You are missing my basic premise, the culture was almost destroyed and is in the process of building backup now. The book has nothing in common with the experience of US Tribes.
The tribes ran the gamut in what they had before Columbus. It is know that trade routes existed bring things only found in the arctic regions south to the deserts and beyond.
Oh, I agree completely. If smallpox hadn't been a factor, then the tribes would have been strong enough to compete. They would have kept their cultures and been able to adapt and grow. It's good to hear that they are rebuilding their culture; it means that they won't die out.
The world would look very different today if the European explorers had brought back a virulent disease (like smallpox) instead of merely chronic ones (like syphilis). They simply had no idea what the risks were. They lucked out with malaria and yellow fever as well; most of Europe is too far north for them to be as big a problem as they are in Africa, or as they were in the American south.
"If smallpox hadn't been a factor, then the tribes would have been strong enough to compete."
Smallpox is the least of the problems that the tribes faced. The government abuse of land and wealth, the beating out of culture, the killing of food sources, and parking the tribes in the middle of nowhere on land that wouldn't grow anything. Broken promises and laughing officials are the problems.
The tribes ran the gamut in what they had before Columbus. It is know that trade routes existed bring things only found in the arctic regions south to the deserts and beyond.