UN2689 Midterm Key Terms

Altepetl

A Meso-American city-state that governs hinterland and themselves. They are the political community of the Mexica with low densities.

Functional urbanism

The idea that a civilization can be considered urban based on the amount of functions it serves rather than the amount of people who live in it. Some functions include having a silver mine like Potosí or being a city known for finance/banking like NYC.

This is also the lens we are using in this class to consider certain precolonial and colonial settlements as urban.

Demographic urbanism

The idea that a civilization is urban if it has a large population and is dense.

Also the current view of urbanism used by the US census, for example. In the same sphere, wars, economy, trade are all standards of urbanism that are Western.

Nucleated population

A settlement clustered around a central point (what most precolonial and colonial cities were).

Usnu Complex

Andean platform with a staircase that is always found in the plaza.

On the platform, there is usually a rock and a fissure or hole to connect to a river or some sort of stream of water. These go back to Andean urban myth when a rock was found in a lake.

Kallanka

Andean long, narrow building present on the plaza. Used for tribute collection and has administrative purposes.

Kancha

The main Andean residential unit.

They are an enclosed rectangular compound of buildings. Also would be lined up in a grid formation.

Waka/Waca

An Andean sacred essence that can be incorporated into a mountain, river, a particular Andean temple, or a mummified person. Incan cities are built oriented to these, whether that be a certain temple, mountain, etc.

It was thought to connect the central temple to others.

Andean urban elements

Urban center (including the Usnu complex, Kancha, Kallanka, palace), streets, walls, gates, storerooms, water distribution systems, and Wakas

Aztec urban elements

Temples, markets, palaces, storage systems, aqueducts, dikes (in Tenochtitlan), at times chinampas

Chinampas

Artificial floating gardens made to grow crops in Mesoamerica, especially used in Tenochtitlan

Aztec Triple Alliance

Political and military agreement formed in early 1400s by 3 cities: Tenochtitlan, Tiacopan, and Tetzcoco.

Ayllu

Clan or community of families used in context of silver cities

Yerba mate

Plant steeped to make a beverage that was one of the main products traded out of Guaraní missions

Viceroyalty

The highest ranking Spanish officials in the colonies who enjoyed broad power over designated regions.

They were also the basis of organization of the Spanish colonies.

Hinterland

The area surrounding a central place, from which people are attracted to use the place's goods and services.

Especially in precolonial urbanism, this is known for having strong relations with urban centers.

Flota

Fleet of Spanish ships that delivered goods between Spain and its colonies.

Cabildo

Town council of indigenous leaders.

Cacique

Political leaders of smaller groups of houses typically in missions.

Corregidor

Head of the town council

Audiencia

High Spanish colonial courts that led each region. Helped with governing, including judicial, executive, and legislative functions.

Cahokia

The largest city in the present area of the US until NYC during the American Revolution, though it declined by the time it was found by colonizers (in the 16th century).

Bullion and specie

The two biggest transatlantic exports in Havana. They refer to bars of precious metals and money in the form of coins, respectively.

Mitotes

Ancient dance that indigenous groups still performed post-conquest, but that wasn’t liked by the Spanish

Estancias

A nearby designated space the Spaniards made so that the indigenous could raise animals for eating without having to leave the mission too much.

Cacicazgos

Refers to the land ruled by a cacique.

Mita system

The name for the process where the leader of a silver mine would rotate laborers.

Jura

The oath of allegiance (typically in a capital city) when a new Spain king comes to be. These were very rare

Plaza mayor

The central public square in a town or city used for gatherings, markets, and celebrations.

British Navigation Acts

The reason why southern British colonies weren’t as urbanized.

These said that tobacco had to be exported to Britain first before anywhere else, leading to a significant disparity in who visited areas like Virginia and Maryland that had tobacco plantations.

Agrarian urbanism

In the context of Mesoamerican cities, a refers to low-density clusters, intensive agriculture, and dispersed residential areas.

Entrada

Meaning the entrance of the viceroyalty to the city, this includes a chosen route, the oath the viceroyalty takes to be given the key by the cabildo, decorations, and a precise order of procession.

Melting vs. amalgamation

The two methods for silver extraction.

The first, traditional way is to crush rock into small pieces and use a furnace to separate the silver.

The second, more effective way that the Spanish took more control over included mercury. After shattering rocks, mercury was used to separate the silver. The two places they got mercury include Spain for Mexican silver cities and Almaden and Huancavelica in the Andes.

Feitoria

Portuguese trading outposts, many of which were set up on the coast of present-day Brazil.

Traza

The traza is the area around the plaza mayor that most of the Spanish lived in initially.

Outside of the traza, Mexica continue to live there.