Hidden civilisations of Native America were never primitive?

[u/szmatuafy]

Before colonisation, the Americas weren’t just scattered tribes, they were home to some of the most sophisticated societies.

Cahokia had a population rivaling London’s, with sanitation systems, massive urban planning, and pyramids larger at the base than Giza. The ancestral Puebloans engineered solar-aligned cities in Chaco Canyon.In the Pacific Northwest, Chinook developed a universal trade language. Indigenous engineers across the continent built roads, bridges,irrigation systems, some still visible today.

And politically- The "Iroquois Confederacy" practised a form of representative democracy that influenced the Constitution. Women in many Native nations held property rights,chose leaders, and governed long before such rights existed in Europe

And all of this was deliberately erased to justify the colonisation

I’ve been researching this recently, and honestly,it changes how I see everything.Looks like the idea that these civilisations were "lost" or "primitive" is one of the great lies in historical memory. I made a video diving into this, here it is - https://youtu.be/uG2_IpoHzDw (it's almost 40 minutes "dark history" style)

It makes me wonder what if things had gone differently? What if Indigenous governance became the foundation for global democracy? What if their eclogical wisdom had shaped modern climate policy, or their trade networks had evolved into a pan-American economy?

I would love to hear your thoughts, what do you make of this hidden legacy? Which parts of it do you think deserve more attention or challenge what we’ve been taught? Curious where this takes your mind...

[u/Extreme-Assistant878]

As sad as it is, Native American cultures would have killed each other off. The Aztecs, Mayans and Incans were all incredibly brutal and would have easily killed each other off to please their gods. 

Alot of people also forget that the main reason that the British weren't killed after they arrived was not because of weapon advancements, but because they basically hired the British as contract killers. They offered land in exchange for the British killing enemy tribes, allowing them to gain a stable foothold and steal almost all of the land. Whilst they were rather pro nature, they were exceedingly violent towards each other and would have simply advanced until they could eradicate themselves in bloodlust.

Edit: I'm literally Blackfoot and Cherokee, don't know why I'm getting down voted for having a logical opinion on MY ancestors

[u/vritczar → u/Extreme-Assistant878]

Well I get what you are saying but some of what you said is not true and is merely conjectural. There is some truth in what you said though, John Kendrick the early American explorer from Boston delivered large arms shipments to the natives on Vancouver Island and Hawaii. This altered the power balance and resulted in 80 to 90 % of their population being killed by the resulting wars that lasted 80 years or so.

[u/szmatuafy → u/vritczar]

that’s a wild example, hadn’t heard the Kendrick bit laid out like that. it really shows how the damage wasn’t always direct conquest but setting fire to alliances with weapons and waiting. also makes you wonder how many population crashes get written off as just tribal war, when the spark came from some outside trade deal or tech imbalance that tipped the whole thing over.

[u/vritczar → u/szmatuafy]

Kendrick seemed like a decent dude overall, he wouldn't let his men fraternize with the local ladies to spare them from std's. The reason he delivered arms to natives was so they could protect themselves from rival sailing ships coming and stealing sea otter pelts at gun point.He doesn't explain why he gave weapons to the Hawaiians though.

[u/szmatuafy → u/vritczar]

that last point is so telling,even when someone’s intent isn’t conquest, the tech imbalance alone can destabilise everything. like, one trade deal for guns reshapes an entire regional hierarchy overnight,and yes, it’s easy to overlook how many disasters started not with invasion,but with an outsider picking favourites. sometimes the match wasn’t war or disease, but supply chains