Spanish & Aztec 1 Flashcards
(53 cards)
1
Q
What is an Agrarian society?
A
People spend all their time/money just surviving and don’t create new ideas
2
Q
Who were Moors?
A
Islamic people that pushed people to the edge of Spain
3
Q
What does Reconquista mean?
A
Reconquer
4
Q
What made Spain different from other Renaissance countries?
A
It had a different development
5
Q
What is the timeline of Spain’s early history?
A
200CE-400CE: Roman colony
400CE-700CE: Visigoth kingdom
700CE: Invasion of the Moors
- 700-1269: Constant war between Christian and Muslim kingdoms
6
Q
During the wars between Christian and Muslim kingdoms in Spain, how was the population split?
A
Half of Spain was Medieval (catholic, feudal system, faith over reason)
Half of Spain was Medieval Muslim (open to learning, tolerant of other religions)
7
Q
What was the Reconquista?
A
- kingdoms of Castile and Aragon wanted to drive out Muslims
- in 1479 Ferdinand or Aragon and Isabelle of Castile married to create the kingdom of Spain
- by 1492 Muslims were pushed out of Spain
8
Q
What was the Spanish Inquisition?
A
- court set up after the Reconquista
- judged if Muslims, Jews, others in new territories had converted to Catholicism
- if found guilty, accused could face torture, death, or expulsion from Spain
9
Q
How was the Spanish Empire created/started?
A
- Spain sees other European countries expanding
- Pays for Columbus’ voyage to find Asia
- upon discovering America, sends conquistadors and missionaries to start the Spanish Empire
10
Q
Who is Huitzilopochtli?
A
The Aztec sun god
11
Q
What did the tribute system do?
A
It forced defeated people to pay Aztecs for peace
12
Q
What is the timeline of the Aztec early history?
A
Pre 1100: Lived in Northern Mexico (city of Aztlan)
1100: ordered by sun god to find a new home
1100-1300: became nomadic people (waited for the sun god to tell them where to settle)
1300: arrived to the Valley of Mexico
13
Q
What happened when the Aztecs arrived at the Valley of Mexico?
A
- good land but occupied by other people (Tepaners, Cholulas, Tlaxcalans)
- they won’t allow Aztecs to settle
14
Q
How did Tenochtitlan come to be?
A
- Aztecs fins a swampy island in the middle of Lake Texcoco
- there is an eagle perched on a cactus holding a rattlesnake on the island (they believe it’s a sign from the sun god)
- build city of Tenochtitlan on the site
- Aztecs work for powerful neighbours to gain resources to create city
- build advanced city on the water with aqueducts and complex trade networks
- larger than any city in Europe
15
Q
How did the Aztec Empire become a thing?
A
- Aztecs began working with other civilizations
- created the Triple Alliance to dominate other people in the area
- by 1465 the Aztecs and the Triple Alliance controlled majority of Mexico
- only Tlaxcala remained independent
16
Q
Who was in the Triple Alliance?
A
Axtec, Texcoco, Tlacopan
17
Q
What did Itzcoatl do?
A
- united Texcoco and Tlacopan in the Triple Alliance
- initiated tribute system
- created elite military
- established class system
18
Q
What were the 3 main sections of the Spanish government
A
- divine monarchs
- cortes
- church
19
Q
Who were Divine Monarchs?
A
- believed that Ferdinand and Isabella were appointed by God
- power passed on through birth
- decisions could not be questioned
- could not be removed from power
20
Q
Who were the Cortes?
A
- Spanish parliament
- controls the treasury of Spain
- looks over laws
- supposed to control the Monarchs
- Ferdinand and Isabella decreased their power, which greatly increased the power of monarchy
21
Q
How did Ferdinand and Isabella decrease the Cortes’ power?
A
- appoint non-nobles who would support them
- banned nobles from voting
22
Q
How did the Church influence the Spanish government?
A
- members chosen by the Pope
- could tell people not to support the monarchs
- Ferdinand and Isabella convinced the Pope to let them choose members of the Church
- put people who supported them in important roles
23
Q
What were the 3 main sections of Aztec government?
A
- emperor
- council of wise men
- priests
24
Q
What were the Emperors roles in Aztec government?
A
- elected to the council of wise men
- representative of the sun god (complete authority)
- head of government and religion
25
Who were the Council of Wise Men and what did they do?
- made up of the greatest warriors and priests
- could dismiss a poor emperor and choose a new one
26
What role did the priests have in Aztec government?
- gave the emperor advice on dreams and omens
- decided lucky days to go to war and days for ceremonies
27
Who were the Pipiltin and what did they do?
- nobility
- ruling class
- occupied top positions in government, army, and priesthood
- class the emperor is in
- owned land the common worked on
- lived in separate areas from the commoners
- built luxurious homes and had many servants
- had a strict code of behaviour they had to follow
- if they broke the law the commoners punished them
- held jobs of administrators, judges, clerks, ect.
