Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

coob t1_j411h4q wrote

Why didn’t this happen in North America?

4

2011StlCards t1_j412mtv wrote

North American natives were effectively isolated from the rest of the world until the 15th century.

Europe, Africa, the Middle East, China, India, and southeast Asia had basically all been interconnected for millenia.

You had the Roman empire, the hellenestic kingdoms, Mongolian empire, trade routes of the Indian Ocean, trade routes like the Silk Road, etc... that had people, goods, and ideas transferring from one group to another for centuries.

That means technology, religion, science, and more from China can make it to Europe and have influence.

The Americas had some civilizations that were pretty damn advanced. The Inca somehow made a huge empire in the mountains with only humans and llamas. The Aztec basically had a capital that rivaled any city in europe at the time of its destruction.

If given time, these groups may have become more powerful, but the odds were against then when it came to trade and new ideas. There just weren't as many people involved there as in the Eurasian trade networks

12

hairybalI t1_j414wwo wrote

Additionally, there are no animals that could easily be domesticated as draught animals in North America. This was the biggest limitation on the development of agriculture there.

5

Buddahrific t1_j41dedu wrote

Not to mention the erasure of some of the progress they did have between exposure to European disease, conquest, and religion.

−1

UnarmedSnail t1_j4533uv wrote

They did not have animals in north America suitable for domestication to magnify their work potential. They did not have farming technology on an industrial scale, and they didn't have the social structure suitable for long term growth in most cultures. There were a few exceptions in prehistory but they did not survive to contact with Europeans. The Aztecs being the only empire that did exist then. There were a long string of prehistoric empires in the Americas but for the most part they were separated by time and distance from each other.

Edit: the Incas also had contact with Europeans.

1