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BGCSE History (1454) practice questions

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Question 1The Bahamas before 1492: Lucayan and indigenous societies

The Lucayans who lived in The Bahamas before 1492 belonged to which broad cultural group?

  1. The Taíno peoples of the Caribbean Correct answer.
  2. The Maya of Mesoamerica
  3. The Inca of the Andes
  4. The Aztec of central Mexico

Explanation

The Lucayans were the indigenous inhabitants of the Bahamian archipelago and are classified as a branch of the Taíno, the Arawakan-speaking peoples spread across the Greater Antilles. Their language, ceramics and social organization link them to Caribbean Taíno culture rather than to mainland civilizations. This is why historians treat Lucayan society as part of the wider Taíno world.

Question 2The Bahamas before 1492: Lucayan and indigenous societies

From which direction is it generally believed the ancestors of the Lucayans migrated into the Caribbean islands?

  1. From West Africa across the Atlantic
  2. From the South American mainland through the Lesser Antilles Correct answer.
  3. From Europe via the North Atlantic
  4. From North America down the Atlantic coast

Explanation

Linguistic and archaeological evidence links the Taíno and their ancestors to Arawakan-speaking peoples of northern South America. They are thought to have moved northward along the Lesser Antilles and then into the Greater Antilles and The Bahamas. This migration pattern explains the cultural similarities shared across the islands.

Question 3The Bahamas before 1492: Lucayan and indigenous societies

Which staple food formed the foundation of the Lucayan diet?

  1. Potatoes
  2. Cassava, made from bitter yuca Correct answer.
  3. Wheat bread
  4. Rice

Explanation

The Lucayans cultivated bitter yuca and processed it to remove its toxins, grating and pressing it to make cassava bread. Cassava kept well and could be stored and carried, making it central to island life. Fish and shellfish supplemented this plant staple.

Question 4The Bahamas before 1492: Lucayan and indigenous societies

Why did the Lucayans use a wooden grater and a woven press in preparing food?

  1. To remove poison from bitter yuca before making bread Correct answer.
  2. To extract salt from seawater
  3. To grind maize into flour for tortillas
  4. To dry fish for long storage

Explanation

Bitter yuca contains harmful compounds that must be removed before eating. The Lucayans grated the root and pressed out its juice, then cooked the remaining pulp into cassava bread. This processing turned a toxic plant into a safe and reliable staple.

Question 5The Bahamas before 1492: Lucayan and indigenous societies

What was the main material used by the Lucayans to build their houses?

  1. Stone blocks
  2. Mud brick
  3. Wooden planks and thatch Correct answer.
  4. Fired brick

Explanation

Lucayan dwellings were built from wooden posts and poles, roofed and walled with thatch made from palm leaves and other plant materials. The warm climate and abundant vegetation made such materials practical. These structures were lightweight and suited to island conditions.

Question 6The Bahamas before 1492: Lucayan and indigenous societies

A Lucayan village is described as having a large open space for meetings and ceremonies. What was such a space commonly called?

  1. A ziggurat
  2. A pyramid
  3. A ball court
  4. A plaza or batey Correct answer.

Explanation

Taíno and Lucayan settlements typically centred on an open cleared area used for gatherings, dances and ceremonial events. Spanish accounts describe such spaces, often linked to the term batey. They served as the social heart of the community.

Question 7The Bahamas before 1492: Lucayan and indigenous societies

Which crop is most closely associated with the Lucayans' cultivation of a root vegetable staple?

  1. Coffee
  2. Yuca (cassava) Correct answer.
  3. Cotton
  4. Sugarcane

Explanation

Yuca, also called cassava, was the principal cultivated root of the Lucayans and the source of cassava bread. It was grown in conuco plots and processed carefully. The other crops listed became important only after European contact or were not food staples.

Question 8The Bahamas before 1492: Lucayan and indigenous societies

A Lucayan fisherman wanted to catch fish in shallow coastal waters. Which method best reflects traditional Lucayan practice?

  1. Using iron harpoons
  2. Using explosives to stun fish
  3. Using traps, spears and lines from dugout canoes Correct answer.
  4. Using large sailing ships with nets

Explanation

Lucayan fishing relied on dugout canoes, woven traps, spears, hooks and lines suited to reefs and shallows. These methods required knowledge of tides and marine life. Iron and explosives were unknown before European contact.

