Complex Societies and Civilizations
Both the Aztec and Inca civilizations were conquered by armies from which European nation?
What is Spain?
This term refers to the belief that spirits exist in both living and nonliving things.
What is animism?
These small, stationary, artificial islands built on Lake Texcoco for agricultural purposes demonstrated the ability of the Aztecs to adapt to their region’s physical geography.
What are chinampas (or floating gardens)?
This mountain system of South America runs the entirety of the continent's west coast and was home to the Inca civilization.
The ancient Sumerians, Egyptians, and Mayas all invented creative ways to do this, which means the artificial application of water to land.
What is irrigation?
This civilization flourished on the Yucatán Peninsula in what is now Guatemala and Southeast Mexico c. 250-900 C.E.
Who are the Maya?
This term, derived from the Latin word "deus," is a synonym for god or goddess.
What is "deity"?
This method of growing crops on sides of hills or mountains by planting on graduated levels built into the slope was a key innovation of the Inca Empire.
What is terrace farming?
This is the largest river in Latin America, South America, and the world by volume of water discharged, accounting for approximately one-fifth of the world's total river flow.
What is the Amazon River?
This 4,000-mile network of trade routes connecting China and India to the Mediterranean operated from roughly 130 B.C. to 1453 A.D.
What is the Silk Road?
These Empires gained wealth by controlling the trade of gold, ivory, and salt across the Sahara Desert.
What are the Mali and Songhai Empires?
The Aztecs, the Maya, and the Inca all participated in this bloody practice because they believed that life was the most valuable gift to the gods.
What is human sacrifice?
These hand-made suspension bridges over canyons, gorges and rivers were an integral part of the Inca road system and exemplify Inca innovation in engineering.
What are Inca rope bridges?
This river was essential to the survival of the West African kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai.
What is the Niger River?
This 600-year superpower (c. 1299–1922) spanned three continents at its peak and was known for its conquest of Constantinople, elite Janissary troops, and the religious tolerance of the Millet system.
What was the Ottoman Empire?
This form of farming, in which nearly all of the crops or livestock raised are used to maintain the farmer and the farmer’s family, was common to most people of the Songhai, Inca, and Aztec empires.
What is subsistence farming?
This god, whose name in Nahuatl means "Feathered Serpent," is a major Mesoamerican deity representing wind, Venus, knowledge, and arts, primarily revered by the Aztecs.
Who is Quetzalcóatl?
This is the name of the ancient capital of the Aztec empire, located at the site of modern Mexico City and founded c. 1325 in the marshes of Lake Texcoco.
What is Tenochtitlán?
This site of ancient Inca ruins, located about 50 miles northwest of Cuzco, Peru, in the Andes Mountains, served as a royal retreat before it was mysteriously abandoned.
What is Machu Picchu?
This religious revolution that took place in the Western church in the 16th century had far-reaching political, economic, and social effects, and became the basis for the founding of Protestantism, one of the three major branches of Christianity.
What was the Reformation?
This farming method involves the cutting down and burning of trees and vegetation to create a nutrient-rich layer of ash, which fertilizes the soil for crops.
What is slash-and-burn agriculture?
This was the name of the creator deity originally worshiped by the pre-Inca inhabitants of Peru and later assimilated into the Inca pantheon.
Who is Viracocha?
This was the ninth Aztec emperor of Mexico, famous for his dramatic confrontation with the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés.
Who was Montezuma II?
This term refers to a historical cultural region spanning from central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica.
What is Mesoamerica?
This Chinese ruling family that lasted from 1368 to 1644 restored native Chinese rule after the Yuan (Mongol) dynasty, restored Beijing as the capitol, and built the Forbidden City.
What is the Ming Dynasty?