---
title: Castile, Portugal and the first sea empires — how Mova does on the tests · Geography
description: Lesson 33 of the geography course of Mova's primary school: 7 of 11 tests right, exam 1 of 4, every question with the options, the student's choice, the right answer and why it chose.
---

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# Castile, Portugal and the first sea empires

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**Tests:** 7 of 11 right · **Exam:** 1 of 4 right · **Kind:** plain · **Understood:** 7 of 15 · **Run:** 2026-10-18, commit `f3c23ea72`

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Lesson 33 of the geography course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/geography/33-castile-portugal-and-the-first-sea-empires/).

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Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson's questions in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/33-castile-portugal-and-the-first-sea-empires/).

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### Test 1 · right ✓ {#t1}

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My teacher said Columbus discovered the Earth was round. That right?

- **1.** Yes, before 1492 everyone thought it was flat, even the kings — no support
- **2.** No, educated people already knew, he just thought it was smaller — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 8
- **3.** No, Columbus proved it was flat — score 6
- **4.** Yes, and Magellan later proved it was shaped like an egg — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 8, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 33, line 3: «Columbus sailed west for Castile in 1492 hoping to reach Asia; people already knew the Earth was round, but he thought it was much smaller than it is, and he b…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «earth» (+4); the same property (+3); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/33-castile-portugal-and-the-first-sea-empires/t1/)

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### Test 2 · wrong ✗ {#t2}

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In EU5 a Portuguese explorer quickly maps the route round Africa. How long did it really take?

- **1.** About three hundred years, from 1200 to 1500 — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** About a week — no support
- **3.** Decades, from the 1410s to 1498 — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **4.** One summer in 1337 — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/33-castile-portugal-and-the-first-sea-empires/t2/)

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### Test 3 · wrong ✗ {#t3}

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A cartoon shows Cortés and a few hundred Spaniards beating the Aztecs alone. What does it leave out?

- **1.** The Aztecs surrendered at once without any fight at all — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** The Aztecs had already left the city and gone north — no support
- **3.** Tens of thousands of Indigenous allies and diseases — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **4.** Cortés had a huge army of cannons and horses only — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/33-castile-portugal-and-the-first-sea-empires/t3/)

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### Test 4 · right ✓ {#t4}

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A Mexican pupil says her city stands where Tenochtitlan stood. Is she right?

- **1.** Yes, Mexico City was built on its ruins — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 3
- **2.** No, Tenochtitlan was in Peru — no support
- **3.** No, Tenochtitlan was in Spain — no support
- **4.** Yes, but only the airport — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 33, line 15: «Hernán Cortés and a small Spanish force, with tens of thousands of Indigenous allies, conquered the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan in 1521, helped by a smallpox ou…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «build» (+2); the same place «ruins» (+2). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/33-castile-portugal-and-the-first-sea-empires/t4/)

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### Test 5 · wrong ✗ {#t5}

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If caravels had only square sails, what would have been harder?

- **1.** Floating on the sea — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** Carrying any cargo at all, even food and water for the crew — no support
- **3.** Fishing near Portugal — no support
- **4.** Sailing back against the wind along the African coast — **✓ the right answer** · no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/33-castile-portugal-and-the-first-sea-empires/t5/)

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### Test 6 · right ✓ {#t6}

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ugh Pizarro got the gold AND killed the emperor anyway??

- **1.** No, Atahualpa became a Spanish duke — no support
- **2.** Yes, Atahualpa was killed in 1533 after the ransom was paid — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 6
- **3.** No, he gave all the gold back and sailed home to Spain in shame — no support
- **4.** Yes, but only after 100 years — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 33, line 16: «Francisco Pizarro captured the Inca emperor Atahualpa in 1532 and had him killed in 1533, even after a huge ransom of gold and silver was paid.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same place «1533» (+4); the same action «kill» (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/33-castile-portugal-and-the-first-sea-empires/t6/)

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### Test 7 · right ✓ {#t7}

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your mate says Brazil speaks Portuguese cos it's near Portugal lol

- **1.** No, Portugal colonised it from the 1530s — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 8
- **2.** No, Brazil was always Spanish — no support
- **3.** Yes, Portugal is in South America — no support
- **4.** Yes, Brazil is right next to Portugal — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 8, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 33, line 17: «Portugal colonised Brazil from the 1530s, at first for brazilwood, a red dye wood that gave the land its name, and then for sugar plantations worked by enslave…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «portugal» (+4); the same action «colonis» (+2); the same place «1530s» (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/33-castile-portugal-and-the-first-sea-empires/t7/)

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### Test 8 · wrong ✗ {#t8}

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A ship leaves Acapulco loaded with silver and comes back with silk and porcelain. What is it?

