Cultural Similarities

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Key Factors

Although North Americans may not have been as technologically advanced in weaponry as were Europeans during the 1490s, it would be a mistake to conclude that native North Americans lived in blissful harmony. Archaeological sites provide ample evidence of violent conflict. Skeletons, like those at Cahokia, bear the marks of wounds as well as of ritualistic human sacrifice. Religious, ethnic, economic, and familial conflicts must have occurred, but they remain in obscurity because they left few archaeological traces. In general, fear and anxiety must have been at least as common among native North Americans as feelings of peace and security.

Table 1.2 Native North Americans in the 1490

TABLE 1.2 Native North Americans in the 1490

  • All native North Americans depended on hunting and gathering for a portion of their food.
  • Most practiced agriculture. Agriculture sometimes supplemented hunting and gathering; at other times, hunting and gathering supplemented agriculture.
  • All used bows, arrows, and other weapons for hunting and warfare.
  • Evidence of artistic expression include drawings on stones, wood, and animal skins; woven patterns in baskets and textiles; designs painted on pottery, crafted into beadwork, or carved in effigies; songs, dances, religious ceremonies, and burial rites.
  • Native North Americans did not have a writing system, did not use wheels or sailing ships, and did not have domesticated animals. Metal use was limited to copper.
  • Native North Americans were able to adapt to local natural and social environments.

Native North Americans not only adapted to the natural environment but also changed it in many ways. They built thousands of structures, from small dwellings to massive pueblos and enormous mounds, permanently altering the landscape. Their gathering techniques selected productive and nutritious varieties of plants, thereby shifting the balance of local plants toward useful varieties. The first stages of North American agriculture, for example, probably involved Native Americans gathering wild seeds and then sowing them in a meadow for later harvest. To clear land for planting seeds, native North Americans set fires that burned off thousands of acres of forest.

Native North Americans also used fires for hunting. Hunters often started fires to frighten and force together deer, buffalo, and other animals and make them easy to slaughter. Indians also started fires along the edges of woods to burn off shrubby undergrowth, encouraging the growth of tender young plants that attracted deer and other game, bringing them within convenient range of hunters’ weapons. The burns also encouraged the growth of sun-loving food plants that Indians relished, such as blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries.

Because the fires set by native North Americans usually burned until they ran out of fuel or were extinguished by rain or wind, enormous regions of North America were burned over. In the long run, fires created and maintained a diverse and productive natural environment. Fires, like other activities of native North Americans, shaped the landscape of North America long before Europeans arrived in 1492.

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