>>17795167

They were a post-apocalyptic society. The European plagues caused a complete social collapse of sedentary cultures (Mound Builders) to the point that their nomadic descendants talked of them like westerns sometimes talk of Atlantis.

I've never heard an explanation as to why North American natives didn't develop a civilization on par with Europe, or at least more advanced than the Mesoamericans. They literally had everything; vast swaths of fertile land, massive navigable rivers (Mississippi river, Ohio river, Tennessee river, etc), a great climate, Bison they could've domesticated as cattle, access to natural resources (especially copper in the Great Lakes region), and more.