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New world

Terms in this set (37)

Elite
High-ranking
Olmec elite- high ranking members
Slash-and-burn agriculture
Method of farming- involves burning vegetation to clear land for planting. Meant to clear forest land for crops
Glyphs
Symbols that represents both objects and sounds. Used in Mayan writing. Carved writing into large stone monuments called stelae
Codex
Where they kept written records. Type of bark-paper book
Tribute
A form of tax that conquered people had to pay
Alliance
Partnerships with nearby towns or cities. Aztecs formed alliances with Texcoco and Tlacopan which helped them gain control.
What were the first civilizations in Mesoamerica like?
Located in southern Mexico and northern Central America. Had to grow crops according to the weather in their area. Learned to farm maize, the learned to farm beans and squash. Farming led to to early people creating large cities and complex social structures to advance culturally. Had a trade network between other cities and towns that were close to each other.
What were some characteristics of Mayan civilizations?
Used the slash-and-burn agriculture to help clear space for farming.

Farmers who lived in the highlands built flag terraces into the hillside so they could control erosion and more easily grow crops.

Villages traded with one another to get goods such as cotton and jade that came from parts of Mesoamerica.

Trade and agriculture helped support larger population and made it easier for early maya villages to grew into cities.

Each city had its own ruler and its own government. Cities were linked by trade.

Believed kings communicated with the gods. Believed gods influenced daily life. Performed rituals to keep gods happy.

Spli up into city-states in which each one had its own government and ruler

Built big stone temples
What made the Aztec empire one of the strongest in the ancient Americas?
Impressive buildings and architect made them stand for longer so more people saw them and remembered them. Made advances in astronomy, math, and writing. Created the Mayan calendar. Created a number system that used new math concepts like the number zero.

Writing system- glyphs, codex

Had a strong military

Taxing and trading
Pachacuti
Incan leader- used political alliances and military force to gain control of a huge territory. Started this trend- all leaders after him used his ideas and techniques as well
Quipu
A set of colored and knotted cords. Colors and knots represented numbers or dates. Was the only system of record keeping in the empire because the Incas was no written language. Used to keep track of the movement of goods throughout the empire
Census
The entire population recorded. Recorded by a quipu
How did early cultures of South America adapt to their environments?
Chavin- lived on slopes of Andes mountains. Farmers had access to different ecological zones. They could then grow different types of crops. Warmer- irrigation systems and grew corn.
Higher in mountains- grew potatoes.
High altitude grasslands- raised llamas and alpacas

Moche- could farm in desert by building irritations canals

Nazca- built irrigation canals to get water to the desert. Also relied on natural springs and annual floorings of streams to water their crops. This made them be able to farm in the desert and support a large population
How www the Inca empire organized?
Upper class- king, government officials and priests. Loved in the capital (Cuzco). Had stone houses and wore fine clothes. Didn't have to pay the labor tax. Children attended school

