Maps made by non-Native Americans to depict Native American land

Question

Maps made by non-Native Americans to depict Native American land tenure, resources and population distributions appeared almost as early as Europeans' first encounters with Native Americans and took many form: missionaries' field sketches, explorers' drawings, and surveyors' maps, as well as maps rendered in connection with treaties involving land transfers.  Most existing maps  of Native American lands are reconstructions that are based largely on archaeology, oral reports, and evidence gathered from observers' accounts in letter, diaries, and official reports; accordingly, the accuracy of these maps is especially dependent on the mapmakers' own interpretive abilities.

Many existing maps also reflect the 150-year role of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in administering tribal lands. Though these maps incorporate some information gleaned directly from Native Americans, rarely has Native American cartography contributed to this official record, which has been compiled, surveyed, and authenticated by non-Native Americans. Thus our current cartographic record relating to Native American tribes and their migrations and cultural features, as well as territoriality and contemporary trust lands, reflects the origins of the data, the mixed purposes for which the maps have been prepared, and changes both in United States government policy and in non-Native Americans' attitudes toward an understanding of Native Americans.   1 
 1. Which of the following best describes the content of the passage?

(A) A chronology of the development of different methods for mapping Native Americans 
(B) A discussion of how the mapmaking techniques of Native Americans differed from those of Europeans 
(C) An argument concerning the present-day uses to which historical maps of Native American lands are put
(D) An argument concerning the nature of information contained in maps of Native American lands
(E) A proposal for improving the accuracy of maps of Native American lands

2 
 2. The passage mentions each of the following as a factor affecting current maps of Native American lands EXCEPT

(A) United States government policy
(B) non-Native Americans’ perspective on Native Americans
(C) origins of the information utilized to produce the maps
(D) changes in ways that tribal lands are used
(E) the reason for producing the maps

3 
 3. The passage suggests which of the following about most existing maps of Native American lands?

(A) They do not record the migrations of Native American tribes.
(B) They have been preserved primarily because of their connection with treaties involving land transfers.
(C) They tend to reflect archaeological evidence that has become outdated.
(D)They tend to be less accurate when they are based on oral reports than when they are based on written documents.
(E) They are not based primarily on the mapmakers’ first-hand observations of Native American lands.

4 
 4. All of the following are examples of the type of evidence used in creating “ Most existing maps ” (line 7-8) EXCEPT

(A) a nineteenth-century government report on population distribution of a particular tribe
(B) taped conversations with people who lived on Native America tribal lands in the early twentieth century
(C) aerial photographs of geological features of lands inhabited by Native Americans
(D) findings from a recently excavated site once inhabited by a certain Native American people
(E) a journal kept by a non-Native American explorer who traveled in Native American territory in the early nineteenth century

I choose B as OA, 'cause no where is non-Native Americans’ perspective on Native Americans mentioned. And 'non-Native Americans’ attitudes toward an understanding of Native Americans' mentioned in the passage does NOT mean the same. And usually in GMAT RC, the difference in words and meaning is considered BIG time.

Could somone please explain, why I am wrong? I could not find this question anywhere on the GMATclub so posted. Am sorry if it has already been discussed, someone could please help me with getting the link to the previous discussions on this RC.

Thanks a lot!!

Skywalker18 · Accepted Answer

Took 6 mins 50 seconds , including 2 mins 40 seconds to read

-The author is primarily talking about the Non maps that depict native american lands - He mentions the origins of the information used to make the maps - He mentions that the map creators used interpretive abilities rather than first hand information to create the maps 1. Answer D 2. "reflects the origins of the data, the mixed purposes for which the maps have been prepared, and changes both in United States government policy and in non-Native Americans' attitudes toward an understanding of Native Americans." Answer D 3. "the accuracy of these maps is especially dependent on the mapmakers' own interpretive abilities." Answer E 4. "Most existing maps of Native American lands are reconstructions that are based largely on archaeology, oral reports, and evidence gathered from observers' accounts in letters, diaries, and official reports " Answer C

VeritasPrepBrian · Answer

For #3, the operative portion is at the end of the first paragraph:

Most existing maps of Native American lands  are reconstructions that are based largely on archaeology, oral reports, and evidence gathered from observers' accounts  in letter, diaries, and official reports; accordingly, the accuracy of these maps is especially dependent on the mapmakers' own interpretive abilities.

