Meso-American Empires
This capital city of the Aztec Empire was built on an island in Lake Texcoco.
What is Tenochtitlan?
This was the capital city of the Inca Empire
What is Cuzco?
These people of the Southwest built large apartment-style homes into canyon walls.
Who are the Puebloans (or Anasazi)?
Both the Maya and Aztecs were this, meaning they believed in many gods.
What is polytheistic?
Both the Maya and Aztecs developed highly accurate versions of these to track time and religious cycles.
What are calendars?
Known as "mother culture," they were the first American civilization.
Who are the Olmec?
The Inca used this system of knotted, colored strings to keep records.
What is quipu?
These people, who began their civilizations in as early as 2000 BC lived in the frigid climates of northern Canada.
Who are the Inuit (or Eskimo)
Unlike the Maya, the Incas did not have a written alphabet; they used these instead to pass down history.
What is oral tradition (or storytelling)?
The Bring Land Bridge Theory predicts that the earliest American settlers came from ______ and crossed frozen water/ice and entered southward from Alaska.
What is Siberia?
This is the Native American name for corn, which was the staple crop of the Maya and Aztecs.
What is maize?
The Sapa Inca claimed to be a descendant of this god.
Who is Inti (the sun god)?
This alliance of five distinct nations was formed in the Northeast to end tribal warfare.
What is the Iroquois League?
These beans were so valuable to the Maya and Aztecs that they were sometimes used as a form of currency.
What are cacao beans (chocolate)?
The Inuit created this word for something they used daily. It was an essential mode of transportation for them.
What is kayak?
Artificial islands made of mud piled on reed mats used by the Aztecs for farming.
What are chinampas?
He was the powerful emperor who began the rapid expansion of the Inca Empire.
Who is Pachacuti?
Besides warfare, this was the primary reason millions of Native Americans died after Europeans arrived.
What is disease (specifically smallpox)?
The mixture of clay and plant fibers used to build homes in the Southwest.
What is adobe?
How many miles of roads did the Incan Empire consist of? (+ or - 3000 miles)
25,000 miles
This sharp, glass-like volcanic rock was used by Mesoamericans to make spears and ritual knives.
What is obsidian?
Because they lived on steep mountains, the Incas used this method of "step" farming.
What is terrace farming?
In Iroquois society, women held great power; they owned property and these female leaders chose the tribal chiefs.
Who are the Clan Mothers?
This "Triple Threat" of crops was the foundation of North American farming known as the 'Three Sisters'.
What are corn, beans, and squash?
The Mississippians built these mounds of earth for a variety of purposes about 800-1,600 years ago.
What are earthworks?