I just read the book “1491” which covers a lot on this theme. Recommended. Short answer: it was always politicized, in various ways, for various ends. Most of those ways downplayed the size, scope and sophistication of native cultures.
I read "1491" and "1493" recently. The big take away for me was how the pre-European population successfully managed their environments in both North and South America. The environments that Europeans encountered were not so much wild and as they were managed. In North America fire was an important tool in managing forests. Something that BLM and the forest services have only recently come to understand, after hundreds of years.