Lower class- farmers, artisans, and servants. Only could wear plain clothes and couldn't own more goods than they needed. Had to serve the upper class
Caravel
New type of ship- light, fast sailing ship. Steered with a rudder at the rear of the ship rather than the side oars used on earlier ships. Also equipped with lateen sails, triangular sails that could be turned to catch wind from any direction. Could said directly into headwind because of these sails. could be equipped with weapons like cannons. Ships could face off against other ships at sea. Became most popular ship for exploration voyages.
Henry the Navigator
Prince of Portugal. Was not a navigator, just patron and supporter of those who wished to explore. Made a court of sailers map makers astronomers and others who were interested in navigation. Sent out explorations. This made Portugal began to settle in other places that were found on explorations. Overall goal was to find a better route around Africa to India. Died before goal was complete.
Vasco de Gama
Portugal explorer, set out for India in 1497. On his way he stopped at many African ports and learned that Muslim merchants were already actively involved in trade. Eventually reached Calicut in India from Africa. Exploration led to many in follow.
Christopher Columbus
Believed he could sail west around the world from Spain to China. Reached Caribbean island and thought he reached Indies. Called people living there Indian. Returned to Spain with exotic items from lands he had explored. Also brought back several Native Americans.
Ferdinand Magellan
Adventurer. Decided to sail west around the world. Portuguese. Reached Philippians but died in a fight against native people. After his death, his crew was the first to circumnavigate the globe
Circumnavigate
Sail completely around the world. People didn't think this was possible until people from Magellan's fleet did it.
Sir Francis Drake
Was sent by English queen to round the tip of South America and explore its west coast. After, he sailed north to seek a route to North America. Second man to circumnavigate the globe.
Henry Hudson
Dutch-born sailer. Sent by English rulers to find a shorter route to Asia than Magellan. Set out north hoping to find a northeast passage around Europe. Only found ice, so he returned home. Later set out on two more voyages for English and one for Dutch.
What were the foundations upon which the Age of Exploration was built?
Renaissance- a spirit of discovery.
Wealthy people wanted more land. Wanted luxurious goods and flow of these goods were controlled by Italian merchants. People went out to find new, faster routes to Asia that they could use to gain a foothold in this trade.
Fame and glory- people wanted to be the first (idea from the Renaissance), they hoped that making a great discovery would bring honor to their names.
Hoped to spread their faith into new lands- Renaissance religious ideas were brought to Europe so new land was a chance to introduce new populations to Christian teachings.
Curiosity- medieval travers' writing were popular in Europe, which intrigued explorers.
What discoveries were made by explorers from Portugal and Spain ?
Circumnavigate- idea that one could travel all the way around the world— world isn't flat
Found routes from Portugal to India.
First to discover the "Far East"
What drove explorers from the rest of Europe?
Wanted to explore America

Shorter route to Asia

Northeast passage around Europe

Passages from "place to place"

Could easier find goods and trade with foreigners
Encomienda
The system that each colonist was given a certain amount of land and a number of Native Americans to work for them exchanged for teaching the NAs about Christianity. Became basis for nearly all Spanish settlements on the mainland as well. Bad for NAs- over worked and mistreated lessened population. Got diseases that were spread by Europeans
Hernán Cortés
Led an expedition to Mexico that ended with the conquest of the Aztec empire. Used the lack of popularity of Aztecs to his advantage. His band of soldiers were joined by NAs who wanted to defeat Aztecs.
Conquistador
Conqueror. Created by the Spanish military leaders who fought against the native peoples of the Americas.
Moctezuma II
Aztec emperor at time of Cortés conquest. Aztecs were powerful and ruled Mexico, but we're unpopular with those they conquered.
Francisco Pizarro
Spanish Conquistador- led an expedition to Peru. Heard of wealth in Peru and wanted it for himself. Found they had weakened significantly. Took Atuhualpa captive when he didn't agree about wealth. Destroyed Incan army and took command of empire.
Atuhualpa
Ruler of Incan people. Took control right before Spanish arrived. Refused Pizarro's force to take wealth. Was taken prisoner by Spanish. Gave Spanish gold and wealth, but was still killed.
Viceroys
Officials that ruled large areas of the empire in the king's name.
Bortolomé de Las Casas
Priest. Looked to protect NAs- recommended replacing them with African slaves. Slave labor then became a common practice in Americas.
Treaty of Tortesillas
Idea that a line through Atlantic would split up the world up land between Spain and Portugal.
How did Spain build an empire in the Americas ?
Took by force. Found empires that were weak and took them easily.
Imported Encomienda system- gave people workers and land.
What kind of colony did the Portuguese establish in Brazil?
Created huge farming estates. No one lived in that area so they had a lot of room to live and farm. First used NA labor and then African slaves worked on their farms.
What was life like in the French, Dutch, and English colonies in the Americas?
France- traded goods like fish and fur from fox Lynx and otter. Only sent small numbers of traders to America at a time. Population remained small. Didn't enslave NAs, rather they traded with them.
Dutch- focused on developing colonies in different parts of the world because there was more value in other places.
English- viewed NAs with distraught and anger.
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