PRE-COLUMBIAN CIVILIZATIONS

The ancestors of the Native Americans came from what continent?

• North America

• Europe

• Asia

• Africa

Early humans were nomadic, which means they were hunter-gatherers who roamed from place to place without a permanent home. The term “sedentary” is the opposite of nomadic. “Sedentary” means:

• Nomadic

• Settled

• Civilized

• Happy

What are “chinampas”?

• Aztec warrior shields used against their enemies in war

• Small island gardens used by the Aztecs at Tenochtitlan

• Important leaders of the Mayan city-states

• An Inca form of money used in trade

The Eastern woodland tribes of North America, such as the Iroquois, lived in structures called:

• Teepees

• Mansions

• Longhouses

• Tents

Native American religion in the Eastern Woodlands had a great respect for:

• Nature

• The moon

• Demons

• Statues

What technique of agriculture did both the Maya and Inca use?

• Horse and plow

• Irrigation systems

• Artificial fertilizer

• Terrace farming

The Inca were able to trade and make rapid communications from one end of their empire to the other through:

• The use of horses to move goods and messages

• An extensive road and bridge system

• A catapult system that launched messages and goods

• The Inca did not trade over long distances

High up in the Andes Mountains, the Inca were expert architects because they:

• Could fit stones together precisely without mortar (cement between the stone blocks)

• Had advanced schools of architecture and engineering to train students

• Were used to the high altitudes and could build anything there

• They used advanced techniques for building they got from the Spanish

The Mayans had an advanced writing system of glyphs that we call:

• Alphabet

• Cuneiform

• Scriptograms

• Pictographs

The use of clan mothers to make important decisions (like appointing leaders) demonstrates that the Iroquois were a “matrilineal” society, meaning:

• Their leadership was based on the decisions of the mother or the female line

• The son of the male chief automatically became the next leader of the tribe

• The whole tribe voted democratically for their next leader

• The decision about who would be the leader depended on the spirit god