Vocabulary Chapter 12 : The Americas on the Eve of Invasion Flashcards

8422047792	Indians	Misnomer created by Columbus referring to indigenous peoples of New World; implies social and ethnic commonality among Native Americans that did not exist; still used to apply to Native Americans.	0
8422047793	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
8422047794	Toplitzin	Religious leader and reformer of the Toltecs in 10th century; dedicated to god Quetzalcoatl; after loosing struggle for priestly or political power, went into exile with followers in the Yucatan peninsula.	2
8422047795	Quetzalcoatal	Toltec deity; Feathered Serpent; adopted by Aztecs as major god.	3
8422047796	Tenochtitlan	Founded c. 1325 on marshy island in Lake Texcoco; became center of Aztec power; joined with Tlacopan and Texcoco in 1434 to form a triple alliance that controlled most of central plateau of Mesoamerica.	4
8422047797	Tlaloc	Major god of Aztecs; associated with fertility and the agricultural cycle; god of rain.	5
8422047798	Huitzilopochtli	Aztec tribal patron god; central figure of cult and human sacrifice and warfare; identified with old sun god.	6
8422047799	Nezhualcoyotl	Leading Aztec king of the 15th century.	7
8422047800	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
8422047801	Pochteca	Special merchant class in Aztec society; specialized in long distance trade in luxury items.	9
8422047802	Calpulli	Clans in Aztec society, later expanded to include residential groups that distributed land and provided labor and warriors.	10
8422047803	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
8422047804	Ayllus	Households in Andean societies that recognized some form of kinship; traced descent from some common, sometimes mythical ancestor.	12
8422047805	Twantinsuyu	Inca empire; region from present-day Colombia to Chile and eastward to northern Argentina.	13
8422047806	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.	14
8422047807	Temple of the Sun	Inca religious center located at Cuzco; center of state religion; held mummies of past Incas.	15
8422047808	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; Way for bureaucrats to stay updated.	16
8422047809	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.	17
8422047810	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.	18
8422047811	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.	19
8422047812	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.	20