I often think what life in this continent would be like had there never been any colonialism. But if Europe still had contact with the native peoples and their nations through trade. How would the people here have evolved?
this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2026
742 points (98.2% liked)
memes
22584 readers
2331 users here now
Community rules
1. Be civil
No trolling, bigotry or other insulting / annoying behaviour
2. No politics
This is non-politics community. For political memes please go to !politicalmemes@lemmy.world
3. No recent reposts
Check for reposts when posting a meme, you can only repost after 1 month
4. No bots
No bots without the express approval of the mods or the admins
5. No Spam/Ads/AI Slop
No advertisements or spam. This is an instance rule and the only way to live. We also consider AI slop to be spam in this community and is subject to removal.
A collection of some classic Lemmy memes for your enjoyment
Sister communities
- !tenforward@lemmy.world : Star Trek memes, chat and shitposts
- !lemmyshitpost@lemmy.world : Lemmy Shitposts, anything and everything goes.
- !linuxmemes@lemmy.world : Linux themed memes
- !comicstrips@lemmy.world : for those who love comic stories.
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
You might enjoy the book 1491 a lot - it goes over what populations existed before contact, and even explores the period when people would make decisions between whether they would stay a colonial resident or join a native country - and vice versa. Turns out it was very much down to the person.
Of course, it also has the mind-blowing fact that we lost roughly 92% of the population of the Americas to disease - which is how the Europeans walked into the "New World" so easily, but also why they had to start importing slaves from Africa. The author frames it as if we just suddenly lost all of China - and laments the cultural exchange we've lost as a result.
10/10 read, would recommend if you like the topic.
Iβve got a lot of family in the Caribbean and itβs interesting how much of the flora and food culture has also been changed by resettlement.
Where my family is, the tradition cuisine is generally African or Indian influenced and many of the veggies and fruits were brought from these places. Even botanical gardens that are trying to create a wild food forest are doing so with mangoes, papaya, breadfruit, etc which were all Asian imports. When I go there, Iβm often left wondering what these islands looked like in centuries past and what the cuisine was.
like the carribean monk seal that became extinct, the haiwain one is very endangered. i was looking at flora and fauna, so many went extinct when humans came to islands.( like giant and another solenedons which became extinct pretty recently), plus the related nosphentes which has its lineages traced back to the cretaceous.
Itβs really unfortunate how humans seems to make every ecosystem homogenous. Sometimes intentionally killing things, sometimes bringing things that remind them of home (North Americaβs starlings and mute swans for example). I really try to maintain a garden full of plants native to my area to support local insect life, but it really feels like using a Nerf gun for a fire fight, as when I step off my property itβs invasive things everywhere.
islands are especially vulnerable to sudden changes. dodo, roridgeuz solitaire, and many other ground pigeons in the indo-pacific islands.granted carribeans had its own lineage of giant tortoises, but they were pretty much in decline since before european arrival and likely died out before it. the most recent islands was new zealand, just under 1000 years, most of the large birds went extinct.
Mann's follow-up book 1493 is equally good.
Wow!!! Ok I'm definitely reading this.
Thanks so much!
Whatever you do, don't read Guns, Germs and Steel. It's just fucking nonsense.
Got it. π
Probably using the same system that they evolved elsewhere. Humans be humans
load more comments
(1 replies)
Depending on how long they would be isolated.
Central american powers were starting to play with the Empire idea when europeans came along.
They might have had a Genghis Kang sooner or later.
Also contact by trade would have been almost as lethal as the conquest. Remember that most death were because the diseases the europeans brought with them.
there would be things like passenger pigeons that wouldnt go extinct, plus rare plants that became extinct due to development in a specific area where it only survived.
You call this evolution. It's humanity devolving. At least natives were free people.
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(11 replies)
All that damage to those cultures for this goddamn mess of a nightmare.
America was great until those immigrants arrived.
Are you sure about that?
You mean before the genocide? It's a pretty good guess.
No tribes totally wiping another out before then? History is not that kind. I doubt it was a utopic land before someone else arrived.
"those dirty savages were killing each other before they were invaded and killed by noble ~~white people~~ Europeans who brought civilization and peace? I'm just asking questions here I'm definitely not making excuses or trying to diminish what happened"
load more comments
(1 replies)
Historically speaking, it heavily depended on where you were. Supposedly many East-Cast tribes, especially the Cherokee were already conglomerates of several other tribes.
Horses were also a new element in the world of Native Americans, and surely had a good bit to do with leveling the playing field between warring tribes.
source: old man wisdom, dyor
load more comments
(10 replies)
there were wars yes. "totally wiping another out" tho? that was a european import.
even if it was the case that First Nations were genociding each other (which again, itβs not), that still doesnβt justify european colonialism in any way.
load more comments
(1 replies)
I didn't say it was a utopia. When people refer to a genocide of Native Americans, people usually know which one.
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(2 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
Fairly certain existing people didn't use resource extraction to fuel imperialism worldwide and invent and perpetuate the trans Atlantic slave trade, yes.
There was still a slave trade in North and South America prior to the Europeans coming, it was just their own people being enslaved rather than an importation of people from Africa. South and Central American empires were not all sunshine and rainbows; although North America did not have a standing civilization as far as I know, the tribes that did exist enslaved and killed each other constantly. People are shitty regardless of the continent they are born on.
Did I say these things did not exist before then?
load more comments
(6 replies)
Makes me think of rewatching Apocalypto.
view more: next βΊ