Question 9The Bahamas before 1492: Lucayan and indigenous societies

What was the main purpose of the duho, a carved wooden seat used by Taíno and Lucayan leaders?

  1. A weapon for hunting
  2. A tool for grinding cassava
  3. A container for storing water
  4. A seat symbolizing chiefly status and used in ceremonies Correct answer.

Explanation

The duho was a low carved seat reserved for chiefs and important persons, and it carried ritual significance. Sitting on it marked rank and authority within the community. It was not a tool, weapon or storage vessel.

Question 10The Bahamas before 1492: Lucayan and indigenous societies

How were Lucayan communities typically governed?

  1. By hereditary chiefs known as caciques Correct answer.
  2. By elected councils of all adults
  3. By religious leaders chosen by lot
  4. By appointed colonial governors

Explanation

Lucayan society, like other Taíno communities, was organized under chiefs called caciques whose authority was generally hereditary. The chief led in war, ritual and the distribution of goods. Villages were linked in ranked chiefdoms.

Question 11The Bahamas before 1492: Lucayan and indigenous societies

What does the term cemi refer to in Lucayan and Taíno culture?

  1. A sacred object or idol believed to hold spiritual power Correct answer.
  2. A farming plot
  3. A type of canoe
  4. A musical instrument

Explanation

Cemis were sacred objects, often carved from wood or stone, through which spiritual forces were accessed. They were central to religious practice and were consulted by chiefs and ritual specialists. The term does not describe tools, plots or instruments.

Question 12The Bahamas before 1492: Lucayan and indigenous societies

Which statement best describes the Lucayan belief about the afterlife?

  1. They believed the dead ceased to exist entirely
  2. They believed the dead became stars
  3. They believed only chiefs had souls
  4. They believed in an afterlife where the soul continued Correct answer.

Explanation

Taíno and Lucayan religion held that a person's soul survived death and travelled to a spiritual realm. Rituals and burial practices reflected this belief. The idea of total annihilation was not part of their worldview.

Question 13The Bahamas before 1492: Lucayan and indigenous societies

What was the main purpose of the ball game played in some Caribbean communities?

  1. To measure the strength of slaves
  2. To train soldiers for war only
  3. A ceremonial and social contest with religious meaning Correct answer.
  4. To settle land disputes legally

Explanation

The ball game in Caribbean societies was played in a designated court and carried ceremonial and social significance. It brought communities together and had ritual dimensions. It was not a purely military drill or a legal procedure.

Question 14The Bahamas before 1492: Lucayan and indigenous societies

What material did the Lucayans mainly use to make tools such as axes and adzes?

  1. Iron
  2. Stone, shell and wood Correct answer.
  3. Steel
  4. Bronze

Explanation

Before European contact the Lucayans worked stone, shell, bone and wood into tools and ornaments. Hard stones were ground and polished for axes and adzes. Metals such as iron, bronze and steel were not in use.

Question 15The Bahamas before 1492: Lucayan and indigenous societies

What was a conuco in Lucayan agriculture?

  1. A type of canoe
  2. A communal cultivated plot, often mounded Correct answer.
  3. A storehouse for fish
  4. A ceremonial mask

Explanation

A conuco was a cultivated field, often built up into mounds to improve drainage and soil depth. Lucayans grew yuca and other crops in such plots. The term refers to farming, not to storage, ritual or transport.

Question 16The Bahamas before 1492: Lucayan and indigenous societies

Why is the Lucayan name for The Bahamas, often rendered as 'Bajamar', significant to historians?

  1. It was a Spanish fort
  2. It was a crop grown on the islands
  3. It may reflect the shallow waters and sandbanks of the islands Correct answer.
  4. It was the name of a Lucayan chief

Explanation

The name associated with the islands relates to shallow water and sandbanks, describing the geography of the Bahamian archipelago. Such place names preserve indigenous knowledge of the environment. They also help historians understand how the Lucayans perceived their surroundings.

Question 17The Bahamas before 1492: Lucayan and indigenous societies

Which environmental feature most shaped Lucayan settlement patterns in The Bahamas?

  1. Access to coasts, reefs and fresh water Correct answer.
  2. Dense pine forests only
  3. Volcanic mountains
  4. Large inland rivers

Explanation

Lucayans settled near coasts where fishing, shellfishing and canoe travel were possible, and near reliable fresh water. The sea provided much of their food and connected their communities. Inland features such as large rivers were not the main draw.

