Chapter 12 -- The Americas on the Eve of Invasion Flashcards

8690671815	Indians	Misnomer created by Columbus referring to indigenous peoples of New World; implies social or ethnic commonality among Native Americans that did not exist; still used to apply to Native Americans.	0
8690704108	Toltec Culture	Succeeded Teotihuacan culture in central Mexico; strongly militaristic ethic including human sacrifice; influenced large territory after 1000 C.E.; declined after 1200 C.E.	1
8690726462	Topiltzin	Religious leader and reformer of the Toltecs in 10th century; dedicated to god Quetzalcoatl; after losing struggle for power, went into exile in the Yucatan peninsula.	2
8690744489	Quetzalcoatl	Toltec deity; Feathered Serpent; adopted by Aztecs as a major god.	3
8690753738	Tenochtitlan	Founded c. 1325 on marshy island in Lake Texcoco; became center of Aztec power; joined with Tlacopan and Texcoco in 1493 to form a triple alliance that controlled most central plateau of Mesoamerica; Capital of Aztec empire.	4
8690774672	Tlaloc	Major god of Aztecs; associated with fertility and the agricultural cycle; god of rain.	5
8690787355	Huitzilopochtli	Aztec tribal patron god; central figure of cult of human sacrifice and warfare; identified with old sun god.	6
8690798056	Nezhualcoyotl	Leading Aztec king of the 15th century.	7
8690815021	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 utilized by Aztecs.	8
8690827213	Pochteca	Special merchant class in Aztec society; specialized in long-distance trade in luxury items.	9
8691382020	Calpulli	Clans in Aztec society, later expanded to include residential groups that distributed land and provided labor and warriors.	10
8691394143	Pachacuti	Ruler of Inca society from 1438 to 1471; launched a series of military campaigns that gave Incas control of the region from Cuzco to the shores of Lake Titicaca.	11
8691436815	Ayllus	Households in Andean societies that recognized some form of kinship; traced descent from some common, sometimes mythical ancestor.	12
8691449339	Cusco	Capital of Inca empire.	13
8691465169	Twantinsuyu	Word for Inca empire; region from present-day Colombia to Chile and eastward to northern Argentina.	14
8691475454	Split Inheritance	Inca practice of descent; all titles and political power went to successor, but wealth and land remained in hands of male descendants for support of cult of dead Inca's mummy	15
8691497746	Temple of the Sun	Inca religious center located at Cuzco; center of state religion; held mummies of past Incas.	16
8691502840	Tambos	Way stations used by Incas as inns and storehouses; supply centers for Inca armies on the move; relay points for system of runners used to carry messages.	17
8691515149	Mita	Labor extracted for lands assigned to the state and the religion; all communities were expected to contribute; an essential aspect of Inca imperial control.	18
8691524243	Inca Socialism	A view created by Spanish authors to describe 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.	19
8691537422	Yanas	A class of people within Inca society removed from their ayllus to serve permanently as servants, artisans, or workers for the Inca or the Inca nobility.	20
8691548324	Quipu	System of knotted strings utilized by the Incas in place of a writing system; could contain numerical and other types of information for censuses and financial records.	21