Mesoamerica

Question 1

What civilization was over 3,000 years ago and was located in Modern day Guatemala?

Answer 1

The Mayans

Question 2

The fall of the Mayans?

Answer 2

Declined mysteriously in the 9th century.

Question 3

What were the achievements of the Mayans?

Answer 3

-Built huge cities in the jungle
-Large Murals
-Hieroglyphic writing system
-365-day calendar system
-Number 0

Question 4

What city was characterized by its vast monuments?

Answer 4

Teotihuacan (400 BCE - 8th or 9th century CE)

Question 5

What does Teotihuacan mean?

Answer 5

“The place where gods were created”

Question 6

Who were the successors of the Teotihuacan people in the 9th and 10th centuries?

Answer 6

The Toltecs

Question 7

Who were the Toltecs?

Answer 7

An advanced civilization during the 10th-12th centuries. A regional empire that protected people from nomads. Maintained relations with societies of the Gulf Coast and the Maya. Established a large state, a powerful army, and also used irrigation.

Question 8

Capital of the Toltecs?

Answer 8

Tula - the capital city and center of trade.
-Approx. 60,000 in & around city

Question 9

What was the city of Tula like?

Answer 9

-An important center of weaving, pottery, and obsidian
-Traded with Mayans
-Became destabilized in 1125 CE
-Internal conflict
-Fell in 1175 CE
-Civil conflict
-Nomadic invasion
-Large fire
-Toltecs are no longer the dominant force in Mesoamerica

Question 10

Who were the Mexica? (The Aztecs)

Answer 10

-Arrived in central Mexico in the mid-13th century
-Warriors & Raiders
-Information about Mexica survived Spanish conquests - oral testimonies recorded by Spanish missionaries; a few Mexica books survived
-By the 15th century, Mexica became the region’s dominant force

Question 11

Where were the Mexica located and the empire capital?

Answer 11

-Settled along Lake Tenochtitlan 1345 CE
-Fish; frogs; waterfowl; nutritious soil; defensive position
-Tenochtitlan - the capital of the empire

Question 12

How did the Mexica expand?

Answer 12

-Aztecs defeat and colonize Oaxaca
-Made alliances with two empires - Texcoco & Tlacopan
-Empire swells to 12 million people - most of Mesoamerica

Question 13

What was trade like with the Mexica (The Aztecs)?

Answer 13

-Controlled subject territories - main objectives:
-Collect tribute obligations - 489 subject territories sent to Tenochtitlan
-Trade
-The empire had no centralized bureaucracy or elaborate structure
-Local administrators enforced tributes
-Allies did not have standing armies

Question 14

The social structure of the Aztec empire?

Answer 14

-Rigid hierarchical society - Wealth determines dress/attire
-Warriors - male
-Privileged; wealth and honor; received land & tribute
-Males from noble families receive military training and opportunities
-Women - no role in public life
-Could not own property
-Subject to fathers; husbands
-Priests - high-ranking; elite
-Access to education
-Presided over religious ceremonies - critical to the continuation of the world
-Cultivators and slaves - most of the population
-Worked ancestral land or lands owned by the aristocracy
-Worked on public works projects - palaces, temples, roads, irrigation
-Artisans & merchants - prestigious role in society

Question 15

What was the Aztec religion like?

Answer 15

-They were polytheistic
-gods
-Tezcatlipoca = “the smoking mirror”
-A powerful figure, giver and taker of life & patron deity of warriors
-Quetzalxoati = “the Feathered Serpent”
-Supporting arts, crafts, and agriculture
-Huitzilopochtli
-god of the sun and war
-Patron god of Mexica

Question 16

What were two of the rituals they did?

Answer 16

-Bloodletting
-Believed that gods set the world in motion through sacrifice
-Ritualization of bloodletting so the world could continue
-Human sacrifice
-Believed it was needed to perpetuate the world to keep agricultural society going

Question 17

What was the Chucuito empire?

Answer 17

• One of the empires of South America
  -Located near Lake Titicaca - at 13,000 ft
  -Dependent on potatoes, alpaca, llamas
  -Traded with lowland peoples
  -Terraced fields - the fields that look like steps

Question 18

What was the Chimu Empire?

Answer 18

-Another empire of South America
-Powerful kingdom in Andean lowlands
-Emerged before 15c.
-600 miles - Peruvian coast
-Irrigation systems
-Cultivation
-Maize
-Sweet potatoes
-Chanchan - the capital city
-Brick buildings

Question 19

What was the Inca empire?

Answer 19

-Other empire in South America
-Moved into the area of Lake Titicaca - 13th century
-Lived among Chimu and Chucuito
-Built a huge empire that stretched 2500 miles along the Pacific Coast
-Amazon and other river valleys - barriers to the East

Question 20

What was the Inca Rule like?

Answer 20

-Government
-Ruled as military & administrative elite
-Implemented taxes to support rulers and organizational systems to store agricultural surpluses & crafts
-Use of quipu (system of cords) for record-keeping, knots on ropes
-Population
-State property
-Taxes
-Labor services owed
-Historical events

Question 21

What was the capital of the Inca empire?

Answer 21

-Cuzco - served as the administrative, religious, and ceremonial center of the Inca Empire
-300,000 population

Question 22

What were the Incan roads like?

Answer 22

-Extensive road system - allowed centralized government at Cuzco to communicate with all parts of the empire
-25,000 miles throughout
-Connected north & south
-Official runners - carried messages - spread Quecha language
-Travel across the empire took only days
-No wheeled transport

Question 23

What was the Inca trade like?

Answer 23

-Trade limited
-Long-distance trade regulated by the central government
-Local barter in agricultural goods
-Some specialized crafts - local
-Pottery
-Textiles
-Tools

Question 24

The social structure of the Incas?

Answer 24

-Ruler - descended from the sun; owned everything on earth
-Fine clothes & food
-Arsitrocrats & Priests
-Celibate and aesthetic lives
-Oversaw religious rituals: served gods
-Religion - moral - rewards & punishment
-Peasants
-Majority of the population
-Compulsory heavy labor - worked on state lands; public works
-Lived in ayllus - a traditional family clan