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TeamSpence Mesoamer
TeamSpence Mesoamerica
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What geographical area is considered Mesoamerica? | the region from the central portion of modern Mexico to Honduras and El Salvador |
| Did early Mesoamerican people keep more or less domesticated animals than people of the Eastern hemisphere? | less although they kept a diet rich in cultivated foods |
| What types of domesticated animals did early Meoamericans keep? | turkeys and small barkless dogs, both of which they consumed for food |
| What was the first complex society of the Americas? | The Olmec Civilization(meaning the Rubber People) |
| Did the Olmecs build extensive irrigation systems? | No, they entire region received abundant rainfall so there was no need |
| Did the Olmecs build drainage systems? | Yes, they had elaborate drainage systems like the Harrapans, to divert waters that otherwise might have flooded the fields or destroyed their settlements |
| What were the most distinctive artistic creations of the Olmecs? | Giant human heads, possibly likenesses of rulers, sculpted from basalt rock |
| When did the Olmec society begin and end? | 1200 to 100 B.C.E. It is believed that the Olmecs deliberately destroyed their capitals and deserted their cities |
| What large civilization arose in the region now occupied by southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador, after the Olmec decline? | The Mayan Civilization |
| How did the Mayans enhance the agricultural productivity of the Mesoamerican lowlands? | By building terraces designed to trap silt carried by the rivers passing through the lowlands |
| What was the valuable bean that was raised, turned into a drink, eaten, and even used as money in Mayan society? | The Cacao bean |
| What was the main purpose of Maya warfare? | To capture enemies in combat on the battle field. This brought enormous prestige and the captives were striped of their dress, rankings, and sometimes kept alive for years to be displayed as trophies. Most ended up as slaves or sacrifices to Mayan gods. |
| T or F: Captives in the state of Chichen Itza were usually sacrificed | False, The rulers of Chichen Itza preferred to absorb captives and integrate them into their society rather than sacrifice them |
| What were some of the believed causes of the Mayan decline? | invasion by Mexican foreigners, internal civil war, water control system failure due to forest destruction, epidemic disease, ecological problems linked to deforestation, small harvests and demographic collapse, and natural disasters |
| What years did the Mayan Civilization reign? | 300 to 1100 C.E. |
| T of F: The Mayans mostly traded common food staples | False, they traded mostly in exotic and luxury goods, such as rare animal skins, cacao beans, and finely crafted works of art |
| Which class provide the physical labor for the construction of cities and monuments, and fed the entire society? | The large class of peasants and slaves |
| T or F: Mayan priests studied astronomy and mathematics | True, they even devised a sophisticated calendar and elaborate system of writing |
| What mathematical concept did Mayan priests invent a that allowed them to manipulate large numbers? | The concept of zero, they also used a symbol to represent zero mathematically |
| Did the Mayan have books? | Yes, many written on paper made from beaten tree bark or on vellum made from deer skin |
| What did Spanish conquerors destroy in an attempt to undermine the Mayans' religious beliefs when the arrived in the 16th century C.E.? | They tried to destroy all their books and today only four books of the ancient Maya survive, all dealing with astronomical and calendrical matters |
| Mayan creation myth that taught that the gods had created human beings out of maize and water, and the ingredients became flesh and blood | The Popol Vuh |
| What was the most important sacrifice, that the Mayans believed prompted the gods to send rain to water their crops of maize? | The shedding of human blood |
| How were bloodletting rituals that were centered on captives, conducted? | Before sacrificing the victim by decapitation, their captors cut off the ends of their fingers or lacerated their body to create a large amount of blood flow in honor of the gods |
| T or F: The Mayans inherited a ball game from the Olmecs in which the goal was to score points by propelling a rubber ball though a ring or onto a marker without using hands | True, the game was extremely popular and required great dexterity and skill to maneuver the ball using only the feet, legs, hips, torso, shoulders, or elbows |
| Why was the ball game played? | Sometimes individuals played for sporting purposes, sometimes bets were made on contests between professionals,also it honored the conclusion of treaties, and high-ranking captives were often forced to play, facing torture and execution if they lost |
| What was the earliest center of the society that arose in the Mexican highlands around 200 B.C.E.? | Teotihuacan, in the Teohihuacan society |
| What Teotihuacan creation is the largest sing structure in Mesoamerica? | The Pyramid of the Sun |
