Early Americas Vocabulary

A culture's agriculture is determined by its ability to cultivate crops and domesticate animals.

Based on this sentence, what does cultivate mean?

• to develop for growth

• to tame an animal

• to give people the right to vote

• to choose a new area for farming

Look at the image - this is one of the agricultural techniques used by Mesoamericans, especially the Aztecs. Which term is used to describe these floating farms?

• sinkhole

• isthmus

• maize

• chinampas

Today, Americans commonly call this vegetable corn. What did the early Mesoamericans call corn?

• maize

• frijoles

• statues

• papas

Christopher Columbus, Hernando de Soto, Francisco Pizarro, and Hernando Cortes are all men who traveled to the Americas to conquer land in the 1500s. What were they called?

• coquinas

• conquistadors

• conchillas

• corazones

Sinkholes happen all the time in Florida, because our land is in part made of limestone. What exactly is a sinkhole?

• a hole in the ground caused by erosion

• a hole in the ground caused by magic

• a cave on the ground surface caused by rain

• an underground cave caused by lightning

We have studied many landforms this year. What kind of landform is pictured here? (Hint: Use process of elimination based on your previous knowledge!)

• peninsula

• island

• continent

• isthmus

Causeways are roads raised above water. The Aztecs used this engineering technique to build their capital city of Tenochtitlan. Which of the following images do you think best represents a causeway?

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Mesoamerica refers to the area of the Americas occupied by parts of Mexico and Central America. Based on that information and the map in the image, why is this area named Mesoamerica?

• Because it's near Mexico in America

• Because it's the middle of the Americas

• Because it was established at the same time as Mesopotamia

• Because Mesopotamians settled Mesoamerica

Christopher Columbus is an example of a:

• chinampas

• conquistador

• corn

• Olmec leader

The MAIN major crop of the Mesoamericans was:

• frijoles

• maize

• squash

• pepitas