The Geography of Mesoamerica, the Olmec & the Zapotec
Mesoamericans had three main crops, also known as "the three sisters", grown in the highlands - the three main crops are____________.
What god was one of the most important Maya gods? This god represented the cycle of life (birth- life- death).
What was the name of the city that the Aztecs created in 1325 AD? What is the name of this city today?
What is Tenochtitlan (1325 AD) & Mexico City (today).
What are the three precious metals the Incas used to make jewelry and other items?
What is gold, silver, and copper?
The cultures of the Pacific Northwest region included the Tlingit, the Kwakiutl, and the Haida. They lived by hunting and gathering, but settled in permanent villages. They traded extensively with neighboring cultures and shared in a special gift-giving ceremony called a __________.
What is a potlach?
This culture is considered to be the "Mother Culture" in Mesoamerica.
What is the Olmec culture.
The Mayans had a class system with 4 levels. What were the names of the four different levels?
(top) king
priests and warriors
merchants and craftspeople
Farmers and slaves
The Aztecs built Tenochtitlan on two islands in a swamp in the western part of Lake Texcoco. To feed their growing population, they constructed artificial fields called _________ .
What are chinampas?
What is the name for the large geometric designs and shapes drawn on the ground? The shapes often took the form of animals or birds. The purpose of the design is not entirely known.
What are geoglyphs?
The wood carving of the Northwest Coast cultures reveals their relationship to the natural world and their belief in a spirit world.
1. The mask carving and ceremonies were led by a _____________.
2. These things told stories, legends, as well as family and tribal history. Bears, whales, eagles, chiefs, ancestors, and supernatural spirits were carved on ______________.
What is a shaman?
What are totem poles?
This god was seen as the most important god for the Olmecs.
What is the jaguar god.
What is to honor their gods.
What are the 5 different levels of the Aztec social class?
(Top) Emperor
Nobility & priests
Merchants, Artisans, Soldiers
Farmers, fishers, women
slaves & serfs
You must answer all 4 correctly to get points.
There were four groups of early Inca people.
1. One group of Incas showed great creativity in adapting to the changing environment.
2. A second group created jewelry, ceramic pottery, and geoglyphs.
3. A third group had a strong military and established the first empire in the region of the Andes Mountains. They were also skilled farmers who cultivated crops on the rugged terrain of the Andes mountains, where they created terraced fields on the sides of the hills and mountains.
4. A fourth group created delicate jewelry from gold, silver, and copper. They also had a great respect for the creatures in the natural world.
Who are
1. the Moche
2. the Nasca
3. the Wari
4. the Sican
This is a three-part question. You need to get all parts correct to earn the points.
1. What was the name of the ancient Pueblo site in present-day southwestern Colorado?
2. What does the name of this place mean/translate to?
3. What is ONE unique feature about the dwellings at this site?
1. What is "Mesa Verde"
2. Mesa Verde means "green table."
3. The dwellings are built into the sides of cliffs to defend themselves from invaders and provide protection from the rain and intense sun.
This culture was the first to build major cities in Mesoamerica.
What is the Zapotec culture.
The Maya used symbolic pictures called glyphs to represent words, syllables, and sounds that could be combined into complex sentences. They carved glyphs into their monuments, stelae, and tombs. Scribes recorded people's history in a special book. What is the name of the boo,k and what was it made out of?
What is a codex - a book made of tree-bark paper.
This is a two part question - you need to answer both correctly to get points.
1. This is the name of an important site for the Aztecs because it was the place where the gods were born. 2. The Aztecs built many temples and two vast pyramids at this special place - who did they dedicate the two pyramids to?
1. What is Teotihuacan?
2. What are, the sun and moon.
This Inca leader expanded the empire rapidly.
His name means “he who changed the world.”
He transformed the Inca capital, Cusco, to 100,000 people.
The Inca Empire stretched 2,600 miles, and 12 million people spoke 20 different languages
Who is Pachacuti?
The people of the Great Plains hunted buffalo. What are THREE ways they used buffalo?
What is. . .
- for meat (raw, roasted or smoked jerky)
- skins for clothes and tents
- bones for tools
- sinew/tendons for bowstrings
- boiled hooves for glue
- dung(waste) for fuel
This city was built high atop a mountain in the Oaxaca Valley, which helped the people defend themselves against their enemies.
What is Monte Alban.
The history and culture of the Maya is written down in books. What is the most famous of these books & what is the book about?
What is Popol Vuh, the Mayan creation story.
The Aztec empire was made worse by an emperor who considered himself an equal to the gods, he had people pay more tribute to pay for his luxurious lifestyle, so the people rebelled until the Spanish conquistadors arrived. Who was this Aztec ruler & who was the leader of the Spanish conquistadors?
Who is Moctezuma II (Aztec leader) & Hernan Cortes (Spanish Conquistador leader)
The Incas were gifted engineers and built an extensive network of roads and bridges that helped them transport people and goods. They used aqueducts to bring water to the terraced farming. They constructed walls, buildings, and entire cities out of stone they quarried in the Andes mountains without the use of iron or steel tools. What is the name of the city and WHY did it survived the Spanish conquest in 1530?
It survived the Spanish conquest because the Spanish NEVER FOUND IT!
Divide the Native American groups listed below into TWO groups, the Mound Builders and the East/Southeast cultures.
Cahoikia Cherokee Iroquois
Algonquin Adena Creek
Hopewell Mississippians
Who are ...
Mound builders:
Cahoikia Hopewell Adena Mississipians
East/Southeast:
Cherokee Creek Algonquin Iroquois