Reading Comprehension

PT154 · S3 · P1 · Q4 Great Zimbabwe

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Complex societies flourished on the central plateau of southern Africa from the ninth through sixteenth centuries.

Topic

The economic foundations and societal structure of Great Zimbabwe in southern Africa, especially the central role of cattle agriculture.

Framework

Challenge Position

Main Point

While it's often said that Great Zimbabwe's prosperity was due to its control of gold mining and the gold trade, the passage argues that the most important factor was actually its complex agricultural system centered on cattle. The Most Valuable Sentence appears near the end of the first paragraph:

P1: Introduction & Challenging Conventional Wisdom

The author introduces Great Zimbabwe as a highly stratified, prosperous society famous for its stone city-states. The usual explanation is that its success was due to control of gold mining and trading, but the author pivots and says the real key was its agricultural system.

P2: Explaining the Unique Agricultural System

Without the ability to farm intensively, store grain in bulk, or transport it, Great Zimbabwe thrived in an environment where most societies stayed small and mobile. Instead, they developed an advanced system of cattle herding, moving herds seasonally for grazing. Managing these herds required large-scale coordination and enabled centralized, elite control.

P3: Social and Economic Impact of the Cattle Economy

Cattle ownership by the elite not only structured society but also influenced everyday life and marital arrangements. Cattle were so crucial that they also facilitated the gold mining industry; the royal class could motivate enough labor for demanding mining tasks by granting cattle as rewards. This further strengthened central authority and economic success.

Which one of the following most accurately describes the author's attitude regarding Great Zimbabwe's cattle economy?

condemnation of its role in
Too Strong: condemnation
The author seems largely positive, in an impressed way, when it comes to the cattle farming. She does mention that the ruling class controlled the cattle, but she doesn't condemn the ruling class for abusing that iron grip on society.
3% picked this
surprise at its lack of
Opposite, if anything
We don't really speak directly to how diverse the cattle economy was (what does that even mean? different types of cattle? different economic uses of cattle?) But the author says in the 2nd paragraph, The alternative agricultural system that Great Zimbabwe practiced was a complex cattle economy. A lack of diversity would be simple. A complex economy probably has a good bit of diversification. So, if anything, it seems like we have opposite support for this.
0% picked this
skepticism about its effectiveness in
Opposite, if anything
The author was impressed by Great Zimbabwe and thus impressed at the cattle industry that she thought laid the basis for its success. This answer choice would need to be supported by some line reference where the author makes it seem like the cattle economy had some effect of breaking down the cohesiveness of society, but the passage doesn't really even talk about cohesiveness.
0% picked this
respect for the intricacy of
Out of Scope: criticizing inefficiency
The first half works, since the author mentioned that this cattle system is complex and she respects how crucial it was to the Great Zimbabwe's societal success. But there isn't any part of the passage where the author says that this system was inefficient.
1% picked this
Correct
appreciation of its complexity and
Why this is right
This has the largely impressed / appreciative gist we were looking for. The middle of the 2nd paragraph definitely acknowledged it was a complex system, and the end of the 2nd paragraph talked about how the economy "demanded large-scale coordinated efforts", favoring a pattern of centralized control over society. And the 3rd paragraph lists lots of facets in which the cattle economy intersected with other things: - you could use individual cows as an act of royal patronage - cattle was exchanged in marriage contracts - it was crucial to the success of the gold mining industry "Because cattle exchange was an essential element in marriage contracts, the power of the royal class reached deep into everyone's lives" is a good line reference for the cattle economy's extensive integration into various facets of social life.
Skill tested: Author's Attitude · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
96% picked this

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