Does "medieval" apply outside the Eurasian context? Does it make any sense to categorize various indigenous American civilizations as medieval, or does the term only apply to a time period?
I may have seen it used before, but pre-Colombian almost always makes more sense. And even that label is still defining things through colonizer terms rather than indigenous ones.
I think there's decent evidence of trade between the West Coast of the Americas and island cultures way out in the Pacific long before European contact
Does "medieval" apply outside the Eurasian context? Does it make any sense to categorize various indigenous American civilizations as medieval, or does the term only apply to a time period?
I may have seen it used before, but pre-Colombian almost always makes more sense. And even that label is still defining things through colonizer terms rather than indigenous ones.
Pre-(transoceanic) contact makes a lot of sense because it really deeply transformed everything.
I think there's decent evidence of trade between the West Coast of the Americas and island cultures way out in the Pacific long before European contact