5 ms·

I don't think that's true. Mesoamerica had a very rich tradition of papermaking (Amatl) that predated paper in Europe (though probably not Chinese). Colonists s

• WalterBright 2mo ago
  Sorry, I was talking about North America.
  • culi 2mo ago
    The epicentre of Amatl was North America (Mexico)
    • WalterBright 2mo ago
      Mexico is considered central America.
      • culi 2mo ago
        (No it is not) https://www.google.com/search?q=is+mexico+central+america https://www.google.com/search?q=is+mexico+central+america
        • WalterBright 2mo ago
          The Britannica sez: "No native writing system was known among Indigenous peoples of North America at the time of first European contact"
• curioadu 2mo ago
  The destruction during the Spanish conquests of the Aztecs and others was terrible. It was also rather disorganized initially, especially due to the huge delays regarding communication between the Americas and Europe. In regards to paper, while the Aztecs had impressive achievements, especially considering the almost complete isolation of the Americas from the rest of the world (is there any civilization close to the achievements of the Aztecs and other Amerindians in Africa south of Egypt?), are you sure that amatl/amate counts as paper? It was possibly stretched bark, and not woven. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amate#True_paper https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amate#True_paper > The Maya used a writing material called huun starting from the 5th century. It was made from the inner bark of the wild fig tree. It was cut and stretched thin rather than made of randomly woven fibers, which according to one source, disqualified it as true paper.
  • graemep 2mo ago
    > is there any civilization close to the achievements of the Aztecs and other Amerindians in Africa south of Egypt? Aksum for a start.
    • curioadu 2mo ago
      Aksum was more east of Egypt than south, right? And part of it lay in the Arabian Peninsula.
      • graemep 2mo ago
        More south than east. It conquered part of the Arabian peninsula. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aksumite_Empire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aksumite_Empire
        • curioadu 2mo ago
          [dead]
        • desotus 2mo ago
          It more or less bordered or was really close to Egypt, and it was on the very coastal edge of the African continent, as close as is possible to the Arabian Peninsula, and even conquered territory outside Africa. And if the conquered parts are included, it was somewhat east as well at the very least. Did it only conquer in that direction? There are the Adwa mountains (and even the active stratovolcano Adwa), somewhat separating Axum from its south-western direction further into Africa. The capital Axum was at a very high elevation in the highlands, like more than 2000 meters above sea level, and relatively close to the other major cities. Deserts might also have separated stretches of the empire to its west. It also must have had a lot of foreign influence, as per the Greek writing on some of its coins. And the capital Axum itself was relatively close to the coast. And one description I found just mentioned coastal or near-coastal Axum cities, not cities much further inland. Adulis was coastal, and Matara like Axum was not far from the coast. I do not know if it had any other cities. One source mentions Ptolemais Theron as a coastal city. And then some writers describe the Aksum empire as highly cosmopolitan, like Adulis having a large Greek population. If it had partial natural borders like deserts, mountains and an active volcano, somewhat separating it from the rest of Africa in its south-western and western direction, and sizable numbers of Greeks and other peoples, and located on the very edge of Africa as close as possible to the Arabian Peninsula, it doesn't really seem to me to be the best example, upon closer examination. I can sort of understand why you would mention it as an example, though