Terms : Hide Images
| 1082428067 | Indian | Misnomer created by Columbus when referring to indigenous American peoples; implies social and ethnic commonalty that did not exist among Native Americans; still used to describe Native Americans | 0 | |
| 1082428068 | Toltecs | Nomadic peoples from beyond the northern frontier of sedentary agriculture in Mesoamerica; established capital at Tula after migration into central Mesoamerican plateau; strongly militaristic ethic, including cult of human sacrifice | 1 | |
| 1082428069 | Aztecs | The Mexica; one of the nomadic tribes that penetrated into the sedentary zone of the Mesoamerican plateau after the fall of the Toltecs; established empire after 1325 around shores of Lake Texcoco | 2 | |
| 1082428070 | Tenochtitlan | Founded circa 1325 on a marshy island in Lake Texcoco; became center of Aztec power | 3 | |
| 1082428071 | Chinampas | Beds of aquatic weeds, mud, and earth placed in frames made of cane and rooted in lakes to create "floating islands"; system of irrigated agriculture used by Aztecs | 4 | |
| 1082428072 | Nahuatl | An Uto-Aztecan language spoken by about 1.5 million people in Mexico. The majority of speakers live in central Mexico, particularly in Puebla, Veracruz, Hildago, San Luis Potosi, Guerrero, Mexico (state), El Distrito Federal, Tlaxcala, Morelos and Oaxaca, and also in El Salvador. There are smaller numbers of Nahuatl speakers throughout the rest of Mexico, and in parts of the USA | 5 | |
| 1082428073 | Inca socialism | An interpretation describing Inca society as a type of utopia; image of the Inca Empire as a carefully organized system in which every community collectively contributed to the whole | 6 | |
| 1082428074 | Twantinsuyu | Inca word for their empire; region from Colombia to Chile and eastward into Bolivia and Argentina | 7 | |
| 1082428075 | Inca | Group of clans (ayllu) centered at Cuzco; created an empire in the Andes during the 15th century; also title of the ruler | 8 | |
| 1082428076 | Split inheritance | Inca practice of ruler descent; all titles and political power went to the successor, but wealth and land remained in the hands of male descendants for support of dead Inca's mummy | 9 | |
| 1082428077 | Temple of the Sun | Inca religious center at Cuzco; center of state religion; held mummies of past Incas | 10 | |
| 1082428078 | Tambos | Way stations used by Incas as inns and storehouses; supply centers for Inca armies; relay points for system of runners used to carry messages | 11 | |
| 1082428079 | Mita | Labor extracted for lands assigned to the state and the religion; all communities were expected to contribute; an essential part of Inca control | 12 | |
| 1082428080 | Cannibal Kingdom | Modern interpretation of Aztec society created by Marvin Harris; based on observation that Mesoamerica lacked cattle and sheep that replaced human sacrifice in the Old World. While there is universal agreement that some Mesoamerican people practiced human sacrifice there is a lack of scholarly consensus as to whether cannibalism in pre-Columbian America was widespread. Marvin Harris suggested that the flesh of the victims was a part of an aristocratic diet as a reward, since the Aztec diet was lacking in proteins. According to Harris, the Aztec economy would not support feeding them as slaves and the columns of prisoners were "marching meat". | 13 | |
| 1082428081 | Quipu | System of knotted strings used by the Incas in place of a writing system; could contain numerical and other types of information for censuses and financial records | 14 | |
| 1082428082 | Chimor | (also Kingdom of Chimor) was the political grouping of the Chimu culture that ruled the northern coast of Peru, beginning around 850 AD and ending around 1470 | 15 | |
| 1082428083 | Hernan Cortés | (1485 - 1547) Led expedition of 600 Spanish soldiers to coast of Mexico in 1519; conquistador responsible for defeat of Aztec Empire; captured Tenochtitlan | 16 | |
| 1082428084 | "Flowery death" | Death while taking prisoners for the sacrificial knife. | 17 | |
| 1082428085 | Yanas | Incan class of people who were removed from their ayllus and served permanently as servants, artisans, or workers for the Inca or nobility | 18 |
