From: James Rogers <jamesr@best.com>
> I would strongly agree that there is a cultural component to "independent"
> peoples. However, it is interesting to note that many of these peoples
> also have a difficult time maintaining territory. From my own
> experience, it seems that the extreme decentralization promoted by the
> culture also makes it more difficult to repel highly centralized
> aggressors. On the other hand, the indomitable will of these peoples
> tends to be a force multiplier as well and the decentralization makes the
> populations impossible to control.
It's worth noting that it took just a handful of Spaniards a few years to
conquer all of the highly centralized South American empires, while the
decentralized North American tribes took decades to fall.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jul 27 2000 - 14:02:12 MDT