> America Before Columbus > > When Columbus came to America in 1492, there were over 75 > million people, twenty-five million living in North America, > inhabiting the land he supposedly discovered. Columbus called > them Indians believing he had reached the east by going west. > > The natives had migrated across the Bering Straits and settled > into warmer areas of the continent. The Hopi Indians were > building cliff dwellings, farming and creating villages about > a thousand years before Christ in what is now New Mexico. > > When Julius Caesar was conquering the Western world an Indian > culture called the Moundbuilders, who lived in the Ohio > Valley, were making huge structures out of earth. One of them > was said to be over three miles long and the area served as > a trading post. Indians came from the west, the Gulf of Mexico > and the Midwest to trade and exchange goods. So you can see a > system of trade and commerce existed before Columbus arrived. > > In what is now called Pennsylvania and upper state New York > lived the Iroquois. The Iroquois lived in villages and had a > very sophisticated social system which was in many ways > superior to the European culture. The land was worked in > common and was owned by the whole nation. > > Women held a much higher place in the Iroquois culture versus > the European. For instance, family names were tied to the > women not the men. When a man married, he joined the family > of his wife. Women farmed the land while the men hunted for > fish and game. Men and women shared power and the European > model of male dominance was conspicuously absent in Iroquois > culture. Children were not punished harshly and taught > equality in possessions. This is contrasted with the severity > of the Puritans who believed in harsh punishment. > > What did the culture of the Europeans bring to the new world? > The Europeans were a society of both rich and poor, controlled > by priests, governors and male heads of families. The Iroquois > society had no laws, sheriffs, judges or juries, however > boundaries of behavior existed. If someone stole food or shamed > their family, they were banished until they had morally atoned > for their actions. > > So this was the land Columbus "found." There was no written > language but their history was passed on by an oral culture > that was far superior to the Europeans. They told their > history through songs and fables. They paid attention to > the development of an individual's personality. This kind of > community lasted among natives long after the Indians were > conquered. John Collier who lived with the tribes of the > American Southwest said of the spirit of the natives, "if > we could make it our own, there would be an eternally > inexhaustible earth and a forever lasting peace." > > Perhaps this is myth-making. But these ideas have been > repeated in European journals. What can we learn from this? > First, we can see that hierarchy leads to divisions in all > societies and this stratification of power leads to dominance > by a few to the cost of many. This is true of all European > systems whether it be capitalism or communism. Secondly, mere > laws and punishment do not lead to a peaceful society. Maybe > we should study other cultures in our schools and incorporate > some of their beliefs into our own violent society. >