1. In approx. 200-250 words address the following: summarize the origins and the progress of the bubonic plague of the fourteenth century. Which regions were hit the hardest? Which regions were largely spared? What were the social and economic outcomes of the plague?

2. In approx. 200-250 words address the following: what were the Portuguese objectives in the exploration of the coast of west Africa? What did they accomplish? What did Columbus hope to accomplish when he set forth across the Atlantic in 1492? What did he achieve?