Name: Date: Period: Chapter 11 Reading Guide The Americas on the Eve of Invasion p.244-264 INTRODUCTION p.244 1. Where does the term Indian, as applied to Native Americans, come from? 2. Did Indians see themselves as one culture or people? POSTCLASSICAL MESOAMERICA, 1000-1500 CE p.245 The Toltec Heritage 3. Your book states that the legend of Topiltzin/Quetzalcoat may have influenced the Aztecs reaction to the arrival of the Europeans. How do you think it did this? (HINT: I shall return ) 4. About 1000 CE, the Mayan city of in Yucatan was conquered by Toltec warriors. 5. The Toltecs highly prized the blue stone turquoise. It was utilized in their religious clothing. However, the stone was not native to Mexico. How did they probably get it? 6. Cite the most persuasive evidence that Indians in the southeastern portion of the United States MAY have had contact with the Toltecs. The Aztec Rise to Power 7. Live by the sword, die by the sword. How does this expression apply to the Toltecs? (HINT: look back at their origin on page 245 and compare it to their demise) 8. After the fall of Tula, the center of population and political power in central Mexico shifted to what area? 9. The people who succeeded the Toltecs as the rulers of central Mexico are known by what two names? 10. What reputation made the Aztecs both valued and feared? 11. What city did the Aztecs establish circa 1325 CE on a marshy island in Lake Texcoco? 12. How did that city s location help the Aztecs grow stronger? (HINT: see the picture on page 245 and think security ) The Aztec Social Contract 13. List the three requirements that the Aztecs made of their subject peoples. 14. Like pyramid building, polytheism, corn cultivation, and a ball game/sport played on a court, the Aztecs copied another long standing practice among Mesoamerican Indians. What was it and how did they change it?
15. What were flower wars? Religion and the Ideology of Conquest 16. Aztec religion was very complex; however, this complex array of gods can be organized into three major themes or cults. List them. 17. Explain how the cult of the sun was linked with human sacrifice. 18. What did the Aztecs wonder about that had so much in common with all other human civilizations across time? 19. Carefully read Nezhualcoyotl s poetry. Show supporting evidence that he might not have believed in the gods. 20. Note the fatalism (look it up!) in the Aztecs view of history. How might that fatalistic view influenced them when the Europeans showed up, espeically with new diseases? Feeding the People: The Economy of the Empire 21. What was the ingenious system of irrigated agriculture the Aztecs adopted? Describe it in your own words. 22. How did this interesting system help increase the Aztecs population? (HINT: four crops per year) 23. and were used as currency, but most Aztec trading was done as barter. 24. What was the state s role in the Aztec economy? 25. How does the Aztec economic system compare to many Classic and Postclassical Afro- Eurasian civilizations regarding the distribution of tribute/goods? (HINT: social classes) AZTEC SOCIETY IN TRANSITION p.251 A Widening Social Gulf 26. What was a calpulli, and explain its function in the Aztec city. 27. List the three important functions of the calpulli. 28. How did social classes/groups in Aztec society distinguish themselves?
Overcoming Technological Constraints 29. What was the significant difference between the life of women in Mesoamerica and in the Mediterranean world? DOCUMENT: Aztec Women and Men p.253 30. Read the descriptions of what good and bad fathers, mothers, and mature, common women are according to the Aztecs. How do those descriptions compare with our own Western values? Is there anything you disagree with? A Tribute Empire 31. Who held the real power in Aztec society and how was he chosen? 32. The Roman military was very influential because it was needed to expand the borders of the Roman Empire to acquire more wealth and slaves. How does this compare (and contrast) to Aztec civilization? 33. This section concludes by noting that increasing social stresses created by the nobility and the system of terror (human sacrifices) and tribute were weaknesses that led to the Aztec Empire s collapse. However, it doesn t collapse until the Europeans show up and conquer the Aztecs. Can you explain this apparent contradiction? (HINT: The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and would you consider a slave to be a friend to his owner?) TWANTINSUYU: WORLD OF THE INCAS p.254 34. What were two of the most notable achievements of the Incas? 35. This section begins with the statement that the Incas had a level of integration and domination over various cultures and languages previously unknown in the Americas. Your text also uses the word reciprocity several times later. How does reciprocity help explain this integration and domination? (NOTE: You are not going to find the answer right in this section. Page 257 & 258 will help) The Inca Rise to Power 36. The capital of the Inca Empire was. 37. was an Inca ruler who launched a series of military campaigns and alliances that began the first creation of the Inca empire in 1438 CE. Conquest and Religion 38. Define the term split inheritance 39. How did the practice of split inheritance encourage warfare and expansion of Inca authority?
40. What did the Incas and Aztecs religion have in common? The Techniques of Inca Imperial Rule 41. What incentives did the Incas give local rulers to obey? (give both positive AND negative) 42. Note the Inca use of language, colonists, and relocation of conquered peoples to promote political and cultural integration. How does this compare to other cultures, particularly Classical China under the Zhou? (See p. 43-44) 43. The Incas built a very impressive system of roads. Besides communication, note the key purpose and compare it to that of the Roman road system. 44. What about the manner in which property and rights were passed down to offspring is a bit unusual compared to other methods we ve studied? 45. Hopefully you ve looked up reciprocity by now. List what the state provided to local peoples and what the local peoples supplied in return. 46. How did the Incas practice body modification to denote social status? 47. How do the Incas and Aztecs compare regarding the importance of trade? THINKING HISTORICALLY: The Troubling Civilizations of the Americas p.258 48. The modern image of the Inca Empire as a carefully organized system in which every community collectively contributed to the whole and the state regulated the distribution of resources on the basis of need is referred to as what? 49. Marvin Harris theory states that if the Aztecs would have had domesticated animals they probably would not have had what religious practice, or at least as much of it? Inca Cultural Achievements 50. What did the Inca civilization lack that most civilizations, including the Mesoamerican Indians, enjoy? 51. What was the quipu used for?
Comparing Incas and Aztecs 52. The Aztecs and Incas both used military power against what type of peoples? 53. Why do you think it was not as useful against nomadic peoples? THE OTHER PEOPLES OF THE AMERICAS p.261 How Many People? 54. What part of the Western Hemisphere probably held the most people by the year 1492 CE? Why do you think this is so? 55. What part of the world had a population closest to that of the Americas by 1500? Differing Cultural Patterns 56. Your text states that the Americas lacked nomadic herders, unlike Europe, Asia, and Afric Why? (HINT: What animals could be domesticated in America?) 57. Why did the buffalo say oh hell! when the Europeans showed up? 58. How did Indians see themselves in relation to the ecological system that contrasts with Europeans and Asians of the Postclassical period? American Indian Diversity in World Context 59. How did Europeans see Indians in general? Why?