- **1.** A caravel of Henry the Navigator — **← Mova's choice** · score -3
- **2.** A Viking longship — no support
- **3.** A Manila galleon — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **4.** A Venetian galley — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score -3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 19, line 1: «A strait is a narrow stretch of sea joining two larger bodies of water, like a door between two rooms. Ships that want to go from one room to the other must sq…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. Against it: the same thing acted on «ships» (-1); the same doer «ships» (-2). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/33-castile-portugal-and-the-first-sea-empires/t8/)

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### Test 9 · right ✓ {#t9}

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Your friend says Henry the Navigator sailed further than anyone. What is wrong?

- **1.** He was not Portuguese — no support
- **2.** He only sailed on rivers — score 3
- **3.** Nothing, he sailed right round the world twice — no support
- **4.** He paid for the voyages but did not sail on them himself — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 8

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 8, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 33, line 8: «Portugal's Prince Henry, called "the Navigator", sponsored voyages down the west coast of Africa from the 1410s, though he did not sail on the long voyages him…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+4); the same action «sail» (+2); the same doer «henry» (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/33-castile-portugal-and-the-first-sea-empires/t9/)

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### Test 10 · right ✓ {#t10}

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1492 was a big year. Which list is right?

- **1.** Granada fell, Jews were told to convert or leave, Columbus reached the Caribbean — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 7
- **2.** The Manila galleons stopped sailing — no support
- **3.** Constantinople fell to the Ottomans, Venice ended and Granada was founded — no support
- **4.** Vasco da Gama reached India and Brazil was founded — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 7, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 33, line 11: «Columbus, an Italian sailing for Castile, reached the Caribbean in 1492 while trying to reach Asia by sailing west.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «reach» (+2); the same receiver «caribbean» (+2); it fills the role the question asks for (+2); the same doer «columbus» (+1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/33-castile-portugal-and-the-first-sea-empires/t10/)

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### Test 11 · right ✓ {#t11}

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If no new diseases had crossed the ocean, what would most likely be different?

- **1.** Far fewer Indigenous people would have died — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **2.** The Taíno would have spoken Spanish already — no support
- **3.** Spain would have lost Granada — no support
- **4.** Columbus would have reached Asia — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/33-castile-portugal-and-the-first-sea-empires/t11/)

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### Exam question 1 · formal language · right ✓ {#e1}

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Identify the navigator who first attained India by circumnavigating the African continent, together with the year thereof.

- **1.** Vasco da Gama, in 1498 — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **2.** Bartolomeu Dias, in 1488 — no support
- **3.** Christopher Columbus, in 1492 — no support
- **4.** Hernán Cortés, in 1521 — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/33-castile-portugal-and-the-first-sea-empires/e1/)

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### Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e2}

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Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the knowledge of educated Europeans concerning the shape of the Earth in 1492?

- **1.** The Earth was universally believed to be flat and bounded by an abyss — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** The Earth was considered to be cubical — no support
- **3.** The Earth was already understood to be spherical — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **4.** The shape of the Earth was wholly unknown — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/33-castile-portugal-and-the-first-sea-empires/e2/)

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### Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e3}

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Ascertain the principal factors which enabled a small Spanish force to subjugate Tenochtitlan in 1521.

- **1.** The voluntary abdication of the Aztec state to Portugal — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** Numerous Indigenous allies and the ravages of introduced disease — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** Superior Spanish numbers exceeding those of the Aztecs — no support
- **4.** The absence of any Aztec armed resistance — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/33-castile-portugal-and-the-first-sea-empires/e3/)

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### Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e4}

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State the commodity from which the territory of Brazil derives its name.

- **1.** Sugar cane juice — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** Brazilwood — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** Silver ore — no support
- **4.** Spices from Asia — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/33-castile-portugal-and-the-first-sea-empires/e4/)

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- ← previous: [32. Venice, the Ottomans and the Mediterranean](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/geography/32-venice-the-ottomans-and-the-mediterranean/)
- next →: [34. Muscovy, England and France: how the big powers…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/geography/34-muscovy-england-and-france-how-the-big-powers-grew/)
- ↑ back to [Geography](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/geography/)