Native American, United States, Patents & Inventions, History, Native American Studies 

"American Indian Contributions to the World" is a comprehensive resource describing the numerous inventions and innovations made by American Indians. While most Americans know the story of Squanto, the Wampanoag Indian who taught the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony how to plant their first successful crop, leading to the first Thanksgiving feast, many do not know that 75 percent of the varieties of food grown in the world today are indigenous to North, Meso-, and South America. "American Indian Contributions to the World" includes more than 450 fascinating entries of offerings made by the indigenous people of the Americas, including

-irrigation systems, orchards, and fertilizers
-stonemasonry techniques, apartment complexes, and home isolation
-anesthetics, antibiotic medications, and pharmacology
-almanacs, sign language, and writing systems
-calendars, geometry, and scales
-corn, potatoes, squash, and tobacco
-wheels, shovels, and scalpels
-and much, much more