[rdl]

I meant that the Aztecs, Maya, Inca, and other Native Americans are largely irrelevant to how US culture developed (which is I think your point), not that US culture is independent of everything which happened before Europeans came to the US.

"Pre-Columbian American culture" being that of the various Native Americans, not of the world in general pre-Columbus.

(I wish I could s/Colombian/Columbian; so easy to get those confused in various contexts)