Pre-Columbian American Civilizations

Vocabulary terms and historical concepts covering early migrations and the North, Meso, and South American civilizations before European contact.

First Migration

The movement of people into the Americas occurring from $38,000$ to $1,800 ext{ BCE}$.

The Noble Savage

A misconception depicting Native Americans as uncivilized hunter-gatherers and Europeans as the ones meant to "settle" and "civilize" them.

The Three Sisters

A farming practice involving the domestication of beans, squash, and maize.

Longhouses

Dwellings used by the Iroquois in the Eastern Woodlands, measuring $150-200 ext{ feet}$ long and housing $10-12$ families.

Grand Council

A gathering of representatives from Iroquois tribes united around $1500 ext{ AD}$; representatives were chosen by the tribe's elder women.

Cahokia

A Hopewell city near modern-day St. Louis that was the largest city in North America and featured massive earth burial mounds.

Teepees

Easily movable shelters used by nomadic Plains tribes to follow migrating herds of buffalo.

Anasazi

The largest Southwestern Pueblo civilization, existing between $500-1200 ext{ CE}$, known for building massive irrigation canals.

Adobe

A building material made from mud bricks baked in the sun, used by Southwestern Pueblo tribes.

Mayan Base 20 System

An advanced numerical system that allowed for complex geometry and algebraic computation.

Tenochtitlan

The Aztec capital built on islands in Lake Texcoco in $1325 ext{ CE}$, housing as many as $200,000-300,000$ people by $1519$.

Floating gardens

Massive artificial islands used by the Aztecs in Lake Texcoco for large-scale agriculture.

Pochteca

Professional Aztec merchants who managed trade networks reaching as far as the southwestern US and Panama.

Hernan Cortes

The leader of the Spanish conquistadors who used gunpowder, steel weapons, and tribal alliances to destroy the Aztec empire.

The Mita

A system of forced labor in the Inca Empire requiring at least $4 ext{ weeks}$ of work for the government per year.

Quechua

The language of the Inca empire, which remains the third most spoken language in South America today.

Quipu

A series of knotted strings used by the Inca to record numbers and business transactions in the absence of a written language.

Atahualpa

The Inca emperor captured and held for a massive gold and silver ransom by Francisco Pizarro before being strangled.

Francisco Pizarro

The Spanish conquistador who invaded the Inca Empire in the $1530 ext{'s CE}$ and captured their emperor.

Terrace farming

An agricultural method adopted by the Inca from Mesoamerica to maximize arable land in mountainous regions.