I quote:
"The purpose of war was to gain horses, and honors. Killing was the
least thing that a warrior could do and in many cases it was considered
cowardly. The highest honor went to the man that touched the enemy without
hurting him, counting coup. Stealing his weapons was another great honor.
Succes was not bases on body count or gained territory.
There were cases as in "Dances with wolves", where one tribe would go out for
blood. These forays were very uncommon."
I read a book about native people who live in the Amazon. their fighting
had to do with very basic things:gaining or defending their FOOD.
(also very different from the wars today!!!)
Also, Marc Becker says:
> There is a lot of literature on such themes of war and conquest among indigen-
> ous civilizations. Much of it is burried in books, but Ross Hassig, Aztec
> Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control (Norman: University of
> Oklahoma, 1988) is a good place to start.
> If there is such a need, I can expound at length on how the Incas and Aztecs
> where expansionalistic empires that trampelled their neighbours. I also have
> a somewhat lengthy bibliography on Latin American indigneous civilizations,
> if anyone is interested in this. One point I would like to make, though,
> is that any imperialism ont he part of indigenous empires does not justify
> the barbarity of the european conquest.
I'm not a person who know it all, but I don't believe above things!
What kind of literature is this, written by whom?
I do not believe things just because it is written in books, especially
when it's about Native Americans I'm very critical.
"Valid evidence" for me is: stories told by Native Americans him/herself,
or books written by Native Americans!
Aleida