T he r eader ’

TEST A
 
Read the graphic and narrative below entitled “New Cosmologies” and respond to the short-
answer questions below. 
New Cosmologies 
He classical Ptolemaic Plan (below 
left), widely accepted in sixteenth- and 
seventeenth-century Europe, placed the 
earth at the center of the universe. The 
earth was surrounded by spheres of air and fire. 
Around them circled the moon and the seven 
known planets in individual orbits; farther out 
lay the stars, divided into the astrological 
sectors devised in antiquity. 
In contrast, the Copernican system 
(below right) placed the sun at the center with 
the planets in orbit around it. The moon’s orbit 
around the earth was shown. The circular 
spheres and the outer parts of the plan were 
unchanged. 
Why did Copernicus’s simple 
adjustment in the structure of the universe 
arouse so much opposition from theologians? 
Why might some delight in the human mind’s 
ability to figure out the structure of the solar 
system while others saw humans as diminished 
by the Copernican plan?
 
[Bulliet, et. al.
The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History, Vol. II: Since 1500.
New York: 
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997, pp. 539.] 
T

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102 Chapter 21, Reading Graphs 
1. What is at the center of the sphere on the left?
________________________ 
2. Which sphere is Copernicus’s 
model? 
________________________ 
3. Which sphere represents the thinking of 16
th
-
and 
17th-century 
Europe? ________________________ 
4. What did the classical thinkers believe surrounded the Earth? ________________________ 
5. How many planets were known to the classical thinkers? 
________________________ 
6. What is the number of the planet closest to the sun in the
Copernican 
model? ________________________ 
7. What is located furthest from the sun in the Copernican model? _______________________ 
Next, peruse the chart of “A Look at Campus Crime.” Then answer the True-False questions 
which follow. 
Crimes on 481 campuses with more than 5,000 students