The Americas

Flashcards about the world in 1453, transatlantic contact, peopling of the Americas, early complex societies, Mayan and Aztec civilizations, the Inca Empire, indigenous worldview, and eastern woodlands peoples.

The World in 1453

Islam was on the rise and Christianity defending its borders.

Silk Road trade

Stimulated European desire for Chinese goods.

Mongol conquests and Black Plague

Have destabilized Eurasian society, economy and politics.

Trans-Atlantic Contact: Beginnings - Sometime around 1000

Norse seafarers reached "Vinland" around this time.

Theories for why Vikings left Vinland

Numbers, distance, Little Ice Age, difficulty subduing indigenous population.

Beringia

Land bridge that enables first migrations but eventually closes.

Monte Verde

Site in modern-day Chile that provides best evidence of migrations.

Characteristic of Americas

Isolation from other continents, “ocean as a barrier”.

Characteristic of indigenous peoples

Lack of resistance to disease.

Hunting/gathering

Salmon in Northwest, bison on plains

Three Sisters

Domestication of maize, squash, and beans allows for population growth.

Domestication

Food cultivation a game changer, allows for population growth, society to become more complex, specialized.

Teotihuacan

Largest city in Americas before 1500.

Mayan Civilization

Series of independent city-states, often at war.

Mayan Decline

Constant war for territory, captives takes a toll.

Rise of the Aztecs

Power vacuum emerges around shores of lakes in Central Mexico.

Chinampas

Floating islands for growing corn.

Aztec Empire

Develop militaristic, ritual cult of human sacrifice, cannibalism.

Inca Empire

Constant conquest, with search for direct rule.

Split inheritance

New ruler gets title, power, male descendants get palaces, land, wealth.

Inca Conquest and Rule

Use of Quechua, colonists, forced population movements to integrate empire.

Indigenous Worldview

Communal ideas of property, no courts, fences, contracts or individual property ownership.

Indigenous Worldview

Trade as ritualized exchange binding societies together rather than commercial exchange.

Indigenous Worldview

Gift-giving to display wealth vs. wealth accumulation.

Matrilineal vs. patrilineal societies

Women in general have more power than other contemporary societies.

Eastern Woodlands Peoples

Power regional confederacies in the Chesapeake and Hudson Valley.

Eastern Woodlands Peoples

Survive by hunting, farming, and fishing.

Eastern Woodlands Peoples

Europeans deny that Indians farm because crops generally grown by women.

Quechua

Language used by the Inca to integrate their empire

State Socialism

A political system in which the state controls production and distribution of goods, as implemented by the Inca.

Polytheism (worship of many gods)

Religion in the Inca and Aztec

Polytheistic pantheon of gods mixed with animism

Religion in Inca