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Position:Home>History> Are horses native to America?Question: Are horses native to America!? I have just finished reading a history book which mentions the Battle of Cajamarca!. According to the account, the Incas had never seen horses before!. I have heard this a few times (I believe it is mentioned in the play/film 'Equus')!. However, whenever you see films that feature Native Americans, they are always shown riding horses, as if this is perfectly natural to them!. So are horses native to the whole of America, parts of it, or not at all!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: No they were brought by the spanish They really didnt come into Native hands untill they fought the Lakota on the plains-They were first called sacred dogs http://www!.texasindians!.com/horse!.htmWww@QuestionHome@Com The answer to your question is yes, horses were native to North America and there are fossil skeletons that attest to this!. But for some reason, horses died out!. It may have been climate change, predators (there used to be sabre toothed tigers in North America, but they died out too!. They may have taken down a number of the native horses) or it could have been disease!. Whatever the reason, horses were all but extinct in North America until they were reintroduced by the early Spanish and English colonists!. But it hqw been suggested that there were still herds of wild borses in various places, that interbred with the European horses - which is why the horse population rose so fast!. Don't beleive everything thing you see in the movies!. Or in the history books!. Incas may or may not have seen horses before, but it is quite possible that what was unique was the notion of men riding on horses!. There were a number of animals in North America that could have been used for riding - moose, deer, buffalo, to name only three, but none of these were domesticated and it is quite possible the Native American horse co-existed with these animals but also was never domesticated!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Horses aren't native to the New World, but some wild populations exist (and lots more existed in the 1800s)!. Native American-white contact had been going on for centuries before your typical Western film, and the horse spread faster than whites themselves spread, thanks to intra-tribal trade and wild horse populations being domesticated!. It'd be like thinking people shouldn't be comfortable driving a car today, because it's only been around for 100 years!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Horses used to live in America during the last ice-age but they became extinct when it ended along with many other species!. The Native Americans never saw horses until Europeans brought them back from the 16th century onwards!. By the 19th century horses were common again in north America and the natives had learnt to use them just like anyone else!.Www@QuestionHome@Com In fact, YES!. THERE WERE HORSES THERE WHEN THE na'S ARRIVED AND THEY EXTERMINATED THEM! So much for the 'people who lived in harmony tith nature'!. And other species too!. What is more, by 1860 they had also serioulsy depleted the buffalo herds, and would have wiped them out completely had not the white man got there first!.Www@QuestionHome@Com The second coming of horses to North America was via Mexico and Florida!. In 1519, the Spanish conquistador Cortez brought horses to the mainland and they had a population explosion!.Www@QuestionHome@Com There were horses in America during the Ice Age, and it is thought that humans may have hunted them to extinction!. Then they were re-introduced into America by European settlers!. The plains indians took to riding horses and became expert horsemen!.Www@QuestionHome@Com North American Indians found and tamed the descendants of horses that got loose from the Conquistadors!. Modern horses were not native to the America's, but very ancient ancestors of horses from millions of years ago were!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Horses are not native to the Americas!. The Europeans brought them over with them and were eventually used by the Native Americans!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Horses were brought to the Americas by the Spanish and by the French!. When the first horses arrived at Quebec in the summer of 1647, the Natives called them "French moose"!.Www@QuestionHome@Com The horses seen being ridden by native Americans are descendants of horses brought over by the Spanish!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Not native to any part of America!. No horses until Spain took them over!. Then some went wild and others were stolen!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Nope!. In fact, they put the wind right up the Native Americans when they first showed up!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com no horses are not native but the indians learned to use them!.Www@QuestionHome@Com No the spanish brought them over!.Www@QuestionHome@Com No but penguins are! :)Www@QuestionHome@Com noWww@QuestionHome@Com |