CMAS CMAS Colorado History and Geography 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which Native American peoples are indigenous to the Colorado Plateau and Great Plains regions of what is now Colorado?
- The Cherokee and Seminole
- The Ute and Arapaho (Correct answer)
- The Iroquois and Mohawk
- The Navajo and Apache
Correct answer: The Ute and Arapaho
The Ute people have lived in Colorado for thousands of years, and the Arapaho inhabited the eastern plains before European contact.
Question 2: What event in 1858–1859 dramatically increased European-American migration to Colorado?
- The completion of the transcontinental railroad
- The discovery of gold near Pikes Peak (Correct answer)
- The passage of the Homestead Act
- The Louisiana Purchase
Correct answer: The discovery of gold near Pikes Peak
The Pikes Peak Gold Rush of 1858–1859 attracted thousands of miners and settlers to Colorado, with 'Pikes Peak or Bust' as their rallying cry.
Question 3: In what year did Colorado become a U.S. state?
- 1848
- 1861
- 1876 (Correct answer)
- 1890
Correct answer: 1876
Colorado became the 38th state on August 1, 1876, earning the nickname 'The Centennial State' because it joined the Union 100 years after the Declaration of Independence.
Question 4: The Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 was a tragic event in which U.S. Army troops attacked a peaceful village of which Native American peoples?
- Ute and Shoshone
- Cheyenne and Arapaho (Correct answer)
- Comanche and Kiowa
- Lakota and Crow
Correct answer: Cheyenne and Arapaho
On November 29, 1864, Colonel John Chivington led an attack on a peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho village at Sand Creek, killing hundreds of people.
Question 5: Which mountain range runs through the center of Colorado and forms the Continental Divide?
- The Appalachian Mountains
- The Sierra Nevada
- The Rocky Mountains (Correct answer)
- The Cascade Range
Correct answer: The Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains run through the center of Colorado, and the Continental Divide along their peaks separates water draining to the Atlantic from water draining to the Pacific.
Question 6: What was the primary economic activity in Colorado mining towns like Leadville and Cripple Creek during the late 1800s?
- Farming and cattle ranching
- Silver and gold mining (Correct answer)
- Timber logging and lumber milling
- Railroad construction
Correct answer: Silver and gold mining
Leadville was famous for silver mining and Cripple Creek for gold mining, both of which drove Colorado's economy in the late 1800s.
CMAS CMAS Colorado History and Geography 1
Which Native American peoples are indigenous to the Colorado Plateau and Great Plains regions of what is now Colorado?