By comparison, Chinese intensive rice farming, the most successful agricultural technique known in Europe and Asia, supported only about one person per acre at the same time.
This is saying that even the best farming method in Europe and Asia Chinese rice farming could only feed about one person per acre. This comparison helps show how productive American farming could be during the same period.
eliable, storable, staple food supplies are a necessary precondition for long-term settlement and population growth – in other words the creation of cities. Like the Europeans, Africans, and Asians, once they had created a reliable food supply, many (not all) American natives built remarkable cities, especially in Central and South America. From present-day Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula south through Guatemala, the Maya developed a complex society which reached its most intense flourishing from 250 CE to 900 CE. However, the Maya changed their social organization and by the time the Spanish arrived, they were living in more separated independent city-states; seemingly having abandoned some of their more impressive temples and structures such as Chichén Itzá in Yucatan. This led to an interpretation that the original society had suffered a partial collapse sometime around 900 CE due to ecological collapse and/or feuding among these separate cities. More recently, anthropologists have begun to suggest the Maya people may just have wanted to live a lifestyle with less centralized control.Next: 4.3 - Maya Culture Back : 4.1 - The "Old" World
This shows that Native peoples in the Americas were able to build large, successful cities once they had steady food supplies, just like people in other parts of the world. The Maya are a good example they created a complex society with impressive buildings and cities. Their way of life changed over time, but that doesn’t mean their civilization suddenly collapsed. Instead, they may have simply chosen to live differently. Overall, this shows that American societies were advanced and capable long before Europeans arrived.
One of the most important things to know is that in 1500, the populations of Europe, Africa, and the Americas were quite similar
In 1500, Europe, Africa, and the Americas all had millions of people. They weren’t the same in number, but they were closer than most people expect. This shows the Americas were already full of Indigenous peoples before Europeans arrived.
Finally, in one word, their Ambition and Avarice, than which the heart of Man never entertained greater, and the vast Wealth of those Regions; the Humility and Patience of the Inhabitants (which made their approach to these Lands more easy) did much promote the business: Whom they so despicably contemned, that they treated them (I speak of things which I was an Eye Witness of, without the least fallacy) not as Beasts, which I cordially wished they would, but as the most abject dung and filth of the Earth; and so solicitous they were of their Life and Soul, that the above-mentioned number of People died without understanding the true Faith or Sacraments.
The passage says that the Spaniards were driven by greed and desire for wealth. The Indigenous people were humble and patient, which made it easier for the Spaniards to take their land. The Spaniards treated the people terribly, worse than animals, and many died without learning about Christianity. It shows how cruel and disrespectful the Spaniards were.
The Sun had treacherously murdered our people on the twentieth day after the captain left for the coast. We allowed the Captain to return to the city in peace. But on the following day we attacked him with all our might, and that was the beginning of the war.
The passage says that the Sun killed their people while the captain was away. They let the captain return safely, but the next day they attacked him, which started the war. It shows how anger and revenge led to conflict.
As soon as the tide rose beneath their ship, however, they took the boat and rowed to the ship, which they conveyed up the river, and so into the lake, where they cast anchor and carried their hammocks ashore from the ship and built themselves cabins there.
The passage is describing how people moved their boat and ship up a river into a lake. They anchored the ship, brought their hammocks ashore, and built cabins to live in. It shows how they settled in a new place and made it their home.
he first whereof was raising an unjust, bloody, cruel War. The other, by putting them to death, who hitherto, thirsted after their Liberty, or designed (which the most Potent, Strenuous and Magnanimous Spirits intended) to recover their pristine Freedom, and shake off the Shackles of so injurious a Captivity: For they being taken off in War, none but Women and Children were permitted to enjoy the benefit of that Country-Air…
The passage says that Spanish Christians attacked the people on the islands. They fought a war and killed anyone who resisted. Most men died, and only women and children survived. The Spanish were cruel and wanted total control over the people.