Re: Amerindian navigators

[Thomas Burglin <burglin@ubaclu.unibas.ch>]

Yuri Kuchinsky wrote:
> 
> Domingo Martinez-Castilla (agdndmc@showme.missouri.edu) wrote:
> 
>         ...
> 
> : 3. Chincha traders.  The original reference to the 6000 traders is:
> :
> : Rostworowski de Diez Canseco, María: 1970: "Mercaderes del valle de Chincha en
> : la época prehispánica: Un documento y unos comentarios" Revista
> : Española de Antropología Americana, vol. 5, pp. 135-178
> :
> : She discusses briefly the issue, again, in her _Historia del
> : Tahuantinsuyu_, IEP, Lima 1988.  The main trade object was the
> : "mullu" shell (mainly Spondylus), trade that goes way before Inca times. In
> : any case, she states that the trade was made with the Huancavilcas of today'
> : Ecuador.  The Chincha traders took mainly copper. They would go as far
> : as Mantas and Puerto Viejo, in Ecuador, where they would get the shells.
> : It seems that the trade to areas North of Ecuador was in the hands of
> : the "mindalá" traders of that area.  I do not have information on trade
> : with the Pacific coast of today's Colombia and further north.
> 
> Thanks for these references, Domingo. Somewhere I have read that the Lord
> of Chincha was the second most important ruler in the Inca Empire, and
> that the Inca Emperor accorded him many signs of respect. This would
> indicate that Chincha traders made an important contribution to Inca
> economy.
> 
> As far as the question you ask about where did the balsa logs needed for
> making sailing rafts come from, have it ever occurred to you that the
> Native Americans actually may have _planted them_ in the area for the
> purpose of harvesting the logs? What do you think, these are some kinds of
> hardwood trees that need to grow for hundreds of years to reach maturity?
> Balsa tree is extremely fast growing, just like the corktree. And of
> course we all know about the great sophistication of Native American
> farmers in this area... Yes? The "big problem" that you see there may not
> be a problem at all... So draw your own conclusions.
> 

May have, could have etc....
this doesn't get us anywhere.  There is the evidence...