Deck 6: The Americas

Question 1

What are the possible reasons for the collapse of Mayan civilization? Which reason do you feel is most important,and why? Why not the others?

Answer 1

Answer not provided.

Question 2

The relationship between the early societies of Mesoamerica remains something of a mystery.Discuss why the Olmecs are frequently considered the "mother culture" of the entire region.What historical parallels can you think of? What recent discovery brought new life to the discussion?

Answer 2

Answer not provided.

Question 3

Identify the following terms.
Olmec

Answer 3

Answer not provided.

Question 4

Identify the following terms.
Bering Strait

Question 5

Identify the following terms.

-Carthaginians,lost tribes of Israel,and Atlantis

Question 6

Identify the following terms.
Mesoamerica

Question 7

What were some of the elements that the Western Hemisphere lacked that would have made state building quicker and more complete? Why?

Question 8

Identify the following terms.
Monte Albán

Question 9

Identify the following terms.
Yucatán peninsula

Question 10

What were the strengths and what were the weaknesses of the Aztec and Inka civilizations on the eve of their encounter with European societies?

Question 11

Give examples of some of the New World societies that had not reached the state-building stage by the 1500s.How likely were they to have done so if outside peoples had not taken over their territories? Why or why not?

Question 12

Identify the following terms.
San Lorenzo and La Venta

Question 13

"Geography determines history." Discuss,giving examples from the societies of the Western Hemisphere.

Question 14

Identify the following terms.
Tehuacán valley

Question 15

Compare and contrast the development of the Aztec empire with that of the Roman Empire.What are the similarities and what are the differences?

Question 16

Who were the first Americans,and when and how did they arrive in the Western Hemisphere?

Question 17

"The lack of extensive written records has seriously inhibited extensive knowledge of New World societies." Discuss,pro and con,with examples.

Question 18

"Olmec civilization was the prototype for all later Mesoamerican civilizations." Discuss,pro and con.

Question 19

Discuss the political,social,and cultural structures of the Inka.How did these factors help or hinder them when they encountered the Spanish invaders?

Question 20

Why were the Aztecs able to create and rule an empire where they did? What were the most important factors helping them to do so?

Question 21

Identify the following terms.
Toltecs

Question 22

Identify the following terms.
calpulli

Question 23

Identify the following terms.
Tenochtitlán

Question 24

Identify the following terms.
pulque

Question 25

Identify the following terms.
cacao

Question 26

Identify the following terms.
Aztec

Question 27

Identify the following terms.
Pyramid of the Sun

Question 28

Identify the following terms.
Itzamna

Question 29

Identify the following terms.
Mayan hieroglyphs

Question 30

Identify the following terms.
Valley of Mexico

Question 31

Identify the following terms.
chinampas

Question 32

Identify the following terms.
Mexica

Question 33

Identify the following terms.
ball courts/game

Question 34

Identify the following terms.
rubber

Question 35

Identify the following terms.
Tikal,Palenque,Uxmal and Chichen Itza

Question 36

Identify the following terms.
Teotihuacán

Question 37

Identify the following terms.
Lake Texcoco

Question 38

Identify the following terms.
obsidian

Question 39

Identify the following terms.
Zapotec

Question 40

Identify the following terms.
Mayan Long Count

Question 41

Identify the following terms.
Hopewell Culture and Cahokia

Question 42

Identify the following terms.
Mesa Verde

Question 43

Identify the following terms.
Pachakuti/Pachacutec

Question 44

Identify the following terms.
quipu

Question 45

Identify the following terms.
Cuzco and Machu Picchu

Question 46

Identify the following terms.
El Niño

Question 47

Identify the following terms.
Amazon River

Question 48

Identify the following terms.
Amerindians

Question 49

Identify the following terms.
the Anasazi peoples

Question 50

Identify the following terms.
Andes Mountains

Question 51

Identify the following terms.
Monte Verde

Question 52

Identify the following terms.
kingdom of Chimor

Question 53

Identify the following terms.
Caral

Question 54

Identify the following terms.
Moche

Question 55

Identify the following terms.
Apache and Navajo

Question 56

Identify the following terms.
Quechua

Question 57

Identify the following terms.
Inka

Question 58

Identify the following terms.
Chavin de Huantar

Question 59

Identify the following terms.
Pueblo Bonito/Chaco Canyon

Question 60

Identify the following terms.
Quetzalcoatl and Huitzilopochtli

Question 61

Mayan civilization

A) had such a sophisticated religious system that it was adopted by the Spanish invaders.
B) may have been composed of approximately thirty million people at its height.
C) was located in the northern part of the Valley of Mexico.
D) was never wealthy.
E) declined in the eighth or ninth centuries C.E.

