Explanation: The height of indigenous technology in what-is-now USA and Canada was actually in the 15th century AD, with well-developed urban centers, copperworking, and increased understanding of the mechanical processes of the world.
For reasons that are not entirely certain, but certainly were at least exacerbated by European diseases, these thriving civilizations had a massive collapse in the 16th century, resulting in indigenous societies that were effectively post-apocalyptic by the 17th and early 18th century.
Unfortunately, that was also around the time European colonization began in earnest.