How are the Americas, pre-Columbus, being presented in schools today?

Question

I ask because when I was in high school we learned that the Americas were sparsely populated when the Europeans arrived, and most of the inhabitants were nomadic tribes of one sort of another. Also, they were naieve politically

Turns out that research since at least the 60s is leading people to believe that the Americas had more people than Europe at the time, and that cities like Tenochtitlan were more populous than Paris (and in better condition, with running water etc.). The disparity seems to come from the fact that by the time later Europeans came to document the native peoples, up to 8 or 9 in 10 native peoples had died due to smallpox, influenza, or other disease brought (unintentionally in the vast majority of cases) by Europeans. That accounts for millions of people and also for the quick fall of some of the civilizations after conflict with Europe.

Also there was complex, Machiavellian politics in the new world before Eurpeans came.

Do they teach any of this these days?

btw: I was in school long after the 60s research came out, so the details were there we just didn't learn about them.

To Cy: Interesting. The research has been around a while at this point. There is a recent book called 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, that documents much of this. It is an extremely interesting read.

http://www.amazon.com/1491-Revelations-Americas-Before-Columbus/dp/140004006X

(and no, I'm not the author of it nor do I know the author).

Answer 1

See how its done in
http://www.hvrsd.k12.nj.us/hopewell/home/AmericanHistory.html
See the elementary curriculum in
http://www.eduref.org/Virtual/Lessons/crossroads/sec3/index.html
As you see nothing about precolombian history....

Answer 2

Accounts from Spaniards and other Europeans 500 years ago or so do support what the scholarship says about the densely populated regions in the Americas around 1500. Bernal Diaz de Castillo, a man who traveled with Cortes and other conquistadors, wrote about the massive city of Tenochitlan (today, Mexico City). It had the hemisphere's largest market, with thousands of stalls. I think the problem in the curriculum of many schools is that they pay too little attention to the history of the area south of the Rio Grande, and it was there where the largest and most advanced civilizations lived prior to the arrival of the Europeans. The Inca Empire, located in the Andes, was also densely populated.

Answer 3

I'm in college now...but although speculation does occur...the actual textbooks mention nothing of any abundant civilization. Quite the contrary....we supposedly brought the 'civilization.'