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History books traditionally depict the pre-Columbus Americas as a pristine wilderness where small native villages lived in harmony with nature. 

But scientific evidence tells a very different story: When Columbus stepped ashore in 1492, millions of people were already living there. America wasn't exactly a New World, but a very old one whose inhabitants had built a vast infrastructure of cities, orchards, canals and causeways.

The English brought honeybees to the Americas for honey, but the bees pollinated orchards along the East Coast. Thanks to the feral honeybees, many of the plants the Europeans brought, like apples and peaches, proliferated. Some 12,000 years ago, North American mammoths, ancient horses, and other large mammals vanished. The first horses in America since the Pleistocene era arrived with Columbus in 1493.

Settlers in the Americas told of rivers that had more fish than water. The South American potato helped spark a population explosion in Europe. In 1491, the Americas had few domesticated animals, and used the llama as their beast of burden.

In 1491, more people lived in the Americas than in Europe. The first conquistadors were sailors and adventurers. In 1492, the Americas were not a pristine wilderness but a crowded and managed landscape. The now barren Chaco Canyon was once covered with vegetation. Along with crops like wheat, weeds like dandelion were brought to America by Europeans.


It’s believed that the domestication of the turkey began in pre-Columbian Mexico, and did not exist in Europe in 1491. By 1500, European settlers and their plants and animals had altered much of the Americas’ landscape. While beans, potatoes, and maize from the Americas became major crops in continental Europe.
Source

Responses to "America Before Columbus (National Geographic documentary) "

  1. Unknown says:

    Educative.

  2. sk says:

    very good production

  3. Unknown says:

    Were in America did Columbus ever set foot?

  4. ATOTALTOP says:

    America is a huge continent from what is now Greenland by the north pole to “Tierra de Fuego” down south to what is now Chile, right above the antarctic. When the imbecile of Christopher Columbus got lost on his trip to India and stepped, ashore in America on October 1492, landing on one of the island actually know as The Bahamas, there were over 400 millions of people already living here. America wasn't exactly a New World, but a very old one whose inhabitants had built a vast infrastructure of cities, orchards, canals and causeways.

    America was the home of fascinating huge and advanced nations such as the Aztecs, Incas, the Mayans which at that time knew the universe very well, small nations such as the Cherokee, Apache, etc. who lived in harmony with nature, had lived and owned this continent for thousand of years. October 12, 1492 was the beginning of the biggest genocide in the history of mankind; the years to follow the Spaniards, British, Portuguese and other Europeans opportunistic settlers exterminated over 200 million Americans hanging them in mass, hacking their children into pieces to be used as dog feed and other horrible cruelties that history books omitted.

    523 years later we are still in America, getting numerous and stronger, we have already taken away from the Spaniards and other colonist our land back, we are now moving into the United States and in a peaceful way we will regain control of our land, we have been re named as native Americans, LatinAmericans, Indians, etc but we are the same Americans that Columbus found back on 1492. moving forward to take control of our continent and expel back to Europe to those who feel they are British, Italians, Germans, Irish, Dutch, French, etc and clean our land of any white trash.

    The royalty, rich, educated, successful European did not come to America, we were infected by the losers, illiterate, ignorant, bigots, hungry for gold, the trash from Europe who also brought their diseases to our beautiful land.

    Max Alex Valle

  5. Walter says:

    Yes, yes. I get it. It's all about the clash of cultures. European culture and society was bad, diseased and powerful, American culture was good, healthy, innocent but weak. The movie is a bit heavy on propagandist speculation and preaching, but it makes sure to get its point across.

    In the process, a long list of successes with domestication of plants in the Americas and introduced to the rest of the world is being abbreviated to maize and potatoes. I wonder why that was done. Here are some of the items in the rest of the list:

    Erythroxylon novogranatenseJerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus)
    Lamb's quarters (Chenopodium berlandieri)
    Cape gooseberry, many other names (Physalis peruviana)
    Pineapple (Ananas comosus)
    Wild rice (Zizania palustris)
    Mexican yam bean, or Mexican turnip (Pachyrhizus erosus)
    Naranjilla (Solanum quitoense)
    Cocona (Solanum sessiliflorum)
    Lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus)
    Andean yam bean (Pachyrhizus ahipa)
    Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum)
    Scarlet runner bean (Phaseolus coccineus)
    Amaranthus caudatus (Amaranthus caudatus)
    Erect knotweed (Polygonum erectum)
    Tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolius)
    Pepino ("sweet cucumber") (Solanum muricatum)
    Little barley (Hordeum pusillum)
    Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)
    Amazonian yam bean (Pachyrhizus tuberosus)
    Carolina canarygrass (Phalaris caroliniana)
    Jack bean (Canavalia ensiformis)
    Avocado (Persea americana)
    Cacao (Theobroma cacao)
    New Zealand yam (Oxalis tuberosa)
    Coca (Erythroxylun novogranatense)
    Sumpweed (Iva annua)
    Blood amaranth, red amaranth, purple amaranth (Amaranthus cruentus)
    Yellow lantern chili (Capsicum chinense)
    Common sunflower (Helianthus annuus)
    Prince-of-Wales feather (Amaranthus hypochondriacus)
    Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa)
    Squash, pumpkin, zcuchini (Cucurbita pepo)
    Squash, pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima)
    Potato (Solanum tuberosum)
    Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas)
    Achira, Indian shot (Canna edulis)
    Chili pepper (Capsicum baccatum)
    Giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida)
    Japanese pie pumpkin (Cucurbita argyrosperma)
    Mexican cotton (Gossypium hirsutum)
    Bell peppers, chili peppers (Capsicum annuum)
    Black-seed squash (Cucurbita ficifolia)
    Marsh bristlegrass (Setaria parviflora)
    Squash and pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata)
    Maize (Zea mays)
    Sea Island cotton (Gossypium barbadense)
    Cassava (Manihot esculenta)
    West Indian arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea)
    Large-spike bristlegrass(Setaria macrostachya)
    Peanut (Arachis hypogaea)
    Calatheas (Calathea)
    Prayer plant or arrowroot (Maranta)
    Virginia strawberry (Fragaria virginiana)
    Chilean strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis)

  6. mick says:

    hey max alex valle- why you including irish in your hate list. we (irish people)
    were not conquistadors +never have been.

  7. Bonny says:

    Wonderful production!! I would like all Native American Children to realize they came from a civilized country that was broken down with the arrival of the Europeans. Native Children should be taught that they may have come from the Aztec, The Maya and other highly civilized peoples. Track the YDNA, and you will see that it covers all of America!!!!!

  8. JT says:

    Wow, Max, that got kinda creepy and xenophobic at the end, there...

  9. Unknown says:

    Lol Max I think you are on a watch list now. Hey if you really want to freak yourself out why not get your DNA analyzed and see if you are infected with some white trash DNA.

  10. Anonymous says:

    Sure, you only can see a map, "Río BRavo" up to de USA : 0.01% natives, Rio BRavo down to México 11 million natives only in México. All Mexico is mix between spanish and natives ¿and USA?. Other people can read the lies from history other can see a map now.

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