Hi r/askhistorians can someone help me in understanding how different cultures used different bows, for instance Longbow used by the British and Flatbow by the Native Americans. Why were these types more effective in certain places and not the others? It would help if someone could tell me about the bow and arrows used in medieval ages in the Asian countries.
Here is an interesting article describing the concurrent use of the atlatl and the bow and arrow by Aleut peoples. Essentially, they were hunting sea mammals with atlatls and using bow and arrows for warfare/intergroup conflict.
The advantage of atlatls for hunting was that they could launch them with one hand from a kayak.
https://www.academia.edu/4453673/The_Bow_and_Arrow_in_Northern_North_America