Every once in awhile a blog post that goes beyond the realm of “information†to offer essay-level dissemination; Chilean blogger Omar Vega was kind enough to submit such a post last week to sister-site With Good Reason. “Why to Study the Pre-Contact Americas†is a summary of civilization in the Western Hemisphere before European conquest and manages to be quite thorough in its treatment of history, ecology, culture and inventions. Some excerpts follow:
Arrival
Between 25.000 and 15.000 years ago, groups from Eastern Siberia started to cross into Alaska and getting inside North America. The classical theory is that they entered the continent walking through a land bridge, called Beringia, which joined Asia and the Americas at that time, and then they got inside following an opening between the ices that covered most of the region in the glacial age. A new theory, though, says the hypothetical land bridge is not necessary, and that they came following the coastal border, in boats and walking. However, no matter which one is the correct, the fact is man entered the Americas at Alaska and very quickly started to populate all the continental Americas … These waves of settlers spread quickly across the continents of the Americas, because there are not physical barriers for walking from Alaska to the Land of Fire, so some speculate that one thousand years was enough from the time the first man entered the Americas to the time they reached the Southern tip of South America. We are not certain of how many waves of immigrants entered the Americas through the Bering Strait, and scientists do not agree if it happened in one, two or several waves. The fact is that after a long time, the Bering corridor closed once again, and the people of the Americas become isolated from the Old World.
Contributions to the World
The knowledge of the pre-Colombian Americas allows us to understand the origin of many things of common use worldwide. The Americas main contribution is in the fields of foods and medicines. It is believed around 60% of the vegetables we consume today were domesticated and cultivated in the Americas … Other plants domesticated and selected by Native Americans also affected the world in many ways. One is the American cotton which is the fiber of choice used today worldwide, and which is different from the Asian plant. In the industrial field, rubber has had perhaps the biggest impact of all. It is hard to imagine a world without rubber, present in every single tire of cars, planes and subways
Ecology
The ecological conscience arises naturally in the context of the Native American concept of “Mother Earthâ€, and its influence was great in the origins of the ecological movement. One of the earliest ecologists, Grey Owl, was one of the first to introduce the Western masses to Native American love for nature. Since then this ecological conscience has spread around the world.
Read the full post at With Good Reason.
They did not work the land; they were hunter/gatherers. They did not domesticate a single animal, not even dogs. They had no metallurgical skills. They had no written language. They had no concept of mathematics. They did not follow the patterns of the stars. They never conquered the concept of cause and effect.
They disposed of their dead in the easiest manner possible, often throwing them into middens or swamps, as their belief was the spirit escaped the body upon death and what was left behind was irrelevant. The concept of “sacred burial grounds” did not exist until Jesuit missionaries taught it to them.
They were transient because they stripped the land barren and hunted it clean until starvation forced them into moving on. They kept slaves. They fought tribal wars over territory and domination. They indulged in cannibalism although it wasn’t a common practice.
These concepts appear negative when judged by today’s standards but keep this in mind the next time someone conjures up the image of the noble native who lived in harmony with the land. That noble native never existed except in the fevered minds of authors.
There were admirable qualities to their society as well, especially if you take the time to understand how a matriarchal society works. I couldn’t come up with quite so extensive of a list of positive attributes (especially if weighed by today’s standards) but imagine a society where sexuality wasn’t neither suppressed nor imposed… where possessions weren’t coveted except, perhaps, to taunt a foe…
North American natives are famous as the generators of two major civilizations: the Anasazis and Kahokia, which have architecture, metalurgy, astronomy and every thing one associates with an advanced culture.
Besides, North American natives plus Inuits are also well known because the inventions that passed to the mankind: parkas, kayaks, canoes, snow rackets, siringes and many more. Besides, developing the federal systema that served as a model for the U.S. constitution.
I bet it is just a matter to study them more to know theirs worth. Go for it, study them more, please.
I’d never heard of the Inuit’s tribal system being used as a model for the US Constitution. I suspect you’re mistaken.
I’ve lived among the Coast Salish and the Haida for almost 20 years and I have Mi’kmaq ancestry. Perhaps you should take your own advice. Good luck in your studies.