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Chp 12

Terms in this set (21)

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.
Toltec culture
Succeeded Teotihuacan culture in central Mexico; strongly militaristic ethic including human sacrifice; influenced large territory after 1000CE; declined after 1200
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
Quetzalcoatl
Toltec deity; Feathered Serpent; adopted by Aztecs as a major god
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
Tlaloc
Major god of Aztecs; associated with fertility and the agricultural cycle; god of rain
Huitzilopochtli
Aztec tribal patron god; central figure of cult of human sacrifice and warfare; identified with old sun god
Nezhualcoyotl
Leading Aztec king of the 15th century
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
Pochteca
Special merchant class in Aztec society; specialized in long-distance trade in luxury items
Calpulli
Clans in Aztec society, later expanded to include residential groups that distributed land and provided labor and warriors.
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
Ayllus
Households in Andean societies that recognized some form of kinship; traced descent from some common, sometimes mythical ancestor.
Twantinsuyu
Word for Inca Empire; region from present-day Columbia to Chile and eastward to northern Argentina
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.
Temple of the Sun
Inca religious center located at Cuzco; center of state religion; held mummies of past Incas
Tambos
Way stations used by Incas as inns and storehouses; supply centers for Inca armies on move; relay points for system of runners used to carry messages
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.
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.
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.
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
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