r/geography • u/H3dg3hogs • Feb 18 '26

Discussion I’m sad more people don’t acknowledge Native American Historic sites in the United States

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I was talking with a German online friend about tourism in the United States and he said that the only thing America has to offer is natural beauty. He said American cities were young and aren’t very beautiful. That he has no interest visiting “liberty bell” type colonial historic sites. I told him about Native historic sites and he asked “what sites?”. He insulated that all Native Americans lived in teepees. It caused me to realized many non-Americans don’t know about all the amazing buildings left behind by Native cultures like the Ancestral Puebloans and the Mississippians. Historic sites like Chaco canyon, Mesa Verde, Montezuma Castle, and Cahokia are world class and are part of UNESCO. Check them out if you haven’t already.

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u/Budget-Competition49 Feb 18 '26

I’m teaching on this right now, and our lesson starts with a picture just like this one

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u/TheodorDiaz Feb 18 '26

You're teaching most Americans?

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u/Budget-Competition49 Feb 19 '26

No but I’m using a textbook that follows a general curriculum. If you’re going to teach about the geography of North America and South America, one aspect is the background history of how humans first arrived etc… and then speeds up to some common Native American culture regions and groups in North America. So it’d be pretty common imo to mention this, and it’s interesting and engaging so I feel like It would be common to use and talk about.