I love maps like this. I just love staring at them for hours.

Looking at the Southeast though, my mind went to the profound descriptions I’ve read of the descendants of Mississippian cultures coming into contact with the DeSoto expedition and being devastated by the path of destruction the conquistadors cut through the region. It’s disheartening to recall.

been thinking about this comparison recently That map is current.

watching Little Chinese Everywhere it’s heartening to see how present traditional (indigenous? That’s the analogy at least. I don’t know my Chinese history especially well) cultures and identities are over there among the various ethnic groups.

EDIT: in some areas it even changes village to village. “we’re kyrgyz, the village next door is Tajik” I think it’s how a modern indigenous america would be if there had been no genocide & it’s really cool to imagine.

Indigenous California was wild. It had like twice as many language groups than the rest of the US. Not languages, separate language groups. I don’t actually remember the exact numbers.