If you read the North American mythology North America/Earth was actually built on the back of the Turtle, and then as the knowledge became more diluted and misunderstood they came to see the earth and Turtle as one which is a misinterpretation of the mythology. The earth is not the Turtle, the Turtle is the foundation for the physical world.
"According to Iroquois oral history, "the earth was the thought of [a ruler] of a great island which floats in space [and] is a place of eternal peace." Sky Woman fell down to the earth when it was covered with water, or more specifically, when there was a "great cloud sea. Various animals tried to swim to the bottom of the ocean to bring back dirt to create land. Muskrat succeeded in gathering oeh-da (earth), WHICH WAS PLACED ON THE BACK OF THE TURTLE. THIS EARTH GREW INTO NORTH AMERICA or into the present planet Earth itself: "Hah-nu-nah, THE TURTLE BECAME THE EARTH BEARER.
