Mesoamerican and North American Civilizations

Flashcards covering the ACE SAQ writing method and the history of Pre-Columbian civilizations in North and Mesoamerica, including the Hopewell, Mississippian, Maya, Toltec, and Aztec cultures.

ACE Acronym

A writing strategy for SAQs where A stands for Answer the prompt, C stands for Cite evidence, and E stands for Explain the connection.

Sentence 1 of SAQ

Directly answer the prompt by restating words from the question and making a specific claim.

Sentence 2 of SAQ

Cite specific historical evidence, such as proper nouns or key terms, to support the initial claim.

Sentence 3 of SAQ

Explain how or why the provided evidence relates to and supports the claim.

Hopewell peoples

An Eastern Woodlands culture in the Ohio River valley known as Mound Builders who created elaborate earth mounds for tombs or ceremonies.

Mississippian culture

A prosperous culture in the Mississippi River valley starting around A.D. $700$ that featured large cities with populations of $10,000$ or more.

Cahokia

A major Mississippian city near modern East St. Louis that contained a burial mound over $98\,\text{feet}$ high with a base larger than the Great Pyramid in Egypt.

Ancestral Puebloans (Anasazi)

Southwest peoples who lived in present-day New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado and used canals and earthen dams to farm in the desert.

Pueblo Bonito

A large Ancestral Puebloan complex in Chaco Canyon containing $800$ rooms and housing over $1,000\,\text{people}$.

Olmec

The first American civilization in Mesoamerica, often called the mother culture because it influenced later societies like the Mayans.

Maya City-States

Individual political units in the Mayan civilization, each ruled by a king-god.

Glyphs

A system of writing based on pictures invented by the Mayans.

Pyramid of Kukulcán

A structure in Chichén Itzá where each side faces a cardinal direction and reflects the four seasons of the year.

Toltec

A warlike empire (10th–12th centuries) in northern and central Mexico known for pyramids, palaces, and introducing metalworking in gold, silver, and copper.

Tenochtitlán

The Aztec capital city built in $1325$ in present-day Mexico City, located where an eagle was seen perched on a cactus.

Triple Alliance

A $1428$ agreement between the Aztecs and the city-states of Tetzcoco and Tlacopan to form a massive empire.

Chinampas

Floating gardens built by the Aztecs to provide farming land for their population.

Huitzilopochtli

The Aztec god of war and the sun; the Aztecs practiced human sacrifice to appease him and postpone the destruction of the world.

Aztec Tribute System

An economic structure where the empire was divided into $38$ provinces that paid taxes or tribute to the central government.