Questions for ‘American democracy arrived long before Columbus did’
![A painting of a Muscogee (Creek) village in the 1790s shows a circular council house next to four clan structures positioned around a square. The village is on the banks of a pond and surrounded by trees.](https://www.snexplores.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/082622_bb_democracy_feat-1030x580.jpg)
This historically informed painting depicts a Muscogee (Creek) village in the 1790s. It includes a winter council house, far right, next to a square ground bordered by four clan structures. Muscogee people have practiced democratic decision making in similar council houses for at least 1,500 years, researchers say.
Dori DeCamillis