Native American Contributions That Changed the World

It’s difficult to imagine the contemporary world without revolutionizing inventions, but not everybody knows that some of them were developed by Indigenous peoples. Native Americans made major contributions to many spheres in modern life, including agriculture, medicine, political systems, geography, architecture, astronomy, and more. In fact, for quite a number of technologies, foods, engineering methods, and scientific insights we use today, we should thank particularly Indigenous tribes.

These contributions are especially remarkable because they emerged from long-term relationships of Native American people with land, climate, and communities.

Gaetana De Gennaro, a supervisory specialist at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York, told History.com, “People don’t realize the ingenuity or the knowledge that native people had, and continue to have about the world around them.”

If you’re curious to know more about the Native people’s history, culture, traditions, languages, religion, communities, or wish to find out whether there’s someone with Native American ancestry in your lineage, you can visit Native American Netroots.

But what contributions of Native peoples have made our lives easier? Let’s take a look.

American Indians’ Inventions That Revolutionized the World

Snow Goggles

The Inuit created snow goggles long before modern ski goggles existed. Typically made from bone, antler, leather, or wood, snow goggles had narrow slits that reduced glare from the sun reflecting off the snow, which helped prevent snow blindness.

They were widely used by Arctic and sub-Arctic peoples who lived in areas with intense sunlight and snow cover. The design was both practical and simple, which is why this invention has stood the test of time and is relevant to this day among skiers, snowboarders, climbers, researches in Antarctic areas, and military personnel.

Of course, modern goggles are different. They’ve been improved with UV protection, tinted lenses, and anti-fog coatings, but the principle remains the same: reduce glare and protect the eyes.

Baby Bottles

Another invention we should all, especially parents, thank the Indigenous peoples for is baby bottles. Originally made from dried and greased bear gut and a nipple made from a bird’s quill, Native Americans used this innovation to feed infants. Instead of milk, infants were fed with a mixture of pulverized nuts, water, and meat. The designs of bottles were practical and adapted to local resources of Indigenous cultures, long before plastic baby bottles existed.

Just like any invention, baby bottles are now made differently than the early versions of Native Americans, using modern materials designed for safety, hygiene, and durability.

Pain Relievers

These days, whenever we have pain, there’s a pharmacy at every corner to buy pain relief pills, but everything was different back then. When Native Americans needed something for aches, they went to the forest to find remedies. Now we have our modern aspirin, the active ingredient of which is salicylic acid, and the Indigenous people had access to it through the American black willow, with compound salicin in it. After consumption, the body converts salicin into salicylic acid, which was the way for people to ease the pain.

Native Americans also developed a range of natural anti-inflammatory remedies from herbs, plants, roots, barks (including willow bark), and minerals to treat pain and inflammation. The Cherokee, for example, used chili peppers to recover from colds, colic, gangrene, and fever, while the Maya leveraged them to treat sore throats, coughs, and asthma.

Mouth Wash

The mouth wash we use today is quite diverse, as it has a lot of flavors, from mint, menthol, citrus, aloe, and the list may go on. However, Native Americans made mouthwash using only goldthread, the yellow root of which contains berberine, known for its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects.

It’s also known that Indigenous peoples had one of the best dental practices, especially in comparison to the Europeans who later arrived on their land.

Corn

We all love popcorn, tortillas, and cornbread, but did you know that the main ingredient of these dishes —corn — was cultivated by Native Americans some 10,000 years ago? Its creation marked a turning point in agriculture, as corn is widely used to this day all over the world. De Gennaro told History.com, “Everybody knows about corn, but they don’t know that it’s a food that wouldn’t exist without human intervention.”

Farmers in northern Guatemala and southern Mexico cultivated teosinte for many generations to gradually enlarge its ears and produce kernels soft enough for human consumption, according to the same source. That’s how corn was created.

Oral Contraceptives

Oral birth control appeared in the United States in the 1960’s, but Native Americans already used something similar way before that. It’s important to note that Indigenous peoples across North and South America didn’t develop oral contraceptives in the modern pharmaceutical sense, but it’s a fact that many Native American groups used plant-based methods to reduce fertility or prevent pregnancy.

The Shoshone and Navajo tribes, for example, relied on stoneseed (also known as Columbia Puccoon) as a way to prevent pregnancy. Dogbane was another plant that helped the Natives prevent unwanted pregnancy.

Obviously, their methods weren’t as effective as the modern one, but the plants they ingested seemed to be useful in certain instances at that time.

Kayaks

Arctic Native Americans are credited with inventing kayaks, small, narrow boats designed to be paddled using a double-bladed paddle. They were fashioned from natural materials, such as driftwood and whalebone, and then covered with tightly stretched sealskin to make them waterproof.

Kayaks were designed primarily for hunting and travel in icy costal waters, and are one of the most advanced Indigenous watercrafts ever created.

Modern-day kayaks are now created from plastics and carbon fiber, but the design remains essentially the same, as per History.com.

Sunscreen

To protect skin from the sun, Native Americans mixed some ground plants with water. They commonly used sunflower oil, sap from aloe, and also wallflower. Animal fat and fish oil, according to Forbes, were also rubbed on the skin by Indigenous people as a form of sun protection.

These methods could reduce sunburn, and since Native Americans spent a lot of time outside hunting, fishing, farming, participating in ceremonies, and crafting tools, among other things, something that could protect them from ultraviolet rays was a necessity.

Let’s Recap

Now, in the modern era, we’ve got practically everything we need for a comfortable and easy life, both in everyday use and public health. Current innovations make daily life faster, safer, and more convenient than ever. Back in the day, however, people used only natural materials to survive. Native Americans, in turn, are known to be the pioneers of many practical inventions. And even though the form of these inventions has changed drastically over time, their original ideas have influenced the technology we have today.

From pain relievers to snow googles, and from sunscreen to mouthwash, Native Americans made major contributions to the everyday items.

November was Native American heritage month, but these people’s culture and history should be celebrated every day for their developments and contributions to the world.