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Takeaways- the terms of much diplomacy in North America between 1500 and 1750 were set by leaders of native nations. Native people still outnumbered colonists.

Later, the Cherokee made strides to join the world stage as a sovereign nation. The Phoenix newspaper was printed in Cherokee and English, and literacy rate in the Cherokee nation surpassed that of white neighbors in the 1830s.

In the early chapters, it’s fascinating that life in North America went from being structured around smallish groups to dense cities of tens of thousands in places like Cahokia and Huhugam. But after these societies became more hierarchical and the common people had less food and resources than the elite, the pendulum swung the other way, influenced by climatic changes, rebellion, and consensus of the people.