Reclaim Our History - Protect Our Future

So you think you know indigenous history? Answer the following questions: 1. Did indigenous cultures in pre-contact Canada live in large sedentary settlements with the largest having populations numbering in the 10, 000's?  2. Did pre-contact indigenous people practice agriculture?  3. Did pre-contact indigenous people create metal artifacts and tools?  4. Did pre-contact indigenous people have advanced knowledge of mathematics, astronomy, biology and physics?  If you answered "No" to any of those questions you need to read the rest of this blog.

Answer 1. Prior to European contact in the America's, indigenous people lived in sedentary settlements that varied in size from several hundred people to several tens of thousands of people.  Proof of these large settlements are visible today all over the continent but their significance continues to go mostly unnoticed.  In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Western academia gained some interest in indigenous cultures when facinating archaeological discoveries were being made by accident during the agricultural expansion.  What they found was large man made mounds, many of them were burial mounds but there were many that were much too large to be just burial mounds.  When they excavated into the mounds they found that mounds had structure, many had limestone block foundations.

They found areas where there were many mounds in one location - mound cities. The artifacts found at the sites indicated to a society so advanced that the western academics deemed the mounds to be the result  of some ancient lost race they called "the mound builders".  As studies advanced, academics began to realize the undeniable fact that the mounds were the result of an indigenous culture - so they attributed the mounds to the Toltecs - anything to deny that they belonged to the indigenous people of Canada and the US.  There are many mound cities, including many in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. The most famous of these pre-contact cities is Cahokia near St. Louis, the city covered an area of 6 square miles, had a population estimated at 15,000 -40,000 (greater than or equal to European cities at the time, such as London) and consisted of over 120 mounds - these mounds are more like pyramids.  Mound cities exist all over the continent.  I've inserted a documentary about Cahokia and the mound builders below....

In 1535, Jacques Cartier arrived in Hochelaga (near present day Montreal) and described a large, permanent town with up to several thousand residents.  Sixty years later, Samuel de Champlain sought out Hochelaga and found nothing, he found no evidence of the large groups of indigenous people described by Cartier.  Why the disappearance?  It had everything to do with the biological apocalypse that resulted from European contact.  The disappearance of all the mound cities at the same time (early 1500's) is indicative of a continent wide epidemic.  

Answer 2. Yes, indigenous people of the americas practiced agriculture.  Here are some examples of cultivated food that indigenous people gave the world: Tomatoes (yes!  Google it!), cucumbers, many varieties of beans, many varieties of peppers, many varieties of potatoes, corn, pumpkins, squash, blueberries, cranberries, pineapple, avocado, papaya, vanilla and chocolate!  In Columbus's journals he writes about their well organized gardens, Cartier also described corn as a staple crop.  The gardens were abandoned when the cities were abandoned.  In the 1800's agriculture started up again among indigenous people at the Red River colony near present day Winnipeg - turns out they were too good at growing crops - they out competed the settlers - so they were shut down and moved into a swampy area.  Check out the link below for the whole story.  

Indigenous Agriculture - Manitoba's First Farmers

A pre-contact indigenous copper knife from Michigan

Answer 3. Yes, pre-contact indigenous people created metal tools and artifacts.  Columbus was the first to describe the metal ornaments used by indigenous people - it was of course gold and copper.  Pure copper artifacts were also found in the Cahokia artifacts and even tools made of ores were found mounds at modern day Winnipeg, MB and Rainy River, Ont.  Copper mines operated by indigenous people were found in the Lake Superior region and near Thunder Bay.  The mines are open pits, excavated through solid rock, some reaching depths of 9 feet.  Below are some links showing the sources of this information.  

The Mound Builders by George Bryce (racist arse but still has some relevant information)

Mound Builders in Manitoba

Copper ornaments from Cahokia

Answer 4. Yes, pre-contact indigenous people had extensive knowledge of mathematics and science.  Studies describing the construction and orientation of the mounds suggest that indigenous cultures not only had a great understanding of math including algebra, trigonometry, calculus and geometry but also used that knowledge in the construction of structures including, mounds, buildings, medicine wheels etc.  The placement of structures was usually done relative to other structures - and together these structure would mimic or represent astronomical features such as constellations, planetary movement and solar, stellar and lunar movements.  Also check out an earlier post where I elaborate more on indigenous knowledge of the universe - the Quantum Physics post.  

People must understand that during the late 1400's and early 1500's Europeans were not exactly hygienic - they dumped their shit into the streets and into the water, the powdered wigs were used to hide the lice infestations, they refused to bathe naked.  Put these people on a ship for weeks on end - many of them died on the voyage due to disease - and you seriously think they wouldn't infect the indigenous populations???  As disease spread across the continent - Europeans began to arrive in mass amounts in the 1600's - by this point, disease had ravaged the culture and most of the knowledge died with those that held it.  The diseases spread faster than the european invasions.  Settlers encountered bands of survivors and wrongly assumed that it was how they had always lived.  

Indigenous people have to start to educate each other about our history!  We need to discover our past and protect our future.  Currently, many of our history is being speculated about - people refuse to believe that our ancestors were capable of creating societies that would produce metal artifacts or live in cities or priduce fields of crops.  Some people are even going as far to state that these remains are the result of aliens living in the americas prior to european settlement - see Ancient Aliens.  Proof of our history is hidden in plain sight - in my own area (Winnipeg, MB), we have many mounds that go unnoticed.

These sites need to be discovered and protected and the artifacts need to be recovered.  Please help by sharing this post, learning more about our past and sharing what you learn!

***Most of my sources are in pdf format - I will need to figure out a way to post these.  In the meantime, if you wish to see any of my sources, just let me know in the comment box***