[Noob Question] Native American Cultures/Empires/City States, how advanced were they compared to ones from Old world during the same time period ?

by Sadman_Pranto

I'm looking to know how ahead or behind they were in terms of science, mathematics, technology, medicine, military etc. compared to the prominent people of the other side of world (Europe, Asia, Africa).

I know Native Americans are not just one group of people. I'll list them groups of people (the ones I want to know about).

This question is inspired by the video "Timeline of the Pre-Columbian Americas" of Youtube channel "Useful Charts". So, I'll list the ones I'd like to know about in the order he explained it. Also, I listed them from Oldest to Newest (for the lack of better words).

  • Mesoamerica -
  1. Olmecs
  2. Zapotecs / Mayans
  3. Toltecs
  4. Aztecs
  • North America -
  1. Dorset People
  2. Hopewell Traditions
  3. Mississippian Culture
  4. Great Puebloans
  • South America -
  1. Nazca
  2. Huari / Tiwanaku
  3. Incans

I listed all these doesn't mean any of you have to answer all of them, learning about one at a time is perfectly fine. I gave the list of names because I thought it'd help me break down what's' there to learn about.

I should also inform you that, I'm not a historian. So, explaining things in easy to understand manner is highly appreciated. Also I may need to ask further questions based on your answer.

Thirdly, If I've broken any rules or wrote the question in such a way that it makes it difficult to answer, please do let me know. I'll try to edit or delete+repost properly.

Thank You.

EDIT : I've discovered the FAQ.

CommodoreCoCo

You're asking a lot (which you already know) and I don't think any answer in this thread would begin to satisfy your curiosity. Instead, here's some links to get you going.

First, the idea of "How advanced?" is a generally bankrupt idea from the 19th-century that lingers on because it has massive popular appeal. It just makes sense, you know?' History happened a certain way, and it's easy to look at things from different points in time and attempt to find similarities. Writing, agriculture, and urbanism appeared independently

But it's a huge jump from "why shouldn't it happen again?" to "why didn't it happen again?" While we can talk about things societies had/didn't have (see this post from /u/Antiquarianism), framing this in terms of "ahead/behind" suggests that there is some common goal that we're all trying to reach. For more on this, see this post from /u/bad_empanada and this post from /u/restricteddata.

Second, for some reading on the societies you've mentioned, you might start with the following flaired user profiles: