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A couple things I learned about Indians. One - they were pratically stone age. The North American Indians did not have the wheel nor beasts of burden. Two essential items for a civilization to advance, the third being the plow which I do not think they had, either. The other thing they did not have was a written language. Stories and information was passed down from generation to generation from the oldest to the young. When the white man came and introduced certain deseases into the environment - two groups of people were quickly wiped out. The very young and the very old. This proved devastating as now not many existed to tell the stories. A written language would have solved that problem. I passed this information in an English class a couple semesters ago and the instructor stated that what I was saying was almost racist. Not that I was wrong, but only that it should not be said.

Also, liked someone said earlier - depended upon tribe to tribe. Some tribes were into enslaving others, war, and other nasty things only attributed to whites these days. What - the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incans practiced baby and virgin killing in the form of sacrifices. Somehow, that all gets glossed over today. It is like the Indian woman who supposively helped Lewis and Clark on their expedition. I hear it was actually her French husband and she was just along for the ride.

Some of the Indians did have a written language; others used "living computers" : record keepers who memorized important history, with the use of menomic aids-usually in the form of shell belts.The Maya ( for all the good it did them ) had written language,a system of written mathematics, a basic knowledge of astronomy, etc.

None of these things were particularly effective, when dealing with heavily armed settlers.

Some of the Indians did have a written language; others used "living computers" : record keepers who memorized important history, with the use of mnemonic aids-usually in the form of shell belts.The Maya ( for all the good it did them ) had written language,a system of written mathematics, a basic knowledge of astronomy, etc.

None of these things were particularly effective, when dealing with heavily armed settlers.

"When the white man came and introduced certain deseases into the environment - two groups of people were quickly wiped out. The very young and the very old. This proved devastating as now not many existed to tell the stories."

You are absolutely correct. When the white settlers began moving west and encountered the various mounds and such, the surviving Indians had no idea who made them although they were (the mounds, etc) less than 100 years old. All the old story tellers had died off and the communications link had been broken and all the acquired knowledge was lost.

When the very primitive nomads and fierce Aztecs arrived at the Valley of Mexico around 1,280A.C, there were already several more advanced tribes that had developed efficient irrigation methods to grow their crops. The Tepanecas, the strongest tribe in the Valley of Mexico allowed the Aztecs to settle in what is now Chapultepec District in Mexico City. The Aztecs paid tribute to their Tepanec masters in levies of wood, harvest of maize, and above all, with a quickly gained reputation for cruelty, as mercenaries. Human sacrifices and cannibalism were practiced already in the Valley but the Aztecs elevated it from an occasional ritual to a regular feast.

Around 1,300, the tribe of Culhuacan, emerged as chief rival of the Tepanecas and sent an expedition to subdue the hated Aztecs mercenaries. Many Aztecs were slaughtered, and the defeated remnants of the tribe were herded back to Culhuacan as slaves. Later the Culhuacans sent the Aztecs into battle against the Xochimilcas, promising that if they triumphed, they were going to raise their status from slaves to mercenaries. The Aztecs crushed the Xochimilcas and brought back hundreds of enemy ears as trophies. Consequently the Aztec chief requested to be married to one of the daughters of the Calhuacan chief, Coxcoxtli, who complied in the hope of keeping the loyalty of the brutal Aztec mercenaries.

But the Aztecs, never had forgotten the massacre dealt them by the Calhuacans and their 25 years of servitude. When Coxcoxtli arrived at the foul-smelling, smoky, Aztec temple to witness his daughter’s wedding ceremony, a priest dressed in freshly flayed human skin greeted him. Only after his eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness of the temple did Coxcoxtli scream and recoil in horror; to see his own daughter’s skin draped around the priest. (Taken from La Capital, The Biography of Mexico City by Jonathan Kandell)

Here goes the fact vs. the myth of the “noble savage” concocted by J.J. Rousseau