Chapter 12, People and Civilizations of the Americas, Guided Reading

Complete on a separate sheet of paper. You may work with partner. You must have your own paper to turn in on Tuesday after break. Quiz on 12 will be on that Tuesday

Classic Era Culture and Society in Mesoamerica, 200-900CE

  1. What three things linked Mesoamerican culture (para 1, 299)?
  2. What is one culture that Mesoamerica built their culture on?
  3. The achievements of the Classical period were not based on new technologies but rather based on what ability of the elites to do what (para 1, 300)?

Teotihuacan

  1. This city is located near what modern day city?
  2. What was its population from 100 BCE-750 CE? How did this compare to cities around the world?
  3. What buildings/ structures were the most important in the city?
  4. Who was Quetzalcoatl?
  5. What type of sacrifice was practiced? How was it said to impact society?
  6. How did chinampas play a crucial role in the sustaining of the region’s growing population?
  7. What type of buildings did commoners live?
  8. Out of what material were tools and weapons made of?
  9. What was one of the most important articles of long distance trade?
  10. What role did individual rulers of ruling dynasty play in this region?
  11. What does the archeological evidence in regards to walls tell us about the city from before and after 500 CE?
  12. How was Teotihuacan different from other civilizations in regards to being a military state?
  13. What do murals reveal about the end of the civilization?
  14. What happened to its temples?

The Maya

  1. What regions did the Maya civilization rule?
  2. How was this region of the same culture do in political unity?
  3. What other culture was this similar to?
  4. What is swidden agriculture?
  5. What is a draw back to this technique?
  6. What was created to awe the masses?
  7. What technological aids did the Maya do with out and yet constructed their monumental architecture?
  8. Draw a picture (do as a painting/ color diagram/ nice separate paper for ten points extra credit on quiz)of the Mayan view of the Cosmos. Include the role did the pyramids played in the drawing.
  9. What role did bloodletting play?
  10. What were common themes in paintings?
  11. Maya fought to secure what instead of territory?
  12. What was the different fate for elites captured verse the fate of commoners?
  13. Role of women?
  14. What was unusual about Smoking Squirrel?
  15. What would happen every 52 years?
  16. What is long count and significance of 3114 BCE?
  17. Advances is math?
  18. Type of writing?
  19. What are three possibilities that led to the fall of the Maya?

The Toltec

  1. What part of Mexico did the Toltec live?
  2. What culture did the Toltec borrow from?
  3. The Toltec were the first military state bases largely on what?
  4. What was the capital city?
  5. The Toltec buildings were often decorated with what?
  6. What happened to Topitzin?

The Aztec

  1. Upon what lake was early Aztec society based on?
  2. What was the main capital city of the Aztec?
  3. What were three differences between the upper class and the lower class?
  4. Summarize the Aztec Tribute System.
  5. What types of products were part of the long distance trade, what limited them from moving heavier/ larger objects?
  6. What did the Aztec god Huitzilopochtli require to keep the universe going?
  7. How many people a year may have been sacrificed?

Cultural Response to Environmental Challenge

  1. What were khipus?
  2. What was the Andean mit’a and what was required?

Moche and Chimu

  1. After the Chavin, what culture rose in South America? What region did they rule?
  2. What domesticated animals did the use?
  3. What has been found in the burial practices of the upper class here?
  4. Did they have a written language?

The Inca

  1. What was the population of this empire by 1525?
  2. What valley was their culture based?
  3. The Inca were pastoralists, this means theywere dependent specifically on what?