HWH Chapter 15 ALL TERMS :)

Aztec Empire

 An empire based in Tenochtitlan (modern-day Mexico City) that ruled over 4 to 6 million people in modern-day Mexico and Guatemala.

Tenochtitlan

Capital city of the Aztec empire, which the Mexica reclaimed from swampland, with a population of some two hundred thousand people.

Inca Empire

Andean empire founded in 1438 by Pachakuti (d. 1471), which ruled over a peak population of 10 to 12 million.

Ayllu

Andean kin groups of the Inca empire that worked the land in several adjacent ecological zones as a hedge against crop failure in any one zone.

Quipu

Inca system of record keeping that used knots on strings to record the population.

Humanism

Intellectual movement begun around 1350 in Italy by scholars who opposed scholasticism. Emphasized the study of the humanities, which included traditional fields like logic, grammar, arithmetic, and music and newer fields like language, history, literature, and philosophy.

Renaissance

Literally “rebirth.” Term used to refer to the period of humanist revival in Europe. Most historians now play down this term, recognizing that the intellectual advances of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries underpinned those of the humanist era.

Treaty of Tordesillas

Treaty signed by the Portuguese and the Spanish in 1494 that established a dividing line: all newly discovered territory west of the line belonged to Castile, while all of the islands to the east were reserved for Portugal.

Conquistadors

Literally “conquerors,” the term for the Spaniards who conquered Mexico, Peru, and Central America in the 1500s.

Encomienda System

 (Literally “entrusted”) System established in 1503 by the Spanish in the hope of clarifying arrangements with the colonists and of ending the abuse of indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Bernardino de Sahagun

A franciscan friar who wrote “General History of the Things of New Spain.” He worked with a team of researchers to record the history of the Aztec before the Spanish arrived

Geronimo de Aguilar

Spoke Spanish and Mayan. He fought a tribe that gifted him a woman named Malinche.

Hernan Cortes

(1485-1547) Given permission that was later revoked to explore Mexico. Robbed the Aztec empire of their gold

Malinche

 A Nahua noblewoman, trilingual in Spanish, Nahuatl, and Mayan, who served as translator for and adviser to Cortés.

Moctezuma

The last Aztec emperor/Great Speaker; taken hostage by Cortes for more gold and killed.

Nahuatl

The Aztec language

Huitzilopochtli

“Hummingbird of the South”; patron god of the Mexica and warrior god of the sun

Cuzco

Where the Incans started their civilization

Quechua

The language of the Incas

Sapa Inca

The ruler of the Inca people

Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui

the founder of the Incan empire; expanded beyond Cuzco

Francisco Pizarro

He led Spanish forces in 1532. He held Atahualpa for ransom and divided the gold and silver among him and his men.

Atahualpa

Became ruler after defeating his older half brother in the civil war. Takes measures against his brothers supporters who sided with the Spaniards. Captured in a meeting by Pizarro for a room of gold.

Petrarch

 One of the earliest humanist poets. He believed Scholasticism did not teach someone how to live and obtain salvation.

Johannes Gutenberg

printed the first European book using moveable type: The Bible

Medici

the dukes of Florence who made their money in Banking. Wealthiest family in 1400s.

Henry the Navigator

Portuguese prince who supported Portuguese explorations in the Mediterranean, Atlantic, and along the West African coast.

Christopher Columbus

“discovered” the Americas in 1492. Thought he went to Japan.

Reconquista

A campaign where Catholic rulers of Spain and Portugal regained different Islamic cities in Iberia during the 13th and 14th centuries.

Inter Caetera

Pope Alexander IV granting all lands west and south to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of the islands.

Pedro Alvares Cabral

Portuguese explorer who discovered Brazil; called it Brazil because of the Brazilian tree.

John III

Encouraged exploration of Brazil; divided Brazil into 15 parts (160 mi) among noblemen. Authorized the Jesuit to preach there.

Ignatious of Loyola

founded the Jesuit and wrote spiritual exercises