Pre-Columbian Native Americans: How many were there?
The proper place to
begin the story of the United States of America is with the people that created
the geo-political entity known as the United States. While many history books
begin with prehistoric times in North America to give a thorough background of
the land and the people that populated it, such an expanse of time is better
left to a category of its own – one covering all the native tribes of the
Americas before European settlement and conquest. Since there is a lack of
written records of that era it makes it difficult to accurately document the
early peoples of the Western Hemisphere, which forces historians to rely on
oral history and the archaeological evidence to piece together the missing
pieces. This is perhaps the principal reason why the history of North America
is generally given as a prequel to U.S. and Canadian histories since despite
the massive amount of time that Native Americans have occupied their side of
the world, there is relatively little known about their wars, treaties,
political arrangements, myths, leaders, and way of life before Europeans began
penning the oral history of the natives for future generations. By that time,
unfortunately, the tribes had lost much of the facts of their history to the
vastness of time making it quite difficult to separate folklore from fact in
many cases.
Since
this blog is about the history of the United States, only a brief description
of the various tribes occupying the United States and its immediate
surroundings at the time of European colonization will be necessary. Since the
European colonists and their descendents eventually came into contact with
every single tribe that existed in the present United States when the first
colonies were established on the East Coast, it will make it easier to
recognize the various tribes when they are mentioned if they are introduced
from the start.
Christopher
Columbus landed on the island he named San Salvador on October 12, 1492. It is
unknown precisely how many millions of people populated the Western Hemisphere
at that time, since the natives did not keep census records. We are left then
to rely on European head counts of the day when the European settlers found the
need or time to do so. Any other estimates are left to archaeology and
anthropology.[1] Pre-Columbian population estimates range
from eight to Henry Dobyns’ high count of one hundred forty-two million, while
the average estimate of Native American demographers over the past ninety years
has stayed steady at about forty million.[2] The high estimates can easily be
discounted as exaggerations considering that the Aztec Empire, which was one of
the most densely populated regions in the Americas, had only about six million
on the eve of European contact.[3]
Estimates
on the Native North American population vary just as widely. Ten separate
textbook authors writing from 1988-1990, range in their estimates from one to
twelve million. Over the past century, three schools of thought have dominated
the study of North American Indian demographics. The earliest of these is known
as the the bottom-up school, whose proponents calculated individual tribal
populations and added them together to obtain an overall population.[4] They relied on whatever information was
available, but never hesitated to fill in gaps with estimates. They also tended
to discount overly high figures given by people like soldiers and priests,
assuming that people in those types of professions would intentionally exaggerate
to make their conquests and baptisms look more successful to their superiors.[5] Those in the second school, known as area
modelers have focused on area estimates from available evidence, focusing on
regional populations. Where they differ with the bottom-up approach is in their
acceptance of historical records of native populations.[6] The top-down approach is the newest and
has gained considerable support over the past few decades. This method, led by
Henry Dobyns and Russell Thornton has produced much higher native population
estimates by relying heavily on depopulation ratios and expanding the area
modelers’ method of calculating more epidemic devastation than traditionally
believed. The wide popularity of the top-down approach created a major academic
debate in the 80s, with many modern scholars accusing the early researchers of
producing lower estimates in order to make the Indians look weak, while
opponents of the top-down approach have accused its proponents of allowing
their pro-Indian bias to affect their academic credibility and have pointed out
sloppiness in their research.[7] Choosing the numbers of the
Pre-Columbian native population of North America to believe has a great deal to
do with one’s judgment of evidence.
