The Early Americas & Cultures of North America - Vocabulary

Lesson 1: The Early Americas

Surplus of food enables city growth; essential for civilization development
Features of civilizations: urban centers, organized government, job specialization, social structure, trade, writing/record-keeping, religious systems
Olmec: oldest civilization in the Americas; famous for colossal stone heads; developed a calendar
Maya: city-states; notable achievements; cities later abandoned
Aztec: Tenochtitlan; built causeways; used a calendar; warfare for tribute and empire; end due to Spanish conquest and disease
Inca: located in South America; capital at Cuzco; emperor and sun god; agricultural terraces

Hohokam and Ancestral Puebloans: irrigation systems
Mound Builders: Mississippians; Cahokia
Culture region: definition and key characteristics
Cultural diffusion: definition
Arctic/Subarctic, Southwest, Southeast regions: climate and natural environment differences
Northwest Coastal region: climate and natural environment; potlatch
Great Plains region: grasslands; Sioux; buffalo; tents
Iroquois League: purpose of alliance for defense and cooperation