SIGNIFICANT TERMS
Physical Geography
Human Geography
People and Environment
Mixed Bag
100
A Native American people who ruled Mexico and neighboring areas before the Spaniards conquered the region in the sixteenth century.
Who were the Aztecs?
100
A strip of land that connects two large landmasses.
What is a land bridge?
100
Spanish soldier who participated in conquest of indigenous peoples of Latin America.
What is a Conquistador?
100
Farm product grown to be sold or traded rather than used by the farm family.
What is a cash crop?
100
Relating to or caused by an earthquake.
What is seismic?
200
One of the most important cities/archaeological sites in Ancient Maya. Located on the Yucatan peninsula it served as an important religious and political symbol for the Ancient Maya.
What is Chichen Itza?
200
Mountain range that runs from the Rio Grande on the border between Coahuila and Texas south through Nuevo León, southwest Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Querétaro, and Hidalgo to northern Puebla, where it joins with the east-west running Eje Volcánico Transversal of central Mexico.
What is the Sierra Madre Oriental?
200
Religious outposts in Imperial Spain that were used to spread Christianity.
What is a mission?
200
A large estate or plantation with a dwelling house in Imperial Spain.
What is a hacienda?
200
An area of a country in which trade restrictions do not apply.
What is a free trade zone?
300
Land mass in Central America extending into the Gulf of Mexico between the Bay of Campeche and the Caribbean Sea.
What is the Yucatan Peninsula?
300
Major mountain range system of the North American Cordillera, that runs northwest/southeast through Northwestern and Western Mexico, and along the Gulf of California.
What is the Sierra Madre Occidental?
300
People of mixed indigenous and European descent.
What is a mestizo?
300
The value of goods and services produced with a country in a year.
What is gross domestic product?
300
The practice of subcontracting manufacturing work to outside companies, especially foreign or nonunion companies.
What is outsourcing?
400
The capital city of the Aztec Empire from the middle of the 1300s to the early 1500s.
What is Tenochtitlan?
400
Large composite volcano that is generally cited as the fourth highest of Mexico's peaks, after Pico de Orizaba, Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl, although by some measurements, Sierra Negra is slightly higher.
What is the Nevado de Tocula?
400
Military outposts in Imperial Spain used to house soldiers in order to protect various populations centers.
What is a presidio?
400
Blending of beliefs and practices from different religions into one faith.
What is syncretism?
400
Technological and economic grown that does not deplete the human and natural resources of a given area.
What is sustainable development?
500
Ancient Central American civilization that reached its height around 300-900 AD. They are noted for their architecture and city planning, their mathematics and calendar, and their hieroglyphic writing system.
Who were the Mayans?
500
Occurs as elevations increases, with its own natural vegetation and crops.
What is a vertical climate zone?
500
A Spanish military or political leader.
What is a Caudillo?
500
The sinking or settling of land to a lower level in response to various natural and human-caused factors.
What is land subsidence?
500
In Mexico, a manufacturing plant owned by a foreign company.
What is a maquiladora?
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