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| 60785396 | Toltecs | Migrated from arid land of NW Mexico; used water of Tula River to irrigate crops of maize, beans, peppers, tomatoes, chilies, and cotton; land was very thin and had little rainfall; maintained large and powerful army that campaigned throughout central Mexico; built regional empire and kept fortresses in NW to keep nomadic people from invading; high point was about 950-1150 CE: population about 60,000 people; collected tribute from subject people; built houses made of stone, adobe, or mud; capital at Tula; 1125 CE: faced civil conflicts; 1175: civil conflict and nomadic incursion destroyed Toltec state | 0 | |
| 60785397 | Mexica | also known as the Aztecs; "the place of the seven legendary caves"; arrived in C. Mexico in middle of 13th century; migrated for a century around C. Mexico due to their neighbors driving them out; settled on island in marshy region of Lake Texcoco in 1345; capital at Tenochtitlan, which later became Mexico City; developed chinampa system of agriculture; grew crops of maize, beans, squashes, tomatoes, peppers, and chilies; lake served as natural defense; had three causeways that linked capital to surrounding mainland; campaigns of imperial expansion under Itzcoatl (1428-1440) and Motecuzoma I (1440-1469); joined forces w/ neighboring cities: Texcoco and Tlacopan to create a triple alliance | 1 | |
| 60785398 | Huitzilopochtli | patron deity of Mexica warriors in early years of 14th century; human sacrifices were made to him | 2 | |
| 60785399 | Quetzacoatl | "the Feathered Serpent"; one of the two principal gods of the Mexica; supported arts, crafts, and agriculture | 3 | |
| 60785400 | Pueblo | one of the peoples who lived in North American region; used river waters to irrigate crops of maize, which were about 80% of diet; cultivated beans, squashes, and sunflowers; also had wild plants, and small game like rabbit; 700 CE: began to construct permanent stone and adobe buildings | 4 | |
| 60785401 | Iroquois | large-scale agricultural societies that emerged in the woodlands east of the Mississippi River; cultivated maize and beans; 1000: Owasco people established distinct society in what is now upstate New York; 1400: five Iroquois nations: Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca; | 5 | |
| 60785402 | Inca | settled in region around Lake Titicaca about 13th century; 1438: ruler Pachacuti (1438-1471) launched series of military campaigns that expanded Incas' authority; extended control over southern and northern highlands, then to coastal kingdom of Chimu; late fifteenth century: empire from modern Quito to Santiago; ruled as a military and administrative elite; armies were made up of conquered people; bureaucracy managed empire's political affairs; took hostages from ruling classes and forced them to live at Inca capital; capital at Cuzco; population exceeded 100,000 and may have reached 300,000 at high point | 6 | |
| 60785403 | Mo'ikeha | a high chief who left Tahiti due to domestic difficulties and migrated Hawaii, where he founded a new chiefly line | 7 | |
| 60785404 | Tezcatlipoca | "the Smoking Mirror"; one of the two principal gods of the Mexica; the giver and taker of life; patron deity of warriors | 8 | |
| 60785405 | Maya | maintained relations w/ Toltecs; (300 to 1100 C.E.) after the Olmecs, the Maya occupied a region by southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador; built many ceremonial centers and cities such as Tikal. Around 800 C.E.; organized themselves into scores of small city-kingdoms that constantly fought amongst each other; they were brilliant and known for their math, astronomy, and a sophisticated written language; Maya population began to decline due to water control problems and food shortages. | 9 | |
| 60785406 | Polynesians | ventured to western coast of South America where they learned about the cultivation of sweet potatoes; did not have access to range of technologies developed by continental people until 16th century; explored their environments, established productive agricultural economies, built elaborate well-organized societies, and engaged in trade w/ their neighbors | 10 | |
| 60785407 | Tenochtitlan | capital of Aztec (Mexica) empire; located in Lake Texcoco; later the foundation of Mexico City; used chinampa system of agriculture | 11 | |
| 60785408 | Chinampas | system of agriculture used in Tenochtitlan; dredged a rich, fertile muck from bottom of the lake and put it into small plots of land called chinampas; very fertile- sometimes enabling cultivators to harvest 7 crops per year | 12 | |
| 60785409 | Quipu | an array of small cords of various colors and lengths, all suspended from one large, thick cord; helped Inca experts remember certain kinds of information, such as statistical information, state property, taxes, labor services; helped remember historical information | 13 | |
| 60785410 | Cahokia | where the largest surviving structure of the mound-building people; the third largest structure in the western hemisphere before arrival of Europeans; only temple of the sun in Teotihuacan and the temple of Quetzalcoatl in Cholula were bigger | 14 | |
| 60785411 | Marae | most distinctive architecture of early Pacific societies; the ceremonial temple structure; also known as heiau in Hawaiian; had several terraced floors w/ a rock or coral designating the boundaries of the sacred space; largest was Mahaiatea on Tahiti that was a step pyramid | 15 | |
| 60785412 | Nan Madol | where Sandeleur dynasty created their powerful state and organized a stone palace and administrative center; built between 1200-1600 | 16 | |
| 60785413 | Ali'I nui | classes of high chiefs in Hawaii; had the right to wear magnificent cloaks that had thousands of bright red and yellow bird feathers | 17 | |
| 60785414 | kapu | "taboo"; forbade commoners from approaching or even casting a shadow on the ali'i nui | 18 | |
| 60785415 | sweet potato | spread by the Polynesians from South America between 400-700 CE; became prominent source of food in islands that it reached | 19 |
