Unit 4 Age of Conquest Flashcards
Nahuatl
The language of both the Toltecs and the Aztecs.
Huitzilopochtli
A young warrior god whose name translates fully as”Blue Hummingbird of the South”(or of the Left) and who symbolized the sun blazing at high noon. Worshipped at the center of Tenochtitlán, at the pyramid.
Gradually became the most important deity for the Mexica.
Tenochtitlan
A city in the Mexica empire that contained many important temples for sacrifice to important deities such as the sun-god and water god.
Now know as Mexico City
Tecuhtli
Great lords, who dressed luxuriously and lived in palaces.
Acting as provincial governors, they exercised full political, judicial, and military authority on the emperor’s behalf. In their territories, they maintained order, settled disputes, and judged legal cases; oversaw the cultivation of land; and made sure that tribute-food or gold-was paid. They also led troops in wartime. These functions resembled those of the feudal lords in Europe.
Wore elaborate robes and jewelry to distinguish themselves.
Macehualtin
A commoner, ordinary citizens: the backbone of Aztec society, and the majority of it.
The word means worker, and implies boorish speech and vulgar behavior.
Members of this class performed all sorts of agricultural, military and domestic services, and carried heavy public burdens not required of noble warriors.
Paid taxes
The ones in the capital had certain rights, like owning their plot of land for life, and receiving a small share of the tribute.
Tlalmaitl
Landless workers, or serfs.
Like European peasant becoming serfs, because they are under the protection of a lord.
Provided agricultural labor, laid rent, and bound to the soil.
Underneath the commoners.
Performed military service, some rights, more respect than slaves.
Inca
The Andean people who created a large empire that was at its peak around 1500 and was held together by an extensive system of roads.
The vast and sophisticated Peruvian empire centered at the capital city of Cuzco that was at its peak from 1438 until 1532.
Quechua
First deemed the official language of the Incas under Pachacuti, is still spoken by most Peruvians today.
Mita
Inca system where administrators required adult men to work for the state for a certain number of days per year. This system replaced taxes because the Inca’s did not have money.
Labor system for commoners
Mita was required once a man married (as it is only for men) and became head of the household.
Khipu
Khipu are knotted textile record-keeping devices used by the Incas.
Khipu are textile artifacts composed of cords of cotton or occasionally camelid fiber. The cords are arranged such that there is one main cord, called a primary cord, from which many pendant cords hang. There may be additional cords attached to a pendant cord; these are termed subsidiaries.
Ayllu
Basic unit of society in the Andean Highlands
A group of related families who have a common ancestor that work all together, and help each other, as a team, within their community.
The Inca administrators used the ayllu’s to determine the amount of goods and Miya labor a family owed.
All members held allegiance with the clan leader
Curacas
Clan leaders
Conducted relations with outsiders
Prince Henry the Navigator
Infante Henrique of Portugal, Duke of Viseu, was an important figure in 15th-century Portuguese politics and in the early days of the Portuguese Empire.
1394-1460
Aztec
a member of the American Indian people dominant in Mexico before the Spanish conquest of the 16th century.
Also known as the Mexica Empire, a large and complex Native American civilization in modern Mexico and Central America that possessed advanced mathematical, astronomical, and engineering technology.
Vasco Da Gama
~1460-1524
1st Portuguese explorer to sail a new path around Africa from Europe all the way to India
Bartholomew Diaz
1450-1500
First European to have reached the Indian Ocean by going past the tip of Africa; did not reach India.
Caravel
A small, maneuverable, three-mast sailing ship developed by the Portuguese in the 15th century that gave the Portuguese a distinct advantage in exploration and trade.
Christopher Columbus
1451-1506 "Discovered "America in 1492 Never actually went on American soil, Cuba and Dominican Republic and Haiti. Very pious Italian working for the Spanish.
Hernando Cortes
1485-1547
Spanish conquistador
Conquered the Aztec Empire, went against his orders and became a governor. Massacred many many locals.
Got a lot of gold.3 g’s
Montezuma
1466-1520
Ninth and final Aztec emperor of Mexico
Best know for his dramatic confrontation with Cortes, and being tricked, kidnapped then killed by his people because he submitted to the Spanish.
Huascar
-1532
Legitimate heir to the Inca kingdom, but was in constant rivalry with his younger brother, and lost his life because of it.
When he inherited the throne, one fifth of the empire was given to his younger brother, Atahuallpa.
Atahuallpa
1502-1533
Last Inca Emperor
Victorious in a devastating civil war with half brother, only to be captured, held for ransom , and then executed by Francisco Pizarro.
Francisco Pizarro
1475-1541
Spanish conqueror of the Inca Empire, and founder of the city of Lima.
Encomienda System
A system whereby the Spanish crown granted the conquerors the right to forcibly employ groups of Indians; it was a disguised form of slavery.
Viceroyalties
The office, position, or authority of a viceroy (a ruler exercising authority in a colony on behalf of a sovereign)
A territory governed by a viceroy.
The name for the four administrative units of Spanish possessions in the America’s: New Spain, Peru, New Granada, and La Plata.
Audiencia
A tribunal in which the sovereign of Spain have personal attention to matters of justice.
An ecclesiastical or secular court representing the sovereign of Spain.
12-15 people who governed the viceroy, and where his council; the highest judicial power in the viceroyalty.
Conquistador
Spanish word for “conqueror”; Spanish soldier-explorer, such as Hernando Cortés and Francisco Pizarro, who sought to conquer the New World for the Spanish Crown.
Columbian Exchange
The exchange of animals, plants, and diseases between the Old and New Worlds.
Missionaries
a person sent on a religious mission, especially one sent to promote Christianity in a foreign country.
Hacienda
A plantation-vast estates (farms) set up by conquistadors
Usually sugar or cotton or corn or other local produce
