Cable Suspension Bridges

Before the Spanish conquest in the early 1500s, the Inca Empire stretched across a large portion of western South America. Connecting each village and community was a meticulously planned 25,000-mile-long road system that traversed the mountains and diverse landscapes of the region and was designed to allow the easy transportation of goods, knowledge, and people. In order to traverse over the deep gorges and rivers, the Incans built suspension bridges: bridges that have two or four cables running from one side to the other with a floor suspended in between.

Each bridge was constructed by hand in local communities, where the Incans gathered to weave grass into huge cables. They attached them together and, using rocks and leather, created bridges that connected both sides of the rivers.

Today, the same concept is seen in suspension bridges around the world. There’s only one traditionally built Incan suspension bridge left, called the Q’eswachaka Bridge in Peru. Locals rebuild the bridge every year to honor their ancestors and keep the tradition alive.

Learn more about the history of suspension bridges.

Pain Relievers

Long before Tylenol and Ibuprofen were readily available in our medicine cabinets, Native Americans chewed willow bark as pain relief. The plant contained the chemical salicin, which produced salicylic acid in the body once ingested. Today, salicylic acid is the active ingredient in aspirin, acne treatments, and other pain and inflammation medicines.

For topical pain relievers, Tribes used the plants around them to treat cuts and bruises. Jimson weed would be ground up into a paste, and capsaicin, a chemical found in hot peppers, would be extracted and applied to injured areas.

Learn more about Native American’s contributions to medicine.

Oral Contraceptives

While the first oral contraceptive was approved by the FDA in 1960, Natives were using plants to prevent unwanted pregnancy over 200 years before the birth control pill was introduced. Using stoneweed has been proven to reduce the chances of conception, so different tribes around the country ingested it as both a drink and an herb.

Stoneweed was so widely used that it influenced the creation of the modern-day contraceptive!

Learn more about how stoneweed was used as a contraceptive.

Syringes

Syringes are commonly used in the medical industry all over the world, making injections and administering medications easier and safer. Alexander Wood is credited with inventing the first hypodermic syringe in 1853, but Native American tribes were using a similar concept long before.

Using sharpened, hollowed-out bird bones and animal bladders, Native Americans were able to inject medicine, irrigate wounds, and treat other ailments. The Iroquois and Seneca tribes were among the first to utilize them and used similar concepts for baby bottles.

Learn more about how syringes were used by Native Americans.