Expert: Ralph Salier - 2/7/2003

Question
Are Mexicans the closest relative to Native Americans(assuming Canadian tribes are Native Americans)?
What about Aztecs and Incans?  Why did these tribes have advanced civilizations while the North American tribes were basic hunters-gatherers(knowing that the stock for all these people came over the land bridge from North to South?  

Answer
Joe, Sorry to have taken so long to answer the question, I have been out of town.  The Mexican people derive from both the Spanish and in some cases mixed Spanish and Native American blood.  There are many Native American tribes still in existance today and there are different degrees of relationship between them.  For instance the Navajo and Hopi live in close proximity to each other but are generally thought to be unrelated peoples.  The Aztec( of central America) and the Inca of South America are all Native American peoples but they came across the land bridge from Asia at different times and came from different stocks of people.   All of these people where hunter gatherers to begin with and it took many centuries for them to develop into the great civilizations of the Aztec and Inca.  In North America we also had sveral similar civilizations such as the Mississippian peoples of the Mississippi/Ohio River systems and their city built at Chahokia ILL,  The other remarkable civilization was that of the Anastazi peoples of the 4 corners area in the desert south west.  These people built apartment complexes of 2 to 3 stories out of stone.  The Kuakutal of the Pacific Northwest also have a thriving civilization even today.  All of these peoples practiced agricultural and some animal husbandry growing corn, iva annua, sunflower, curcubids and havesting nuts, berries and perhaps even planting potatoes.

By the way, the Native Americans (First Nations) of Canada are indeed related to several of the tribal peoples of continental US.