Early North America
These portable, cone-shaped homes were used by Native Americans of the Great Plains, especially after they acquired horses.
What is a Tepee?
This farming method, where trees are cut and burned to fertilize the soil, was used by the Maya in the tropical forest.
What is Slash-and-burn agriculture?
This was the name of the island capital city of the Aztec Empire, built on Lake Texcoco.
What is Tenochtitlan?
This South American mountain range, home to the Inca Empire, stretched 2,500 miles.
What are the Andes Mountains?
This early South American civilization built great temples and was a foundational culture in the Andes before the Inca.
Who are the Chavín?
This early culture of the Southwest built complex, stone apartment-style homes into the sides of cliffs.
Who are the Ancestral Pueblo (or Anasazi)?
The Maya used symbols called this in their most advanced writing system in the ancient Americas.
What are Hieroglyphics (or Glyphs)?
The Aztecs developed these unique artificial islands in Lake Texcoco to create fertile land for farming.
What are Chinampas?
The Inca built terraces into the hillsides and carried water to them using this technology.
What are Irrigation Canals?
The Inca valued this woven good, made from alpaca and vicuña wool, even more than gold.
What are Textiles?
This ceremony, held by wealthy Northwest Coast families, involved a feast and giving gifts to guests to show off social status.
What is a Potlatch?
The Maya built temples atop towering pyramids primarily to be closer to the gods, reflecting this core belief system.
What is Religion (or Polytheism)?
This king and god of battle and the sun required human blood, which the Aztecs provided to prevent the sun from disappearing.
Who is Huitzilopochtli?
This Sapa Inca (ruler) began the empire's expansion and offered peace to groups who agreed to join and pay taxes in labor.
Who is Pachacuti?
This title was held by the warrior-kings who led the Incan Empire.
What is the Sapa Inca?
This natural event, meaning a long period of little or no rain, led to the decline of both the Ancestral Pueblo and Mississippian cultures.
What is a Drought?
This complex system used by the Maya tracked celestial paths and included a 260-day religious cycle and a 365-day solar cycle.
What are Calendars?
The Aztec ruler, who was the most powerful in the Triple Alliance, decided everything related to this action after 1428.
What is War (or Warfare)?
The Inca paid their taxes using this labor system instead of money, requiring commoners to work on government land.
What is the Mita System?
The highest nobles in the Incan Empire were close relatives of the ruling family, living in the finest houses and forming the top of the social ranking system.
What is the Hierarchy?
Formed in the 1500s to end wars, this organization united five major groups in the Northeast Woodlands.
What is the Iroquois League?
This significant mathematical achievement, invented by the Maya, was included in their numeral system and made calculation much easier.
What is Zero?
This payment, demanded by the Aztec king from conquered lands, included food, clothing, and military supplies.
What is Tribute?
This record-keeping device, made of knotted strings, was used by the Inca to track records of goods and people.
What is the Quipu?
This city, located in present-day Peru, was the capital and administrative center of the Incan Empire.
What is Cuzco?