Native American Civilizations: Technology and Early History

Introduction: Reassessing Native American Civilizations

Native Americans are generally perceived as having belonged to an inferior civilization, largely because the technology they possessed at the time of their interaction with Europeans was considered substandard. However, taking into account recently discovered data, it becomes clear that they managed to develop rapidly without access to the same means that assisted their counterparts in Eurasia in experiencing progress. Native Americans were underestimated across time, particularly during the last five centuries, as newcomers imposed their cultural values on America's first inhabitants with no regard for the harm they caused.

Although the general public is unfamiliar with most of the technological triumphs achieved by people inhabiting the American continent prior to the fifteenth century, present-day archaeologists have demonstrated that American civilizations were in fact highly complex and thriving.

Early Settlement of the American Continent

There is much controversy regarding when the American continent was first colonized. Until recently, most scholars believed that the first people entered the territory approximately thirteen thousand years ago by crossing the Bering Strait. According to certain scientists, however, there were as many as five waves of settlement on the American continent before Columbus's first landing.

Some theorists claim that one of the first human settlements in America dates back fifty thousand years, though there is little evidence to conclusively support this view. Chilean artifacts suggest it is very likely that the American continent contained human settlements as far back as thirty thousand years ago.