AP World History (ch 8)

Major political and cultural changes took place in Mesoamerica after the collapse of the __________ civilization, which occurred prior to 900 C.E.

Mayan

The Aztec legends claiming that they had originally lived in exile in Aztlan and that they settled in the area around Lake Texcoco after seeing an eagle perched on a cactus with a serpent in its beak demonstrate that this society __________.

rewrote history to suit its purposes

Although the Aztecs were distrusted and disliked by the dominant powers in the valley of Mexico after their arrival in the fourteenth century, they initially became __________.

allies to these other tribes or were hired as mercenaries because of their fighting skills

Aztec religion was similar to Hinduism in that they both __________.

had male and female manifestations of their deities

The god Tlaloc was classified by the Aztecs as a deity of __________.

fertility and the agricultural cycle

The Aztec commercial economy consisted of __________.

highly regulated local markets and long-distance trade routes specializing in luxury items

One change to Aztec society that emerged after it gained dominance over the city-states in the valley of Mexico was that it __________.

become more stratified as new social classes developed

Basic Aztec social structure was based on a system of seven clans, or __________.

calpulli

Which of the following statements most accurately describes the nobility in Aztec society?

Aztec nobility controlled the priesthood and military leadership.

Although both Aztec and Inca societies created extensive empires that incorporated many aspects of previous cultures that had lived in their territories, the Incas differed in that they __________.

integrated many ethnic groups from different language backgrounds into one imperial state

How did the northern section of the Inca Empire centered around the former kingdom of Chimor differ from the area around Cuzco in the southern Andean highlands?

The northern highlands had large urban areas.

Rather than financial tribute, Inca government officials demanded __________ from each community under the mita system.

human labor for tending lands belonging to the state and the temples

When studying the peoples of North and South America, one factor that has to be disregarded is __________.

the Western point of view that differentiates between "civilized" and "primitive" people

The fishing and hunter-gatherer culture of indigenous peoples in the Pacific Northwest demonstrated that __________.

agriculture was not necessary to develop complex hierarchal societies in the Americas

Why have observers of American indigenous societies frequently discounted early European descriptions of large and dense populations among the Native American societies in North and South America?

European conquerors and missionaries may have exaggerated these estimates to lend credence to their exploits.

The Aztecs were able to connect their history to the ancient Toltec culture and legitimize their rule in Central Mexico through their __________.

ability to speak the Nahuatl language

The purpose of the "flower wars" in territories left unconquered by the Aztecs was to __________.

obtain captives for human sacrifice

By the early sixteenth century, the Aztec state was dominated by __________.

a powerful king who was designated as an earthly representative of the gods

The dedication of the great temple of Tenochtitlan to the gods Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc demonstrated that the Aztecs __________.

had united their own tribal deity with a god belonging to earlier cultures from Mesoamerica

What spiritual question was King Nezhualcoyotl addressing in the following lines from a poem that he composed?

"Are you real, are you fixed? / Only You dominate all things / The Giver of Life. / Is this true? / Perhaps, as they say, it is not true."

Do the gods exist?

How were agricultural and trade commodities dealt with in the Aztec economic system?

The state controlled the use and distribution of many commodities as well as tributes received from subordinate people.

Aztec society is most comparable to medieval European society in that both groups __________.

made social distinctions and had farm laborers who worked at the will of others.

The greatest detriment to food production in Aztec society was __________.

the lack of sophisticated tools to grind corn more efficiently

What internal weaknesses contributed to the social stresses that led to the decline and collapse of the Aztec Empire?

the rise of the nobility and the system of terror and tribute imposed on subject peoples

One similarity between Inca and Aztec religious cultures was that both societies __________.

perceived the sun to be the highest deity and considered their respective rulers to be its representatives on earth

One way the Inca integrated an empire of diverse populations was to __________.

intentionally spread the Quechua language

The development by the Inca of knotted strings called quipu substituted for __________.

a writing system

Although the Pimas of Colorado and some of the chiefdoms in South America practiced irrigated agriculture, they failed to develop __________.

political states

__________ supported the largest populations in the Americas when the first Europeans first arrived there in the late fifteenth century.

Mesoamerica and the Andes

At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the population of the Americas __________.

was roughly equivalent to the population of Europe

After the collapse of the Mayan civilization, which took place before 900 C.E., the political vacuum in Central Mexico was filled by the __________.

Toltecs

Cultural features, such as stepped temples and earthen pyramids, discovered in the ruins of Cahokia in present-day Illinois, suggest that this society __________.

had contact and exchanges with Mesoamerican societies

What geographic feature distinguishes the valley of Mexico, where the center of population and political power shifted after the collapse of the Toltec Empire, from other parts of Central Mexico?

a large chain of lakes

__________, the capital of the Aztec Empire, was established on a marshy island in Lake Texcoco around 1325.

Tenochtitlan

How did Aztec society change in the century after it first arrived in the valley of Mexico?

The Aztecs changed from a loose association of clans to a stratified society under the authority of a supreme ruler.

What conclusion can be made about the Aztec religious and economic structure?

The Aztecs utilized many of the features and beliefs inherited from earlier cultures in the valley of Mexico but also added important new elements.

Under the Aztec cult of warfare and sacrifice, the god __________ was perceived as the all-powerful central figure whose reverence was paramount to all other Aztec deities.

Huitzilopochtli

Aztec religious beliefs focused on human sacrifices that were deemed necessary to __________.

nourish and strengthen their gods

Similar to Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaton, Nezhualcoyotl, the king of Texcoco, unsuccessfully tried to __________.

introduce a concept of monotheism to the Aztec people

Chinampas, which increased agricultural production among the Aztecs, were a system of __________.

irrigation and aquaculture

To the Aztecs, the "flowery death" took place when __________.

warriors were killed while they were trying to take captives for human sacrifice

Jaguar and Eagle "Knights" and their distinctive uniforms indicate that the Aztec military was __________.

highly ritualized

The calpulli, temple maintenance associations, and occupational groups were classified as __________ rather than as different social classes.

corporate groups

Spanish missionary Bernardino de Sahagún wrote the Florentine Codex: The General History of the Things of New Spain, an extensive encyclopedia of Aztec culture, to __________.

learn their customs and language so they could more easily be converted to Catholicism

Power in the Aztec Empire rested mainly in the hands of the __________.

Aztec emperor and his prime minister

The calpulli in Aztec society were most comparable to the __________ in Inca society.

ayllus

Within two generations after the rule of Inca Pachacuti, his empire __________.

covered most of the western coast of South America

What role did the cult of the ancestors play in Inca religion?

Incas mummified deceased rulers and treated them as intermediaries with the gods.

Tambos were associated with the Incas' accomplishments in __________.

transportation

Inca socialism as described by Spanish-Indian Garcilaso de la Vega in the sixteenth century was not completely accurate because he __________.

ignored the aspects of exploitation that were associated with Inca society

What conclusion can be reached about Aztec and Inca societies in the Americas?

Both empires allowed variations among different ethnic groups in their societies as long as they remained loyal and paid tribute.

What region most likely served as a point of cultural and material exchange between the Aztecs and Inca?

Northern South America and most of Central America

How were migration patterns for indigenous people in the Americas different from those in Eurasia and Africa?

There were no nomadic herders in the Americas.

Before the arrival of Europeans, the Great Plains were sparsely populated because indigenous Americans __________.

had no horses to hunt buffalo or plows to farm the prairies

How did most American Indian societies differ from contemporary civilizations in Europe and Asia?

Most American Indian societies were based on kinship ties.