Topic 1.4

Question 1

How did Olmec Civilization impact later cultures?

Answer 1

• The Olmec feathered snake-god became fundamental in Mayan and Aztec religion
• Their art on pottery was found in the later civilizations
• Ritual sacrifices, pyramids, and ball courts were also used in other cultures

Question 2

Which new civilizations rose up in Mesoamerica?

Answer 2

Mayans, Aztecs, and the Incas

Question 3

Describe the Mississippian Culture

Answer 3

• The first large scale civilization in North America that emerged in 700s
• Started in the Mississippi River Valley
• Built enormous earthen mounds, some the size of 12 football fields
  
  • The largest on is called Cahokia located in St. Louis, Illinois

Question 4

Describe the Mississippian’s government and social class structure?

Answer 4

• Rigid class structure
  
  • Cheif: The Great Sun
  • Upper Class: Priests and Nobles
  • Lower Class: Farmers, Hunters, Merchants, and Artisans
  • Enslaved People
• Has a matrilineal society (social standing was determined by the women’s side of the family)

Question 5

Describe the Decline of the Mississippians
-How did historians disagree?

Answer 5

• People abandoned Cahokia around 1450 and others by 1600 every other large city
• Historian Theories:
  
  1. Flooding or other weather extremes cause crop failures and the collapse of the agricultural economy
  2. Diseases introduced by the Europeans decimated the population

Question 6

Who were the two cultures that emerged in Southwestern America?
- Their Innovations?

Answer 6

1. Chaco
   
   • Built large housing structures using stone and clay, some included hundreds of rooms
2. Mesa Verde
   
   • Built muti-story homes to the sides of cliffs using bricks made of sandstone
     - Both groups declined in the late 13th century as the climate became drier

Question 7

Where were the Mayan-City States?

Answer 7

• Mayans stretched over the southern part of Mexico and Belize, Honduras, and Guatemala
• Most lived near the 40 cities that ranged in size from 5,000 to 50,000 people

Question 8

What was the main form of government in Mayan Culture?

Answer 8

• City-states
  
  • Each ruled by a king consisting of a city and its surrounding territory
  • Most rulers were men, unless no male heir was available or of age
  • Constantly fought for territory from one another to gain tribute
  • Captives used as human sacrifices

Question 9

How did the monarchy system work in the Mayan City-States?

Answer 9

• Mayan kings claimed to be a descendants of a god
• When the king would die he would reunite with his ancestor god
• Royal rule most of the time passed down from father to son, but sometimes they were overthrown.
• Common people has to pay taxes, usually in the form of crops, and labor.

Question 10

Who provided military for the Mayans?

Answer 10

• The City-States had no standing armies so civilians were required to provide military service if war broke out
• The strongest in the region and would dominate its neighbors.

Question 11

What were the Mayan’s major innovations?

Answer 11

• They incorporated the concept of zero into their number system, developed a complex writing system, and learned to make rubber out of liquid collected from rubber plants

Question 12

How did the Mayan’s incorporate astronomy?

Answer 12

• Mayan science and religion were linked through astronomy
  
  • Based on the calendar, priests decided when to celebrate religious ceremonies and whether to go to war.
  • Made precise observatories atop of pyramids like at Chichen Itza.

Question 13

Describe how the Mayans celebrate their religion.

Answer 13

• One task of priests, male and female, was to conduct ceremonies honoring many deities.
  
  • Deities of the sun, rain, and corn
  • Mayans made offerings to the gods so their prayers might be answered
  • War captives sometimes killed as offerings.

Question 14

Who were the Aztecs?
- Their capital?

Answer 14

• Also known as the Mexicas
• Originally hunter-gatherers who migrated to central Mexico from the north in the 1200s.
• Founded Tenochtitlan, their capital, in 1325
• Over the next 100 years, the conquered the surrounding peoples and created an empire that stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean

Question 15

Describe their capital city: Tenochtitlan
- Chinampas?

Answer 15

• Located on an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco
• Built a network of aqueducts-> brought in fresh water from mountain springs
• Built a pyramid in the center of the city
  
  • This great pyramid and other temples, pyramids, and palaces were made of stone.
• They built Chinampas (floating garden) to increase the amount of space for food production
• Dug ditches to use lake water to irrigate their fields and to drain parts of the lake for more land.