Question 18The Bahamas before 1492: Lucayan and indigenous societies

What does the evidence of shell middens tell archaeologists about the Lucayans?

  1. They mined gold
  2. They built large stone temples
  3. They harvested shellfish and left discarded shells at habitation sites Correct answer.
  4. They practised large-scale iron smelting

Explanation

Shell middens are mounds of discarded shells that accumulate where people repeatedly harvested and ate shellfish. Their presence reveals diet, settlement location and patterns of resource use. They do not indicate temple building, mining or metalworking.

Question 19The Bahamas before 1492: Lucayan and indigenous societies

Which of these best explains why Lucayan society is described as having ranked chiefdoms?

  1. All members held equal status and shared all goods
  2. Society had chiefs, nobles and commoners with different levels of authority Correct answer.
  3. Leadership was chosen by European officials
  4. Only religious leaders held any authority

Explanation

Ranked chiefdoms are societies with graded social levels, typically chiefs, nobles and commoners, each with distinct rights and duties. Lucayan communities fit this pattern, with chiefs exercising authority over villages. This structure differs from strict equality or external rule.

Question 20The Bahamas before 1492: Lucayan and indigenous societies

What was the main source of protein in the Lucayan diet?

  1. Beef from domesticated cattle
  2. Wheat from fields
  3. Milk from goats
  4. Fish and shellfish from the surrounding sea Correct answer.

Explanation

The sea supplied the Lucayans with abundant fish, conch, crabs and other shellfish. These marine foods provided most of their protein. Domesticated cattle, goats and wheat arrived only with Europeans.

Question 21European exploration, colonization and the early Bahamian settlement

Which European country sponsored Christopher Columbus's first voyage across the Atlantic in 1492?

  1. France
  2. Portugal
  3. Spain Correct answer.
  4. England

Explanation

Columbus sailed under the sponsorship of the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, who funded his 1492 expedition in hopes of reaching Asia by a western route. Portugal had rejected his proposal, and England and France had not yet backed Atlantic ventures of this kind.

Question 22European exploration, colonization and the early Bahamian settlement

The Lucayans whom the Spanish encountered in The Bahamas were part of which broader Caribbean people?

  1. The Taino Correct answer.
  2. The Maya
  3. The Carib
  4. The Aztec

Explanation

The Lucayans were the Bahamian branch of the Taino peoples, who also inhabited the Greater Antilles such as Cuba and Hispaniola. They spoke an Arawakan language and shared pottery and village traditions with other Taino communities.

Question 23European exploration, colonization and the early Bahamian settlement

What was the main economic motive that drove Spanish interest in the Caribbean after 1492?

  1. The establishment of cotton plantations
  2. The search for gold and other precious metals Correct answer.
  3. The desire to spread Protestantism
  4. The need for naval bases against France

Explanation

Spanish explorers and settlers were chiefly attracted by reports of gold, silver and other valuable resources, which they hoped to extract and ship back to Spain. Religious conversion and strategic rivalry mattered, but mineral wealth was the dominant economic incentive in the early Caribbean.

Question 24European exploration, colonization and the early Bahamian settlement

Which term describes the forced transfer of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic to the Americas?

  1. The Reconquista
  2. The Encomienda
  3. The Columbian Exchange
  4. The Middle Passage Correct answer.

Explanation

The Middle Passage refers specifically to the Atlantic crossing that carried enslaved Africans to the Americas as part of the triangular trade. It is distinguished from other exchanges and institutions by its focus on the human traffic across the ocean.

Question 25European exploration, colonization and the early Bahamian settlement

Eleuthera's name is commonly linked to which idea?

  1. Freedom Correct answer.
  2. Friendship
  3. Storm
  4. Wealth

Explanation

The name Eleuthera derives from a Greek word meaning freedom, a name associated with the islands by early English adventurers. This naming reflects the religious and personal liberty the first settlers hoped to find there.

Question 26European exploration, colonization and the early Bahamian settlement

Which English sea captain is remembered for exploring The Bahamas and for his later career as a privateer and governor?

  1. John Hawkins
  2. Walter Raleigh
  3. Francis Drake
  4. Woodes Rogers Correct answer.

Explanation

Woodes Rogers served as the first Royal Governor of The Bahamas and is remembered for suppressing piracy in Nassau. His career included privateering before he took on the governorship and worked to restore orderly government.

