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15 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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what empires were the precursors to the Aztecs |
Olmecs or Mayans |
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describe the political and social structure of the Aztec empire |
alliance of the three major cities, very hierarchical with an emperor on top and a group of unruly nobles beneath him with a class of powerful priests to keep order in the cosmos |
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in what ways did the Aztecs "appease the gods"? Why? |
human sacrifice- to keep order |
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what areas did the Aztec influence expand over |
southern mexico, parts of Guatemala and the Yucatan |
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what were some of the main accomplishments of the Aztecs |
the building of their capital city Tenochtitlan (divided and serviced by canals), and the construction of chinampas for food |
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despite their geographical challenges how were the Incas able to unify their empire? |
trade and a very effective administrative structure |
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what commonalities existed between the spanish political systems and the Aztec/Inca systems that made it easier for the spanish to establish rule |
administrative structures were similar, similar link between religious and secular power |
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how did the spanish change the previous "mita" system to their benefit |
used the system with an emperor on top and made it all much suckier |
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what are two reasons why the spanish relied on natives as a labor source instead of importing slaves from Africa |
they were used to the high altitudes of the mining sites and the death rate of the work and mercury poisoning was very high |
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despite the influx of silver making Spain the wealthiest nation in Europe, why did their economy begin to decline |
inflation, the value of the silver currency decreased significantly, and the warring diminished their funds and they went into debt |
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why did the Chinese have a large demand for silver |
they couldn't produce it themselves and paper money caused inflation so they went back to brass and copper coins but there weren't enough to support their large economy so they traded manufactured goods with Japan for silver |
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what is the connection between the demand for silver and the production of silk? |
silver was traded for silk because of its high value, chinese taxes changed from being paid in wheat and labor to being paid in silver so people had to produce a valuable product that could be traded for silver |
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what similarities between the chinese and spanish share in regards to the impact of silver on their economy |
caused inflation, they got rich but didn't stay rich because they went into debt |
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how could silver be described as the first truly global market |
it was used in the americas and eurasia connecting them all in economical senses and supply and demand |
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in what ways did the discovery of silver in the americas have a negative impact on societies |
both spain and china experienced inflation which weakened their governments, the death toll for production of silver was high, the environment suffered and two of the worlds greatest civilizations were destroyed, the Aztecs and the Incas |
