32 Flashcards Chapter 2
An advanced state of human society, in which a high level of government.
Civilizations
A cultural region centered around southern Mexico in which a number of early American civilizations developed.
Mesoamerica
The belief in or worship of more than one God.
Polytheistic
A self-governing region consisting of a city and its surrounding territory.
City-state
Kept track of yearly patterns such as seasons.
Astronomy
Based on days, religious holidays, and time.
Calendars
System of writing based on symbols, or pictographs.
Hieroglyphics
A group of countries or region controlled by one ruler.
Empire
High, flat ares of land.
Plateaus
To preserve a body by embalming it and wrapping it in cloth.
Mummified
The king of the empire.
Emperor
Powerful emperor called the Sapa Inca, which means “the only Inca.”
Sapa Inca
Had more than one family in it, but they lived and worked together.
Allyus
A flat, leveled area carved into a slope.
Terraces
Already in use by people who lived in the Andes Mountains before the Inca empire formed.
Terrance Farming
A human-made canal across land that moves water from its source to where its needed for growing crops.
Irrigation canals
A vehicle consisting of a chair or bed carried on two poles by people or animals.
Litters
A channel or canal made for moving water across land.
Aqueducts
A great city on an island in the lake.
Technochtitlan
Was the 9th and last true emperor of the ancient Aztec civilization.
Montezuma ll
Floating gardens, to expand their food supply.
Chinampas
Homes of commoners were made from logs or clay bricks called…
Adobe
A raised roadway across a swamp or body of water.
Causeways
A widespread outbreak of a contagious disease.
Epidemic
Planting one crop, harvesting it, and immediately planting another crop on the same field.
Multicropping
Planting multiple types of crops together.
Intercropping
A fence, commonly made of wooden poles standing on the end, that surrounds a settlement to protect it from attack.
Palisade
A wide, water-filled ditch built to surround a settlement or building to protect it from attack.
Moat
A high cliff, often overlooking a river.
Bluff
Large, flat-topped mounds that were usually square or rectangular, but sometimes they were circular.
Earthen mounds
A system of organization in which people or groups are ranked according to status or authority.
Hierarchy
An offering or payment to a leader or ruler.
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