AP World- Chapter 11 Flashcards
(31 cards)
Teotihuacan (100 BCE - 750 CE)
- powerful city-state in central Mexico
- became center of a trade into Central America
- most valuable trade item was obsidian
- many temples including Pyramid of the Sun
chinampas
- “floating gardens”
- raised fields constructed along lake shores that permitted year-round agriculture
society
- members of elite controlled state bureaucracy, tax collection, and commerce
- did not concentrate power in the hands of a single ruler
Maya
- civilization concentrated in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and Guatemala and Honduras
- never unified into a single empire
- major contributions in math, science, etc.
characteristics of cities
- giant pyramids, temples, and palaces
- independent, linked through alliances and trade
religion
worshiped many gods and performed religious rituals, including human sacrifice
role of Mayan women
- few directly ruled but helped legitimate the rules of their husbands (some traced bilaterally)
- mostly patrilineal
- played central role in religious rituals at home
codex
- book of glyphs, in which Mayans recorded important events
- ex. Popol Vuh (about the creation of the world)
reasons for Mayan decline
- intensified struggle for resources (led to class conflict and warfare)
- earlier collapse of Teotihuacan disrupted trade
Toltecs (900 - 1175 CE)
- powerful empire after Teotihuacan
- ruled over heart of Mexico from capital at Tula
- extremely warlike people (empire based on conquest)
religion
- worshiped a fierce god who demanded human sacrifice
- king tried to replace with a god of peace, Quetzalcoatl (Feathered Serpent)
decline of Toltecs
two kings shared power and division of responsibility weakened Toltec power
Aztecs (1325 - 1521 CE)
- also known as Mexica
- created a powerful empire in central Mexico
- forced defeated peoples to provide goods and labor as tax
- controlled extensive trade network
Triple Alliance (1428)
formed between two other city-states: Texcoco and Tlacopan
military rule
- based its power on military conquest and tribute
- exercised loose control over empire, let local rulers govern their own regions
Aztec women
- held substantial power and exercised broad influence
- dominated household and markets
- seen as the founder of lineages
Anasazi
- culture of the Four Corners region of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah
- built cliff dwellings and lived in pueblos
- built underground buildings called kivas
Hopewell
- Ohio River Valley
- constructed large villages and monumental earthworks
- developed based on long distance trade and religious life centered on large mounds
- early example of chiefdom
chiefdom
form of political organization with rule by a hereditary leader who held power over a collection of villages and towns, based on gift giving and commercial links
Mississippian culture (800 - 1500 CE)
- built great earthern pyramids such as the one at Cahokia, Illinois (led by priest rulers)
- created thriving villages based on farming and trade
- located in crossroads region between east and west, enjoyed easy transportation on rivers
Moche (200 - 700)
- civilization of north coast of Peru
- built extensive irrigation networks as well as impressive urban centers
- didn’t establish formal empire/unified political structures
- society was highly stratified and theocratic
Wari
- rise may have led to decline of Moche
- culturally linked to Tiwanaku (could have began as a colony of Tiwanaku)
Tiwanaku (375 - 1000 CE)
- name of capital and empire near Lake Titicaca in modern Bolivia
- highly stratified society
- used powerful militaries to extend power and long distance trade networks
Inca
- largest and most powerful Andean empire
- controlled the Pacific coast of SA from Ecuador to Chile from capital at Cuzco
