(Duiker 156-180; Brians 283-292)
Questions from Duiker: What made the civilizations in the Americas different around 1400 CE from the other complex societies appearing around the globe? *What are three of the important crops the Maya grew? What is the dominant hypothesis about where the people of the Americas came from? By what time had they penetrated almost to the tip of South America? *What culture produced the first signs of civilization in Central America? For how long did Teotihuacan flourish? What was the penalty for losing in a Mayan ball game? *How did the Spanish react to the Mayan books they encountered? What roles were played by women among the Aztecs and what roles were played by men? What kind of government did the Aztecs have? Why did Aztec men sometimes marry their daughters to men of lower rank? What kinds of goods did Bernal Diaz describe as being sold in the great market at Tenochtitlan? Why did the Aztecs practice human sacrifice? *What aspects of Tenochtitlán seem to have most impressed Díaz? What aspects seem to have repelled him? What kinds of construction projects did the Inca undertake? *What is a quipu?
Question about The Popol Vuh: What similarities can you find between this and the Genesis creation story from the Hebrew Bible in your reader?
Questions about "Aztec Birth Rituals for Boys and Girls:" *What evidence of Aztec warlikeness can you find in the midwife's speeches? Does the midwife's "greeting" to a female baby suggest to you that women were inferior to men in Aztec culture? Explain your answer.
Questions about Aztec Poetry: According to the second Aztec poem, what remains behind when we have died? What attitude toward the future is expressed in the last poem?
Questions about Christopher Columbus' Letter to the King: What does Columbus see as the biggest differences between these people of the New World and those of Europe? *What does Columbus emphasize as the primary virtues of these new people? What does Columbus hope becomes of them? How did these people perceive Columbus and his crew?
Lecture outline