The Haida and Taino sailed/navigated large dug outs as much as 30 feet long in the Pacific NW and Caribbean, and Ecuador was apparently a center of trade with Mesoamerica at some point.
Were there any precolumbian ports, harbors, or lighthouses at thing? Did Native American cultures have recognizable long standing ports, port infrastructure, port settlements, or any of the other trappings familiar to old world nautical cultures. If not, how did they solve the problems those pieces of infrastructure solved/the roles they served in old world cultures.*
*This may be too broad. I am assuming here that the social, political, and economic roles or harbors, port cities, and lighthouses, etc. were similar in different Eurasian cultures, or at least had significant overlap. I do not have the necessary expertise to know whether this is true.
*This may be too broad. I am assuming here that the social, political, and economic roles or harbors, port cities, and lighthouses, etc. were similar in different Eurasian cultures, or at least had significant overlap. I do not have the necessary expertise to know whether this is true.
I am not able to speak for all of the Americas, but north of Mexico we really do not see much that would be considered a port in the Old World. This is for a few reasons, however it is really not possible to say why something did not occur when we study the past.
I think it is important to remember that you cannot solve a problem you do not have. Native Americans did not build lighthouses and ports because they had no reason to. The rivers and waterways of inland North America were basically the highways of the pre-Columbian world, and honestly are even still used in some instances. Ports are a great way to get large numbers of items from point A to point B over a large body of water. They also help when a centralized power wants to profit and control the exchange of resources. We just do not see that in this part of the world, or at least not on a scale to warrant a port. A dugout canoe is an excellent way to transport goods in North America, and something that can be done by a small number of a people fairly easily. The maritime infrastructure you list requires a lot of steps to be completed prior to someone deciding to construct it. We just do not see the need for that in pre-Columbian North America, it is far easier to travel by river or by foot than it would have been to construct a maritime port.
A lighthouse is only needed if you have massive ships that need advance warning of shorelines or other hazards. Canoes are far easier to steer and are built to be used in more shallow waters. A harbor is great for attracting large vessels in need of rest and a suitable location to shield their ships from the open ocean. Canoes can stop at any point along a shoreline of a river or lake. A port community develops around the potential to earn resources becoming involved in maritime practices. A canoe can be pulled ashore at really any point along a river, no port required. To add to this, a river drainage basin allows for a number of routes to be taken to transport items from one area to another which makes a centralized point of control harder to justify.
To sum up, we do not see the infrastructure because it really was not needed as a river is a pretty efficient way to transport items.