Question 62

As the guiding deity of the entire population,the supreme Aztec god was

A) Huitzilopochtli.
B) Tlaloc.
C) Ometeotl.
D) Quetzalcoatl.
E) Machu Pirado.

Question 63

In the aftermath of Columbus and voyages of encounter,Europeans believed the first humans in the Americas might have been

A) Chinese pirates.
B) the lost tribes of Axum.
C) Phoenician seafarers from Carthage.
D) Mongol tribesmen.
E) ancient Sumerians.

Question 64

The Aztec capital was

A) Tenochtitlán.
B) Huitzilopochtli.
C) Texcoco.
D) Mexica.
E) Zapotec.

Question 65

The chinampas

A) were agricultural plots built on swampy islands.
B) were built to maintain industrial production.
C) provided farmers with a means of growing waterfowl for export to South America.
D) were to be found only in the semi-arid areas of northern Mesoamerica.
E) were part of Inca religious culture.

Question 66

Aztec society was

A) an egalitarian democracy.
B) a hierarchical dictatorship, with a privileged upper class and a downtrodden majority.
C) primarily involved in the trading of slaves.
D) unique in giving women major political power.
E) a purely theocratic society.

Question 67

Identify the following terms.
Arawak

Question 68

The sacred ball court

A) had life or death implications for those who played upon it.
B) could only be played on by Mayan priests.
C) was a large, open, circular playing area that employed the use of straw baskets into which large balls had to be tossed.
D) was found only among the Incas and Iroquois.
E) disappeared after the fall of Olmec civilization.

Question 69

Which civilization lived in terraces cut out of a mountainside located in the central Mexican highlands?

A) Chavin
B) Olmec
C) Zapotec
D) Inca
E) Maya

Question 70

Currently available evidence has shown the first humans in the Americas

A) arrived at least 15,000 years ago.
B) came at least 725,000 years ago.
C) arrived, according to genetic evidence, from Antarctica in 7219 B.C.E.
D) came from the island of Honshu during the Egyptian Middle Kingdom.
E) came from Polynesia approximately 1000 C.E.

Question 71

In which areas were the Mayan and Aztec civilizations similar?

A) They both practiced human sacrifice.
B) Both had religious practices and beliefs brought from Asia in the eleventh century.
C) Both used sophisticated alphabets with thirty-nine letters.
D) They were both seafaring societies.
E) Volcanic eruptions destroyed both civilizations.

Question 72

The Olmec peoples

A) did not do any stone carving, preferring to work in copper and ivory.
B) spoke the Quechuan language.
C) developed their capital at the mountain fortress of Cuzco.
D) developed a system of hieroglyphics.
E) replaced the Maya in Mesoamerica.

Question 73

Which of the following statements is the most accurate depiction of the Aztec Empire?

A) It was a highly centralized, tightly administered monarchy developed through military conquest.
B) It was a confederation of localities linked by a feudal allegiance system in which a central ruler controlled an empire developed through military conquest.
C) It was a highly centralized maritime society that had evolved from a foundation of intense religious piety.
D) It was followed by the Mayan civilization.
E) Human sacrifice was abolished by Montezuma.

Question 74

The two commodities that enabled the Maya to develop trade relations with other civilizations in its region were

A) cotton and silver.
B) yams and manioc.
C) obsidian and cacao trees.
D) gold and silver.
E) manioc and turpentine.

Question 75

Archeologists call the region in which the first New World civilizations began

A) Mexico.
B) Central America.
C) Mesoamerica.
D) South America.
E) the Amazon basin.

Question 76

Which of the following was true about Teotihuacán?

A) It did not engage in trade because of its infertile lands.
B) It produced great industrial structures.
C) It met its demise due to unexplained reasons.
D) It was conquered by the Maya.
E) It left no historical records.

Question 77

Identify the following terms.
Amazonia

Question 78

Which of the following is not true of the Olmec culture?

A) Its La Venta pyramid was the largest structure of it type for its era.
B) It created a writing system of some sort.
C) It developed in the high, mountainous areas of central Mexico.
D) It produced many stone carvings, tools, and monuments.
E) It did not develop the wheel or have horses.

Question 79

The first civilization in Mesoamerica was the

A) Toltec.
B) Olmec.
C) Maya.
D) Aztec.
E) Moche.

Question 80

The civilization of the Maya developed in

A) the Valley of Mexico.
B) Pacific coastal region of northern Mexico.
C) mountainous areas of Nicaragua and Honduras.
D) Guatemala and theYucatán Peninsula.
E) the Montenegran Plateau.