Civilizations in the Americas
Capitalized at Tenochtitlan on Lake Texcoco, this powerful Mesoamerican empire was conquered by Hernán Cortés in 1521.
the Aztec Empire
****Located along the Andes mountains in South America, this vast civilization was conquered by Francisco Pizarro in the 1530s.
the Inca Empire
This wealthy emperor of Mali made a legendary 1324 pilgrimage to Mecca, distributing so much gold in Cairo that it caused regional inflation for over a decade.
Mansa Musa
Similar to the European feudal land systems during the Age of Exploration, Japanese warrior lords held vast estates guarded by this elite class of hereditary samurai warriors.
the Daimyo
European demand for plantation labor shifted African trade dynamics, replacing traditional commodity trading with this legal system where humans were bought, sold, and owned as lifelong property.
chattel slavery
Spanning over 2,500 miles along South America's Pacific coast, this empire built an extensive highway system without the use of the wheel or written language.
the Inca Empire
****Up to 90% of Indigenous American populations died following European contact primarily due to a lack of natural immunity to these Old World threats
diseases
West African empires like Mali and Songhai grew immensely wealthy long before European contact by controlling trade networks across this vast desert.
the Sahara Desert
This Asian military innovation gave Western powers the firepower required to establish global maritime empires.
gunpowder
**** What was Columbus the first person to initiate between the New and Old Worlds?
The Columbian Exchange
Known as the "Mother Culture" of Mesoamerica, this ancient civilization is famous for carving massive stone colossal heads out of basalt rock.
the Olmecs
European plantation owners in the Americas established cash-crop systems that relied heavily on crops introduced from Europe, such as this sweet stalk commodity grown heavily in Brazil and the Caribbean
sugarcane
Created by Majorcan cartographers in 1375, this famous world map featured an illustration of Mansa Musa holding a gold nugget, driving European interest in reaching West
the Catalan Atlas
****Medieval Japan practiced these two religions
Buddhism; Shinto
An estimated 10 to 12.5 million enslaved individuals were forcibly taken from this primary African region to be shipped across the Atlantic.
What is West Africa (or the West African coast)?
Flourishing in the Valley of Mexico before the Aztecs, this multi-ethnic city state built the massive Pyramid of the Sun and Pyramid of the Moon.
Teotihuacan
This Genoese navigator landed in the Caribbean in 1492 while searching for a westward route to Asia, believing until his death that he had reached the East Indies
Christopher Columbus
Along with Mali, this major West African empire was highlighted in our reading as a dominant trading power along the Atlantic coast and trans-Saharan routes.
the Songhai Empire
**** When did the Age of Exploration begin, and what were Europeans desperate to get from Asia?
1400's; spices
**** This individual details his experience on the voyage known as the Middle Passage, during the Atlantic Slave Trade
Olaudah Equiano
**** Known for their use of terrace farming for agriculture
This early Andean civilization, flourishing on the arid northern coast of Peru from 100 to 700 CE, is famous for its elaborate gold metalwork and the rich royal tombs of Sipán.
the Moche (or Mochica)
**** The Ghana civilization was seen as the center of what trading resources
gold and ivory
Originally developed in Ming Dynasty China, this navigational tool used Earth's magnetic field to help European sailors determine direction on open oceans.
the magnetic compass
Before European contact, slavery in West Africa was typically non-hereditary and resulted from paying off debt, serving time for a crime, or being captured as this.
prisoner of war