We do? I've never even heard of this idea. Just debates about exactly how many thousands of years ago people got here.
...unless you mean "civilization" in terms of "not savages" which is totally unrelated kind of dumbness.
...unless you mean "civilization" in terms of "not savages" which is totally unrelated kind of dumbness.
Whether this is particularly important is open to debate; I prefer to think that it is relevant (cities allow for specialization) but should not be considered a sign of sophistication.
> Note that the continent of North America comprises the intermediate regions of the Caribbean, Central America, and Northern America.
The UN uses that scheme because Mexico is part of the Latin America region and makes more sense grouped with them for statistical purposes than with the US and Canada.
After a tour de force comment like the one at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27639407 I'm inclined to want more writing from this person, not less.
Florida, possibly a bit of the plains, and the upper northeast could be said to lack cities, sure. That's a far cry from how I understand your statement. What am I missing here?
I give up.
In North America, the largest city, Cahokia, had 15,000 - 20,000 and peaked around 1100 AD. North America was mostly a stone age culture without a lot of cities.
You had more advanced civilizations in central and south america.
The Aztecs were the biggest. The largest urban area were the two sister cities of Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco. Again, population estimates are hard to come by, but 200,000–400,000 inhabitants are estimated for Tenochtitlan and half that for Tlatelolco. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenochtitlan
Teotihuacan was the largest city in the Americas during the classical period, beginning to decline around 600 AD and virtually dissapearing by 1000 AD. Peak population of 150-250,000 around 450 AD. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teotihuacan
The absolutely fascinating Olmecs (with the enormous heads and jade masks), were the largest before then, but they died out around 450 AD. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmecs
Population estimates for their biggest city, La Venta, are about 20,000 people.
Teotihuacan had about 125K around 500 A.D, but again collapsed by around 1000 AD.
In South America, the largest Incan city, Cusco, had a peak population of up to 150,000.
https://www.worldhistory.org/Cuzco/
Tikal, the largest Mayan city, had about 200,000 (Peaking around 900 A.D)
Etc
> You had more advanced civilizations in central and south america.
Central America is part of North America.
Hardly any cities anywhere had ever had 1m people at that time. A quick google puts ancient Rome at 450,000, ancient Athens at 200,000, and London in 1500AD at 50,000 (200,000 by 1600AD)
Tens of millions of Native Americans / indigenous peoples. Much larger area, so cities with tens of thousands, not millions.