Assignment Thirteen - Solutions

File name: 8ss13

Marks: /40 marks

Section A: Multiple Choice - ______/10 marks
Section B: Definitions - ______/5 marks
Section C: True or False - ______/10 marks
Section D: Fact or Opinion - ______/15 marks
TOTAL: ______/40 marks

Section A - MultipleChoice (10 marks)

Show your choice of the best answer by highlighting your choice. Each question is worth one mark.

  1. Whichthe Aztec leaderwas known as The Great Speaker?
  • Calipolli
  • Moctezuma (pages 170 and 171)
  • Huitzilopochtli
  • Tenochtitlan
  1. One night this same Aztec leader saw a ‘star serpent’ streaking across the. He thought this was surely a terrible ___ that predicted the destruction of the entire Aztec empire.
  • calipolli
  • foretelling
  • symbol
  • omen (page 171)

  1. Which of the following displays the correct Aztec hierarchy from lowest to highest?
  • emperor – nobility/priests – merchants/artisans/soldiers – farmers/fishers/women – slaves
  • slaves – farmers/fishers/women – merchants/artisans/soldiers – nobility/priests – emperor (page 172)
  • nobility/priests – emperor – merchants/artisans/soldiers – slaves – farmers/fishers/women
  • slaves – merchants/artisans/soldiers – farmers/fishers/women – nobility/priests – emperor
  1. How did the Aztecs define commoner?
  • A commoner was anyone who did not live in Tenochtitlan.
  • A commoner was anyone who was a merchant or priest.
  • A commoner was anyone who was not a noble. (page 172)
  • A commoner was anyone who was forced to work for no pay.
  1. What is the purpose of hierarchies in society?
  • They are organizational tools that help people understand more about the religious faiths in their society.
  • They decide who in society will receive a full education (reading and writing) and who will receive a partial education.
  • They taught the youths about conscription and doing their duty in the name of the Aztec people as a whole.
  • They rank status and importance in society; the higher the one is in the hierarchy, the more power one has. (page 178)
  1. Which of the following is true about the role of the Aztec Emperor?
  • Ultimately, the Emperor is responsible for making a final decision about an issue. (page 173)
  • The Emperor and his Council of nobles and priests make the final decisions in society.
  • The opinion of the commander-in-chief of the Aztecs is not listened to by the Aztec Council.
  • Only the chief Priest in Aztec society is permitted to become the Emperor’s advisor.
  1. In Tlatelolco, Aztec society had the largest daily market in the world at that time. Which of the following is an example of one of the benefits the market would provide for Aztec society?
  • Unscrupulous market vendors sometimes sold products that were overpriced.
  • This market allowed the people to use paper money and credit regularly.
  • The market provided a large variety of goods from which the people could choose. (page 176)
  • The market was a source of great shame for the Aztecs because it was substandard.
  1. Why have anthropologists been able to learn a great deal about the Aztec culture from the glyphs the Aztecs left behind?
  • The glyphs were a series of letters written by the various Aztec Emperors about their rule.
  • The glyphs were a large book of daily diary entries written by the Aztec priests in their monasteries.
  • The glyphs provided a system of pictures that represented occurrences in daily life. (page 182)
  • The glyphs provided a complex system of dots and dashes that were read as a type of code.

Use the source below to answer Question 9

“Military service to the Aztec people is a great honour. Every boy must do his duty and this enables him to become a proper Aztec warrior and man.”
  1. The above quotation supports the concept of ___.
  • conscription (page 181)
  • telpochcalli
  • codices
  1. Why did the Aztecs believe that it was important for every girl in society to receive a good education?
  • Every girl in Aztec society would need to provide her children with strong knowledge and skills before they even went to school. (page 183)
  • Every girl was expected to choose a trade by the age of eighteen and apprentice within it to achieve success for herself and her community.
  • Every girl would be required to serve as a nurse or stretcher-barer during the Aztec battles against all enemies.
  • Every girl was expected to earn political positions within the Aztec Great Council.

Section B - Definitions (5 marks)

Using your own words, write definitions for the given terms and phrases on the lines provided. Each definition is worth one mark. An example is given.

