Marla_Singer said:
One may wonder what Sioux or Iroquois have brought to the world that Ethiopians, Nubians or Maures wouldn't have.
This is certainly not an argument against Ethiopians or Nubians ... but why does a civ need to have "brought something to the world" in order to be included? Often, contributions are mistakenly attributed, not unique, and/or the product of contact with other cultures (eg Judaism + Hellenism = Christianity). The most valid criteria for inclusion, in my mind, are the extent of the culture in its region, its relative influence over other cultures in the area, and a certain amount of time in existance - essentially, what was the civ's influence relative to the time and place in which it was found? So, for instance, we include the Iroquois, it was the major power in the Northeast in pre-Columbian times. Whether it's survived or not, or what it's left behind, is to me less relevant than having it there to represent the fact that a power did exist in that region for a time. Geographical and epochal representation I think is the way to go. Pick civs to represent the most remarkable group in an area during a specific epoch. At least with some sort of system or criteria for inclusion, people will not be so picky about "racism". The other option, in my mind, would be to portray the earliest civs in each region, and issue expansions to cover civs of later epochs. This way you could narrow Europe down to Greeks, Minoans, and Celts, with plenty of room left over for others.
Although, to answer the question, I'd have to be balanced in favour of native Americans. The Iroquois may have influenced the US Constitution, while other groups developed domesticated food plants without which we could never support the planet's current population (eg corn, potatoes, dozens of varieties of beans, tomatoes, peppers, chocolate, squash, the list goes on and on). Not to mention medical contributions - knowledge of everything from salicylic acid (eg aspirin) to the benefits of using purgatives to the syringe (they used thorns, but the principle of injection was unknown previously to Western medicine). Admittedly I know much less of Ethiopian or Nubian contributions, but I imagine that they were not devoid of contributions either.
) and changing the subject.
