1491: The Untold Story of the Americas Before Columbus

Season

2017

Canada

7.3

This 8 part series tells us about indigenous peoples of the Americas before the Spanish explorer Columbus arrived. Each episode shows us via re-enactments about a particular subject. We learn about their art, architecture, archaeology, Science and Technology etc.

Episode List

S1 • E1

Origins

We are introduced to indigenous creation stories; discoveries by archaeologists, geneticists, linguists and anthropologists about the arrival of various indigenous people that are believed to arrive via the land bridge from what is now Russia and Alaska and also via boat and sailing down the N. American coast, settling in many areas and then developing differing languages, cultures and customs.

S1 • E2

Environment

Indigenous people created significant changes to their environment through resource harvesting, farming, urban development, irrigation, controlled burning and deforestation.

S1 • E3

Agriculture

Maize from MesoAmerica, Potatoes from the Andes, biodiversity of the Amazon, Camus from the Plains, seal hunting of the Arctic, whale hunting of the NWCoast, Bison jumps and Fishing weirs.

S1 • E4

Architecture

Architecture and urban design. Whether living a nomadic existence or in sprawling urban centres, indigenous people throughout the Americas created their homes and community structures to fulfill the needs and values of their society.

S1 • E5

Governance and Trade

How did the indigenous peoples organize themselves before Christopher Columbus brought westerners to the "New World" and how do archaeologists, historians, and their descendants think these systems originated? By highlighting the moral origins of the Haudenosaunee Confederation, the importance of tolerant trade to the growth of Incan, Mayan and Aztec empires, and the principles of potlatch in the Pacific Northwest, this episode dispels any myth of native savagery.

S1 • E6

Science and Technology

Early indigenous people in North America were using the number 0 before any other people, had mapped the planets and stars and had their own calendars and writing methods. We also see how the herbs and plants that they used often are utilized in our modern drugs, as in the Yew tree bears components in Tamoxifen for cancer treatment today and the Willow tree has acetylsalicylic acid for aspirin.

S1 • E7

Art

We learn about art in various native communities before 1492. We see their hand paintings and paintings of animals. We see the baskets that were woven and the pottery designs. We are shown the masks that were made and how they played a part in ceremonies.