Early American Civilizations Flashcards

The Peoples of North America

Early hunters migrated from Asia during the last Ice Age via a land bridge, following bison and caribou.
Around 1000 B.C., farming villages appeared in the Eastern Woodlands.
The Hopewell people, known as the Mound Builders, constructed large earth mounds for tombs and ceremonies in the Ohio River valley.
Around A.D. 700, full-time farming led to the rise of the Mississippian culture, which cultivated corn, squash, and beans.
Cities like Cahokia emerged, but it collapsed in the 1200s for unknown reasons.
The Iroquois lived in longhouses and were active in wars.
The Iroquois League was formed through the efforts of Deganawida and Hiawatha to promote peace among five groups.

Maya civilization flourished between A.D. 300 and 900 in Mesoamerica.
They built temples and pyramids and developed an accurate calendar.
Around 800, the Maya civilization declined due to potential factors such as invasion, revolt, or environmental issues.
Maya cities were built around central pyramids, temples, and palaces.
Maya civilization was composed of city-states, each governed by a hereditary ruling class.
Maya society included nobles, priests, artisans, officials, merchants, and farmers.
Religion and spiritual beliefs were central, with deities representing nature and abstract concepts.
The Maya used a hieroglyphic writing system and kept records on bark paper.
The Mayan calendar consisted of months of 20 days each and an extra 5 days at the end.

The Aztec migrated to the Valley of Mexico and established their capital at Tenochtitlán in 1325.
The Aztec formed a Triple Alliance with Tetzcoco and Tlacopan, dominating a large empire.
The Aztec state was authoritarian, with a monarch claiming lineage with the gods.
Society included nobles, indentured workers, slaves, and commoners, with distinct roles for men and women.
Religion was polytheistic, with Huitzilopochtli and Quetzalcoatl being important gods.
The Aztec practiced human sacrifice to appease the gods.
They made advances in astronomy and created the Aztec Calendar Stone.

The Nazca culture appeared in southern Peru around 200 B.C.
They are known for the Nazca Lines, large geometric and animal figures etched into the ground.
The Moche civilization developed near the Pacific coast around A.D. 300.
Moche was the capital of a powerful state that grew maize, peanuts, potatoes, and cotton.
Moche pottery indicates their interests were warfare.

The Inca were a small community in the area of Cuzco that began expanding in the 1440s under Pachacuti.
Pachacuti created a centralized state and transformed Cuzco into a stone city.
The Inca Empire extended to Ecuador, central Chile, and the Amazon basin.
The Inca state was built on war, requiring all young men to serve in the army.
The Inca did not use the wheel, so supplies were carried by people and llamas.
New territories were controlled by nobles and local leaders loyal to the Inca ruler.
The Inca had no writing system, using the quipu, a system of knotted strings, for records.
Machu Picchu stands as a testament to Inca engineering and architectural skill.
The Inca made astronomical observations.
They created two calendars based on the path of the sun, one of which was based on a year of 365 days.
(\text{instruct} = \text{to teach or to train})
(\text{resident} = \text{one who resides in a place})
(\text{maize} = \text{corn})
(\text{quipu} = \text{a system of knotted strings used by the Incas for keeping records})