Category Archives: Reference

These are materials for teachers and parents, and you’ll find, in this category, teachers copies and answer keys for worksheets, quotes related to domain-specific knowledge in English Language Arts and social studies, and quotes on issues of professional concern. See the Taxonomies page for more about this category.

Apache

“Apache: American Indians of the southwest U.S. Culturally, the Apache are divided into Eastern Apache, which include the Mescalero, Jicarilla, Chiricahua, and Lipan, and Western Apache, which include the Cibecue. The Eastern Apaches were predominantly hunting and gathering societies, while their Western counterparts relied more on farming. Their ancestors had come down from the north to settle the Plains, but with the introduction of the horse they were pressed south and west by the Comanche and the Ute. They attempted to be friends with the Spanish, the Mexicans, and later the Americans. In 1861, however, there began a quarter-century confrontation between U.S. military forces and the Apache and Navajo. The Apache wars were among the fiercest fought on the frontier. The last ended in 1886 with the surrender of Geronimo. The Chiricahua Apache were evacuated from the West and held successively in Florida, Alabama, and Oklahoma. The Apache today total about 11,000 and live largely on or near reservations in Arizona and New Mexico.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Quetzalcoatl

“Quetzalcoatl: Feathered serpent, a major deity of ancient Mexico. Quetzalcoatl began as a god of vegetation in the Teotihuacan civilization. For the Toltecs he was the god of the morning and evening star. The Aztecs revered him as the patron of priests, the inventor of the calendar and of books, and the protector of goldsmiths and other craftsmen. He was also identified with the planet Venus and was a symbol of death and resurrection. One myth held that he was a white priest-king who sailed away on a raft made of snakes. The belief that he would someday return from the east led Montezuma to regard Hernan Cortes as the fulfillment of the prophecy.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Aztecs

“Aztecs: Nahuatl-speaking people who in the 15th and early 16th centuries ruled a large empire in what is now central and southern Mexico. They may have originated on the northern Mexico plateau before migrating to their later location. Their migration may have been linked to the collapse of Toltec civilization. Their empire, which at its height comprised 5-6 million people spread over 80,000 square miles (200,000 square kilometers), was made possible by their successful agricultural methods, including intensive cultivation, irrigation, and reclamation of wetlands. The Aztec state was despotic, militaristic, and sharply stratified according to class and caste. Aztec religion was syncretic, drawing especially on the beliefs of the Maya. The Aztecs practiced human sacrifice; in a particularly gruesome episode, 20,000-80,000 prisoners were said to have been killed in four days. The empire came to an end when Hernan Cortes took the emperor Montezuma II prisoner and conquered the great city Tenochtitlan (present-day Mexico City). See also Nahua.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Quiche or K’che or Kche

“Quiche or K’che or Kche: Indian population of the Guatemalan highlands, largest of all ethnic groups speaking a Mayan language. The Quiche Mayas had an advanced civilization in pre-Columbian times. Records of their history and mythology are preserved in the Popol Vuh. Traditional Quiche are agricultural. Their homes are thatched huts, and they practice weaving and pottery. Nominally Roman Catholic, they conduct pagan rituals as well, Many were killed or displaced during the Guatemalan military’s counterinsurgency campaign of the early 1980s. At present they number between 700,000 and 800,000.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Blessing Way

“Blessing Way: Central ritual in the complex system of ceremonies performed by the Navajo to restore equilibrium in the cosmos. Of the major categories of Navajo rituals, the largest group is the Chant Ways, which are concerned with curing. The Chant Ways include a subgroup of chants called the Holy Ways, which are further divided into the Blessing Way and the Wind Ways (used to cure illness). Lasting for two days, the Blessing Way is a simple chant performed for the well-being of the community rather than for a specified curative purpose.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Sauk or Sac

“Sauk or Sac: Algonquian-speaking North American Indian people closely related to the Fox and Kickapoo who traditionally inhabited the region of what is now Green Bay, Wisconsin. In summer, the Sauk lived in bark-house villages near fields where women raised corn and other crops. In winter the village separated into patrilineal family groups that erected pole-and-thatch houses. In spring the tribe gathered on the Iowa prairie to hunt bison. By c.1800 the Sauk had settled along the Mississippi River in central Illinois, but were forced to cede these lands to the U.S. In 1832 a group of Sauk and Fox led by Black Hawk made a tragically unsuccessful attempt to return to their Illinois lands. Today about 1,000 Sauk live in Oklahoma.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Mohegan

“Mohegan: Algonquian-speaking North American Indian people who inhabited the area of southeastern Connecticut. They later seized land in Massachusetts and Rhode Island from other tribes. Their economy was based on corn cultivation, hunting, and fishing. In the 17th century, the Mohegan and the Pequot tribes were ruled jointly by a Pequot chief, but a rebellion led to Mohegan independence and the destruction of the Pequot. Having made an alliance with the English, the Mohegan were the only important tribe remaining in New England after King Philip’s War (1675-76). Today there is a remnant (approximately 1,000) near Norwich, Connecticut.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Tupian Languages

“Tupian Languages: Family of South American Indian languages with at least seven subgroups, spoken or formerly spoken in scattered areas from south French Guiana south to southernmost Brazil and Paraguay and east to eastern Bolivia. About a third of the estimated 37 known Tupian languages are extinct. The largest subgroup, Tupi-Guarani, includes the extinct language Tupinamba, the source for borrowings of many New World flora and fauna terms into Portuguese and hence other European languages. Another language of the subgroup, Guarani, is spoken as a first or second language by more than 90 percent of Paraguayans, who consider it a token of Paraguayan identity.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Ojibwa or Chippewa

“Ojibwa or Chippewa: Algonquian-speaking Indian people who formerly inhabited a region north of the Great Lakes but who during the 17th-18th centuries moved west to what is now northern Minnesota. Each Ojibwa tribe was divided into migratory bands. In the autumn, bands separated into family units for hunting; in summer, families gathered at fishing sites. They grew corn and collected wild rice. The Midewiwin, or Grand Medicine Society, was the major Ojibwa religious organization. The Ojibwa are one of the largest Native American groups in North America today, numbering about 50,000 in the U.S. and over 100,000 in Canada.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Mohawk

“Mohawk: Iroquoian-speaking people North American Indian people, the easternmost group of the Iroquois confederacy. The Mohawk lived near what is now Schenectady, New York, They were semisedentary; women practiced corn agriculture while men hunted during the fall and winter and fished during the summer. Related families lived together in longhouses. Most Mohawk sided with the British in both the French and Indian War and the American Revolution, in the latter under Joseph Brant. Today they number about 10,000 and work in various fields, notably the structural steel industry.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.