Most of America's landscapes were managed by indigenous peoples for tens of thousands of years. The idea of Europeans sailing to find a sparsely-populated wilderness is a myth. Tenochtitlan was one of the largest cities in the world in the 15th century.
Furthermore, the fact that biochar is a buzzword in green agriculture today shows how little we've learned, seeing as indigenous populations used the "hidden wisdom" of 'terra preta' for thousands of years to enrich the soil. The quality of our crops today is built on thousands of years of selective breeding and clever farming by peoples in pre-Columbian America.
Sure, pre-modern cultures may have had "less effective" understandings of medicine or technology, but at the same time, these cultures survived for millennia. We're definitely more effective at screwing up our planet than they ever were.
Given the pending ecological disaster(s) we're facing, it's probably more responsible to try and learn from the examples set by ancient cultures rather than flippantly declaring that they were "less effective", and dismissing any contrary information as romanticizing.
The Aztecs had progressed beyond tribal society. They were an empire. If there had been peaceful trade, etc, they would likely be no different than you and I. They were certainly on the same path, if a bit behind.
They were a primitive technology empire though weren't they? I've always had the impression their tech was closer to that of the ancient Egyptians... so close to 2000 years behind the Europeans.
Furthermore, the fact that biochar is a buzzword in green agriculture today shows how little we've learned, seeing as indigenous populations used the "hidden wisdom" of 'terra preta' for thousands of years to enrich the soil. The quality of our crops today is built on thousands of years of selective breeding and clever farming by peoples in pre-Columbian America.
Sure, pre-modern cultures may have had "less effective" understandings of medicine or technology, but at the same time, these cultures survived for millennia. We're definitely more effective at screwing up our planet than they ever were.
Given the pending ecological disaster(s) we're facing, it's probably more responsible to try and learn from the examples set by ancient cultures rather than flippantly declaring that they were "less effective", and dismissing any contrary information as romanticizing.