home/edoc/World History/US History
Popular Search:Getting Started

The First Americans  – Early America – American History

44 views August 11, 2020 van 0

THE FIRST AMERICANS 

At the height of the Ice Age, between 34,000 and 30,000 B.C., much of the world’s water was locked up in vast continental ice sheets. As a result, the Bering Sea was hundreds of meters below its current level, and a land bridge, known as Beringia, emerged between Asia and North America At its peak, Beringia is thought to have been some 1,500 kilometers wide A moist and treeless tundra, it was covered with grasses and plant life, attracting the large animals that early humans hunted for their survival. 

The first people to reach North America almost certainly did so without knowing they had crossed into a new continent. They would have been following game, as their ancestors had for thousands of years, along the Siberian coast and then across the land bridge. 

Once in Alaska, it would take these first North Americans thousands of years more to work their way through the openings in great glaciers south to what is now the United States. Evidence of early life in North America continues to be found. Little of it, however, can be reliably dated before 12,000 B.C.; a recent discovery of a hunting lookout in northern Alaska, for example, may date from almost that time So too may the finely crafted spear points and items found near Clovis, New Mexico. 

Similar artifacts have been found at sites throughout North and South America, indicating that life was probably already well established in much of the Western Hemisphere by some time prior to 10,000 B.C. 

Around that time the mammoth began to die out and the bison took its place as a principal source of food and hides for these early North Americans. Over time, as more and more species of large game vanished — whether from overhunting or natural causes — plants, berries, and seeds became an increasingly important part of the early American diet. Gradually, foraging and the first attempts at primitive agriculture appeared Native Americans in what is now central Mexico led the way, cultivating corn, squash, and beans, perhaps as early as 8,000 B. C.. Slowly, this knowledge spread northward. 

By 3,000 B.C., a primitive type of corn was being grown in the river valleys of New Mexico and Arizona. Then the first signs of irrigation began to appear, and, by 300 B.C., signs of early village life. 

By the first centuries A.D., the Hohokam were living in settlements near what is now Phoenix, Arizona, where they built ball courts and pyramid-like mounds reminiscent of those found in Mexico, as well as a canal and irrigation system. 

Tags:AmericanhistoryUS history

Was this helpful?

Yes  No
Related Articles
  • Andrew Johnson and the Two Reconstructions – American History
  • The Triumph and Tragedy of Lincoln – American History
  • Gettysburg: `Too Bad! Too Bad! Oh! TOO BAD!’ – American History
  • The War among the Generals – American History
  • The Churches and the War – American History
  • Why the South Was Virtually Bound to Lose – US History
Leave A Comment Cancel reply

US History
  • The First Americans  – Early America – American History
  • Andrew Johnson and the Two Reconstructions – American History
  • The Triumph and Tragedy of Lincoln – American History
  • Gettysburg: `Too Bad! Too Bad! Oh! TOO BAD!’ – American History
  • The War among the Generals – American History
  • The Churches and the War – American History
View All 256  
Popular Articles
  • Exercises on Using participles to join sentences – English Grammar
  • Common things in the living room
  • Exercises on Full or bare infinitive – part 1 – English Grammar
  • How to change Direct Speech into Indirect Speech? – English Grammar
  • Travel and transport – Destination B2 Grammar and Vocabulary
KB Categories
  • Answer Key
  • English
    • Grammar
    • TOEIC
    • Vocabulary
    • Writing Skills
  • Lifestyle
  • World History
    • US History
About Manual
With Manual you can have your own and most importantly the complete help center without paying monthly fees
Support Links
  • FAQ
  • Forums
  • KnowledgeBase
  • Documentation
Useful Help Links
  • Community Home
  • Item support
  • Refunds
  • Market API
Frequent Visit Links
  • Licenses
  • Terms
  • Refunds
  • Privacy Policy
  • © 2019 EduJett. All Rights Reserved.