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| A powerful city-state in central Mexico (100-75 C.E.). Its population was about 150,000 at its peak in 600. |
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| Raised fields constructed along lake shores in Mesoamerica to increase agricultural yields. |
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| Mesoamerican civilization concentrated in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula and in Guatemala and Honduras but never unified into a single empire. Major contributions were in mathematics, astronomy, and development of the calendar. |
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| Powerful postclassic empire in central Mexico (900-1168 C.E.). It influenced much of Mesoamerica. Aztecs claimed ties to this earlier civilization. |
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| Also known as Mexica, the Aztecs created a powerful empire in central Mexico (1325-1521 C.E.). They forced defeated peoples to provide goods and labor as a tax. |
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| Capital of the Aztec Empire, located on an island in Lake Texcoco. Its population was about 150,000 on the eve of Spanish conquest. Mexico City was constructed on its ruins. |
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| A system in which defeated peoples were forced to pay a tax in the form of goods and labor. This forced transfer of food, cloth, and other goods subsidized the development of large cities. An important component of the Aztec and Inca economies. |
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| Important culture of what is now the southwest of the United States (1000-1300 C.E.). Centered on Chaco Canyon in New Mexico and Mesa Verde in Colorado, the Anasazi culture built multistory residences and worshipped in subterranean buildings called kivas. |
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| Form of political organization with rule by a hereditary leader who held power over a collection of villages and towns. Less powerful than kingdoms and empires, chiefdoms were based on gift giving and commercial links. |
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| System of knotted colored cords used by preliterate Andean peoples to transmit information. |
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| Andean lineage group or kin-based community. |
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| Andean labor system based on shared obligations to help kinsmen and work on behalf of the ruler and religious organizations. |
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| Civilization of north coast of Peru (200-700 C.E.). An important Andean civilization that built extensive irrigation networks as well as impressive urban centers dominated by brick temples. |
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| Name of capital city and empire centered on the region near Lake Titicaca in modern Bolivia (375-1000 C.E.). |
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| Andean civilization culturally linked to Tiwanaku, perhaps beginning as colony of Tiwanaku. |
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| Largest and most powerful Andean empire. Controlled the Pacific coast of South America from Ecuador to Chile from its capital of Cuzco. |
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