HELP!!!! Native American Tribes Question? ?

Question

Among tribes in North America geographic location often equated to levels of advancement. What factors may account for this trend?

Answer 1

You should read Jared Diamond?

Answer 2

The most advanced (civilization, government) had agriculture. Beans, squash and corn were heavily cultivated and allowed for permanent inhabitations and large populations. Bottom lands with rich soil and mild climates were important.

Being sited on trade routes (ie rivers) also allowed them access to trade networks and to be middlemen. This meant that they had extensive access to resources.  

Answer 3

Mormologist's answer (the second part) is accurate.  

Ecology is the key here, but it is important not to make simplistic assumptions about levels of "social complexity" based solely on natural resource availability, since there are many examples of hinting and gathering societies living in highly productive ecosystems.  

The term "advancement", by the way, is problematic.  Whether or not nation-states and "civilization" are, in fact, more "advanced" is debateable, as is the entire concept of 'advanced vs primitive' as applied to functioning humanm ecosystems (i.e. culture).

Answer 4

natural resources supplied a currency of sorts theat lead to trade.  trade leads to sharing technology.

your teacher is likely looking for an opposite answer like, "tough weather conditions and a lack of resources caused the people to compensate by making technological advancements."

truth is the most advanced cutures were closer to central america.  The indians at the mouth of the rio grand had lots of corn and pottery.

Answer 5

One of the biggest issues is When?

Prehistoric cultures are still being investigated, but how long ago are you going to look?  Ancient Archaic and Woodland cultures would rival anything found in Europe, but little is recorded in even some of the most recent global data.

Levels of advancement?  From a materialistic European point of view?  Language as tool for communication or for recording personal property and accomplishments?  There were not just tribes in North America, there were nations and confederacies.

Much of what is "known" about the indigenous people of North America is based upon assumptions and scanty evidence.  There are probably as many pieces of evidence (such as the distribution of items which must have been traded because of the huge distances between original location and the site recorded during a professional dig).

It is generally held as true that "tribes" which had stable populations, access to desired resources and trade routes were more advanced than others.

Answer 6

Probably the availability of natural resources? The biggest factors of advancement is actually the people itself; its culture and stuff.