Patrick,
I'm very impressed at your careful reading of the quiz questions.  Let's see how well I can address your concerns in an email.

First, the publisher quiz questions are not written by me.  I use them mainly as a sort of reading comprehension check for students, and they basically work very well in that manner.

Sometimes, the textbook publishers don't pay enough attention to these questions, usually written by the professor's/author's graduate students, who slip in the "trick" question every now and then.  Simple time limitations prevent me from having been able to comb through every question in advance.  That's one main reason that I disregard your actual scores on these practice assignments.  I figure at least half of the questions are "good" ones.  

I hope this bit of background helps.

Your first question about 90% population decline was a failed attempt at one of those "trick" questions, AND, the publisher mis-marked the correct answer.  Because of your careful reading and notification to me, I have changed the question to make it "clear" and to have the correct answer.  This will prevent other students from dealing with a vague (and wrongly answered) question.  Thanks.

As for the second question, your comprehension of the material is spectacular.  The textbook/publisher answered PORTUGUESE, because they understood it from a European "maritime influence" perspective.  You probably answered Spain, because you read it from a geographic direction and "eventual outcome" perspective.  (That's the way I read it as well.)

First, I won't be using this question on the midterm exam.  Second, I haven't changed it at all, because again, it comes from the textbook/publisher/author perspective, and while vague, can still be considered correct.

Finally, as I'm sure you know, your score one the quiz was just fine regardless of these two questions.  As a "type A" person myself, I certainly would like to have gotten a perfect score and want every question to be clear and make perfect sense.  But that is not the purpose of these quizzes and is something we just have to "let go".

I hope I've been clear.  Again, I'm very impressed with your responsible start in this class.  See you Thursday, and we'll see if other students have similar questions.

Joe