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Wait, now the metric for civilization is sailing technology? Then as soon as the Han Chinese dumped the Treasure Fleet, they went back to the Stone Age. And that makes this conversation now include the Norse and (probably) the Irish monks in their little leather boats.
Let's remember that Renaissance Europe landed on the beaches of North America not because that's where they wanted to go but because of a fundamental and huge mistake in the understanding of the shape and scale of the globe. It's a bit difficult to point to Renaissance Europe as the high-point-to-date in terms of technology when they were behind both the Arabs and the Chinese in almost all real metrics in November, 1492. The Chinese had recently sailed a fleet to Africa, portaged huge ships to the Nile (albeit using some pre-existing canals built by the Arabs) then to Venice in the 1450's.
The Mayans were behind the Han, Islam and the Renaissance how exactly? Using what as a measuring stick? The Mayans had a more advanced calendar and the most advanced understanding of astronomy until the advent of the telescope. The Aztec had the only mandatory educational system in the world and Tlatelolco (Mexico City) was one of the largest in the world when Cortez got there.
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