Chapter 11 Reading Guide

The Americas on the Eve of Invasion

Post Classic Mesoamerica, 1000-1500 C.E

1. Why did Mesoamerica experience significant political and social

change? Nomadic peoples from the north took advantage of the political
vacuum at the fall of the Teotihuacan in Central Mexico and the
abandonment of Mayan cities. Among these people were the Toltecs.

2. What did the Toltec culture adopt from the sedentary peoples? Cult of
sacrifice and war, strongly militaristic ethic. givers of civilization

The Toltec Heritage

3. What were the geographical boundaries of the Toltec empire? Much of

central Mexico from the capital at Tula to areas as far away as Guatemala.

4. What was traded in Toltec culture? Obsidian in Northern Mexico for

turquoise in American Southwest

The Aztec Rise to Power

5. Who destroyed the Toltec Empire? Nomadic Invaders from the North,
who also sacked Tula at the same time.

6. Where did the center of population and political power shift to and
why? Shifted to the valley of Mexico because of the rich farmland found
along the lakes

7. Where did the Aztecs come from? Central valley, in exile in a place to
the north called Aztlan. One of the nomadic tribes that used the political
anarchy after the fall of the Toltecs to penetrate the area of sedentary
agricultural peoples

8. What mixture of peoples inhabited the central valley after the fall of
the Toltec? Chichimec migrants from the northwest and various groups of
sedentary farmers

The Aztec Social Contract

9. How did the Aztec society change in the process of expansion and
conquest? Changed from a loose association of clans to a stratified
society under the authority of a supreme ruler
 10. How did Human Sacrifice expand? It expanded into an enormous cult in
which the military class played a central role as suppliers of war captives
to be used as sacrificial victims.

Religion and the Ideology of Conquest

11. What were the traditional deities of Mesoamerica? Gods of rain, fire,
water, corn, the sky, and the sun

12. What are the three major themes or cults that divided the array of
gods? Gods of fertility and the agricultural cycles, creator deities, and the
cult of warfare and sacrifice

Tenochtitlan: The Foundation of Heaven

13. How did the Aztecs view their capital? How was it organized? A sacred
place or the foundation of heaven. A central zone of palaces with
temples, surrounded by adobe brick residential areas, smaller palaces, and
markets.

14. What is a calpulli and what is the function? Kin group that maintained
its neighborhood temples and civic buildings.

Feeding the People: The economy of the Empire

15. What is a chinampa and how did they work to sustain agriculture?
Beds of aquatic weeds, mud, and earth that had been placed in frames
made of cane and rooted to the lake floor, allowing water to reach all the
plants.

Aztec Society in Transition: Widening Social Gulf

16. What were the various functions of Calpulli? How did they contribute
to society? Residential groupings, which included neighbors, allies, and
dependants. Much of local life was based on the Calpulli, which
distributed land to heads of households, organized labor gangs and
military units in times of was, and maintained a temple and school. They
were the building blocks of Aztec society

17. What happened as Aztec power expanded? A class of nobility emerged

based on certain privileged families in the most distringuished Calpulli.

18. Who controlled the priesthood and military? Nobles who were born
into the class. The military was organized into several ranks based on
experience and success in taking captives.
Overcoming Technological Constraints

19. What role did Aztec women play in society? Peasant women helped in
the fields, but their primary domain was in the household, where child
rearing and cooking took up much time. Weaving skill was highly
regarded. Marriages were arranged between lineages, and virginity at
marriage was highly regarded.

20. How did the technology of the Americas limit social development?
Women spent six hours a day grinding corn by hand. Maize was among
the simplest and most productive cereals to grow but among the most time
consuming to prepare. Without the wheel or suitable animals for power,
the women were tied up all week.

21. What did the large population say about the Aztecs? The extraordinary
ability of the Aztec state to intimidate and control such vast numbers of
people

A Tribute Empire

22. What political and social transformation took place during Aztec
expansion? The position and nature of the old calpulli clans had changed
and a newly powerful nobility with a deified and newly absolute ruler had
emerged. Ancient cults of military virtues had been elevated as the religion
of the state.

