AP World History: Modern - Unit 1: The Global Tapestry (Developments in the Americas) - Vocabulary

Vocabulary for 1.4 APWH.

Mississippian Culture

first large-scale civilization in the Americas

700s or 800s

Mississippi River Valley

earthen mounds (almost 100 ft tall and size of 12 football fields)

fell by 1600

Cahokia

largest mount of the Mississippian culture

southern Illinois

abandoned around 1450

Matrilineal society

social standing was determined by the woman’s side of the family

Chaco

American Southwest

built large houses out of clay and stones

many had over 100 rooms

Mesa Verde

American Southwest

built multi-story homes into the side of cliffs

used sandstone bricks

Mayan Civilization

reached height between 250 C.E - 900 C.E.

southern part of Mexico and much of modern-day Belize, Honduras, Guatemala

40 cities ranging from 5k-50k people

2 million at its peak

Mayan City-State

ruled by a king

often fought with each other

Human sacrifice

captives being taken in for the religious ceremony of killing a human to offer to a god

Chichen Itza

pyramid used for astronomical observation in the Mayan civilization

Aztec Empire (Mexicas)

hunter-gatherers who migrated to Mexico from the north in the 1200s

conquered surrounding peoples

stretched from Gulf of Mexico to Pacific

declined in late 15th century

Tenochtitlan

founded in 1325

current day Mexico City

grew to 200k people

150 ft pyramid

chinampas

floating gardens

built on Lake Texcoco to increase amount of space for food production

theocracy

land was ruled by religious law

Pochteca

Aztec merchants who only traded luxury goods

Pachacuti

means transformer/shaker of Earth

began conquering in 1438 in the area of what is now Peru

combined tribes into the Inca empire

Inca Empire

extended from present-day Ecuador to Chile

Huayna Capac

grandson of Pachacuti

focused on consolidating land from predecessors

mit’a system

system of mandatory public service under the Inca

recruited men between the ages of 15 and 50

agricultural labor/construction of roads

Temple of the Sun

Cuzco

formed the core of the Incan religion

ancestor veneration

the act of keeping dead rulers in power

animism

Inca belief

elements of the physical world could have supernatural powers

huaca

natural/manmade features the Inca believed had spiritual value

quipu

Incan

system of knotted strings used to record numerical information for trade and engineering and for recording messages to be carried throughout the empire

waru waru

raised beds with channels that captured and redirected rain to avoid erosion during floods and that stored water to be used during dry periods

Carpa Nan

25k miles of Incan road

used by government/military

Macchu Piccu

site of Incan ruins