| What fraction of the population of Teotihuacan worked the fields surrounding the city by day? | Two thirds |
| What were the artisans of Teotihuacan especially famous for? | Their obsidian tools and orange pottery |
| T or F:Teotihuacan's influence came more from military might than form its ability to produce fine manufactured goods that appealed to consumers in distant markets | False, the city didn't have defensive walls, works of art rarely depicted warriors, and there was little sign of military organization until 500 C.E. |
| Were the residents of Teotihuacan affected by Olmec culture? | Yes, they played the Olmec ball game, adapted the Olmec calender to their own uses, and expanded the Olmecs's graphic symbols into a complete system of writing |
| What are some of the crops that the Toltec people cultivated? | Maize, beans, peppers, tomatoes, chiles, and cotton |
| T or F: The Toltecs lived in cramped houses made of wooden logs | False, They lived in spacious houses made of stone, adobe, or mud and sometimes covered their packed-earth floors with plaster |
| What kind of reputation did the Mexica have? | The Mexica had a bad reputation for making trouble by kidnapping women from other communities and seizing land already cultivated by others |
| About 1345 the Mexica settled on an island in a marshy region of Lake Texcoco and founded the city that would later become their capital which was? | Tenochtitlan, on top of which Spanish conqueroes later built Mexico City |
| A system of agriculture developed by the Mexica, in which rich and fertile muck is dredged from the lake bottom and built up onto small plots of land | Chinampa system of agriculture |
| What two neighboring cities helped to form the triple alliance that guided the Aztec empire? | Texcoco and Tlacopan(modern Tacuba) |
| T or F: All males were looked upon as potential warriors and individuals of common birth could distinguish themselves on the battlefield and improve their social standing | True, although for the most part the military elite came from the Mexica aristocracy |
| T or F: Mexica society considered the bearing of children far less honorable than a warrrior's capture of enemy in battle | False, Mexica society recognized the two acts as equal and women who died in childbirth received the same fame as warriors who died valiantly on the battlefield |
| T or F: Very few Mexica women married | False, most women did marry, with the exception of those who dedicated themselves to the service of a temple |
| What was the Mexica woman's role? | Raising the young children and preparing food for their families |
| Why were the Mexica priests considered so important to Mexica society? | They presided over religious ceremonies that the Mexica viewed as crucial to the conservation of the world. They also read omens and explained the forces that drove the world, thereby wielding considerable influence to Mexica rulers. |
| What were the Mexica priests educated in? | Calendrical and ritual lore |
| Could priests ever become rulers of the Aztec empire? | Yes they could |
| Who was the emperor who reigned from 1502 to 1520, during which Spanish invaders appeared, and was formally a priest of the most popular Mexica cult? | Motecuzoma II |
| What were calpulli? | clans or groups of families claiming descent from common ancestors |
| What did the bulk of the Mexica population consist of? | Commoners who lived in hamlets, cultivating chinampas and fields allocated to their families by calpulli |
| Over time, as the ancestry became less important to the nature of the calpulli, what became more important? | The fact that groups of families lived together in communities, organized their own affairs, and allocated community property to individual families |
| Aside from cultivating plots assigned by their calpulli, what else did Mexica commoners do? | They worked on lands awarded to aristocrats or prominent warriors and contributed labor services to public works projects involving the constriction of palaces, temples, roads, and irrigation systems. |
| What happened to the periodic tribute payments that cultivators delivered to state agents? | They distributed a portion to the elite classes and stored the remainder in state granaries and warehouses. |
| T or F: Most slaves were not foreigners, but Mexica | True |
| What did the large number of slaves in Mexica society usually work as? | domestic servants |
| How did many Mexica become slaves? | Families sometimes sold younger members into servitude out of financial distress, while other Mexica were forced into slavery because of criminal behavior |
| T or F: Artisans were considered the scum of Mexica society | False, skilled artisans, particularly the ones who worked with gold, silver, cotton textiles. topical bird feathers, and other items destined for consumption by the elite, enjoyed considerable prestige in Mexica society |
| Who supplied the exotic products such as gems, animal skins, and tropical bird feathers consumed by the elites? | Merchants |
| Who provided political and military intelligence about the lands they visited? | Merchants |
