|
 What was Meso-America's first known culture? | Olmec |
| Where did the Olmec civilization start? | Jungles of southern Mexico's Gulf coast |
| What crop did the Olmec grow? | corn |
| Why were the Olmec able to build cities? | The fertile soil allowed for successful agriculture, which led to cities |
| What did the Olmec accomplish in art? | Built large stone heads |
| What did the Olmec accomplish in learning? | Developed a calendar |
| What was the main spirit the Olmec worshiped? | jaguar |
| Why were the Olmec called the Mother culture? | They had a large trade network that helped spread Olmec influence |
| How were the Olmec similar to the Maya? | They both developed in the jungles, built large cities, traded, grew corn, life was shaped by religion, played a ritual ball game, developed a calendar |
| Why did the Maya develop into a great civilization? | They founded farming villages and bult ceremonial centers, which grew into cities |
| What was an important crop of the Maya that according to legend the Maya were created out of this crop? | corn |
| What agricultural technique did the Maya use? | irrigation canals |
| What were the religious beliefs of the Maya? | They believed in many gods and goddesses, made offerings, and sacrifices to their gods |
| What were the Mayan achievements in art? | They built steles and pyramids |
| What were the Mayan achievements in learning? | Symbol for zero, place value, calendar, glyphs |
| What happened to the Maya? | They abandoned their cities |
| What may have been a reason the Maya abandoned their cities? | warfare, overcrowding, food shortage |
| What happened to the losing team in the ritual ball game? | The captain of the losing team was sacraficed |
| What was the name of the city the Aztec founded? | Tenochtitlan |
| What was the legend of how the Aztec settled in their new city? | Their god told them to settle where they saw an eagle sitting on a cactus holding a snake |
| What were the lands of the Aztec like? | swampy |
| How did the Aztec adapt to their environment? | They built chinampas |
| What are chinampas? | raised gardens |
| How did the Aztec get the goods that they didn't have available to them? | through trade |
| Who was Montezuma II? | Aztec emperor |
| What did Montezuma II do that angered the Aztec? | He demanded more tribute and victims for sacrifice |
| Who was the Spanish explorer who took Montezuma prisoner and finally killed him? | Hernan Cortes |
| What was it that weakened the Aztec and Inca empires? | Diseases spread by the Europeans |
| What were the legacies of the Aztec? | temples, glyphs, codices, and calendar |
| How did the Aztec build a powerful empire? | They built alliances with some cities and used their warrior skills to conquer other lands |
| Who was Pachacuti? | Inca ruler who expanded the Inca empire |
| What was the difference between Aztec and Inca cities? | Aztec cities had a larger population |
| Where did the Inca live? | mountains of Peru |
| Who was Pachacuti | Inca ruler who expanded the Inca land |
| How did the Inca adapt to the land they lived? | built terraces |
| What animals did the Inca raise? | llamas and alpaca |
| What did the Inca do since communication was difficult? | Improved their roads and sent messengers on them to deliver information |
| What were chasquis? | Runners who carried messages on the Inca roads |
| Who was the Inca ruler who won the throne by defeating his brother in a civil war? | Atahualpa |
| Who was the Spanish explorer who took over the Inca land? | Francisco Pizarro |
| What were the legacies of the Inca? | quipu, highways, advances in medicine - including brain surgery |
| How were the Aztec and Inca similar? | Both were defeated by the Spanish, empires were weakened by diseases spread by Europeans, powerful armies, let conquered people follow traditional ways, grew corn, adapted to their land, created cities |
| What ancient civilization created pictures of birds, plants, humans, and geometric shapes on the plains of Peru? | Nazca |