We tend to regard 1492 as the beginning of American history, ignoring the fact that many generations of Indian life antedated Columbus's voyage. This essay suggests the enormous range of native American life by describing three societies that lay near to Columbus's route through the Caribbean. The Maya of Yucatan were a people whose civilization had already passed its zenith. The Aztecs of Mexico were at the height of their political and cultural growth. The Timuquans of Florida were a more simple woodland culture. The essay concludes with a description of Columbus's first voyage, showing that he was hardly aware of the vast and complex native world he had "discovered."
FROM THE TEXT
Travelers who approached the great Aztec city of Tenochtitlán for the first time must have been struck with wonder. Before them across a long causeway in the middle of Lake Texcoco lay a city of incredible size, home of some three hundred thousand people. On its fringes lay hundreds of small, man-made islands called chinampas, whose rich soil provided much of the cityÕs maize.
Thousands of neat houses, made of adobe or stone and stucco, lined the streets, their whitewashed walls reflecting the bright sun and their flower-dense interior gardens filling the air with incense. Beyond these modest houses were larger buildings where the great lords and high priests lived. The greatest of these dignitaries was the emperor, a man elected from among the members of the royal family by the council of noblemen. He was venerated, almost isolated, by worshipful ceremony -- riding from place to place in a litter carried by noblemen or walking on cloths cast before him to keep his feet from touching the ground. He ate his meals behind a gilded screen, shielded from the prying eyes of lesser mortals.