Indians and Europeans shape the different colonies
Hello, and welcome to “Learn More, Teach More.” It has been more than five centuries since Christopher Columbus reached the Americas. We know a great deal about Columbus, of course, and about the Europeans and Africans who crossed the Atlantic after him. We know much less about the “Indians,” as Columbus mistakenly called them—the people already living in America. But we are learning more all the time, so I want to talk about early contacts between Native Americans and newcomers.
We now estimate that as many as seven million people were living in North America 500 years ago, and that their ancestors had been on this continent for at least thirteen thousand years. For all this time—hundreds of generations—they had remained isolated from Asia and Africa and Europe, building their own separate world. Over many centuries, these first North Americans developed diverse cultures that were as varied as the landscapes they lived in. And they developed hundreds of different languages.
Looking back, what can we say about early encounters between these diverse Native Americans and the strange newcomers who arrived from across the ocean? Let me give you a few things to think about. Remember, first of all, that these initial contacts stretched over the entire continent and occurred over several centuries. The encounters were nearly as varied as the people involved. But key issues such as language, belief, technology, and disease arose regularly in different times and places.
We may never know exactly about the first contacts from overseas. Long before Columbus, occasional boats may have arrived across the North Pacific from Asia, or across the Atlantic from Africa or Europe. They may have sailed intentionally or drifted by mistake. But such encounters were brief.
So was the encounter with Norse Vikings. They visited Newfoundland in Canada about 1,000 years ago—nearly 500 years before Columbus. Their little colony of 160 people was short-lived. We know
We now estimate that as many as seven million people were living in North America 500 years ago, and that their ancestors had been on this continent for at least thirteen thousand years. For all this time—hundreds of generations—they had remained isolated from Asia and Africa and Europe, building their own separate world. Over many centuries, these first North Americans developed diverse cultures that were as varied as the landscapes they lived in. And they developed hundreds of different languages.
Looking back, what can we say about early encounters between these diverse Native Americans and the strange newcomers who arrived from across the ocean? Let me give you a few things to think about. Remember, first of all, that these initial contacts stretched over the entire continent and occurred over several centuries. The encounters were nearly as varied as the people involved. But key issues such as language, belief, technology, and disease arose regularly in different times and places.
We may never know exactly about the first contacts from overseas. Long before Columbus, occasional boats may have arrived across the North Pacific from Asia, or across the Atlantic from Africa or Europe. They may have sailed intentionally or drifted by mistake. But such encounters were brief.
So was the encounter with Norse Vikings. They visited Newfoundland in Canada about 1,000 years ago—nearly 500 years before Columbus. Their little colony of 160 people was short-lived. We know