The author is Kathleen Duval and the subtitle is A millennium in North America. It’s an excellent book. Here is an excerpt, collected by me from three separate pages:
Around 1400, the towns of Cahokia, Moundville and Huhugam were abandoned. People continued to live nearby and, in many cases, continued to use the ruins as part of their ceremonies, but they no longer lived in the towns. Commerce, religion and politics were democratized and became more the domain of the people. North America changed dramatically between 1200 and 1400, and the causes had nothing to do with Europeans.
Climate change and the Little Ice Age are the most likely culprits:
The Little Ice Age was particularly harsh on large, centralized agricultural towns around the world, including those of Cahokia, Moundville, and Huhugam. In times of hardship and famine, rulers found it difficult to maintain their position, especially if they had claimed special powers over natural forces beyond their control: rain, rivers, and temperature. The urbanized settlements of North America were incapable of providing the health and prosperity that people had enjoyed for generations. Today, people see conditions worsening over the course of their lives: less food, more poverty, a declining future for their children…
Gradually, throughout indigenous North America, people developed a deep distrust of centralization, hierarchy, and inequality. The former inhabitants of North America’s major cities have gone backwards, turning away from urbanization and political and economic centralization to build new ways of life…
The first European explorers who crossed North America got a glimpse of this changing world.
I can’t wait to read the whole book.
The post office *Indigenous Nations* appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.