| Who frequently extorted wealth and goods from merchants who lacked powerful patrons or protectors? | Aristocratic warriors |
| What language did the Mexica speak when they migrated to central Mexico? | the Nahuatl language |
| What language was the prevalent tongue in the central Mexico area since the time of the Toltecs? | Nahuatl |
| What was the complicated calendar that most Mesoamerican people maintained, based on? | It was based on a solar year of 165 days and a ritual year of 260 days |
| Who was Tezcatlipoca? | "The Smoking Mirror" one of the Mexica's principal gods, the giver and taker of life and the patron deity of warriors |
| Who wad Quetzalcoatl? | "The Feathered Serpent" one of the Mexica's principal gods who had a reputation for supporting arts, crafts, and agriculture |
| Did the Mexica honor their deities through ritual bloodletting? | yes, to please the gods enough to bring moisture to the earth to feed the crops |
| T of F: Mexica priests didn't participate in bloodletting | False, Mexica priests regularly performed acts of self-sacrifice, piercing their various body parts with cactus spines in honor of the primeval acts of their gods |
| T or F: The Mexica placed much more emphasis on human sacrifice than their predecessors did | True |
| What god did Mexica warriors take on as their patron deity in the early years of the 4th century as they subjected neighboring peoples to their rule? | Huitzilopochtli |
| Who were the usual human sacrificial victims used in Mexica ceremonies? | Some were Mexica criminals, while others came as tribute from neighboring peoples or from the ranks of warriors captured on the battlefield during the many conflicts between the Mexica and their neighbors |
| Where did the Toltecs come from? | The arid land of northwestern Mexico |
| Did the Toltecs have a military? | Yes, they maintained a large and powerful army that campaigned periodically throughout Mexico |
| How was the Toltec empire organized? | The Toltecs built a compact regional empire and maintained fortresses far to the northwest to protect their state from invasion by nomadic peoples |
| What are some of the factors that lead to the decline of Tula and the Toltec empire? | conflicts between ethnic groups, nomadic incursion, and a fire that destroyed most of Tula |
| Why are the Mexica often referred to as Aztecs? | They dominated the alliance that built the Aztec empire in the 15th century |
| T or F: The term Aztec derives from Aztlan, meaning, "the place of the seven legendary caves" | True, the Mexica remembered this as the home of their ancestors |
| What did the Mexica do on occasions when their neighbors became tired of their disorderly behavior and forced them to move? | For a century they migrated around central Mexico, jostling and fighting with the other peoples and sometimes surviving only by eating fly eggs and snakes |
| What did Lake Texcoco harbor plentiful supplies of? | fish, frogs, and waterfowl |
| How many crops per year were cultivators sometimes able to harvest from their chinampa gardens? | seven crops |
| How did Lake Texcoco serve as a natural defense? | Waters protected Tenochtitlan on all sides, and Mexica warriors patrolled all three causeways that eventually linked their capital to the surrounding mainland |
| What city was the first of Mexica conquests and served as a bulwark for the emerging Mexica empire? | Oaxaca in southwestern Mexico |
| Under what two emperors rule did the Mexica launch ambitious campaigns of imperial expansion? | "the Obsidian Serpent" Itzcoatl and Motecuzoma I |
| What was the main goal of the triple alliance? | To exact tribute from subject peoples |
| T of F: The Aztec empire had an elaborate bureaucracy and administration | False, The Mexica and their allies simply conquered their subjects and assessed tribute, leaving local governance and the collection of tribute in the hands of conquered peoples themselves |
| T or F: The Mexica kept a permanent standing army | False, they simply assembled forces as needed when they launched campaigns of expansion or mounted punitive expeditions against insubordinate subjects |
| What did accomplished Mexica warriors receive? | extensive land grants as well as tribute from commoners for their support |
| What did the the council formed of the most successful warriors do? | Select the ruler, discuss public issues, and fill government positions |
| What foods did the warriors eat? | The best foods- turkey, pheasant, duck, deer, boar, and rabbit |
| What did commoners and aristocrats have to wear? | Sumptuary laws required commoners to wear coarse, burlap-like garments made of henequen but permitted aristocrats to drape themselves in cotton |
| How did the Mexica warriors dress? | Warriors enjoyed the right to don brightly colored capes and adorn themselves with lip plugs and eagle feathers after they captured enemies on the battlefield and brought them back to Tenochtitlan |
| T or F: Mexica women inherited property and could hold official positions | False, and the law subjected them to the strict authority of their fathers and husbands |
| Were Mexica women prominent in the marketplace? | Yes, as well as in crafts involving embroidery and needlework yet Mexica society prodded them toward motherhood and homemaking |
| Where is the heartland of early Andean society? | The region now occupied by the states of Peru and Bolivia |
| What were the main food crops of the earliest Andean cultivators? | beans, peanuts, and sweet potatoes |
| Cultivation of what crop allowed the settlers to create fishnets and textiles? | Cotton |
| What religion appeared shortly after 1000 B.C.E., enjoyed enormous popularity during the period 900 to 800 B.C.E., and spread throughout most of modern Peru before disappearing around 300 B.C.E.? | The Chavin Cult |
| The Mochica state was based in the valley of what river? | The Moche river |
| What kingdom dominated the highlands region around Lake Titicaca after the 12th century? | The kingdom of Chucuito |
| What did Chucuito depend on the cultivation and herding of? | Sweet potatoes, llamas, and Alpacas |
| What are Alpacas? | Camel-like beasts that were the only large domesticated animals anywhere in the Americas before the 16th century |
| How did cultivators grow their many different types of potatoes? | In elaborately terraced fields built with stone retaining walls |
| What did the highlander's diet revolve around? | A potato based stew enlivened by maize, tomatoes, green vegetables, peppers, chiles, and meat from llamas, alpacas, or tender, domesticated guinea pigs |
| Apart from meat, what else did llamas and alpacas provide the highlanders with? | Wool, hides, and dung, widely used as fuel in a land with few trees |
| What did highlanders use the maize and coca leaves obtained from lower valley societies for? | They used maize to enhance their diet and to brew a beerlike beverage, and they chewed the coca leaves, which worked as a mild stimulant and enhanced stamina in the thin air of the high Andes |
| How did the Chimu water their maize and sweet potato crops? | They built irrigation networks that tapped the rivers and streams flowing from the Andes mountains to water the fields in the lowlands |
| What was Chimu's capital city? | Chanchan, whose ruins lie close to the modern city of Trujillo and had a population of over 50,000 |
| How did the Incas take over the coastal kingdom of Chimu? | Emperor Pachacuti gained control of the waters that supplied Chimu's irrigation system so Chimu had to submit |
| At it's height, what region of South America did the Incan empire control? | Almost all of modern Peru, most of Ecuador, much of Bolivia, and parts of Chile and Argentina |
| How did the Incas try to discourage disobedience among subject peoples? | They routinely took hostages from their ruling classes and forced them to live at the Inca capital |
| What did the Incas do when conquered peoples became restive or uncooperative? | They sent loyal subjects as colonists, provided them with choice land and economic benefits, and established them as garrisons to maintain order |
| What did the Incas do when conquered peoples rebelled? | Inca armies forced them to leave their homes and resettle in distant parts of the empire |
| What mnemonic aid did Inca bureaucrats use to keep track of their responsibilities? | Quipu- an array of small cords of various colors and lengths, all suspended from one large, thick cord |
| What were quipu used to record? | Statistical information having to do with population, state property, taxes, and labor services that communities owed the central government and occasionally historical information as well |
| What was the capital of the Inca empire? | Cuzco, which served as an administrative, religious, and ceremonial center of the empire |
| What enabled the central government at Cuzco to communicate with all parts of the far-flung Inca empire and to despatch large military forces rapidly to distant trouble spots? | An extensive road system |
| How were the Inca roads arranged? | One passed through the mountains and the other one ran along the coast |
| What was the quality of the Incan roads like? | The roads were very nice, being paved with stone, shaded by trees, and wide enough to accommodate eight horsemen riding abreast |
| What were the main classes in Inca society? | The rulers, aristocrats, priests, and peasant cultivators of common birth |
| What did the Inca consider their chief ruler? | They considered their chief ruler a deity descended from the sun, a god-king who owned all land, livestock, and property in the Inca realm as an absolute and infallible ruler |
| What right did the aristocrats have that earned them the name "big ears" from the Spanish conquerors? | The right to wear large ear spools that greatly distended their lobes |
| Who was the Inca god that they considered the creator of the world, humankind, and all the universe? | Viracocha, who was shown special favor by the ruler Pachacuti |
| What happened to the production that didn't go to supporting the ruling, aristocratic, and priestly classes? | It went to state storehouses for public relief in times of famine and for the support of widows, orphans, and others unable to cultivate land for themselves |
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