Could North America have been able to sustain a large pre-industrial society?

Could North America have been able to sustain a large, pre-industrial, independent, and organized society? Basically like Europe around the Middle Ages?

If so, in what capacity? i.e. how would the Eastern Coast of North America (modern US/Canada) compare to the valleys of central Mexico, or the Caribbean Islands, or the Central American isthmus? I mean, sustainable population, trade, etc.

This is assuming people in this society have basic things like the wheel, or horses.
 
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Assuming you dropped from the sky and gave the natives wheels and horses, these would not be able to support a European or Mesoamerican style population density and/or civilization until 900 AD-onwards, when new cultivars of corn were created that could provide harvests big enough to support cities.

When combined with livestock like horses, though, the population can grow very large and still be sustainable post 900 AD, as they will not have to hunt for protein and can fertilize their fields with manure.

Assuming that the east coast of North America has wheels and horses but the Caribbean, Mesoamerica do not, there will be much more trade and cultural interaction among the peoples of eastern North America than these other places.
 
There actually was a large pre-industrial organized society in the Mississippi/Ohio valleys, in the 10th-14th centuries-ish I believe. No horses though, of course.

BTW the Aztecs did understand the concept of the wheel but didn't find it very useful for transport because they didn't have draft animals.
 
Assuming a suitable civilization with suitable technology, crop package etc. develops, sure, why not? It's a large and fertile country.

I wonder if it would have happened eventually if Old World conquest never intervened.

I wonder, with pre-industrial communications/travel would you get a "China" occupying the eastern United States, or would you have a more fragmented Europe-like set-up?

The Mississippi seems perfect to have an empire centered on it.
 
Somes J said:
I wonder, with pre-industrial communications/travel would you get a "China" occupying the eastern United States, or would you have a more fragmented Europe-like set-up?

There's nothing inherent in the eastern United States to create a 'China like state'. Yes, the Mississippi valley is a natural feature that lends itself well to a wide empire, but the Appallachians and the swamps of the southeast form natural barriers that could lead to political fragmentation.

Ultimately, in this case, Geography is not destiny (IMO). It could go either way.
 
Could North America have been able to sustain a large, pre-industrial, independent, and organized society? Basically like Europe around the Middle Ages?

If so, in what capacity? i.e. how would the Eastern Coast of North America (modern US/Canada) compare to the valleys of central Mexico, or the Caribbean Islands, or the Central American isthmus? I mean, sustainable population, trade, etc.

This is assuming people in this society have basic things like the wheel, or horses.

1491 by Chrles Mann has a lot about this sort of stuff. There was a very large preindustrial civilisation in the Mississippi valley from the 10th to the 14th centuries.
 
There's nothing inherent in the eastern United States to create a 'China like state'. Yes, the Mississippi valley is a natural feature that lends itself well to a wide empire, but the Appallachians and the swamps of the southeast form natural barriers that could lead to political fragmentation.

Ultimately, in this case, Geography is not destiny (IMO). It could go either way.

I think the modern USA is a 'China-like state', geographically speaking. There's geographical similarities: continuous coastline in the south and east, long rivers, flat expanses, similar climate range. China too has mountainous areas (particularly in the south) that can and have at times divided the country. Having said that, I don't think either place was "fated" to be politically organized in a certain way.

On the other hand (somewhat off-topic), the US-Canada border is blatantly artificial and makes no sense geographically speaking, especially in the west where it runs perpendicular to mountain ranges.
 
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