Native American's October 11, 1492

The Native Americans

October 11, 1492

In the chapter "The Native Americans, October 11, 1492", author J. William T. Young writes about how our history is thought to have started in 1492. However, He describes four societies that had lived near where Christopher Columbus landed. These societies had their own faith, tradition, cultures and political history long before Christopher Columbus.

The Tulum people lived on the eastern coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on an important coastal community. These people had a very modest lifestyle. Nonetheless were heirs of proud traditions. Their ancestors charted the sun's and stars' courses, developed the world's most sophisticated calendar, and chronicled their history in hieroglyphics. In addition to their scholarly accomplishments they had a vast agricultural knowledge as well. They were only one of hundreds of peoples who occupied the American continents.

Only a thousand miles away lay the Aztec Empire. These people had strong religious beliefs. They were all about paying homage to their Gods, for they were mighty and would provide victory in battle. They were merchants as well as customers, who worked on a trading and bartering system. The Aztec people engaged in dozens of professions to include, goldsmiths, painters, messengers and teachers. They provided their children a code of social conduct, and taught them to value goodness more than pride.

In Florida, lived the Timuquan people. They were much simpler people than the Aztecs or Mayas. However their culture had a richness of its own. They were farmers and hunters. Their community business was handled by a council of the state. Business followed a pattern determined by the elements. Even warfare had a stylized ritual quality.

Halfway across the Americas lived the Natchez, one of many cultures that lay along the Mississippi River. Their numbers were in the millions. These people were great architects and farmers. The leader of the Natchez was thought to have great powers. They had a complex system of nobility and how each station of life intermixed. This is just another example of the diversity of the Native American life.

On October 12, 1492, Columbus landed in what he called San Salvador. European explores simply assumed lands not possessed by other European states belonged to the first "civilized: nation to visit them. The writer explains that Columbus had no aggressive intentions and insisted that his men trade fairly with the indigenous people. And, that Columbus would go on to alter history in a process called the "Colombian Exchange". The writer states that the it was disease that decimated the Native American population and then the European conquers became masters of these lands.