Question 16

Describe the Aztec Tribute System

Answer 16

1. They developed a tribute system
   
   • Conquered people were forced to pay tribute, surrender lands, and perform military service
2. Allowed the rulers of the areas they conquered to stay rulers and serve as tribute collectors
   
   • This allowed political dominance without direct administrative control.
   • In exchange, the conquered people were extended Aztec protection.

Question 17

Describe the Aztec Government System
- Caste System?

Answer 17

• It was a theocracy (ruled by religious leaders)
• Caste System:
  
  1. Emperor: The Great Speaker, divine representative of the gods and the political ruler
  2. Landowning Nobles: majority of Aztec military leadership
  3. Scribes and healers
  4. Crafts people and traders
  5. Pochteca (special merchant class)
  6. Peasants and Soldiers

Question 18

Describe the Aztec Religion

Answer 18

• Hundreds of Deities
• Believed the gods sacrificed themselves in order to create the world thus human sacrifice was repayment and atonement for sin
  
  • Human Sacrifice had a political component, as it demonstrated great might

Question 19

What was the Role of Women in Aztec Culture?

Answer 19

• Wove valuable cloth that local rulers demanded as part of regular tribute
• Men most likely had more than one wife to pay tribute as the price of tribute went higher and higher

Question 20

Describe the decline of the Aztecs

Answer 20

• Low level technology -> agriculture was arduous and inefficient
• Desire for more human sacrifices extended the empire beyond what it could reasonably govern
  
  • Led to resentment than loyalty
• Then the Spaniards came in 1519

Question 21

Describe the Rise of the Incan Empire

Answer 21

• Pachacuti (‘transformer’) began conquering the tribes living near what is now Cuzco, Peru -> Combined, he created the Incan Empire
  
  • Extended from present-day Ecuador to Chile

Question 22

How did they keep control over their vast land territory?

Answer 22

• They split into four provinces, each with its own governor and bureaucracy
• Conquered leaders who demonstrated loyalty to the empire were rewarded

Question 23

What was the Mit’a System?

Answer 23

• Conquered people living under the Aztecs, conquered people under the Inca did not have to pay tribute
• Rather, they would have to do mandatory public service (Mit’a System)
  
  • Men between the ages of 15 and 50 provided agricultural and other forms of labor, including the construction of roads

Question 24

Describe how the Incas incorporated their religion and what was important to them?

Answer 24

• Inca means ‘people of the sun’
• Inti (the sun god) was their most important god to them
• Inca rulers were considered to be Inti’s representative on the earth
• The Temple of the Sun in Cuzco formed the core of Incan religion

Question 25

How would the Incas bury their dead rulers?

Answer 25

- Dead rulers were mummified and continued to 'rule' as they had in life and were thought to retain ownership of their servants, possessions, and property - Incan rulers didn't expect to inherit land or property upon assuming power

Question 26

What was the role of priests in the Incan empire?

Answer 26

- Priests were consulted before important actions * Priests could determine the god's will by studying the arrangement of cocoa leaves in a dish or by watching the movement of a spider. * Diagnosed diseases, predicted the outcome of battles, solved crimes, and determined what sacrifices should be made to which god

Question 27

What is animism?

Answer 27

The belief that elements of the physical world could have supernatural powers. - Could be geographical features like a river or mountain, these signs would be called huaca

Question 28

Incan Achievements - Quipu - Waru Waru - Carpa Nan

Answer 28

1. Quipu: A system of knotted strings used to record numerical function for trade and engineering and for recording messages to be carried through the empire 2. Waru Waru: Terraces with raised beds to capture and redirected rain to avoid erosion during floods and store water during droughts. 3. Carpa Nan: Massive roadway system with 25,000 miles of road used by the gov. and military 4. Built bridges and roads 5. Machu Picchu

Question 29

Describe the Decline of the Incan Empire

Answer 29

- The arrival of Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro in 1532, while they were in the midst of a civil war. * Military weakened and Diseases from the Europeans led to decline - The Spanish conquered the core of the empire, although outposts held out until 1572.