AP Topic 1.4 The Americas

1st large-scale civilization in North America came about in the 700s or 800s in the eastern part of present-day United States. It started in the Mississippi River Valley, known as the

• Mississippian culture

• Brazilian culture

• Colorado culture

• Georgia culture

__________ built earth mounds instead of monumental buildings. Some of these mounds reached up to 100 feet and would cover the area of 12 football fields.

• Mississippians

• Alabamians

• Texans

• Floridans

•chief who ruled each large town. Below the ____________ was an upper class of priests and nobles and also a lower class of farmers, hunters, merchants, and artisans. At the bottom were slaves, who usually were prisoners of war.

• Metacomet

• Elder

• Great Sun

• Tekoomse

social standing was determined by the woman’s side of the family. Ex. When the Great Sun died, the title passed not to his own son, but to a sister’s son.

• Matrilineal society

• Patriarchal society

•was abandoned around 1450 and other large Mississippian cities by 1600. Historians are not sure if it was because of crop failure, or they couldn’t produce enough crops to sustain a city. Others think that it could have been Europeans decimated the population.

• Emerald

• Adena

• Hopewell

• Cahokia

built large homes using stone and class and some of the houses had 100s of rooms

• Chichen Itza

• Mesa Verde

• Chaco

• Tenochtitlán

•built multi-story homes into the sides of cliffs using bricks made of sandstone

• Mesa Verde

• Chaco

• Tenochtitlán

• Chichen Itza

•The height of the ________ civilization was between 250-900 C.E. The ______ reached over the southern part of Mexico, occupying what is now Belize, Honduras, and Guatemala. Mayans had 40 cities and the population could go from 5,00-50,000 people. At the peak, the population reached 2 million.

• Aztec

• Mayan

• Incas

•Wars happen a lot between these city-states. Sometimes the city-states were overthrown but these wars was rarely for gaining territory. The wars were mostly for ________ (payments from the conquered to the conqueror) and captives to use as human sacrifices during religious ceremonies.

• tribute

• territory

• war supplies

•Mayan kings claimed to be descended from _____. When the king died it was believed that he would become one with his ancestor-_____. The king directed the activities of the elite scribes and priests. These people administered the affairs of the state. Royal rule would be passed from father to son, but kings were overthrown sometimes because the king lost support from the people.

• new worlds

• a god

• the earth

• an animal