People begin to discuss Native Americans and then inevitably use the example of a hunting society such as the Lakota. How did they fight wars, what was society like... It's analogous to the popular image of an "Indian" as wearing a Plains chief's bonnet. There were other things going on in America. The Iroquois fought wars to bring other nations into their League ("under the Tree of Peace"). They had an ideology which was as messianic and revolutionary as Marxist-Leninism and they were pursuing it as policy when the Europeans arrived. They attempted to bring the French under the Tree as well. And in Mexico, at one point a war was fought in Tula (Toltec capital) over ideology, and religion as well. The rebellious faction wanted to end the human sacrifice, make Quetzalcoatl the predominant deity and pursue a peaceful way of learning and spirituality. Unfortunately the good guys lost this one, and their leader apparently fled to the Yucatan where he became a leader among the Maya and was called by them with their name for Quetzalcoatl: Kukulkán. The Mexica (Aztecs) fought bloody wars to acquire sacrificial captives. Overwhelmingly, Native Americans were not fighting imperialist wars to enslave, subjugate or eliminate other peoples. But it was not always as simple as "counting coup" and fighting over hunting territories.
