The Americas on the Eve of Invasion
Terms : Hide Images
| 298931910 | Indians | peoples who had been indigenes of the Americas for long periods of time. | 0 | |
| 298931911 | Toltec Culture | these people established their capital in Tula, around 968. They adopted a culture of sedentary peoples, with militaristic ethic, and even included the practice of human sacrifice. | 1 | |
| 298931912 | Topiltzin | a Toltec leader and apparently a priest dedicated to the god Quetzalcoatl. He later became mixed up with the same god he was supposedly dedicated to. His legend may have influenced the arrival of the Europeans. | 2 | |
| 298931913 | Quetzalcoatl | "The Feather Serpent" | 3 | |
| 298931914 | Tenochtitlan | An Aztec city that was founded around 1325. | 4 | |
| 298931915 | Tlaloc | The Aztec god of rain. | 5 | |
| 298931916 | Huitzilopochtli | the Aztec tribal patron who became the central figure of the cult. He was seen as the old sun god, fighting to give life to the world. | 6 | |
| 298931917 | Nezhualcoyotl | the king of Texcoco who wrote hymns to the "lord of close vicinity," who was an invisible creative force that supported all the gods. His poems were written in the 16th century. | 7 | |
| 298931918 | Chinampas | beds of aquatic weeds, mud, and earth that had been placed in frames made of cane and rooted to the lake floor. They formed fake floating islands that were 100 to 330 feet wide and 17 feet long. Much of the land of Tenochtitlan was actually made of these. | 8 | |
| 298931919 | Pochteca | the special merchant class that was especially dedicated to the trade of luxury items over long distances. They worked with items such as cocoa, tropical bird feathers, and etc. | 9 | |
| 298931920 | Calpulli | seven separate clans that the Aztec had been divided into, as a measure of social organization. They expanded on this late and adapted it into their imperial position. | 10 | |
| 298931921 | Pachacuti | (r. 1438-1471); the Inca (or ruler) who mandated the launch of a series of military alliances and campaigns that brought the Quechua-speaking people group control over the area from Cuzco to the shores of Lake Titicaca. | 11 | |
| 298931922 | Twantinsuyu | This was the name for the Incan Empire. It extended from modern-day Columbia to Chile, and eastward toward Lake Titicaca and Bolivia, to northern Argentina. | 12 | |
| 298931923 | Split Inheritance | a royal practice in which all political power and titles of the ruler went to his successor, but all his palaces, wealth, land, and possessions remained in the hands of his male descendants, who used them to support the cult of the dead Inca's mummy for forever. | 13 | |
| 298931924 | Temple of the Sun | The temple in Cuzco which was the center of the state religion, plus, all the Incan mummies were kept there. | 14 | |
| 298931925 | Tambos | These were way-stations that were placed about a day's walk apart, to serve as inns, storehouses, and supply centers for Inca armies. There were probably more than 10,000 of these supported by the Inca. | 15 | |
| 298931926 | Mita | Labor turns that were an essential aspect of Incan rule. | 16 | |
| 298931927 | Yanas | People who were removed from their ayllus and served permanently as servants, artisans, or workers for the Inca or nobility. | 17 | |
| 298931928 | Quipo | A system of knotted strings used to record numerical and perhaps other info. It worked like an abacus. | 18 |
