Mayas
the most important crop for the Mayan civilization
What is maize (corn)?
the three objects that appeared in the Aztec prophecy that they based the location of their capital city on
What are an eagle, a snake, and a cactus?
the most important crop for the Incan civilization
What is the potato?
the only social group allowed to read and interpret the calendars
Who are the priests?
a farming technique used by the Maya in which vegetation is cut away and burned to clear land for growing crops
What is slash-and-burn agriculture?
what the Mayas believed their gods received strength from
What is the blood of human sacrifices?
how the Aztec empire was destroyed in 1519
What is the Spanish invaded?
the fraction of what they produced that Incan commoners had to pay in taxes
What is 2/3rds?
the two major civilizations we've learned about that had a Solar Calendar and a Sacred Calendar
What are the Maya and the Aztecs?
the region extending from modern Mexico through central America
What is Mesoamerica?
the name of the time period that was the height of the Maya civilization
What is the Classic Period?
the name of the people who the Aztecs tried to connect their history with, claiming them as their ancestors even thought they weren't
Who are the Toltecs?
what the Incas often called gold
What is the "sweat of the sun"?
the major Mesoamerican civilization who developed the most complex system of writing in the early Americas, which had many different dialects
Who are the Maya?
what the Aztecs worked as when they first began to establish themselves in the Valley of Mexico
What are mercenaries?
a problem that posed difficulty for the Maya agricultural system and may have caused the collapse of the Maya civilization
What is a growing population?
the three European cities that the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan was larger than, with a population of 200,000-300,000 people
What are London, Paris, and Venice?
What is Sapa Inca?
the civilization who believed Inti, the sun god, to be the most important diety
the name for Incas who can trace their family origins back to the capital city of Cuzco
What is "Incan by blood"?
the previous group the Maya inherited many ideas from and the first Mesoamerican group to use a solar calendar
Who are the Olmecs?
the name of the Aztec-led alliance that defeated the Tepanecs
What is the Triple Alliance?
non-Incan nobles who were allowed to remain the leaders of their people after being conquered by the Incas ONLY IF they followed Incan ways
Who are curacas?
the Mesoamerican civilization who allowed those they conquered to do whatever they wanted, as long as they payed tribute - which helped contribute to this civilization's downfall when outsiders invaded
Who are the Aztecs?
what are the strings with knots tied at different placed to indicate meaning that Incan runners used to carry messages, since there was no written writing system
What are quipas?