The Americas, Europe, and Africa Before 1492

Vocabulary flashcards about the Americas, Europe, and Africa before 1492

Globalization

The increasing interconnectedness of the world through commerce and trade.

Mesoamerica

The geographic area stretching from north of Panama up to the desert of central Mexico.

Olmec Civilization

The mother of Mesoamerican cultures. Known for giant head sculptures and pyramids.

Maya

A Mesoamerican culture with strong ties to Teotihuacan, known for architectural and mathematical contributions, perfecting the calendar and written language.

Aztec (Mexica)

The largest city in the Western Hemisphere prior to European contact. They were known for floating gardens and ritual human sacrifice.

Chinampas

A system of agriculture where barges are made of reeds and filled with fertile soil then irrigated with lake water.

Inca

A highly developed and complex society in South America known for their road system and use of the quipu to communicate and keep records.

Quipu

The Inca system of colored strings and knots used to communicate and keep records.

Mita

The Inca labor tax of public works projects.

Pueblo

A term given by the Spanish meaning town or village, used to describe groups of Native Americans in the southwestern part of the United States.

Hopewell Culture

An indigenous group who lived in the Ohio River Valley and are known for their burial mounds and earthworks.

Matriarchy

A society where women have power and influence.

Feudal Society

The feudal system was a mutual supportive system where serfs worked the land in return for protection.

Black Death

A disease that killed millions in Europe after being brought over from the Black Sea.

Crusades

The war between Christians and Muslims for domination of the Holy Land.

Reconquista

The reconquest, the push to remove Muslims from Spain.

Caravels

Skilled Portuguese shipbuilders and navigators who sailed down the African coast using triangular sails and lighter vessels.

Inquisition

The campaign by the Catholic Church to root out heresy, especially among converted Jews and Muslims

Guanahani

The island in the Bahamas, christened San Salvador, where Columbus first made landfall in the Americas.

Elmina Castle

Portuguese built fort for trade. Later used as pen for captured people sold across the Atlantic.

Polygyny

The practice of having more than one wife at a time.

Black Death

Two strains of the bubonic plague that simultaneously swept western Europe in the fourteenth century, causing the death of nearly half the population.

Serf

A peasant tied to the land and its lord

Quipu

A device for recording information, consisting of variously colored threads knotted in different ways

Black Legend

Spain’s reputation as bloodthirsty conquistadors

Protestant Reformation

The schism in Catholicism that began with Martin Luther and John Calvin in the early sixteenth century