- kept records of conquered land
- some noble warriors joined the knights
28
Who were the Spanish nobility and what did they do?
- owned most land, which was hereditary
- disliked manual labour
- could gain fame and wealth by being a conquistador
- made up >10% of the population
29
Who were the Spanish commoners and what did they do?
- about 90% of the population
- mostly farmers
- were quite poor because a lot of their money went to nobilities
- little commoners owned land
30
Who were the Spanish middle class?
- small group
- some were able to live similar lifestyles to nobility
31
Who were the Aztec common class and what did they do?
- Macehualtin
- priests, merchants, warriors, artisans, and minor judges
- Mayeques worked the land of nobles, built temples and roads, and payed the highest taxes
- Tlacotin were slaves to pay off debt (you were not born into this)
32
What were the requirements to be an Aztec priest?
- had to get an education in priesthood
- could be women, but if they were they followed goddesses, not gods
- cannot marry
- often dedicated to priesthood since birth
33
What were the roles of Spanish men?
- hold government office
- run businesses
- do physical labour
34
What were the roles of Spanish women?
- marry
- take care of the household/children
- rare artisans/scholars
35
What were the roles of Aztec men?
- hold government office
- go to war
- run businesses
- do physical labour
36
What were the roles of Aztec women?
- marry
- take care of the household/children
- rare artisans/scholars
- run businesses
37
What was Spanish Education like?
- under the Moors (high quality education from Muslim and Jewish scholars
- after the reconquista it was solely Roman Catholic and focused on religious studies rather than humanism
- Church provided basic education to most children (work related skills like farming, sewing, carpentry, ect.)
- children of nobles could go onto university (established by the Moors, libraries used by the Spanish)
38
What was Aztec education like?
- free and mandatory for all children aged 13-marriage
- taught major songs, dances, ect. for religious ceremonies
- passed on through oral tradition
- elite school system for children of nobles (taught reading and writing)
39
What was the Aztec economy like?
- agricultural (focused on growing products instead of manufacturing them)
- wealth determined by luxuries owned
- produced food, lumber, cotton, feathers, gold, silver, cacao beans
- used Chinampas to grow food (platforms of soil on the water)
- many resources came through tribute (good paid to Aztecs by conquered people, who they provided yearly lists to)
40
What was the Spanish economy like?
- agricultural (focused on growing products instead of manufacturing them)
- wealth determined by amount of land owned
- purchased wool and limited food
- becomes an import economy
- owning land was beneficial and working on land was frowned upon, which resulted in large amounts of unused land
- demanded precious metals from conquered people which they used to buy things from other countries (this led them to never develop their own economy which rapidly inflated silver)
41
Who was Quetzalcoatl?
feathered serpent god
42
What were the cultural influences of the Spanish?
- mix of renaissance and islamic culture
- took development from Moorish culture (university, art, architecture, libraries)
43
What were the cultural influences of the Aztec?
- took inspiration from past empires from the region (Olmec, Toltec)
- designed Tenochtitlan and based culture on ruins of past societies
- copied cultures they interacted with during the Long Migration (social systems, art, architecture, religion)
44
What was the religion of the Spanish?
- catholic
- monotheistic (one god)
- idealized willingness to suffer and sacrifice for others
- Auto-de-fe was a popular public ceremony for the Spanish Inquisition (mass, sentencing, and execution of heretics (non-catholics))
45
What was the religion of the Aztecs?
- polytheistic (many gods)
- two main gods (Huitzilopochtli, Quetzalcoatl)
- hundreds of other gods (cities, seasons, foods)
- duty of humans to keep the world in balance
- offered luxuries and human blood to keep universe alive
- publicly sacrificed humans on top of temples
46
What was Spanish Imperialism like?
Goals: claim land, gain gold and other resources, spread Catholicism
- modeled on the Reconquista (all conquered land considered Spanish property, land ruled by nobles from Spain, everyone forced to convert to Catholicism)
47
Who were the Conquistadors?
- Spanish soldiers
- came from violent regions of Spain
- goal was kill as many people as possible
48
What do the Aztec and Spanish cultural influences have in common?
- idolized past societies
- took from present societies
49
What was Aztec Imperialism goals like?
Goals: make an enemy pay tribute to the empire in goods or labour and capture enemy soldiers for human sacrifice
50
How did Aztecs conquer cities?
1: attack hostages
2: take hostages
3: negotiated tribute
4: set up statue of sun god in temple
5: leave
51
Who were Aztec warriors?
- all men, noble and poor, eligible for the military
52
Who were Eagles and Jaguars Knights?
- special order of nobles
- best warriors
53
What were the goals of Aztec warriors?
- capture as many warriors as possible for sacrifice
- have the city pay tribute