Question 27European exploration, colonization and the early Bahamian settlement

The first English settlers in The Bahamas in the 1640s came mainly from which source?

  1. Bermuda Correct answer.
  2. Virginia
  3. Barbados
  4. Jamaica

Explanation

English settlers, often called the Eleutheran Adventurers, sailed from Bermuda to establish a colony in The Bahamas in the mid-seventeenth century. Their migration was driven by religious and political disputes within Bermuda's Puritan community.

Question 28European exploration, colonization and the early Bahamian settlement

Why did Spanish authorities begin transporting many Lucayans away from The Bahamas in the early sixteenth century?

  1. To convert them and return them to their homes
  2. To use them as guides for Pacific exploration
  3. To supply labour for mines and plantations on other Caribbean islands Correct answer.
  4. To resettle them as allies against the English

Explanation

Spanish raiders removed large numbers of Lucayans to work in mines and on estates in Hispaniola and Cuba, where indigenous labour was in short supply. This depopulation devastated Bahamian communities and left many islands largely uninhabited.

Question 29European exploration, colonization and the early Bahamian settlement

What was a major consequence of the Columbian Exchange for the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean?

  1. The disappearance of maize from their diet
  2. Immediate adoption of European farming methods
  3. Exposure to Eurasian diseases to which they had no immunity Correct answer.
  4. A rapid increase in their population

Explanation

The Columbian Exchange introduced smallpox, measles and other Eurasian diseases to populations that had never been exposed to them, causing catastrophic mortality. This demographic collapse was more devastating than warfare in many Caribbean communities.

Question 30European exploration, colonization and the early Bahamian settlement

The Spanish encomienda system in the Caribbean is best described as which of the following?

  1. A treaty dividing the New World between Spain and Portugal
  2. A tax paid directly to the Crown by enslaved Africans
  3. A trading company that controlled Atlantic shipping
  4. A grant of indigenous labour to a colonist in return for supposed protection and instruction Correct answer.

Explanation

Under the encomienda, the Spanish Crown granted colonists the right to demand labour from indigenous communities in exchange for protection and Christian instruction. In practice it functioned as a harsh system of forced labour that contributed to native depopulation.

Question 31European exploration, colonization and the early Bahamian settlement

What was the main purpose of Spain's fleet system, in which treasure ships sailed together in convoys?

  1. To carry settlers to the Pacific coast
  2. To spread missionary work among the Lucayans
  3. To protect valuable cargoes from pirates and rival navies Correct answer.
  4. To map the coast of North America

Explanation

Spanish treasure fleets gathered in convoy under armed escort to reduce the risk of capture by privateers and rival powers. The system reflected the growing value of Caribbean and American silver and gold shipments to the Spanish Crown.

Question 32European exploration, colonization and the early Bahamian settlement

Why did The Bahamas become strategically significant to European powers in the early modern period?

  1. Its location near major sea lanes between the Caribbean and Europe Correct answer.
  2. Its dense population of European settlers
  3. Its large deposits of silver
  4. Its control of the Pacific entrance to the Atlantic

Explanation

The Bahamian archipelago lies close to the routes taken by ships sailing between the Caribbean and Europe, making it useful for navigation, trade and raiding. Its shallow banks and channels also shaped how fleets moved through the region.

Question 33European exploration, colonization and the early Bahamian settlement

The activities of buccaneers and privateers in the seventeenth-century Caribbean were shaped mainly by which condition?

  1. The end of the slave trade
  2. European wars and the issuing of letters of marque Correct answer.
  3. The absence of any European rivalry
  4. The decline of Atlantic shipping

Explanation

Privateers operated with legal commissions, or letters of marque, issued during European wars, which allowed them to attack enemy shipping. When peace returned, many turned to outright piracy because their legal cover disappeared.

Question 34European exploration, colonization and the early Bahamian settlement

What was the significance of the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494?

  1. It divided newly discovered lands between Spain and Portugal along a meridian Correct answer.
  2. It abolished the encomienda system
  3. It ended the Anglo-Spanish war over The Bahamas
  4. It granted England rights to settle the Caribbean

Explanation

The Treaty of Tordesillas drew a line in the Atlantic dividing claims between Spain and Portugal, with lands to the west assigned largely to Spain and lands to the east to Portugal. It shaped later European disputes over the right to colonize the Americas.

