Early American Societies

Nixtamalization

A process for the preparation of corn, or other grain, in which the grain is soaked and cooked in an alkaline solution, usually limewater, washed, and then hulled. ______ corn has several benefits over unprocessed grain: It is more easily ground, its nutritional value is increased, flavor and aroma are improved, and mycotoxins are reduced by up to 97%–100%

Khipu

Recording devices fashioned from strings historically used by a number of cultures in the region of Andean South America. It is usually consisted of cotton or camelid fiber strings

Olmec

Mesoamerican tribe in the gulf of Mexico, had rubber trees to have a ball game, Large Stone Heads

Hokoham

A Cliff Dwelling Native American tribe in Southwest America that had a trade network and an irrigation system

Hopewell

A Native American Tribe of Mound builders that lived from 550-750

Mississippian

A Native American Tripe of Mound builders that lived from 700-1751. Once the chief died, he, his wife, and his servants would be buried in a mound with them

Moche

Andean Civilization that lasted from 200 BCE to 600 BCE. They are particularly noted for their elaborately painted ceramics, GOLD WORK, monumental constructions (huacas), and irrigation systems

Mesoamerica

Area between South America and North America containing the Olmec and Zapotec tribes

Inca

Dominant force in the region and area around Peru with an organized government and had good infrastructure. The _____ were separated into 4 states with good militaries. The state owned everything in _____ civilization and the empire ran on multiple groups and families of people called Ayliu

Cuzco

The Capital city of the Incan people

Pachacuti

Emperor of the Inca

Ayllu

An incan family/community

Mita

The Incan people owed the government a set amount of time to work

Atahualpa

 Incan king who fought his brother for leadership

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish conquistador who invaded and conquered most of Peru including the Incan

Maya

A tribe that had individual city-states with priests and kings. They had a complex writing system, Smoked Chocolate tobacco, Held blood sacrifices

Popol Vuh

It showcases the origins and history of the universe through Mayan storytelling and displays the importance of modern Central American and Latino culture in order to prevent erasure of the great Mayan civilization's influence and consciousness

Teotihuacan

Capital of the Aztec civilization massive temples, now Mexico City

Toltecs

They were noted as builders and craftsmen and have been credited with the creation of fine metalwork, monumental porticoes, serpent columns, gigantic statues, carved human and animal standard-bearers, and peculiar reclining Chacmool figures. The Aztecs were originally mercenaries for them.

Aztecs

A tribe that has great military power and practices massive amounts of sacrifice and bloodletting. They were mercenaries before they started their own civilization and they were able to become very powerful but ultimately the amount of sacrifice and European explorers ended their reign

Tenochtitlan

A city of great wealth, obtained through the spoils of tribute from conquered region

Triple Alliance

Alliance between the Aztecs

Quetzacoatl

Feathered serpent god of the Aztecs, Very fearsome

Huitzilopochtli

The Aztecs’ main god, who was the god of war and of the sun, they sacrificed to him so he could make the sun rise the next day

Montezuma II

Last king of the Aztecs, made contact with the Europeans and was ultimately taken captive and the Aztecs fell

Hernan Cortez

European who went on an expedition and found the Aztecs, he used the Aztecs for a while until he took over and pushed the Aztecs out. Took most of Mexico and claimed it as Spain’s land

Caravel

Small ship with a small crew that was easy to produce and had a lot of storage. Uses the lateen sail to sail to America

Ptolemy’s Geography

The first Eurasia and Africa map

Magnetic compass

Allowed for people to know the direction they were going

Astrolabe

Sailors and explorers could plot the general longitude and latitude of where they were based off planets and stars

Mercantilism

The thought that there was a set amount of wealth in the world and there are winners and losers in life, countries wanted more exports than imports

Portuguese expansion

One of the first countries to expand west, established Brazil

Henry “The Navigator” of Portugal

The first European to find Brazil and colonized it and farmed it for its good climate

Christopher Columbus

First European to discover the Americas, wanted to farm the land and use the natives as labor slaves for the farming

Taino

Native people that Columbus met when he arrived in the Americas. Columbus describes the natives as gentle people who would trade for anything that they could get

Treaty of Tordesillas

Agreement that split up American lands between European countries, Portugal and Spain

Ferdinand Magellan

First person to sail around the world, possibly found gold but ended up dying in the Philippines, part of his crew ended up making it

Dona Marina

Also known as La Maliche, this is a famous Nahua woman from the Mexico Gulf Coast. She acted as interpreter, advisor, and for the spanish. Her efforts greatly helped the Spanish to conquer the Aztec Empire

Viceroyalties

People who ran the Spanish land in the americas, were told to assimilate the people but most decided to take the natives as slaves. Mestizo the mixing ancestry of the Spanish and natives. Viceroyalties followed the encomienda system

Columbian Exchange

A large amount of goods were traded between the Americas and Europe which introduced new crops and other materials to each of the continents and has had a huge impact even up to this day

Triangular Trade

America gave raw material, Europe turned the materials into goods and gave them back, some goods were traded to Africa for slaves resulting in the Middle Passage

Middle Passage

Voyage in the Atlantic ocean, which was taken by slave ships from Africa to the Americas

Dutch West India Company

Biggest slave harboring company held auctions in the Carribeans and sold slaves to the highest bidders

Valladolid Debate

1550, Spanish people wanted the treatment of Native Americans to be less harsh, first instance of Spanish investigating the mistreatment of native Americans

Black Legend

Told of the bad atrocities of the Spanish said the Spanish were beyond evil, done by protestants to show that the catholics were worse than them

What is history?

The study of changes over time. This includes all aspects of the world from natural to societal. It is a subject that is constantly being updated and changed as we learn more facts and things about our past

What are the 4 Historical Thinking Skills?

Sourcing, Contextualizing, Close Reading, Corroborating

Sourcing

The process of finding new sources and exploring information about a given topic

Contextualizing

The process of giving background information to your sources to and building the context behind when, why, and where they were written

Close Reading

Going over all the information detail by detail and understanding every aspect of the text. Finding out the information the source contains

Corroborating

Comparing two or more accounts to get the most trustworthy information

Function and Purpose of the Archives

They function as a tool for historians to use to easily find and research past information. They hold the text of ancient and recent historical documents. They are a huge collection of important things from the past

The Role of Bias in Historical Work

This is generally avoided in all newer forms of research and claims about the past. However historians often read documents that will contain bias, it is their job to identify this and see the truth behind the text

Common Limitations of Sources

These are things that commonly get in the way as historians use sources to come up with their conclusions. Some simple examples of this would be lack of information, false or made up information, bias within the information, and many more

The “Art of Good Guessing”

A process that involves looking through all the sources and evidence we have and then making a reasonable assumption about what happened during a period of time we don't have documentation for