Module 13 vocab

Flashcards about the first Americans and the complex cultures that arose in Mesoamerica, the Andes, and North America in the period before contact with Europeans.

Beringia

A land bridge connecting Asia and the Americas during the Ice Age.

Ice Age

A period of time lasting from roughly 1.9 million years ago to about 10,000 BC when huge sheets of moving ice called glaciers spread southward from the Arctic Circle.

maize

Corn, which became the most important crop in the Americas around 3400 BC.

Mesoamerica

The area stretching south from central Mexico to northern Honduras where the first complex societies in the Americas arose.

Olmec

Mesoamerica’s first known civilization builders, who began carving out a society around 1200 BC in the jungles of southern Mexico.

Zapotec

A people who developed an advanced society to the southwest of the Olmec, in what is now the Mexican state of Oaxaca.

Monte Albán

The first real urban center in the Americas, built by the Zapotec high atop a mountain at the center of the Oaxaca Valley around 500 BC.

Chavín

The first influential civilization in South America, which flourished from around 900 BC to 200 BC in the northern highlands of Peru.

Nazca

A culture that flourished along the southern coast of Peru from around 200 BC to AD 600, known for their extensive irrigation systems and the Nazca Lines.

Moche

A culture that lasted from about AD 100 to AD 700 on the northern coast of Peru, known for their impressive irrigation systems and pottery depicting scenes from everyday life.

potlatch

An elaborate ceremony used by Northwest Coast tribes to display wealth and status by giving food, drink, and gifts to the community.

Anasazi

A people who lived in the Four Corners region and built impressive cliff dwellings and pueblos.

pueblo

Villages of large, apartment-style compounds made of stone and adobe, built by the Anasazi.

Mississippian

The last Mound Builder culture, which lasted from around AD 800 until the arrival of Europeans in the 1500s, known for creating thriving villages based on farming and trade.

totem

A natural object with which an individual, clan, or group identifies itself, used as a symbol of unity.

glyph

Hieroglyphic symbols used in the Maya writing system, used to record important historical events.

codex

A bark-paper book used by the Maya to record their writing, of which only three ancient books have survived.

Triple Alliance

An alliance formed in 1428 between the Aztecs, Texcoco, and Tlacopan, which became the leading power in the Valley of Mexico.

Montezuma II

The Aztec emperor when the Aztec Empire began to weaken, and many provinces rose up against Aztec oppression.

ayllu

An extended family group that undertook tasks too big for a single family, such as building irrigation canals or cutting agricultural terraces.

mita

The labor tribute required by the Incan state, requiring all able-bodied citizens to work for the state a certain number of days every year.

quipu

An accounting device created by the Inca, a set of knotted strings that could be used to record data.

Aztec government

Monarchy that ruled over city-states, with a complex hierarchy of officials and a tribute system to maintain control and resources.

Aztec technology

Chinampas (floating gardens), complex irrigation systems, and the use of the calendar to guide agricultural practices.