was - we cannot, for instance, assume that only goods which cost the most were accepted. While it is logical to assume that they would only accept the most valuable goods, we do not know what the Native Americans found value in, and hence, considered valuable.

So, when option (E) states "they demanded only the most prized European goods", it leaves a lot of ambiguity. "Prized" by whom, for example? Or, what is the measure of being "prized"?

Option (A), on the other hand, is easily verifiable from the lines above, and is hence a much better option.

Hope this helps.