Mother Cultures & Early Societies
Which civilization is considered the "Mother Culture" of Mesoamerica and is famous for carving colossal basalt stone heads?
The Olmec
On which specific lake was the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan uniquely built?
Lake Texcoco
What were the three primary motivations (the 3 G's) driving the Age of Exploration?
Gold, God, and Glory
Under mercantilism, power depends on gold/silver. What is a "favorable balance of trade"?
Exports must be greater than imports
The Chavín culture of the Andes featured religious artwork that centered on which two animal gods?
Jaguars and condors
What were the "chinampas" used by the Aztecs in their capital city?
Floating gardens used for intensive farming
The caravel was superior because its triangular sails allowed it to sail against the wind, and its shallow draft allowed for what?
Exploration close to the shore
Why were enslaved Africans seen as more "profitable" than Native Americans, and what percentage died during the Middle Passage?
Stronger immunity to disease and farming experience; roughly 20% died
Which city featured the "Avenue of the Dead," connecting the Temple of the Sun and the Temple of the Moon?
Teotihuacán
Which civilization developed a complex calendar system and hieroglyphic writing in the Yucatán Peninsula?
The Maya
The caravel was a superior vessel because its triangular sails allowed it to do what?
Sail stronger against the wind
What was the first major export from colonial Brazil (used for red dye), and what were the independent communities of escaped slaves called?
Brazilwood (export); Quilombos (communities)
The Nazca culture is most famous for creating large desert geoglyphs visible only from the air known as what?
The Nazca Lines
The Inca used a system of knotted strings for record-keeping and accounting known as what? AND who were the runners that delivered messages across their road system?
Quipus, Chaskis
Which instrument allowed explorers to calculate latitude specifically by using the position of the sun and stars?
The astrolabe
Following the 1695 discovery of gold in Minas Gerais, the capital of Brazil shifted to which city?
Rio de Janiero
How did the Moche culture manage to farm successfully along the dry northern coast of Peru?
They built extensive irrigation canals
Under Spanish rule, for what specific purpose was the Incan "mita" system primarily used?
To draft Indigenous labor for silver mines in Peru
Specifically, how did the introduction of the horse revolutionize Native American life, and which disease decimated their population?
The horse allowed them to hunt buffalo effectively; smallpox decimated the population
Describe the "captaincy system" used by the Portuguese crown in early colonial Brazil.
The crown divided the coastline into 15 strips given to private individuals (donatories) to fund and run