GLOSSARY
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acculturation: the process by which a sub-
ordinate culture changes to become more
like the dominant culture during culture
contact situations.
Alcalde Mayor: Spanish royal official
charged with the administration of a dis-
trict known as an Alcaldía Mayor. Other
district officials were known as Corregi-
dores.
altepetl: Nahuatl term for a town or city
(city-state) that had its own deities, reli-
gious and civil administrative structures,
markets, and land base.
amaranth: a short, bushy plant with small
black seeds that were an important source
of food in Precolumbian Mesoamerica.
Archaic period: the period from around
8000 B.C. to 2000 B.C. when many plants
were domesticated and people became
more sedentary.
Aztec: a general term used for Nahuatl-
speaking peoples of Late Postclassic Cen-
tral Mexico; people from Aztlán.
Bajío: a highland basin located along the
drainage of the Lerma River around Gua-
najuato, historically important for agricul-
tural production and mining.
ball game: a game played with a rubber ball
on a formal court throughout ancient
Mesoamerica. The game was played pri-
marily for ritual purposes.
barrio: territorial division of a town or city.
cabildo: town council and municipal office
building.
cacao: the beans from the cacao tree from
which chocolate is made.
cacique: in the Colonial period, a native
ruler or chief (from the Arawak language);
in modern times, a small-town politi-
cal boss.
calmecac: the schools for the children of
the Aztec nobility.
calpulli: Aztec territorial unit correspond-
ing to a village, a town, or a neighborhood
(barrio) within a city.
castas: in the Colonial period, categories in
a social hierarchy based on biological her-
itage with respect to European, African,
and Native American ancestry and combi-
nations thereof.
caudillo: a military or political leader or dic-
tator.
centralist: in ninteenth-century Mesoamer-
ica, those who supported the traditional