Colonization of idigenous groups Flashcards
Aztecs: where in the map
central mexico
Mayans
Central America, Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala, Belize and northern El Salvador. Lots of draught where they were at
Incas
South America: Ecuador, Peru, Chile (a little of Bolivia and Argentina)
Olmecs: where and known for?
FIRST TECHNOLOGICALLY COMPLEX society in Western Hemisphere, had writing system, calendar, books, ZERO. They were in the gulf of mexico. They came before the mayans
Aztecs: what are the 3 major cities
3 Major cities: Tlacopan, Texcoco and Tenochtitlan (the capital).
Who conquered the Aztecs?
Hernan Cortez
Why was it easy to conquer the Aztecs
Montezuma (Aztecs ruler) was disliked by neighboring tribes becuase they had to pay taxes. His own people also disliked him.
Aztec economy based off of what? What other food assests and non-food assests did they have?
The economy is based on agriculture and trade. “Maiz” was their main source of food. They also had a corn, chocolate, chiles. Other things were armies, gold, silver,
What was the class pyramid of the aztecs?
Nobility: emperor, priests, warriors;
Middle class: traders, merchants and artisans. It was a city state
Mayan: how did their society function?
They were made up of city states, each state was independent and under control of their own king or queen. They never had a Maya Empire, they had competing states
The mayans are best known for
Since they came after olmecs: calendar, mathematics, writing, and astronomical system
Incas: economy
Trade
agriculture/irrigation of corn, potatoes
transportation: infrastructure-roads
no taxes
Incas: what was their writing like?
knotted strings (quipu) was their writing, no written language
Incas: working life style and economy?
They had Mita: people worked for the empire for a certain time and were unpaid
Inca: Quallqa is
Food was stored in warehouses called “Quallqa” for insurance against famine and drought, they froze potatoes, the food would be given to the poor and old.
