U1: Key Terms

Front 1

chivalry

Back 1

medieval knightly system with its religious, moral, and social code; think courage, honor, courtesy, justice, and readiness to help the weak

Front 2

doctrine of discovery

Back 2

concept of public international law expounded by the US supreme court in a series of decisions, most notably Johnson v M'Intosh in 1823; established spiritual, political, and legal justification for colonization and seizure of land not inhabited by Christians; chief justice John Marshall's explanation

Front 3

feathered serpent

Back 3

in aztec culture, Quetzalcoatl was, a feathered serpent; a creator deity having contributed essentially to creation of mankind; major cult center is the temple of the feathered serpent

Front 4

feudalism

Back 4

dominant social system in medieval europe, in which nobility held lands from the crown in exchange for military service, and vassals were in turn tenants of the nobles, while peasants (villeins or serfs) were obliged to live on their lord's land and give him homage, labor, and share of produce, notionally exchanged for military protection

Front 5

huitzilopochtli

Back 5

also spelled uitzilopochtli; aka xiuhpilli ("turquoise prince") and totec ("our lord"), aztec sun and war god, one of two principal deities of aztec religion, often represented in art as either a hummingbird or an eagle; animal disguise, or his nagual, was eagle

Front 6

lake texcoco

Back 6

natural lake within "anahuac", valley of mexico, and is best known for being place where aztecs built the city of tenochtitlan, which was located on an island within the lake; located in central mexico

Front 7

mesoamerican counting system

Back 7

mayan and other mesoamerican cultures used vigesimal number system based on base 20 (~ base 5) , probably originally developed from counting on fingers and toes; numerials consisted of only 3 symbols: zero, represented as shell shape; one, as dot; and five, as bar

Front 8

mictlan

Back 8

underworld of aztec mythology; most who died would travel to mictlan, although other possibilities exist; consists of 9 distinct levels; takes four years to complete 1-9, but the dead are aided by psychopomp xolotl

Front 9

olmec

Back 9

"people from land of rubber"; referred to as mother culture, cultura madre; inhabited lowland regions of vera cruz along mexico's eastcoast; innovations include: calendar, zero concept, and writing system

Front 10

paul of tarsus

Back 10

also called paul the apostle, saint paul, and saul of tarsus; was Christian apostle who spread teachings of jesus in first-century world

Front 11

quetzalcoatl

Back 11

also called feathered serpent; one of the major deities of ancient Mexican pantheon; known as inventor of books and calendar, giver or maize to mankind, and sometimes the symbol of death and resurrection; patron of the priests and title of twin aztec high priests

Front 12

reconquista

Back 12

english reconquest, in medieval Spain and Portugal, series of campaigns by Christian states to recapture territory from Muslims (moors), who had occupied most of the Iberian peninsula in early 8th century; c. 801- c. 1492

major events: battle of alarcos, battle of las navas de tolosa, battle of rio salado, siege of toledo

key ppl: alfonso vi, alfonso vii, el cid, ferdinand ii, isabella i

Front 13

roman empire

Back 13

post-republican period of ancient Rome; as a polity (organized society) it included large territorial holdings around Mediterranean sea in europe, north africa, and western asia ruled by emperors

Front 14

tenochtitlan

Back 14

capital of mexican civilization of mexica people, founded in 1325

Front 15

triple alliance

Back 15

also known as aztec empire; was alliance of three Nahua altepetl city-states: mexico-tenochtitlan, tetzcoxo, and tlacopan

Front 16

zapotecos

Back 16

indigenous pre-Columbian civilization that flourished in valley of Oaxaca in mesoamerica; originated at least 2,500 years ago; call themselves "be'ena'Za" meaning the cloud people; polytheistic with two most important deities being cocijo (rain god) and coquihani (god of light)