how come Native North Americans didn’t have vast empires of wealth and cities like Montezuma had down in Mexico?
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If you believe in whig history then they might of with a little more time. In the old world there were “pristine civilizations” or groups of people who developed classical civilizations ( social orders characterized by sedentary agriculture, social hierarchy, monumental architecture, writing and organized religion ) without any sort of outside influence. The Egyptians and sumerians are a good example, they developed a classical civilization all by themselves without the influence of outside cultures. Civilization spread through the old world by different tribal and nomadic peoples coming into contact with these civilizations and deciding to try it for themselves. The Egyptians taught the Minoans, the Minoans taught the Mycenaean Greeks, the Greeks taught the Etruscans, the Etruscans the Romans and the Romans the Gauls ( French ) and Briton Celts. A similar situation was happening in Mexico. The pristine civilization of Mexico is the Olmec, the people who taught the ways of civilization to the other people’s of Mexico including the Aztecs who Montezuma was the king of. There is evidence that the Aztecs were in contact with the natives of the southwestern USA. And although they never had sprawling empires, the Hopi, Pueblo and Chaco peoples already had some characteristics of a classical civilization. If contact with Mexico had continued undisturbed by European conquest it is possible that a few natives cities would have popped up in Arizona similar to the ones they had in Mexico or Peru. Of course resources play a big role too, and generally speaking technological progress was much slower in the Americas than in the old world. This is due to the fact that there were so many more geographic barriers for the Americans ( Rainforests, mountains, ocean, deserts ) than there were for the old world peoples ( the Mediterranean sea is extremely easy to navigate which is why so many advanced cultures sprung up there so early on ) And lastly this is only if you believe in whig history to begin with ( the idea that human progress is inevitable given enough time ) It’s a very western idea, and certainly not one that the natives Americans held. Many of the north American native tribes were perfectly happy with their nomadic lifestyles, and may have continued that lifestyle indefinitely with no intention to become “civilized”.
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