AskHistorians

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What would I, a Middle Eastern peasant living in the 16th century, know about Native Americans across the world? Would I hold any stereotypes towards them? Would I regard them as potential allies in the struggle against the Christian colonial powers?	16
In Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest, Mesoamerican historian Mathew Restall frames the Spanish “conquest” as really just a series of many native-led conquests aided by Spanish allies who would eventually betray them. Did native “allies” control the land they conquered to some extent, then?	13
We know that in the Precolumbian world there was little contact between Native American peoples. Yet during colonial times, Mesoamerican, Southwest and East Coast natives would all be subjugated by maritime powers. How did Indians react to each others’ history? Was their a sense of shared kinship?	7
What are some examples of states and empires that we only know of from oral traditions?	6
Did Zhang Xianzhong of the Xi Dynasty really kill that many people?	5
What oral history do we have about Monte Alban?	5
Is it true that after Egypt, Peru, Mesopotamia, China, Mexico, and Pakistan, Hawaii was a seventh birthplace of states? Why do some historians believe this may be the case?	5
Where there musical genres not tied to ethnicity in ancient and medieval times? In an Ancient Greek agora or Medieval city would I be able to hear musicians on the street and identify them as this genre or that?	5
The era of Chinese history known as 三國 in Chinese is literally called “Three Kingdoms.” This is a misnomer, as each of the three states were ruled by emperors, not kings. What’s the history if this translation? Are there any attempts to rename the period “Three Dynasties” or “Three Empires”?	3
The Kentucky Congressman and US Vice President Richard Mentor Johnson supposedly had a common-law black wife, Julia Chinn. How much do we know about their relationship?	1

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