Unit 5 History Quiz - Yoruba People and Mesoamerica

xiupohualli

name for Aztec approach to history ’ storytelling about the past

Glyphs

a specific visual representation, character, or symbol used in writing, typography, or design

Nahuatl

an indigenous language family of Mexico and Central America, most famously known as the language of the Aztec Empire

Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana

Historical Lands of the Yoruba

Historical Lands of Mesoamerica

Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua

Yoruba pre-modern achievements

bronze sculpture and general iron smelting

Mesoamerican cultures

Maya who built Chichen Itza AND Olmec who are famous for being the earliest civilization in the region and for sculpting huge, monolithic heads

Orishas

Yoruba pantheon spirits/deities

(Yoruba) Spirits/deities

Obatala, Oduduwa, Ogun, Oshun

Teotl

Nahua pantheon spirits/deities

(Nahua) Spirits/deities

Huitzilopochtli, Xipe Totec, Quetzalcoatl

Chinampas

system of floating farms, highly productive, artificial islands created for agriculture in the shallow lake beds of the Valley of Mexico

Nahua weapons

made of obsidian stone ’ which allows for extremely sharp blades

Brazil, Cuba, Trinidad + Tobago, USA

Countries in the Americas that host significant Yoruba diasporas

Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador

Countries that have significant indigenous populations of Nahua people

Ile-Ife

Spiritual capital of Yorubaland

Santeria

prominent Latin American derivative of the Yoruba religion practiced through the Spanish speaking Caribbean

Day of the Dead

holiday where people build offrendas and eat alfeniques

Oyo Empire

lasting from the 1300s to the early 20th century last Yoruba-led state to exist prior to European colonization

Aztec sun stone

one of most famous artifacts produced by Nahua peoples

Ifa

Yoruba divination, which gives individuals the means to interact and receive guidance from orishas

After colonization

significant number of Nahua and Yoruba people have somewhat abandoned their indigenous practices for Christianity AND in Yorubaland many have converted to Islam

Graphocentrism

bias in which writing is privileged over speech

Spanish explorer Fransisco Pizarro

led a troop of soldiers into the heart of the Inca empire

Atahuallpa

worshipped as the sun god

Anti-Paganism

historical and contemporary opposition to pagan (polytheistic) religions, ranging from legal prohibitions and temple destruction in the late Roman Empire to modern discrimination

De Landa

hosted a massive book burning

Conquistadors

16th-century Spanish and Portuguese explorers, soldiers, and adventurers who led military expeditions to the Americas, conquering indigenous civilizations and expanding European, largely Spanish, colonial rule

Cajamarca

major historical city and regional capital located in the northern Andes of Peru

Head of Ife

highly naturalistic, lifelike brass, copper, and terracotta head created in the Kingdom of Ife (southwestern Nigeria)

Oduduwa

• founder of Yoruba civilization

• king of Ile-Ife

• Subjects had never seen king with stature + glory that _______ had as king

  • chiefs + priests took steps to deify him

• he was added to the myth about Oludarme sending heavenly beings to come + establish life on earth

• story became: Obatala first led heavenly beings coming to earth

  • but got drunk on way + ______ took over, completing mission

    • becoming 1st man on earth + progenitor of Yoruba nation

Tenochtitlan

Aztec capital at its height ’ was as populous as Europe's largest city

Aztec Empire

a powerful, sophisticated Mesoamerican civilization in central Mexico

Teosinte

wild, grass-like ancestor of modern corn (maize), originating in Southern Mexico around 10,000 years ago

Oludamare

Supreme Being, creator, and owner of the heavens in Yoruba religion

Time Periods

Yorubaland's civilization began developing around the 4th-7th century BCE, with major kingdoms like Ile-Ife flourishing by 900-1400 CE and the Oyo Empire dominating 1600-1800 CE. Mesoamerican civilization spanned roughly 2500 BCE to 1521 CE, divided into Pre-classic (Olmec), Classic (Maya), and Post-classic (Aztec) periods

invisible realm

orun

Aiye

Visible realm

ebo

offerings

Obatala

revered Orisha (deity) of creation, wisdom, and purity in Yoruba mythology ’ Chief of White Cloth

The Codex Boturini

anonymous 16th-century Aztec manuscript illustrating the Mexica migration from Aztlán to the Valley of Mexico

Huitzilopochtli

primary Aztec deity of war, the sun, and human sacrifice, serving as the patron god of the Mexica (Aztec) people

New Fire Ceremony

essential 52-year cycle ritual of the Aztecs and other Mesoamerican cultures designed to prevent apocalypse and ensure the sun's return

Aztlan

homeland of Aztec people (Nahua)

Year 1325

Aztec people reached their home ’ island Lake Texcoco

Oduduwa’s Accomplishments/Legacy

• Oduduwa’s kingdom started as just city of Ile-Ife (w/ open farmlands around)

  • One of immediate consequences of rise of single substantial polity in place of many small ones = emergence of:

    • Fairly strong state that was dispose + able to claim/use territory at considerable distances from own immediate location

      • Oduduwa started the trend

• Oduduwa established toll gates + guard posts to protect trade routes into + out of Ile-Ife

  • Such outposts = at greater distances out into forests that any of pre-Oduduwa settlements could’ve ventured

    • Kingdom emerging which consisted of not only city housing king, but also of other:

      • Towns, villages, + hamlets far beyond

        • Oduduwa thus initiated structure of the typical Yoruba kingdom of the future

• For Yoruba ppl after Oduduwa, Ife = home of progenitor of Yoruba race + home of virtually all pan-Yoruba gods

  • Place to honor + fear, to pay homage to in almost all religious observances

• Ife kingdom = home of most famous persons in Yorubaland for nearly 5 centuries

  • Source of greatest movements in spiritual + cultural life of Yoruba ppl

  • After Oduduwa + many famous contemporaries, growing civilization of city of Ile-Ife continued producing great men + women