Central and South American Civilizations before European
Settlement
The first
major Native American power was the Olmecs who prospered on the Gulf Coast of
present-day Mexico from 1200 BC to 400 BC. Their greatest architectural
remains are giant, sculpted heads of stone. They laid the cultural
foundation for future civilizations that followed in Mesoamerica.[9] The Mayans were the next tribe to
rise to prominence in the region and occupied what is today Guatemala and
southern Mexico. It was they that created the most advanced calendar and
writing system in the Americas. By the time the Spanish arrived, their
civilization had already greatly declined but, they still had large, developed
settlements in the Yucatan Peninsula of southeastern Mexico.[10]
When the Spanish discovered the Western Hemisphere,
the Aztec Empire was the dominant force to be reckoned with in Mesoamerica. The
Aztecs were a tribe from the north of Mexico who had migrated south and filled
the power void left by a weakened tribe known as the Toltecs who had dominated
the region for several centuries.[11] The Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan surpassed
all the cities of Europe at that time in population and grandiosity. Home to as
many as two hundred thousand people, the city boasted amazing temples, plazas,
and thoroughfares. In the center of the city was a large pyramid which
served as the Aztecs' religious center. It was here that tens of thousands of
victims, usually prisoners of war were sacrificed yearly to the Aztec gods.[12] Human sacrifice had always been a part
of the religion in Central America, but it is believed that
the Aztecs practiced it on a much greater scale than the Mayas,
Olmecs or any other tribe that had come before them.[13] The Aztec Empire has spread through
conquest, creating bitter enemies among their subject tribes which allowed the
Spanish to conquer the empire at its height by using neighboring tribes as allies
against them.[14]
In
South America, the Incan Empire dominated in the fifteenth century, stretching
along most of the Pacific coast for 2,500 miles from present-day Ecuador to
Chile and controlling over six hundred thousand square miles.[15] The Incas first began expanding from
their capital in Cusco, Peru around 1250 AD and quickly absorbed neighboring
tribes. By the 1530s, they occupied portions of present-day Argentina, Bolivia,
Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and
Peru. They developed an extensive road system to connect their empire to the
capital and developed a form of writing using knotted rope and painting.[16]
While historians,
anthropologists, and archaeologists tend to differ widely in their calculations
of the total American, native population in the fifteenth century, the average
estimate is about forty million.[17] The overwhelming majority of these
native peoples lived in what is now considered Latin America with centers of
civilization located Central America and along the South American Pacific
Coast. The Olmecs, , Mayans, Toltecs, Aztecs, and Incas were formidable empires
in their heyday, which for the Aztecs and Incas was right before they were
discovered by the Spanish. Despite their cultural and technological advancement
relative to other nations and tribes in the Western Hemisphere, their isolation
from the Eastern world, with some exceptions caused them to develop at a slower
pace than they most likely would have if they had been in the Eastern
Hemisphere.
[1] John D. Daniels, “The Indian Population of North America in
1492,” The William and Mary Quarterly 49:2 (1992): 298-320.
[2] pinguin, “Native American population
through the ages,” World Historia, September 29, 2006, http://archive.worldhistoria.com/native-american-population-through-the-ages_topic27325.html.
[3] Encyclopædia
Britannica Online, s. v. "Aztec," accessed February 13,
2014, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/46981/Aztec.
[4] John D. Daniels, “The Indian Population of
North America in 1492,” The William and Mary Quarterly 49:2
(1992): 298-320.
[8] “Pyramids of Mexico,” accessed February
13, 2014, http://cdn.preterhuman.net/texts/other/crystalinks/mexico.html.
[9] David Goldfield et al., The American Journey: A History of
the United States (New York: Prentice Hall, 2009), 5-7.
[12] pinguin, “Native American population
through the ages,” World Historia, September 29, 2006, http://archive.worldhistoria.com/native-american-population-through-the-ages_topic27325.html.
[13] “Mexico Timeline,” A&E Television
Networks, accessed February 13, 2014, http://www.history.com/topics/mexico/mexico-timeline..
[14] “Mexico Timeline,” A&E Television Networks, accessed February
13, 2014, http://www.history.com/topics/mexico/mexico-timeline.
[15] K. Kris Hirst, “Guide to the Inca Empire:
Late Horizon Rulers of South America,” About.com, accessed February 13, 2014,
http://archaeology.about.com/od/incaarchaeology/a/inca_empire.htm.
[17] pinguin, “Native American population through the ages,” World
Historia, September 29, 2006, http://archive.worldhistoria.com/native-american-population-through-the-ages_topic27325.html
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