If this was a history book about Europe or other parts of the Old World, at this point you would be likely over halfway done with it. In the Old World, recorded history begins around 3,000 BCE, and though it has taken time to untie all the knots and translate the words left behind, and though there is still much we don’t know, overall we have a fairly detailed account of most of these past civilizations. We know their histories, their important people, their mythologies, and even their music. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the New World. Aside from the major civilizations of the Mesoamerica and the Andes; such as the Olmec, Maya, Toltec, Aztecs, and Incas; most cultures in the New World never developed detailed writing systems, relying on an oral tradition to share their histories and myths. Leaving behind only artifacts, the piecing together of their history is almost entirely the responsibility of archeologists. Beyond this we know fairly little about them, not even the names with which they called themselves. The reasons for this are complex, and hopefully by this point understood by you, which if they aren’t you should go back and start reading from the beginning.
Unfortunately, due to this gap in history, we have a tendency to picture Native Americans always being the way they were when Europeans first made contact with them. A collection of hunter-gatherer and early agricultural tribal societies frozen in time, unchanged for thousands of years. A belief system propagated by not only our own ignorance, but also at times for political or religious reasons. In truth, by and large, Native American societies and culture were in every bit as constant of a state of flux as their Old World counterparts. People migrated, traded, and came into conflict with each other. Civilizations rose and fell. New ideas spread, were assimilated, and at times forgotten. People are people no matter where they live, the good, the bad, and the ugly. The New World was every bit as dynamic as the Old World, the only difference being the New World was behind in its development, again, for reasons that if you don’t know then you better damn well go back and start reading from the beginning.
You’d have to be an idiot to not know what is coming next in this history book. It is after all, one of the most monumental and devastating moments in human history. However, one can’t help but wonder what would’ve happened if the New World had continued on its path of development uninterrupted. Though still in the early stages of development, largescale civilizations were beginning to become more prominent. Yes, cultures rose and fell, but the same patterns exist in Old World history as well. With each fall comes a greater rise, fueled by innovations spurred on by the collapse of the previous iteration. Yes, there are examples of cultures lasting in the long-term, the peoples of the Pacific Coast being a good example whose way of life remained relatively unchanged for thousands of years, but unchanged is another term for stagnation. The same can be said of groups in the Great Basin and Great Plains, peoples analogous with those in the Old World living in the difficult climates and terrains of the Asian steppes and African deserts. Given this, it is fair to wonder how would these stagnant civilizations have eventually dealt with the evolving civilizations of the Southwest, Eastern Woodlands, Mesoamerica, and Andes? Unfortunately we will never know.
There is a certain mystique we give hunter-gatherer and early agricultural cultures in our society. It makes sense, compared to the complex hierarchal societies in which we have encased ourselves, they seem very much simpler, fairer, and more in touch with the natural world. This is fair, because they most certainly are these things, but we also have a tendency to forget the negatives, which are pretty significant all things considered. If such cultures are simpler and fairer, its because they can only involve so many people, if they are more in touch with nature, it’s only because they have to be in order to avoid starving to death. Living in such societies is not easy, which is probably why the majority of us live in the more complex societies we live in today. Given this, the question must be asked, if Native American societies had been allowed to continue developing on their own, how different would they be than what we have today? We don’t know. Instead we have an illusion in our head based upon a world interrupted by the closest thing to an apocalypse in human history. An illusion that in many ways strips Native Americans of their humanity every bit as much as the bigotry and abuses of the first Europeans to arrive in the New World.
Anyways, back to the history.
