OpenStax Chapter One Review

Ch. 1

Anasazi

Which of the following Indian peoples built homes in cliff dwellings that still exist?

Olmec

Developed the first writing system in the Western Hemisphere

Inca

Developed a road system rivaling that of the Romans

What were the major differences between the societies of the Aztec, Inca, and Maya and the Indians of North America?

Indians: More spread out w/o an organized social structure; small clan groups; adapts to immediate environment; some hunted instead of cultivating crops

Aztec, Inca, Maya: Organized social structures/more centralized population & larger populations

The Crusades

The series of attempts by Christian armies to retake the Holy Lands from Muslims was known as ________.

Venice

________ became wealthy trading with the East.

In 1492, the Spanish forced these two religious groups to either convert or leave.

Jews & Muslims

How did European feudal society operate? How was this a mutually supportive system?

-Lords owned land which serfs worked on and knighted protected

-Knights and serfs would in turn gain protection in city walls and could sometimes rent land to farm on

Why did Columbus believe he could get to the Far East by sailing west? What were the problems with this plan?

He knew the Earth was round, so it seemed plausible, however, he didn't know the circumference of the Earth, and therefore wouldn't know when he would have arrived.

Timbuktu

The city of ________ became a leading center for Muslim scholarship and trade.

Which of the following does not describe a form of slavery traditionally practiced in Africa?

see multiple choice

Beringia

An ancient land bridge that connected Asia and North America

Black Death

Two strains of the bubonic plague that simultaneously swept western Europe in the fourteenth century, causing the death of nearly half the population

Chasquis (chase)

Incan relay runners used to send messages over great distances

Chattel Slavery

a system of servitude in which people are treated as personal property to be bought and sold

Chinampas

floating Aztec gardens consisting of a large barge woven from reeds, filled with dirt and floating on the water, allowing for irrigation

Crusades

A series of military expeditions made by Christian Europeans to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries

Feudal Society

A social arrangement in which serfs and knights provided labor and military service to noble lords, receiving protection and land use in return

Inquisition

A campaign by the Catholic Church to root out heresy, especially among converted Jews and Muslims

Koran (Qur'an)

The sacred book of Islam, written by the prophet Muhammad in the seventh century

Matriarchy

A society in which women have political power.

Mita

the Incan labor tax, with each family donating time and work to communal projects

Polygymy

The practice of taking more than one wife

Quipu (“quill”)

An ancient Incan device for recording information, consisting of variously colored threads knotted in different ways

Reconquista (Reconquest)

Spain's nearly eight-hundred-year holy war against Islam, which ended in 1492

Serf

A peasant tied to the land and its lord.