Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Jazz
North America includes Mexico under all definitions, so my example of the Aztec remains accurate. If you're going to get technical, subsitute the Maya for the Inca. Add in the Tarascans for effect.
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And yet none of these landed on the shores of France.
Yes, there were several interesting aspects of pre-culumbian civilization in the americas. The mayans understanding of astronomy for example. At large however, they were several centuries behind Han China, golden age Islam and Renaissance Europe.
Note as well that I'm mainly talking about civilization here, i.e. culture and government, not so much about science. Most of these civilizations, even the Aztecs and Mayans, were still living in largely tribal societies. At a time when most of Europe was under the influence of a handful of great powers, the middle east was divided between the Ottoman empire and Persia, and China was unified into one nation, those dozen cultures in the americas that had anything resembling organized culture, were decetralized to the point that historians still argue that calling them empires is nothing but bad wording.