Mother Culture
This civilization is known as the "mother culture" of Mesoamerica.
What is the Olmec civilization?
The Aztec capital, built on an island in Lake Texcoco, became one of the largest cities in the world.
What is Tenochtitlan?
The Inca recorded data using this system of knotted strings.
What is a quipu?
This 1763 proclamation forbade colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains.
What is the Proclamation of 1763?
Established in 1607, this was the first permanent English settlement in North America.
What is Jamestown?
These massive basalt sculptures, some weighing up to 50 tons, are associated with Olmec rulers.
What are the Olmec colossal heads?
The Aztec used these floating garden beds in the lake to grow crops.
What are chinampas?
The Maya built towering structures such as these, often used for religious ceremonies and astronomy.
What are step-pyramids (or temples)?
Passed in 1764, this act tightened enforcement of a tax on a sweet commodity often smuggled.
What is the Sugar Act?
On December 16, 1773, colonists protested a tax on tea by dumping it into this harbor.
What is Boston Harbor? (Boston Tea Party)
The Olmec developed an early form of these, which later influenced Maya and Aztec societies.
What is a writing system (or early writing)?
The Aztec raised this through a system requiring defeated peoples to pay in goods and sometimes people.
What is tribute?
To farm on steep mountain slopes, the Inca used these stepped agricultural fields.
What are terraces (or terrace farming)?
This 1765 act taxed legal documents, newspapers, and playing cards, sparking outrage.
What is the Stamp Act?
In 1770, British soldiers fired into a hostile crowd in Boston, killing five colonists.
What is the Boston Massacre?
This Olmec innovation involved ritual sports and was adopted by later Mesoamerican cultures.
What is the ballgame?
The Aztec social structure centered on this powerful figure at the top.
Who is the Aztec emperor?
This famous Inca citadel, known for its precise stonework, sits high in the Andes.
What is Machu Picchu?
These 1767 laws placed duties on imports like glass, lead, paper, and tea.
What are the Townshend Acts?
This act required colonists to house and supply British troops stationed in America.
What is the Quartering Act?
Alongside their art, the Olmec created a calendar system and an elite class based on this.
What is a priestly or religious elite?
A major and controversial part of Aztec religion involved this dramatic ritual.
What is human sacrifice?
This mathematical concept, rare in many ancient societies, was known and used by the Maya.
What is zero?
Passed in 1774, this set of laws punished Massachusetts and united the colonies in protest.
What are the Intolerable Acts (Coercive Acts)?
This act, issued after the French and Indian War, led colonists to cry out “no taxation without representation.”
What is the Stamp Act?