1
When did the Classic Maya period flourish?
c. 250–900 CE, mainly in present-day Guatemala, southern Mexico, and Belize.
2
What was Tikal?
One of the largest and most powerful Maya city-states, in present-day Guatemala.
3
How was Maya political power organized?
Independent city-states, each ruled by a king (k'uhul ajaw).
4
What type of writing did the Maya use?
A hieroglyphic script that combined word signs and syllable signs.
5
What was the Maya number system based on?
Base 20, with dots, bars, and a shell symbol for zero.
6
What were the two main cycles of the Maya calendar?
The 260-day Tzolk'in (ritual) and the 365-day Haab' (solar).
7
What is the Long Count?
A Maya calendar system that counts days from a fixed starting point in the mythical past.
8
What is the Popol Vuh?
A sacred K'iche' Maya text containing creation stories and the tale of the Hero Twins.
9
What was the Maya staple crop?
Maize (corn), which also held religious and mythological importance.
10
What is a leading explanation for the Classic Maya collapse (c. 800–900 CE)?
A combination of drought, warfare, and environmental and political stress.
11
Where and when was Tenochtitlan founded?
On an island in Lake Texcoco, in 1325.
12
What was the Aztec Triple Alliance?
A league of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan that formed the core of the Aztec Empire.
13
What language did the Aztecs speak?
Nahuatl.
14
What were chinampas?
Artificial raised-field "floating gardens" built in lake shallows for intensive farming.
15
Who was Huitzilopochtli?
The Aztec patron god of the sun and war, worshipped by the Mexica.
16
Who was Quetzalcoatl?
The "feathered serpent" god, linked to wind, learning, and creation.
17
What was the Templo Mayor?
The main temple of Tenochtitlan, dedicated to Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc.
18
How did the Aztec Empire fund itself?
By collecting tribute (goods and labor) from conquered city-states.
19
Who was the Aztec emperor when Cortés arrived in 1519?
Moctezuma II.
20
When did Tenochtitlan fall to the Spanish?
1521, after a siege led by Hernán Cortés with many Indigenous allies.
21
What was Tawantinsuyu?
The Inca name for their empire, meaning "Land of the Four Quarters."
22
What was the capital of the Inca Empire?
Cusco, in the Andes of present-day Peru.
23
Who was Pachacuti?
The Sapa Inca who began the empire's rapid expansion from c. 1438.
24
What was a Sapa Inca?
The Inca emperor, regarded as a descendant of Inti, the sun god.
25
What was a quipu?
A system of knotted cords used to record numbers and other information.
26
What was the Qhapaq Ñan?
The Inca road network, about 40,000 km long, linking the empire.
27
What was the mit'a system?
A labor-tax system in which subjects served the state for set periods.
28
How did the Incas farm steep Andean land?
With terracing, along with crops such as potatoes and maize.
29
What was Machu Picchu?
A mid-1400s royal estate near Cusco, probably built for Pachacuti.
30
How did the Inca Empire fall to Spain?
Pizarro captured Atahualpa at Cajamarca in 1532, and the last Inca stronghold fell in 1572.
