U.S. History 201
As many as 75 million indigenous people lived in the Americas right before European contact. This was about the same as the population of Europe at that time. The majority of these peoples are thought to have come over via the Bering Strait region from 100,000 to 14,000 years ago during the periods when Ice Ages caused land bridges to form between Siberia and Alaska. Other possible origins include Polynesia and South Africa. Theorists such as Thomas Jefferson believed they originated here in America, (thus making the term indigenous Americans perfectly applicable.)
Many indigenous Americans hold oral traditions that they have always lived in North America. Also, many traditions include a long journey from a distant place of origin to a new homeland.
Last glacial period (80,000 to 10,000 BP) created land bridge between Asia and North America across the Bering Strait, called Beringia.
Folsom, New Mexico discoveries point to the fact that humans had arrived in this region no later than 10,000 BP. Analyses of indigenous American language patterns, DNA analyses, and blood proteins strongly indicate (rather than provide conclusive evidence), that indigenous or first Americans originated from Asia.
At first the indigenous migrants lived in small bands hunting and gathering. Wooly mammoths still roamed North America and bison roamed the plains. These migratory bands were known collectively as Paleo-Indians. They contributed to the extinction of the large mammals through hunting. Archaic is the term used to describe the hunting and gathering cultures that descended from the Paleo-Indian groups.
The greatest indigenous civilizations arose in Mexico, Central America, and South America. In Mexico these included from the oldest to the newest: the Toltecs, Olmecs, Chichimecs, and Aztecs who built cities and left monuments. In the Yucatan and Central America were the Mayas, the oldest civilization in the western hemisphere. The Mayan civilization is now thought to have
Many indigenous Americans hold oral traditions that they have always lived in North America. Also, many traditions include a long journey from a distant place of origin to a new homeland.
Last glacial period (80,000 to 10,000 BP) created land bridge between Asia and North America across the Bering Strait, called Beringia.
Folsom, New Mexico discoveries point to the fact that humans had arrived in this region no later than 10,000 BP. Analyses of indigenous American language patterns, DNA analyses, and blood proteins strongly indicate (rather than provide conclusive evidence), that indigenous or first Americans originated from Asia.
At first the indigenous migrants lived in small bands hunting and gathering. Wooly mammoths still roamed North America and bison roamed the plains. These migratory bands were known collectively as Paleo-Indians. They contributed to the extinction of the large mammals through hunting. Archaic is the term used to describe the hunting and gathering cultures that descended from the Paleo-Indian groups.
The greatest indigenous civilizations arose in Mexico, Central America, and South America. In Mexico these included from the oldest to the newest: the Toltecs, Olmecs, Chichimecs, and Aztecs who built cities and left monuments. In the Yucatan and Central America were the Mayas, the oldest civilization in the western hemisphere. The Mayan civilization is now thought to have