Chpt. 11, Precolonial Americas

Question 1

Indian

Answer 1

a misnomer created by Columbus referring to indigenous peoples of the New World; it implies social and ethnic commonality among Native Americas that did not exist; it is still used to describe Native Americans

Question 2

Toltec

Answer 2

succeeded Teotihuacan culture in central Mexico; strongly militaristic ethic including human sacrifice; influenced large territory after 1,000 CE; declined after 1,200 CE

Question 3

Topilzin

Answer 3

a religious leader and reformer of the Toltecs in the 10th century; he was dedicated to god Quetzalcoatl, and after losing a struggle for power, went into exile in the Yucatan peninsula

Question 4

Quetzacoatl

Answer 4

a Mayan and later Toltec deity known as the Feathered Serpent, it was adopted by Aztecs as a major god

Question 5

Tenochtitlan

Answer 5

founded c. 1325 on a marshy island in Lake Texcoco, it became the center of Aztec power and joined with Tlacopan and Texcoco in 1434 to form a triple alliance that controlle dmost of central plateau of Mesoamerica

Question 6

Tlaloc

Answer 6

the major god of the Aztecs; associated with fertility and the agricultural cycle; god of rain

Question 7

Huitzilopochtli

Answer 7

the Aztec tribal patron god; central figure of the cult of human sacrifice and warfare; identified with the old sun god

Question 8

Nezhualcoyotl

Answer 8

the leading Aztec king of the 15th century

Question 9

chinampas

Answer 9

beds of aquatic weeds, mud, and earth placed in frames made of cane and rooted in lakes to creat “floating islands”; system of irrigated agriculture used by Aztecs

Question 10

pochteca

Answer 10

special merchant class in Aztec society; specialized in long-distance trade in luxury items

Question 11

calpulli

Answer 11

clans in Aztec society that later expanded to include residential groups that distributed land and provided labor and warriors

Question 12

ayllus

Answer 12

households in Andean societies that recognized some form of kinship; they traced descent from some common, sometimes mythical ancestor

Question 13

Twantinsuyu

Answer 13

the word for Inca empire; the Inca ruled the region from present-day Columbia to Chile and eastward to northern Argentina

Question 14

split inheritance

Answer 14

Inca practice of kingship descent; all titles and political power went to successor, but wealth and land remained in hands of male descendants for support of cult of dead Inca’s mummy

Question 15

Temple of the Sun

Answer 15

an Inca religious center located at Cuzco in the Inca Empire; it was the center of state religion and held mummies of past Inca

Question 16

tambos

Answer 16

way stations used by Incas as inns and storehouses; supply centers for Inca armies on move; relay points for system of runners used to carry messages

Question 17

mita

Answer 17

labor extracted for lands assigned to the state and the religion; all communities were expected to contribute; an essential aspect of Inca imperial control

Question 18

Inca socialism

Answer 18

a view created by Spanish authors to describe Inca society as a type of utopia; an image of the Inca Empire as a carefully organized system in which every community collectively contributed to the whole

Question 19

yanas

Answer 19

a class of people within Inca society removed from their ayllus to serve permanently as servants, artisans, or workers for the inca or the Inca nobility

Question 20

quipu

Answer 20

system of knotted strings used by the Incas to record information (they did not have writing); it contained mainly information for censuses and financial records

Question 21

Pachacuti

Answer 21

a ruler of Incan society from 1438 to 1471; he launched a series of military campaigns that gave the Incas control of the region from Cuzco to the shores of Lake Titicaca

Question 22

Olmec

Answer 22

one of the oldest and most significant Central American civilizations, it is considered a “mother civilization” in the Americas in much the same way that Mesopotamia is in the Mediterranean; relatively little is known about it; unlike many other centers, it arose without the benefit of a major river nearby

Question 23

Andean

Answer 23

describes cultures in western South America

Question 24

Chavin

Answer 24

an Andean civilization that emerged around 1,000BC and dominated the coastal plain and Andean foothills of what is today Peru