Vocab
Civilization
A society – or a people sharing a language, territory, and economy – that has certain basic features
Glaciers
thick sheets of ice
Surplus
extra food to support large populations
Settlements
small communities that are started in a new place
city-states
A political unit that controls a city and its surrounding land.
causeways
Raised roads made of packed earth
Quipu
A device made of cord or string with knots that stood for quantities; used by the Incas to keep accounts and records.
terraced
wide, flat steps of land
Culture region
a region in which people share an analogous way of life
Adobe
Sundried brick.
Pueblos
Villages that the Ancestral Puebloan builders made of adobe
Diffusion
The process where skills, (also ideas and religions) such as farming spread from one American Indian group to another.
Potlatch
A ceremonial dinner, to show off the host’s wealth in the NW Native Americans
Clan
group of related families
Iroquois League
5 Iroquois nations formed an alliance to end fighting, named Iroquois League.
Feudalism
system of rule by lords who rule their lands but owed loyalty and military service to a monarch
Manor
The lord’s castle and the lands around it, including several villages. Each manor was self-sufficient.
Crusades
Series of wars fought by Christians, to control the “Holy Land,” which included Jerusalem and other places where Jesus had lived and taught
Astrolabe
Helped sailors determine their latitude at sea.
Silk Road
Overland routes over central Asia, linked China and Middle East; known as the Silk Road because Chinese silks had been carried over them for 1,000+ years.
Caravan
or groups of people who traveled together for safety while trading.
Kinship
Sharing a common ancestor.
Renaissance
1300s-1600s, when the world discovered lots of things and tech was advanced. It means rebirth.
Decline
to draw to a close
Innovation
A new method or idea