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The correct word here is culture. Civilizations are cultures which have cities, as the etymology indicates. The Americas had several indigenous civilizations, i
by samatman 5y ago
The correct word here is culture. Civilizations are cultures which have cities, as the etymology indicates. The Americas had several indigenous civilizations, including one in Missouri, but that was gone several centuries before Lewis and Clark (most likely culprit being the first wave of smallpox), and the expedition didn't encounter any.
It's also true that civilized is used as a term of praise, and uncivilized is really only used as a term of disparagement, but these are connotations, and not ones I intend here.
- thwayunion 5y agoThe large nations had systems of what the US Army referred to as "settlements" whose size and complexity were perceived as serious threats. Some of the nations comprised of those settlements were even referred to explicitly as civilizations when they assimilated. Maybe "settlements" don't count as cities; the whole thing is a bit pedantic to me. But, in any case, "culture" is too weak a term for the complex social systems, political systems, and living patterns that existed during the time of L&C.