# A world without Indian contributions **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 22, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-without-indian-contributions/579309 "2011-04-22T01:03:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-without-indian-contributions/579309/1 "2011-04-22T01:03:11Z")
Have you ever thought how would be the world without the simple, but very practical contributions of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas? Just to get the idea. Guess what is missing in these pictures [http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae327/richie\_mck/HummerWoodenWagonWheels4LBppjTc33ql.jpg](http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae327/richie_mck/HummerWoodenWagonWheels4LBppjTc33ql.jpg) [http://www.geekologie.com/2007/06/07/skoda\_wood\_wheels\_01.jpg](http://www.geekologie.com/2007/06/07/skoda_wood_wheels_01.jpg) [http://www.geekologie.com/2008/01/25/woodbike-1.jpg](http://www.geekologie.com/2008/01/25/woodbike-1.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-without-indian-contributions/579309/2 "2011-04-22T01:09:44Z")
Pretty sure that the folks who discovered how rubber could be used in industrial applications were European. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-without-indian-contributions/579309/3 "2011-04-22T01:10:09Z")
OK, before you get yourself banned, please cool it. You’re got a huge chip on your shoulder about this. It’s obvious you’re obsessed, and you’ve been warned several times. I’d honestly rather you _didn’t_ get banned. Andn they take very dim view of people who constantly start arguments on one topic and then faceroll their way through. Second… I have no idea what you’re possibly getting across. You do know that AmerIndians developed neither the wheel nor metal nor rubber, do you? Nor developed it into an industrial good? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-without-indian-contributions/579309/4 "2011-04-22T01:11:52Z")
And the wheel was used in several places before it was used in America. Even if indigenous peoples in the Americas developed the wheel on their own, it seems like the Europeans discovered it independently thousands of years before they came to the Americas. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-without-indian-contributions/579309/5 "2011-04-22T01:22:05Z")
What word didn’t have any Indian contributions? Must be the word “debate”, because this thread doesn’t have one. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-without-indian-contributions/579309/6 "2011-04-22T01:23:10Z")
Pretty sure that we wouldn’t have any curry. That would be a tragedy. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-without-indian-contributions/579309/7 "2011-04-22T01:24:57Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Pretty sure that we wouldn’t have any curry. That would be a tragedy. Or pajamas. Think of the effect on the flannel industry! ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-without-indian-contributions/579309/8 "2011-04-22T01:28:00Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Second… I have no idea what you’re possibly getting across. You do know that AmerIndians developed neither the wheel nor metal nor rubber, do you? Nor developed it into an industrial good? The wheel? Yes, they invented it. [http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ca52db8bf567.jpg](http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ca52db8bf567.jpg) No metal, they had it? [http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ca52db8bf567.jpg](http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ca52db8bf567.jpg) No rubber? They invented to cure rubber thousand of years before the modern inventor. They played the Mayan ball game with rubber balls. [http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/211/cache/mesoamerican-rubber-balls-mayan-incan-olmecs\_21108\_600x450.jpg](http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/211/cache/mesoamerican-rubber-balls-mayan-incan-olmecs_21108_600x450.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-without-indian-contributions/579309/9 "2011-04-22T01:29:37Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > And the wheel was used in several places before it was used in America. Even if indigenous peoples in the Americas developed the wheel on their own, it seems like the Europeans discovered it independently thousands of years before they came to the Americas. In Eurasia it seems the wheel was developed only once, at Ur, and from there spread everywhere else. Europe didn’t invent the wheel but addopted it from the Middle East. ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-without-indian-contributions/579309/10 "2011-04-22T01:30:41Z")
Mod, could you please modify the title. I wrote “word” instead of “world”. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-without-indian-contributions/579309/11 "2011-04-22T01:34:14Z")
The native populations of the Americas, however, did not figure out the multiquote function. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-without-indian-contributions/579309/12 "2011-04-22T01:36:29Z")
> [@pinguin](#): > > Mod, could you please modify the title. I wrote “word” instead of “world”. Sure. I’ll also move it to the proper forum since there is no debate, here. ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-without-indian-contributions/579309/13 "2011-04-22T01:39:19Z")
OK. Now that we see the case of rubber, just imagine a day without eating anything remotely related to plants cultivated and selected during centuries by Natives of the Americas. Just something you couldn’t consume: [http://www.midesahogo.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Jack-Daniels.jpg](http://www.midesahogo.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Jack-Daniels.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-without-indian-contributions/579309/14 "2011-04-22T01:57:50Z")
You realize it’s perfectly possible to make booze without corn, right? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-without-indian-contributions/579309/15 "2011-04-22T02:22:30Z")
> [@pinguin](#): > > No rubber? They invented to cure rubber thousand of years before the modern inventor. They played the Mayan ball game with rubber balls. > > [http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/211/cache/mesoamerican-rubber-balls-mayan-incan-olmecs\_21108\_600x450.jpg](http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/211/cache/mesoamerican-rubber-balls-mayan-incan-olmecs_21108_600x450.jpg) To what extent does the modern industrial application of rubber rely on the indigenous process of extracting sap from rubber trees? Did Europeans learn the technique from natives, or did they develop it independently from the same materials, once they were in the New World? ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-without-indian-contributions/579309/16 "2011-04-22T02:28:41Z")
This is like me saying, “Where would the kids in China be if my mom hadn’t taught me how to read?” ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-without-indian-contributions/579309/17 "2011-04-22T02:39:23Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > This is like me saying, “Where would the kids in China be if my mom hadn’t taught me how to read?” Probably the same place they’d be if you didn’t eat all your vegetables. Just think of all the poor starving Chinese who died because some spoiled kid wouldn’t clean their plate when Mom told them to! ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-without-indian-contributions/579309/18 "2011-04-22T02:46:30Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > You realize it’s perfectly possible to make booze without corn, right? Indeed, you can make Scotch, but not a Jack Daniels! ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-without-indian-contributions/579309/19 "2011-04-22T02:51:44Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > To what extent does the modern industrial application of rubber rely on the indigenous process of extracting sap from rubber trees? Did Europeans learn the technique from natives, or did they develop it independently from the same materials, once they were in the New World? Even Henry Ford had a plan to plant large parts of Brazil with rubber trees, and that was in the 20th century. Only recently synthetic rubber and high tech technology has replaced natural sap rubber. With respect to the technique of vulcanizing, Goodyear invented a technique that was different from the ancient Olmec process. I believe wiki explain it quite well, so I will quote them lthough vulcanization is a 19th century invention, the history of **rubber cured by other means** goes back to prehistoric times. The name “Olmec” means “rubber people” in the Aztec language. Ancient Mesoamericans, spanning from ancient Olmecs to Aztecs, **extracted latex from Castilla elastica** , a type of rubber tree in the area. T **he juice of a local vine, Ipomoea alba, was then mixed with this latex** to create an ancient processed rubber as early as 1600 BC. A chemist can correct me, but ipomoea alba put the sulphur on the rubber. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-without-indian-contributions/579309/20 "2011-04-22T03:01:45Z")
So, nothing - got it [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-without-indian-contributions/579309.md?page=2)