Civilizations of the Americas Angelise Roman Pd 1&2 1.5.16 Pearce About 600 years ago, an event took place which caused the collision of two hemispheres that had been separated long before. This event. simply known as the “Encounter,” changed the lives of people years to come, and still is a leading cause of cultural diffusion to this day. In October of 1492, Christopher Colombus and his crewmen finally reached the land they mistakenly assumed was India while trying to find an oceanic trade route to Asia. At arrival, most of the Europeans believed that the Native Americans were uncivilized, barbaric people. However, given their circumstances, they were very advanced for their time and geographic hindrances. Looking at the Incan civilization, I can see that they took advantage of their situations and were an advanced civilization altogether. Some may argue that the Aztecs were more advanced …show more content…
They were very progressive, but I believe that the Incas were the most advanced civilization. Despite the fact that their large population was spread over the Andes Mountain Range, they built foot bridges which allowed villages separated by mountain peaks to communicate. One of their most famous cities, Machu Picchu, was a planned city, with structures built in a certain order in patterns, which shows that they had organizational skills. They had also learned that the mountainous terrain was not suitable for farming, so they carved steps into the sides of the mountains and created terraces. This established new, satisfactory flat-land for farming. Considering all the advancements the Incas had made, I believe that the Europeans were wrong for assuming them to be barbarians based solely on their dress, which is not much of a first impression. To conclude, based on all the incredible accomplishments the Incas made, I believe that they were the most advanced civilization of their