Example: clergy – people ordained to perform religious services for their communities

  1. calmecac - the school for the nobles in Aztec society (workbook objectives;page 180)
  1. conscription - compulsory military service (workbook objectives;page 181)
  1. glyphs - the symbols, images, or pictures the Aztecs used in their writing (workbook objectives;page182)
  1. calpolli - the organizational units in Aztec society (workbook objectives;page 174)
  1. omen - some sign that people believe predicts what is going to happen (workbook objectives;page 171)
Section C - True or False (10 marks)

If the statement is true, place Tin the space. If it is false, place Fin the space, and then rewrite the statement to make it true. Each question is worth one mark. An example is given.

Example: The Aztecs invaded the newly found territory, demanded riches, and treated the Spanish people very badly.

< F- The Spanish annexed new territories and treated the Aztec people very badly.

1.The Aztecs prepared and trained their children to become citizens who had ‘stone hearts and stone faces’.

T (page 184)

2.The diary entries made by the Aztec priests were the source of the codices that were later found and studied by anthropologists.

F -This statement is false because codices were kept asrecords of information about Aztec society. They were not diary entries. > (page 160 and 182)

3.Both Aztec and modern Canadian cultures hope that youth grow up to become responsible citizens and leaders in their societies.

T(page 180)

4.Aztec women were encouraged to challenge men in the annual elections for political positions such as mayors, governors, and advisors.

< F-Aztec women were not allowed to hold public office of any kind. (page 183)

5.Reading and writing skills were taught to all Aztec children, regardless of their birthplace and status.

F - This statement is false because only nobles were taught to read and write.> (page 182)

6.As soon as a boy was finished serving as a soldier’s servant, he was expected to become a warrior himself.

T(page 182)

7.In Aztec society, it was more important to look out for and take care of oneself rather than being responsible for a community. This assumed that, if everyone took care of himself, there would be no need to care for the common good.

< F-Caring for the common good of all Aztec society was much more important than the needs or wants of one individual.> (page 182)

8.Even in today’s times, conscription is a controversial issue.

T(page 181)

9.Every society, no matter the age in which it existed, no matter the location or the culture, had signs of status that it used to organize society.

< T (page)

10.The primary way for an Aztec man to move up in society was to achieve success within the church and school, helping to educate the youth.

F-The primary way for an Aztec man to move up in society was to excel on the battlefield as a warrior or soldier.

Section D – Fact or Opinion (15 marks)

Read carefully each statement below. If the statement is a fact, place the word fact in the space. If you think it is an opinion, place the word opinion in the space. An example is given. Each statement is worth one mark.

Example: The Aztecs had a simple social hierarchy that everyone in that culture understood and respected.

fact

Fact or Opinion / Statement
fact / 1.The Aztec had many laws when the Spanish arrived.
opinion / 2.The warriors who practised human sacrifice as part of their military duties should have known that it was wrong.
opinion / 3.One might argue that Aztec society was better organized than the European society that later invaded and decimated it.
fact / 4.The calpolli benefited Aztec society because they were the units used to organize the society.
opinion / 5.The author of the textbook argues that the Aztec empire fell because of their primitive weaponry.
fact / 6.In Tenochtitlan, as in other great cities around the world at that time, people demanded luxuries, the finer things in life.
opinion / 7.The Aztecs should not have used clothing as a way to differentiate between the different members of society. This was too confusing.
opinion / 8.Moctezuma must have given a feathered headdress to Cortes as a way to show his admiration for the Spanish fleet.
opinion / 9.It was obviously in the best interests of the people to prepare for the coming war.
fact / 10.The Aztec emperor also had to serve as the Aztec Commander-in-Chief of the army.
opinion / 11.People might look at the practice of carrying the emperor through the streets, draped in expensive ocelot skins, as a ridiculous tradition.
opinion / 12.For people to be assigned jobs was unfair because careers should be decided on potential and skill, not on birth.
opinion / 13.Many believed that the Spanish imperialism of the Aztec people was cruel and unjust.
fact / 14.Unlike the way the class system worked in European society, a soldier from the lower classes of Aztec society was eligible for membership in a higher social status because he was successful on the battlefield.
opinion / 15.“I believe conscription is a positive concept because it provides jobs and valuable training for young people in society.”