Comments on: Pre-Columbian Gardens http://www.prairiepoint.net/journal/2006/01/16/pre-columbian-garden/ Gardening, rural life, nature and general observations from a west Texas perspective. Mon, 08 Sep 2008 08:36:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: C.S.M. http://www.prairiepoint.net/journal/2006/01/16/pre-columbian-garden/#comment-5060 C.S.M. Mon, 30 Jan 2006 10:37:53 +0000 http://www.prairiepoint.net/journal/2006/01/16/pre-columbian-garden/#comment-5060 I don't subscribe either to the low or to the high estimate of native population. It is obvious they had to be more than initially stated, but if they were so many, they should have left more traces and more descendants despite the catastrophes, as in Mexico or Peru. I think there were areas with dense habitat and areas with almost no inhabitants. After all, many lands are workable only with iron tools. As for the splendidness of their cultures, I'm not a believer in the "noble exotic" either. All human cultures have both good and gruesome aspects. Besides, they have been defeated mostly by the colonizers encouraging intertribal warfare - see tlaxcalans against aztecs - which means there was not that much harmony in paradise. I don’t subscribe either to the low or to the high estimate of native population. It is obvious they had to be more than initially stated, but if they were so many, they should have left more traces and more descendants despite the catastrophes, as in Mexico or Peru. I think there were areas with dense habitat and areas with almost no inhabitants. After all, many lands are workable only with iron tools.
As for the splendidness of their cultures, I’m not a believer in the “noble exotic” either. All human cultures have both good and gruesome aspects. Besides, they have been defeated mostly by the colonizers encouraging intertribal warfare - see tlaxcalans against aztecs - which means there was not that much harmony in paradise.

]]> By: Joel Sax http://www.prairiepoint.net/journal/2006/01/16/pre-columbian-garden/#comment-5051 Joel Sax Fri, 20 Jan 2006 07:44:48 +0000 http://www.prairiepoint.net/journal/2006/01/16/pre-columbian-garden/#comment-5051 I heard this, too. And there's evidence in the records of the DeSoto expedition which tramped through the Southeast, meeting some splendid peoples who bathed and had better medicine than we did except on one point: they thought sweat lodges could cure European diseases. DeSoto is said, at one point, to have stood on a hilltop in Kentucky, looked around, and seen miles and miles of farms stretching out in all directions. No one saw a buffalo in the Midwest until a few decades before the major settlement of that region began: where there were no farmers to fend them off with sticks, the buffalo roamed. I heard this, too. And there’s evidence in the records of the DeSoto expedition which tramped through the Southeast, meeting some splendid peoples who bathed and had better medicine than we did except on one point: they thought sweat lodges could cure European diseases.

DeSoto is said, at one point, to have stood on a hilltop in Kentucky, looked around, and seen miles and miles of farms stretching out in all directions.

No one saw a buffalo in the Midwest until a few decades before the major settlement of that region began: where there were no farmers to fend them off with sticks, the buffalo roamed.

]]> By: Wallace-Midland, Texas http://www.prairiepoint.net/journal/2006/01/16/pre-columbian-garden/#comment-5050 Wallace-Midland, Texas Thu, 19 Jan 2006 04:35:19 +0000 http://www.prairiepoint.net/journal/2006/01/16/pre-columbian-garden/#comment-5050 There were some magnificent cities, especially in Central America. As far as the buffalo herds I will have to read the article but it seems counter intuitive that there were not huge herds dating back to pre-history. The buffalo range, from Montana to W. Texas was not effectively transgressed/changed by white peoples until the 1850's and some of the fur trapper stories I have read, circa 1820's, provide accounts of huge herds. The one artifact of white civilization that did appear in the buffalo range early on was the horse which made the native peoples more effective hunters [even turning some subsistance tribes like the Comanches into hunters]. Being more effective would mean smaller herds. There were some magnificent cities, especially in Central America.

As far as the buffalo herds I will have to read the article but it seems counter intuitive that there were not huge herds dating back to pre-history. The buffalo range, from Montana to W. Texas was not effectively transgressed/changed by white peoples until the 1850’s and some of the fur trapper stories I have read, circa 1820’s, provide accounts of huge herds. The one artifact of white civilization that did appear in the buffalo range early on was the horse which made the native peoples more effective hunters [even turning some subsistance tribes like the Comanches into hunters]. Being more effective would mean smaller herds.

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