how come Native North Americans didn’t have vast empires of wealth and cities like Montezuma had down in Mexico?
In: 2227
Short answer, they did have.
In the Southwest, there are stone constructions with astronomical alignments all across the desert southwest than range in size, from Mesa Verde in Colorado to Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. There’s evidence of trade networks between the desert Southwest and Mexico, and evidence of parrot feathers and cacao in North America from these trade networks.
Then there’s the Mississippian people built massive mounds, had huge settlements, trade, craft artisans, social hierarchies while Europe was in a dark age. You can see when corn came north via trade to these people due to changes in their teeth, folks got more cavities when they switched from hunting/gathering to corn cultivation.
Pure copper mined from the Northern North America has been found as far south as Louisiana in what appears to be a very old settlement, also has astronomical alignment features but is badly eroded.
There’s lot of archaeological work being done that runs counter to the narrative that Native North Americans were unsophisticated people. Theres plenty to learn about regarding their sophisticated astronomy knowledge, architecture, local medical practices, regional agriculture, craft production, and sustainable ecological practices that vary by region and people.
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