The myth busting page

 "Indians never invented the wheel"

  'Though I've never understood what's so terribly   important about it, it turns out that this isn't even   true. The images you see here were found in Central   America and were made by ancient Mayan people. They   are just toys in animal shape, probably for children to   play with. Scientists have never found out why the   wheel has never been put to use for transport but   probably the terrain just wasn't suitable for that   anyway. So next time you hear someone say that   Indians "never invented the wheel", just refer to this

particular website www.precolumbianwheels.com  and of course the term pre-  columbian means "before  Columbus" or "before 1492" if  you will. "Ok", some will say "but other tribes didn't have  them or invent them". But so  what? Europeans didn't have  wheel barrows or a compass  (Chinese inventions) before  Marco Polo, did they? And to  those who are so proud of  "white inventions" like the  computer, car, or telephone,  I'll be asking  this:

  What exactly was your personal contribution to these inventions and why have even   Europeans themselves lived without these things for many thousands of years? You've had it   thrown into your lap like everybody else had and your medieval ancestors really didn't have a   clue what megabytes are. And just because Einstein was a clever man, that doesn't mean that   all white people or Europeans are clever too or progress would have man a lot faster than it   eventually turned out to be. It's nice to have these inventions, but just as the French still take   pride in Vercingetorix revolting against the Romans, so can also we not justify colonialism this   way.

back to content

back to articles

5