The Americas, Europe, and Africa before 1492 Flashcards
Beringia
ancient land bridge linking Asia and North America
Black Death
two strains of the bubonic plague that simultaneously swept western Europe in the
fourteenth century, causing the death of nearly half the population
Chattel Slavery
a system of servitude in which people are treated as personal property to be bought and sold
chasquis
Incan relay runners used to send messages over great distances
mita
the Incan labor tax, with each family donating time and work to communal project
quipu
an ancient Incan device for recording information, consisting of variously colored threads knotted in different ways
Reconquista
Spain’s nearly eight-hundred-year holy war against Islam, which ended in 1492
How did Maize stem growth in the pre-colonial American
Maize –> Economic Developemnt–> Settlement–>Irrigatin–> Social Diversification
What kind of lifestyle emerged in the Great Basins and why?
The Aridity of the region caused the emergence of “nomadic” tribes
What similarities did communities in the Northeast, the Mississippi River Valley, and along the Atlantic seaboard, share
some societies developed mixed agricultural and hunter-gatherer economies that favored the development of permanent villages.
How were societies in the Northwest and present-day California structured
supported themselves by hunting and gathering, and in some areas developed settled communities supported by the vast resources of the ocean.
Describe the major facets of the Olmec cultures
- Calendar (eclipses/ solstices)
- Math
- Writing
- Stone heads/pyramids
- Irrigation
- trade
Describe the major facets of the Mayan culture
- Perfected Calendar
- Perfected Maths (crop and population control)
- Perfected written language
- Apartment Complex
- Teotihuacan 2,500 ppl
- Human Sacrifice
- Irrigation
- Special trades/skilled workers
Describe the major facets of the Aztec (Mexica) culture
- Tenochitatian (floating city 200,000 pl)
- Chinampas (floating gardens of reeds and soil)
- Warrior Nobles (ruling class)
- Steam baths/running water
- well-organized society
- Human Sacrifice
Describe the major facets of the Incan culture
- Largest/most advanced empire
- 2,500 miles
- Well maintained road system (rivaled romes)
- Adminstration ( chasquis) runners to relay info
- Stepped roads to allow movement along steep slopes o Andes
- Monarchal ruling class
- Welfare system (taxable food crops for surplus)
- Working Peseant class
- Quiou ( system of communication using ropes and strings)
Mongolian, 150-1540 CE
- New Mexico
2. Painted bowls ( white on black / geometric shapes)
Hohokam, 600 BCE
- Irrigation Network
2. Tourquise Jelwery
Anaszai
- High desert of New Mexico
2. Homes in stepped cliffs for protection
Hopwell Culture
- Small Hamlets
2. Wattle-Daub Houses
Cohokia
- population 10,000
- Mound Pyramids
- Mississippi River Valley Trade
Describe the main facets of the various Northeastern Woodland Indians tribes. What did they have in common ?
- Each adapted to their various climates/ environments
- generally hunter-gather
- small autonomous villages
- Tribe warfare common
- Matriarchal
- Conflict with the British over the concept of private property
The Inca were able to control an empire that stretched from modern Colombia to southern Chile. Which of their various means for achieving such control do you think were most effective? Why?
- Their road system because
- easily transported goods, soldiers/armiees
- easily connected the empire
- Ideal geography
Outline the founding basics of the earliest Americans (source/when)
- No single physical characterized the ppls of the Americas
- Migration from Asia began about 30,000 y.a.
- Stone Age hunters brought tools and animals with them on their journey
Athapascan
A ppl that began to settle the forests in the northeastern area of North America around 5000 bce
Clovis Tradition
the powerful new and sophisticated style of tool making, unlike anything from the old world
Pleistocene overkill
intensified hunting efforts brought in response to lowered reproduction and survival rates of large animale
Rancherias
dispersed settlements of Indian farmers in the Southwest
Outline the major factors of European culture (pre-contact)
- Hierarchal
- Most of the population were peasants
- The Catholic Church served as the most unifying force in Europe
Discuss the roles played by the rising merchant class in the development of Euprean colonialism
- Technological breakthroughs lead to expansion of commerce
- Increased trade of basic goods
- Stimulated the growth of markets and towns
- New Me chant class supported the growing monarchal states (provided trading contracts and monopolies)
Discuss the roles played by Renaissance Humanism in the development of European Colonialism
- Contact with Muslims during the Crusades brought back Classical works
- The resurgence in literary and artistic works
- Grecko ideas of humanism (human-based perspective)used to justify a revolt against the church
- Printing Press (spread ideas)
- Renaissance philosophies ideas used to motivate the exploration of new worlds
Why were some European states better positioned for colonizing than others
States who had unified their realms and had established royal bureaucracies/ standing armies and navies were more adapted to voyages
