The Myth of the Passive Indian - Was America before Columbus just a “continent of patsies”?

Reason ^ | April 2006 | Amy H. Sturgis

[redgolum]

Always amused me that so many thought the Native Americans had no real civilisation and "lived as one" with the land.

[lepton]

who seemed peeved at the thought that his favorite white men had not invented everything themselves in a vacuum,

We owe a lot to the Scottish, who laid down a generation of arguments in the early 1700s. That's hardly a vaccuum.

[alloysteel]

There is a tendency to lump together all indigeous people of North and South America, known generically as "Indians".

But in fact, they had little in common with each other, and often were at great odds with their close neighbors, lacking even a common language in many cases. There were traveling "Kokopelli" traders that did carry trade goods, news, entertainment and just plain gossip between tribes over a wide area, which did have some kind of homogenizing effect, in a region that stretched from probably somewhere in the Ohio valley, to the capitals of the Aztec and Mayan empires.

But passive? The adjective just does not apply. There were widespread wars, incursions on territory, and atrocities against enemies that would curdle the blood, even of folk familiar with Old Testament history. The Spanish had somewhat better technology than the Aztecs (horses and firearms), but they were in reality more savages than the civilization they destroyed.

[Alberta's Child]

Further illustrating the point that historical records are always passed down by those civilizations with written languages.

[Mikey_1962]

Did you ever visit Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump in Alberta Canada.

Instead of hunting Buffalo they would cause a stampede off this cliff.

Thousands of Buffalo would die. Far far more than could be preserved or eaten.

Respect for the environment my ass!

[redgolum]

Haven't been there, but there are a lot of similar places all over the Midwest.

I also spent some time in Clovis, New Mexico. In the Blackwater Draw, there are thousands of buffalo skeletons that had been butchered over a long period of time.

[SF Republican]

There is a tendency to lump together all indigenous people of North and South America, known generically as "Indians" - one can say the same for the descendent's of Spanish landowners that were and have been in California for 300 years and those that arrived yesterday.

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

If I had to pick one word to describe (my impression of) pre-Columbus Americans, it sure as shiite would not be passive.

[redgolum]

Yes sir.

What really fascinated me was when I was working in New Mexico, and I decided to brush up on the local history.

There is some cultural history, mainly dating from just before the Spanish came. Many tribes didn't mind the Spanish, as they provided some protection from the northern Sioux tribes.

[PeterPrinciple]

Always amused me that so many thought the Native Americans had no real civilisation and "lived as one" with the land

I've posted this before. My brother was working construction in Montana and one of the "natives" said if it wasn't for the white man he wouldn't have to work and would be roaming the plains on his horse. Brother had to remind him that it was the white man that brought the horse.

[GeorgefromGeorgia]

The Aztecs were a very warlike people. They had migrated from the NW desert to the present cite of Mexico City. The tribes that they had conquered or were still fighting hated them, and Cortez acquired many allies. I agree that there were significant differences between "Indians" in Mezoamerica and farther north where the people were more hunter/gathers.
ONE point, the Spanish were tough, but they did not resort to human sacrifice.

[nickcarraway]

Navajos only had words for a few tribes, like the Utes and the Hopi. Otherwise, other Indian tribes are classified under the same word as someone from Europe or anywhere else.

[redgolum]

I once mentioned to a Native guy I used to know that my ancestors (the germanic people) were the original barbarians. He didn't believe me till he started reading up on late Western Roman history.

Kind of made him laugh to see that most of the countries in Europe are peopled by the descendent's of a bunch of head hunting barbarians.

[eskimo]

The Myth of the Passive Indian - Was America before Columbus just a “continent of patsies”?

Possibly not then but certainly now.

[mcashman]

Not sure all the research in this article is reliable. For instance, it claims that only in the 1990s was it realized that knotted strings represented "texts" but my book on "Picture Writing of the American Indians" (1893) indicates that it was known that Peruvians used a three dimensional array of knotted strings (quipu) to keep accounts.

[elkfersupper]

I also spent some time in Clovis, New Mexico.

I'm sorry. Me, too - 30 years.

[Elsie]

But according to the Mormons.......

[hispanarepublicana]

They never heard of the Comanches?

[Alberta's Child]

Your brother might also have mentioned that if it weren't for the white man, those "natives" would probably have an average life expectancy of about 35 years right now.