One gets the impression that in America north of the Rio Grande, explorers did not find gold until the 1700s Georgia gold rush, the closest to it was rumors of the 7 golden cities of cebolla in the southwest.
However, Mexico and Peru had abundant gold and silver, and the Taino in the Bahamas and Hispaniola had abundant gold personal ornamentation. Did the Taino mostly have it from local sources or trade with Mesoamerica?
I'm not sure how much the Spanish [and briefly, the Welser Germans] found in Venezuela and Colombia. I think searches came up frustratingly short in the early 1500s, but they may have found some.
Is this a correct summary, would it be fair to say that pre-contact, none of the natives living in the later USA or Canada territory had gold jewelry?
Also, I get the impression that other than having gold, the Taino/Arawaks and other Caribbean natives were not overall more technically advanced than the natives of eastern North America, whereas the Mesoamericans and Andeans were much more advanced. Is this basically correct? Or did the Taino have tech higher than the eastern North Americans in multiple respects? How did they or east coast North Americans compare with the Mississippians at their height?