This tells you that it wasn't a first-hand observation by the mapmaker of the land, but rather the mapmaker reconstructing some other observers' accounts (from letters, diaries, etc. - those aren't firsthand experience with the land, but instead taken from someone else's firsthand experience). So E has direct support in this sentence.

With A, note that the only place that "migrations" is mentioned is in the second paragraph, which leads with "many existing maps" - the question asks about "most existing maps" so we can't really draw conclusions about "most" anywhere past that first paragraph where we know we're dealing with more than 50% of maps. This is where their precise language in asking the question is so important...when I see "most existing maps" I'm hyper-focused on "where are they talking about most and where are they talking about some/many/etc. that we can't conclude fits "most."

JarvisR · Answer

7 mins. Regarding Q2, why not A?

Skywalker18 · Answer

Hi JarvisR , At the end of second paragraph , the factors have been mentioned . Please refer to the below excerpt . "reflects the origins of the data , the mixed purposes for which the maps have been prepared, and changes both in United States government policy and in non-Native Americans' attitudes toward an understanding of Native Americans ." 2. The passage mentions each of the following as a factor affecting current maps of Native American lands EXCEPT (A) United States government policy (B) non-Native Americans’ perspective on Native Americans (C) origins of the information utilized to produce the maps (D) changes in ways that tribal lands are used (E) the reason for producing the maps Answer D Hope this helps!!

mkumar26 · Answer

question no. 4 why not option D ?

Nightmare007 · Answer

"Most existing maps of Native American lands are reconstructions that are based largely on archaeology, oral reports, and evidence gathered from observers' accounts in letters, diaries, and official reports " Here There is no where mention of ARIEL photographs .

that's why C is answer . D is mentioned in paragraph if you read the above sentence carefully you will understand. Target - Hit - Succeed in GMAT . All the best. Hit kudos if you liked it.

mallya12 · Answer

Q3 why option C is wrong?(They tend to reflect archaeological evidence that has become outdated.)

JS1290 · Answer

Hi,

The argument states that "Most existing maps of Native American lands are reconstructions that are based largely on archaeology, oral reports, and evidence gathered from observers' accounts in letter, diaries, and official reports; accordingly, the accuracy of these maps is especially dependent on the mapmakers' own interpretive abilities.". Option C is incorrect because we are given no reason to believe that the maps archaeological evidence has become  outdated . It merely says that these maps were pretty much remakings of the already existing evidence such as "archaeology, oral reports, and evidence gathered from observers' accounts in letter, diaries, and official reports". Option E on the other hand can be inferred because these remakes were not based on their first hand experience. Rather, they took the existing materials with prior observations and remade them.

Hope this helps!

zoezhuyan · Answer

SajjadAhmad ,  u1983 ,  workout ,  GMATNinja ,  GMATNinjaTwo ,  Gnpth

Doesn't C refer to evidence gathered from observers' accounts? E refers to evidence gathered from observers' accounts?

please clarify. thanks in advance

GMATNinja · Answer

The question directly refers to "most existing maps" (line 7-8), so let's first check in with how the original passage defines "most existing maps":

Since you've specifically referred to "observers' accounts," we should take note that this part of the passage offers specific examples where evidence gathered form observers' accounts are found: in  letter, diaries, and official reports.

Choice (E) does refer to evidence gathered from an observers' accounts. A journal kept by a non-Native explorer certainly matches up with the example of diaries. That's why we can eliminate it. 
  Choice (C), on the other hand, refers to  aerial photographs of geological features , which are a direct geological record. This doesn't fit the bill of a reconstruction based on evidence from observer accounts in letter, diaries, and official reports.

That's why we keep (C) and continue eliminating other choices. Ultimately, every other choice matches up with the description of evidence used to create "most existing maps," and (C) remains the best choice.

I hope this helps!

Pranjal3107 · Answer

A)a nineteenth-century government report on population distribution of a particular tribe
Hi! Can you explain why A is not the right answer ? I mean population distribution is never mentioned as something used though government report matches up with official report. Thanks !!

GMATNinja · Answer

Consider the first sentence of the passage:

Maps made by non-Native Americans to depict Native American land tenure, resources and  population distributions  appeared almost as early as Europeans' first encounters with Native Americans and took many form: missionaries' field sketches, explorers' drawings, and surveyors' maps, as well as maps rendered in connection with treaties involving land transfers.

Remember that the question is not asking us to find evidence that is explicitly mentioned in the passage. It’s asking about examples of the type of evidence discussed in the passage.

With that in mind, here’s (A):

The first sentence of the passage (quoted above) indicates that non-Native Americans depicted Native American population distributions. The following sentence indicates that existing reconstructions are based on official reports. Presumably, a government report depicting Native American populations distributions would fit these criteria, and thus be an  example  of the type of evidence used in creating “most existing maps.” So, we can eliminate (A).

I hope that helps!

niyatisuri · Answer

Hello  egmat ,  GMATNinja ,

Could you please help me with the detail to justify option D.

4. All of the following are examples of the type of evidence used in creating “Most existing maps” (line 7-8) EXCEPT

(A) a nineteenth-century government report on population distribution of a particular tribe
(B) taped conversations with people who lived on Native America tribal lands in the early twentieth century
(C) aerial photographs of geological features of lands inhabited by Native Americans
(D) findings from a recently excavated site once inhabited by a certain Native American people
(E) a journal kept by a non-Native American explorer who traveled in Native American territory in the early nineteenth century

Also on a general note, I am getting most of RC questions right. However for a typical 400 word passage with 4 questions takes around 
10 minutes. Any particular strategies of bringing it down to around 7 - 8 minutes?

I would really really appreciate your help!
Regards,

GMATNinja · Answer

Question 4 
 
The author lists a bunch of factors that contributed to "most existing maps" at the end of the first paragraph. One of those factors is "archeology," which involves excavating sites to learn about the people who lived there. (D) provides a good example of how archeology might have been used to create existing maps.

Eliminate (D) for question 4.

As for bringing down your time: it really depends on what is  causing  your time to be inflated. Here are some examples of things that might cause timing issues, and what to do about them:

Are you a fundamentally slow reader?  This is tough to fix in a short amount of time. You best bet is to add tough reading into your daily routine -- check out  this article  and  this article  for some book recommendations.  
  Are you getting bogged down in details as you read through the passage?  The principles in  this article  might help you to extract the most important stuff without wasting time on details too early.  
  Conversely, are you rushing through the passage, and then having to go back to re-read large portions of it?  It may seem counterintuitive, but sometimes the best way to become more efficient at RC is to slow down during your first read through so that you don't have to re-read as much.

These are just a few examples -- there are many other things that might be causing your timing issues. The first step is to put some thought into the underlying cause, and then you can implement a solution from there.

I hope that helps!

SolankiDas · Answer

Explanation required why 
(E) They are not based primarily on the mapmakers??? first-hand observations of Native American lands.
is the answer for question 3.

RonTargetTestPrep · Answer

The first paragraph states that "most existing maps" are:
 ...reconstructions that are based largely on archaeology, oral reports, and evidence gathered from observers' accounts in letter, diaries, and official reports;

These are all secondhand sources. The map makers are relying on indirect information in order to put together their maps.

That the map makers are not using their own firsthand observations is confirmed by the following statement:
 accordingly, the accuracy of these maps is especially dependent on the mapmakers' own interpretive abilities.

This means that the map makers have to  interpret  the output  of other people  in order to produce accurate maps. If they were using their own firsthand observations, then no "interpretive ability" would be necessary.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Maps made by non-Native Americans to depict Native American land

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Maps made by non-Native Americans to depict Native American land

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