Worlds Apart: The Americas and Oceania

30 vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from the lecture on 'Worlds Apart: The Americas and Oceania'.

Aztecs (Mexica)

A civilization that absorbed Olmec, Mayan, and Toltec Gods, calendar, languages, architectural styles, and writings.

Incan economy

Unique due to its self-sufficiency in agriculture, leading to little need for foreign trade.

Polynesians

A civilization that can be compared to the Bantu due to similar patterns of migration and influence.

Bernal Diaz

A documenter who recorded impressive sites like the markets and temples of Tenochtitlan.

Tenochtitlan

The capital city of the Aztec empire, noted for its vast markets and temples.

Human Sacrifice (Aztec)

A shocking practice observed in Aztec temples, involving significant blood and large collections of human bones and skulls.

Toltecs

One of the groups, along with the Mexica, who brought much of central Mexico under unified rule after the collapse of Teotihuacan.

Tula

An important center for art and imported luxury goods like jade and animal skins in Mesoamerica.

Toltec State Collapse

Attributed to conflict among ethnic groups, nomadic incursions, and potentially widespread fires.

Chinampa

An Aztec agricultural technique involving building fertile plots of land from lake-bottom mud, watered by canals.

Aztec Empire Consolidation

Achieved through military expansion under rulers like Itzcoatl and Motecuzoma, extending control to Oaxaca, the Gulf coast, and southwestern Mexico.

Triple Alliance (Aztec)

A confederation formed by the Mexica with Texcoco and Tlacopan to rule subject peoples and exact tributes.

Aztec Control of Subject Peoples

Involved exacting tributes and allowing limited autonomy, without developing an elaborate administrative system or military garrisons.

Aztec Bureaucracy

Distinct from eastern hemisphere empires due to its lack of an elaborate administrative system and allowance for local self-governance.

Mexica Society Information

Primarily derived from surviving books and Spanish conquest records, including interviews and daily life reports.

Mexica Warriors

Highly respected members of society, receiving public honors, land grants, tributes, and positions on important councils.

Mexica Women's Roles

Primarily domestic; under strict authority of husbands, responsible for raising children and family care, with minimal political involvement.

Mexica Priests

High-ranking elite who received special education to interpret forces and could become supreme religious figures.

Mexica Artisans and Merchants

Elite groups; artisans crafted luxury items for the wealthy, while merchants conducted vital long-distance trade.

Commoners (Mexica)

The majority of the Mexica population, who worked chinampas, paid tribute, and sometimes served as domestic slaves.

Mesoamerican Cultural Traits (Mexica)

Shared traditions adopted from older cultures like the Olmec, including a ball game, a complex calendar, and ritual bloodletting.

Bloodletting Rituals (Mexica)

Practices believed to provide the earth with moisture from the gods, essential for agricultural fertility.

Huitzilopochtli

The god to whom Mexica human sacrifices were primarily devoted, believed to sustain the sun and secure earth's moisture.

Pueblo and Navajo

North American agricultural societies that began constructing stone and adobe buildings around 700 CE.

Earthen Mounds (North America)

Structures built by woodland peoples, serving as stages for ceremonies, platforms for dwellings, and burial sites.

Cahokia

The largest known earthen mound in North America, located in Illinois.

Andean Societies Information

Difficult to obtain due to the absence of a writing system in early South American cultures.

Kingdom of Chucuito

A dominant power in Andean South America after the 12th century, known for potato cultivation.

Llamas and Alpacas

Animals vital to Andean societies, providing wool, hides, and dung for fuel.

Chimú Kingdom

An lowland society that emerged by the tenth century, characterized by advanced irrigation and massive brick architecture at its capital, Chanchan.