Basically I'm wondering why there were no real urban/'developed' civilizations in North America (by which I mean mainly the modern USA/Canada - let's exclude mesoamerica)? I understand that there is considerable evidence that there was substantial urbanization prior to European arrival - sites like Cahokia and whatnot - and of course you have the Ancestral Puebloans and what have you, but all of those civilizations and cultures are, to my knowledge, from around 1000-1600 CE. While down south you have stuff like the Olmec and whatnot and there seems to have been what we would recognize as established civilizations from BCE right up until the arrival of the Conquistadors.
Why is it that urbanization/'civilization' came to North America so much later than Mesoamerica and South America, and why was it apparently so much more fragile, having died out on its own without the need for conquest unlike the its southern counterparts?
I found this via google from u/Reedstilt:
Thanks for the hanks for the responses. I seem to have phrased myself badly, though, since there is a bit of misunderstanding about. Let me be clearer; I'm aware of the Mississipian Culture and the Ancestral Puebloans and the fact that it seems like North America did in fact have considerable urbanization and sedentary civilization prior to the arrival of Europeans. My question(s) is more
Why did these civilizations develop so much later compared to their Southern counterparts? The Mississippian Culture was, what, the 9th to 15th century CE? The Ancestral Puebloans got their start around 700 CE IIRC. In contrast Olmec sites like La Venta date back to, what, 800 BCE? Or was there an ancient North American equivalent to the Olmec and whatnot that I am unaware of, which predated the Ancestral Puebloans and Missippians and so on? But basically, I'm wondering why it seems like North America got its start on urban civilization so much later than Mesoamerica.
Why were these civilizations apparently so much more fragile? The Triple Alliance and Tawintinsuyu required plagues and civil wars and war with the Europeans before finally succumbing, and even then they left numerous reasonably intact archaeological sites. Why is it that the North American urban civilizations seem to have been more fragile, literally and metaphorically; both not requiring the same sort of pressures to collapse and leaving fewer recognizable ruins?