Question 35European exploration, colonization and the early Bahamian settlement

How did the shallow banks and reefs of The Bahamas affect early European navigation?

  1. They made the waters hazardous and caused many shipwrecks Correct answer.
  2. They allowed large warships to pass without risk
  3. They provided deep harbours everywhere
  4. They eliminated the need for local pilots

Explanation

The Great and Little Bahama Banks are shallow and studded with reefs, which made navigation dangerous for sailing ships and produced numerous wrecks. These wrecks later became a source of salvage and shaped the islands' maritime economy.

Question 36European exploration, colonization and the early Bahamian settlement

Which statement best explains why English colonists were attracted to The Bahamas in the seventeenth century?

  1. The islands offered land and a chance to escape religious or political conflict Correct answer.
  2. The islands were already major centres of sugar production
  3. The islands were densely populated and highly developed
  4. The islands were known for rich gold mines

Explanation

Settlers such as the Eleutheran Adventurers were drawn by the prospect of land and by the desire to practise their religion freely away from conflict in Bermuda. Economic expectations were often disappointed, but the promise of land remained a powerful attraction.

Question 37European exploration, colonization and the early Bahamian settlement

What role did Nassau play in the early eighteenth-century Atlantic world?

  1. It was the main port for the French slave trade
  2. It was a fortified Dutch trading post
  3. It became a notorious base for pirates before royal authority was restored Correct answer.
  4. It served as the capital of Spanish Florida

Explanation

Nassau's sheltered harbour and weak government made it a haven for pirates who preyed on shipping in the region. The arrival of Woodes Rogers as Royal Governor in 1718 marked an effort to suppress piracy and restore lawful rule.

Question 38European exploration, colonization and the early Bahamian settlement

A historian argues that the removal of the Lucayans left The Bahamas vulnerable to later colonization. Which evidence best supports this argument?

  1. The Lucayans had established large cities that the English inherited
  2. The islands remained densely populated until the eighteenth century
  3. The Spanish built permanent forts throughout the archipelago
  4. Many islands were largely uninhabited when English settlers arrived Correct answer.

Explanation

Because Spanish raids had depopulated much of the archipelago, English arrivals in the seventeenth century found few indigenous inhabitants and little organized resistance. This demographic emptiness made settlement easier and shaped the colony's later development.

Question 39European exploration, colonization and the early Bahamian settlement

Which factor most directly encouraged English interest in The Bahamas during the period of rivalry with Spain?

  1. The islands' position along Spanish treasure routes Correct answer.
  2. The existence of a profitable fur trade
  3. The presence of a strong Spanish garrison
  4. The discovery of large coal reserves

Explanation

Proximity to the sea lanes used by Spanish treasure fleets made The Bahamas attractive to English privateers and settlers seeking to challenge Spanish power. Raiding and trade both benefited from the islands' location near these routes.

Question 40European exploration, colonization and the early Bahamian settlement

What does the term 'triangular trade' describe?

  1. A direct route between Spain and the Pacific
  2. A system of three-year labour contracts
  3. A circuit linking European manufactures, African captives and American produce Correct answer.
  4. A treaty among three European powers

Explanation

The triangular trade refers to the interconnected routes that carried manufactured goods to Africa, enslaved people to the Americas and colonial products such as sugar and rum back to Europe. The Bahamas and other Caribbean colonies were tied into these circuits.

Question 41European exploration, colonization and the early Bahamian settlement

Which conclusion about early Bahamian settlement is best supported by the difficulties the Eleutheran Adventurers faced?

  1. English colonists relied mainly on gold mining
  2. Idealistic settlement plans often failed without supplies and outside support Correct answer.
  3. The islands were unsuitable for any permanent settlement
  4. Religious settlers always prospered in the Caribbean

Explanation

The Adventurers suffered from shortages, shipwreck and internal disputes, showing that settlement required supplies and support from elsewhere. Their experience illustrates how fragile early colonial ventures could be.

Question 42European exploration, colonization and the early Bahamian settlement

How did the Treaty of Tordesillas affect later European claims in the Caribbean?

