NATIVE -AMERICAN CULTURENew revelations about America prior

to European Settlement

• What do you think of when you think about “Native-Americans?”• New research over the last half century has revealed many surprising aspects • After this lecture, is your view of Native-American society of a more complex nature?

Indian Population Dynamics• In the Americas, the population estimate in 1491 was around 100 million people• More than Europe

• Different Indian cultures inhabited cities:• Tiwanaku (1000 A.D.) in South America had 115K

people and 250K in surrounding areas• Paris would not hit that until 1500

• Wari (700 A.D.) in South America was 70K• Cahokia (near modern day St. Louis) was 15K

• Many of these Native-American cities consisted of:• Botanical gardens• Buildings six stories high• Promenades• No sewage in the streets• Markets with goods from hundreds of miles away

• European fishing colonies in the 1500s observed New England colonies as “thickly settled”

Social Aspects•Indian families were close and loving, more so than European families• Europeans expected their kids to work around age 7• Indians regarded pre-puberty as a time to play

• Health• Europeans observed Indians as healthy specimens

without pox scars

Social Aspects•Indian families were close and loving, more so than European families• Europeans expected their kids to work around age 7• Indians regarded pre-puberty as a time to play

• Health• Europeans observed Indians as healthy specimens

without pox scars• Ate an estimated 2,500 calories in New England• Indians observed Europeans as:• Having “little intelligence”• Being physically weak• Being atrociously ugly• “Just plain smelly”

• During the middle ages, one South American Indian society eradicated hunger• When Spanish came, they saw warehouses filled to

the brim with supplies

Governmental Aspects• Native-Americans had a very similar democratic system comparable to how our Constitution was written• Some historians believed that our Constitution was at

least partially inspired by different Native-American systems• One European noted, “Their whole constitution

breathes nothing but liberty.”• Females were the head of clans and spoke directly to higher-ups for their people• System of checks and balances• “Human Sacrifices”• According to some Native-American societies, human

sacrifice was necessary for religious purposes• Most of the time were criminals and POWs• Comparable to European executions• Public executions, Europeans paid entrance fees• Between 1530 and 1630, England executed 75K

Governmental Aspects• Native-American Warfare• Was not as brutal as European warfare, not as

massive• Viewed massive warfare as “wasteful”• Attacked guerrilla style, got revenge, then stopped

•“Scalping”• Some Indian societies did scalp their enemies after

death in war• English often times put Irish soldiers’ heads on stakes

Environmental Interactions• It is often thought that Indians lived “with the land,” not creating detriment to the environment• Historians and archaeologists today disagree on many

levels • Forest Burning• In North America, Indians deliberately set fires

annually or bi-annually• First white settlers in Ohio found forests that

resembled English parks—they could drive their carriages through the forests• Bison roamed from NY to GA because of cleared lands

• Farming• Intensive farming-the Maya collapsed because they

overshot the carrying capacity of their environment• They ended up starving themselves to death

• Europeans would see 4 villages with 8-16 square miles of corn fields surrounding them

Environmental Interactions• Waterways and Roadways• Indians would divert waterways for irrigation purposes• In South American, Native Americans had a complex

highway system for trading

Environmental Interactions• Waterways and Roadways• Indians would divert waterways for irrigation purposes• In South America, Native Americans had a complex

highway system for trading• The Amazon Basin• Geographers and archaeologists believe that at least

12% of the Amazon Rainforest is man-made