23. Why was the Aztec system successful? It aimed at exerting political
domination and not necessarily direct administrative or territorial control.

24. What internal weaknesses contributed to the collapse of the empire?

Increasing social stresses created by the rise of the nobles and the system
of terror and tribute imposed on subject peoples

Twantinsuyu: World of the Incas

25. Where and when did the Incas rise in relation to the Aztecs? Almost at
the same time that the Aztecs extended their control over much of
Mesoamerica, the Incas were rising as a great imperial state in the Andean
highlands

26. How was power distributed in the Andean zone? Several smaller
regional states continued to exercise power. Many large states continued to
be important
The Inca Rise to Power

27. How did the Inca gain control of the whole area from Cuzco to Lake
Titicaca? They launched a series of military alliances and campaigns
under their ruler Pachacuti over 60 years.

28. What land area did the Inca Empire cover at the death of Capac?
Modern Columbia to Chile and eastward across Lake Titicaca and Bolivia
to northern Argentina.

Conquest and Religion

29. What impelled Inca conquest and expansion? Desire for economic gain
and political powers

30. What was the highest deity? The sun . They considered the Inca to be the
suns representative on earth.

31. What was the center of the state religion? The Temple of the Sun in
Cuzco

32. What other deities were worshiped? Viracocha (a creator god).

Mountains, stones, rivers, caves, tombs, and temples were considered to
be huacas, or holy shrines.

The Techniques of Inca Imperial Rule

33. How did the Inca rule as leader of the empire? He ruled from his court
at Cuzco, which was also the site of the major temples, and the high priest
was usually a close relative. The Inca was considered almost a god.

34. What were curacas and what did they do? Local rulers. They were
allowed to maintain their positions and were given privileges by the Inca
in return for their loyalty. They were exempt from tribute obligations and
usually received labor or produce from those under their control.

35. What happened to conquered people? Subject people? The Inca

Empire used subject people for land and labor, and conquered people were
enlisted in the Inca armies under Inca officers and were rewarded with
goods from new conquests.

36. How did the Incas divide conquered lands? Areas fro the people, lands
for the state, and lands for the sun (for religion and support of priests)

37. What was the role of woman in the Inca Empire? The Inca believed in
close cooperation between men and women. Women felt a particular
 affinity for the moon. Inca practice created a gender hierarchy that
paralleled the dominance of the Inca state over subject peoples.

38. How did the Inca state extract labor power? They manipulated the idea
of reciprocity to extract labor power and dealt harshly with resistance and
revolt. They also created the yanas, a class to work as servants and
workers for the Inca or nobility.

39. What created the possibility for civil war? A system of royal multiple
marriages as a way for forging alliances, creating rival claimants for
power

Inca Cultural Achievements

40. How were Mesoamerica and the Andean region different? Inca
metalworking was among the most advanced, and they used gold, silver,
copper ad bronze. They also used a series of knotted strings to record
numerical and other info.

41. How were they similar? They made no practical use of the wheel and
made drew on the artistic traditions and the Andean predecessors.

42. How did they influence the peoples of the regions even after their
collapse? Their water management and extensive road systems, state-
craft, and architecture and public buildings.

How Many Indians?

43. What was the most repeated estimate of Indian population? 8.4 million

44. Who supported the largest populations? Mesoamerica and the Andes

Differing Cultural Patterns

45. How is American Indian diversity apparent in North America? 200 languages
were spoken, a variety of cultures reflected Indian adaptation to different
ecological situations.

46. What kinds of groups lived elsewhere in North America? Hunters and
gatherers or groups that combined those activities with some agriculture.

47. How did Indian culture contrast to contemporary societies in Europe and
Asia? Indians tended to view themselves as part of the ecological world and not
in control of it. Women in some societies help important political and social roles
and usually played a central role in crop production. Ranking usually was not
based on wealth.