  1. It was largely ignored by other powers who pursued their own colonial claims Correct answer.
  2. It permanently settled all Caribbean boundaries
  3. It ended Spanish colonization of the Americas
  4. It gave France control of the entire Caribbean

Explanation

Although Spain and Portugal agreed to the line, other European powers such as England, France and the Dutch rejected the division and made their own claims. The treaty therefore shaped diplomacy but did not prevent rival colonization.

Question 43European exploration, colonization and the early Bahamian settlement

Which statement best characterizes the Spanish approach to indigenous peoples in the early Caribbean?

  1. They avoided all contact with island communities
  2. They relied mainly on African labour from the first voyage
  3. They sought to extract labour and wealth while nominally promoting conversion Correct answer.
  4. They granted full citizenship and equal land rights

Explanation

Spanish policy combined demands for labour and tribute with a stated mission to convert indigenous people to Christianity. The gap between these aims and the harsh realities of forced labour contributed to criticism by figures such as Bartolome de las Casas.

Question 44European exploration, colonization and the early Bahamian settlement

Why is 1718 an important year in Bahamian colonial history?

  1. The Treaty of Tordesillas was signed
  2. The first Lucayans arrived from South America
  3. Columbus first sighted the islands
  4. Woodes Rogers arrived to govern and suppress piracy Correct answer.

Explanation

In 1718 Woodes Rogers took up office as Royal Governor and began the campaign against piracy in Nassau. His arrival marked a shift toward formal royal government in the colony.

Question 45Slavery, the plantation economy and the Loyalist era

Which crop became the mainstay of the Bahamian plantation economy during the Loyalist era?

  1. Sugar cane
  2. Tobacco
  3. Cotton Correct answer.
  4. Indigo

Explanation

After the Loyalists arrived in the 1780s they cleared land on the Family Islands and grew cotton for export to Britain. The cotton boom was brief because the thin island soils were quickly exhausted and insect pests attacked the plants. Sugar and tobacco never dominated the Bahamas in this period.

Question 46Slavery, the plantation economy and the Loyalist era

Where did most Loyalist settlers and their enslaved people arrive in the Bahamas from?

  1. The newly independent United States Correct answer.
  2. The Portuguese colony of Brazil
  3. The French island of Haiti
  4. The Spanish colony of Cuba

Explanation

Loyalists were American colonists who had sided with Britain during the American Revolution. After Britain lost the war they left the new United States, and many moved to British territories including the Bahamas. They brought enslaved labourers with them to work new plantations.

Question 47Slavery, the plantation economy and the Loyalist era

What is the name given to people of mixed African and European ancestry in Bahamian history?

  1. Creoles
  2. Maroons
  3. Mulattoes Correct answer.
  4. Buccaneers

Explanation

The term mulatto was historically used in the Bahamas and wider Caribbean for people of mixed African and European descent. Such people often formed a distinct social group between the enslaved and the white elite. The term is a historical label rather than a modern one.

Question 48Slavery, the plantation economy and the Loyalist era

What was the main purpose of the enslaved labour force on Bahamian cotton plantations?

  1. To cultivate and harvest crops for export Correct answer.
  2. To manage shipping records
  3. To survey and map new land
  4. To serve as soldiers in the militia

Explanation

Enslaved Africans provided the forced labour that cleared land, planted, weeded and picked the cotton crop. Their unpaid work generated the profits that plantation owners hoped to gain. The plantation economy depended entirely on this coerced labour.

Question 49Slavery, the plantation economy and the Loyalist era

What happened to the Bahamian cotton boom by the early nineteenth century?

  1. It was banned by the British Parliament
  2. It was replaced by large-scale sugar planting
  3. It declined as soils wore out and pests spread Correct answer.
  4. It expanded rapidly and permanently

Explanation

Cotton growing in the Bahamas collapsed after a few decades because repeated cropping exhausted the shallow soil. Insects such as the chenille bug also damaged the plants. Many planters abandoned their estates and moved away, leaving the economy to shift toward other activities.

Question 50Slavery, the plantation economy and the Loyalist era

In Bahamian slave society, what was the legal status of enslaved people?

  1. They held full citizenship rights
  2. They were free but bound by labour contracts
  3. They were protected by the same laws as planters
  4. They were treated as property that could be bought and sold Correct answer.

Explanation

Under colonial slave law enslaved people were legally classified as property or chattels. They could be bought, sold, inherited or seized to pay debts. They had no legal standing to own property or give testimony in court against free persons.