Spanish Speaking World Exam 1

Question 1

Anthropophagy

Answer 1

cannibalism, in which one’s enemy is consumed and made one’s own

Question 2

Bernal Diaz del Castillo

Answer 2

(1490-1584) a Spanish soldier who worked under Hernan Cortes and wrote an account of what conspired on that expedition

Question 3

What expeditions was Bernal Diaz del Castillo a part of before joining Cortes?

Answer 3

expeditions to Tierra Firme, Cuba, and Yucatan

Question 4

The Florentine Codex

Answer 4

A 16th C ethnographic research study in Mesoamerica by the Spanish Franciscan friar Bernardo de Sahagun. Along with some Nahua men (his students). Documents culture, religion cosmology and ritual practices, society, economics, and natural history of the Aztecs

Question 5

Hacienda

Answer 5

An estate with a plantation, mine, or factory. Linked to international or regional markets.

Question 6

Hernan Cortes

Answer 6

A Spanish conquistador who led the expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire. Was part of the generation of Spanish colonizers who began the first phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas

Question 7

Inca

Answer 7

largest empire in pre-Columbian America. Administrative, political, and military center was located in Cusco in modern-day Peru

Question 8

Indianos

Answer 8

Spaniards who had travelled to the Americas and made their fortunes in mining or agriculture. Returned to Spain to show off their wealth with large houses

Question 9

Malinche

Answer 9

A Nahua women who acted as an interpreter for Cortes after being sold to him with 19 other women. Acted as an interpreter, advisor, mistress, and intermediary for the Spanish. Had a son by Cortes (Martin) who is considered to be one of the first Mestizos (people of mixed Indigenous and European decent)

Question 10

Maya

Answer 10

a group of Indigenous people who lived in southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras

Question 11

Mexica

Answer 11

Indigenous people of the Valley of Mexico, now known as the rulers of the Aztec Empire

Question 12

Montezuma

Answer 12

ninth ruler of the Aztecs, reigning from 1502-1520. Was killed during the initial stages of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, when Cortes and his men fought to leave the capital of Tenochtitlan

Question 13

Nahuatl

Answer 13

the language of the Aztecs, still used today

Question 14

Patron

Answer 14

“master” or “boss”, the owner of the hacienda,

Question 15

Prester John

Answer 15

legendary Christian king, said to rule over a lost Christian nation, decent of the Three Magi, ruled a nation of riches, marvels, and strange creatures

Question 16

Quezalcoatl

Answer 16

Aztec demi-god, The Plumed Serpent, who had been driven to the east, but was forecast to come back and start a golden age. Cortes was initially thought to be this demi-god

Question 17

Tenochtitlan

Answer 17

capital city of the Aztec Empire, was a Mexica city-state on an island in Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico

Question 18

The Treaty of Tordesillas

Answer 18

signed at Tordesillas (Spain) on June 7, 1494, the Pope divided the newly discovered land between Portugal and Spain, effectively “gave” Brazil to Portugal because Europe didn’t know it was there at the time

Question 19

Tlaxcala

Answer 19

Cortes stayed in the city of Tlaxcala for 20 days and formed an alliance with them to bring down Tenochtitlan because they were enemies, successfully added 6,000 men to his ranks

Question 20

What are some incompatibilities between the Europeans and Indigenous peoples?

Answer 20

Monetary value vs. barter and trade, cash crops vs. sustainable farming (food), lack of immunity

Question 21

Monetary value vs. barter and trade

Answer 21

Indigenous peoples didn’t value gold the way Europeans did, this lead to distrust between the two and the destruction of indigenous lands

Question 22

Cash crops vs. sustainable farming

Answer 22

Europeans used Indigenous labor to plant and harvest cash crops like weed, tobacco and other things that they didn’t consider worth growing because you couldn’t eat them

Question 23

(Lack of) Immunity

Answer 23

Europeans brought many diseases to the America’s that the indigenous did not have immunity to and were responsible for the wiping out of more than half of indigenous populations

Question 24

What are some major differences between the European and indigenous peoples that weren’t too frustrating to the Europeans?

Answer 24

Language, religion, clothing/culture, systems of government