1. Mesoamerican and South American Civilizations Unit 3 Click to Advance through Presentation

2. Aqueduct  Structures used to carry flowing water from a distance

3. Theocracy A system of government in which the rulers are believed to represent the will of the gods

4. Chichen Itza An ancient Mayan city located on the Yucatan Peninsula

5. codex A folding-screen book containing information about predicting the future and religious rituals

6. Mercenary A hired soldier

7. Causeway raised bridges made of land

8. Man Made Island

9. Tenochtitlan The capital city of the Aztecs

10. Lake Texcoco The Lake on which the Mexica settled

11. an arm of land that sticks out into the Gulf of Mexico

12. Central Plateau a high, flat area in the center of the Plateau of Mexico

13. Natural wells on the Yucatan Peninsula

14. Sierra Madre occidental A mountain range to the west of the Plateau of Mexico

15. Gulf of Mexico A part of the Atlantic Ocean east of Mexico

16. A high, flat area in central Mexico

17. Peninsula Land that is nearly surrounded by water

18. Hernando Cortes 1485-1547 Spanish Conquistador Who defeated the Aztecs in 1521

19. Tikal Tikal: A city-state of the Maya that is now an important ruin

20. Alliance An agreement made between two or more groups or nations

21. AnareaofMesoamerica

22. Sierra Madre Oriental A mountain range to the east of the Plateau of Mexico

23. Aregion that extends from southern North America to the central part of Central America

24. Moctezuma I 1390-1469 Aztec ruler of the Aztec empire who increased its size and wealth

25. Moctezuma II Aztec emperor who was the last to reign the Aztec empire before it fell to Spain

26. Quetzalcoatl One of the gods that the Aztec people worshipped. This name means “feathered serpent.”

27. Stele An upright stone or slab with an inscribed or sculptured surface, used as a monument or as a commemorative tablet in the face of a building

28. Machu Picchu A city built by the Inca people on a mountain top in the Andes Mountains in present day Peru

29. cuzco The capital of the Inca empire

30. Manco Capac 1200 founder of the Inca dynasty who led the Inca to settle in Cazco

31. Inca Viracocha 1435 Incan ruler who fled his empire in 1438 because he thought it would be defeated by the Chancas

32. Pachacuti 1391-1473 Incan emperor and son of Inca Viracocha who defeated the Chancas and extended his empire.

33. Topa Inca 1471 Inca ruler and son of Pachacuti who doubled the size of the empire

34. Francisco Pizarro 1478-1541 Spanish conquistador who defeated the Incas

35. Quipu A knotted rope used by the Incas to keep records

36. Andes Mountains the world’s longest the world’s longest mountain range Located in western South America and it is home home of the Incas