| A | B |
|---|
| maize | corn |
| hieroglyphics | a kind of writing, using signs and symbols |
| Copàn | Mayan city in present-day Honduras |
| Tikal | Mayan city in present-day Guatemala |
| Valley of Mexico | area inhabited by Aztecs in the 1100s |
| Tenochtitlàn | central city of the Aztec empire that stood at the site of present-day Mexico City |
| aqueduct | a pipe or channel designed to carry water from a distant source |
| quipu | knotted strings used by the Incas to keep records |
| Pachacuti | Incan ruler who demanded loyalty from the people he conquered |
| Topa Inca | ruler who expanded the Incan empire |
| Cuzco | Incan capital |
| Treaty of Tordesillas | treaty between Spain and Portugal that gave Spain the right to settle and trade west of the line. Portugal could do the same east of the line. |
| Treaty | an agreement in writing between two or more countries |
| Line of Demarcation | imaginary line from the North Pole to the South Pole at about 500 longitude |
| conquistador | conqueror |
| mestizo | people of Spanish and Native American descent |
| hacienda | plantation owned by Spaniards or the Catholic Church |
| encomienda | rights to demand taxes or labor from Native Americans |
| Hernàn Cortés | Spanish soldier who conquered the Aztecs |
| Malinche | Cortés's main translator |
| Christopher Columbus | explorer who reached the Americas in 1492 |
| Moctezuma | Aztec ruler |
| Francsco Pizarro | Spanish conquistador who conquered the Incas |
| revolution | political movement in which people overthrow the government and set up another |
| criollo | person of Spanish parents born in Latin America |
| caudillo | military officers who ruled very strictly |
| Miguel Hidalgo | led struggle for Mexican independence |
| Agustin de Iturbide | declared southern Mexico's independence from Spain in 1821 |
| Simón Bolivar | led fight for independence for Columbia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama |
| José de Dan Martin | led fight for independence for Chile and Peru |
| Dom Pedro | declared Brazil independent |
| invest | to spend money to earn money |
| economy | the ways in which goods and services are produced and made available to people |
| campesino | poor farmers |
| rural | countryside |
| urban | city |
| Brazil | South American country with land distribution problems |
