Unit 7Mexico and Central America Vocabulary List

6th Grade World Cultures

  1. Altitude: How high something is, measured starting at sea level and going up.
  2. Aztec Civilization: Located in Central and Southern Mexico, agriculture based on fishing and trade, Capital city Tenochtitlan (Present day Mexico City). Credited for discovery of chocolate (cacao beans). Had an advanced political system with an emperor.
  3. Conquest: the act of taking control of a country, city, etc., through the use of force
  4. Eco-Tourism: the practice of traveling to beautiful natural places for pleasure in a way that does not damage the environment
  5. Embargo:An order that prohibits (outlaws) trade with or buying from another country.
  6. Free Trade Zone: Trade without barriers like tariffs or taxes so goods flow freely between countries (NAFTA is an example)
  7. Isthmus: Narrow piece of land that connects two larger pieces of land.
  8. Maquiladora: A factory that assembles (puts together) parts that were made in other countries.
  9. Mayan Civilization:Civilization located in Central America and Southern Mexico whose economy was based on trade and agriculture. Major accomplishments in architecture were step pyramids. Also created hieroglyphics which was a fully developed written language. Very skilled mathematicians and astronomers invented a 360 day calendar – very similar to the one we use today.
  10. Migrant Workers: A person who travels from place to place when extra help is needed to plant or harvest crops.
  11. North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA): Free trade agreement among the United States, Mexico and Canada. There is a Free Trade Zone between these three countries.
  12. Panama Canal: Completed in 1914, the Panama Canal stretches 50 miles across the narrow Isthmus of Panama. Ships pay a fee to use the canal to shorten travel time between the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean. US built and owned the canal for more than 80 years until 1999 when Panama was given final control as a way of building their economy.
  13. Plantations/Commercial Crops: Large farms that grows crops for sale.
  14. Subsistence Farming: Small plot of land where a farmer grows only enough food to feed his own family.
  15. Interdependence: Dependence of countries on one another for goods, raw materials to make goods, and markets in which to sell goods.

Be able to locate these countries on a map for the UNIT test:

Mexico

Cuba

Haiti

Nicaragua

Panama

Colombia

Costa Rica