My main interest is in European history, particularly medieval history, but I am curious about this topic. I have met and talked to history professors at Mexican universities, and some of them seem to give the impression that pre-Hispanic societies were not at all underdeveloped as compared to other civilizations, like the European one, so I would like to ask you what is your assessment of the material capacities of such people, and if possible draw a comparison to Old World equivalents.
I realize that this can be a controversial topic, so I want to make it clear that I am not positting the ranking of civilizations in an absolute, "value objective" comparison table, as I realize that the criteria to define what is desirable varies according to culture. What I want is a comparison of each culture's capability to achieve what we consider material well-being.
It occurs to me that the Mexicas and the Incans could be compared to the early Mesopotamian civilizations. What are your thoughts?
/u/CommodoreCoCo
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Sorry for this annoyance, but would like to point your attention to this question.
Could you maybe define more specifically what you mean by "material development" and "material capacities?"
Certainly. I am specifically talking about their prowess in architecture, agriculture, husbandry, means of transportation (particularly naval), military advancements, their medicinal practices, and that sort of thing.
Basically I want to leave out religious and non-practical intellectual endeavors, as it is harder to draw parallels in those areas, due to the variance in the criteria that is behind them, which takes me to the second part of my clarification: By well-being I refer to our (or at least my) understanding of it, which involves the possibility to get through without experiencing severe shortages of food, the possibility to move from one place to another with relative ease, and the possibility to have a chance of survival when one falls ill, that sort of thing.
As I already said, I expect that there should be multiple variants that make comparisons hard, and the very nature of cultural conditions that give way to "developments" are to be considered, but I am having trouble picturing how these civilizations lived and what they really achieved, hence my question.