The First Americans

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The First Americans
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Unfortunately it is a myth that Christopher
Columbus discovered America. He was one of the
first Europeans to sail to the Americas and to
attempt to colonize it. He was a good explorer
and used innovative theories and navigational
techniques. But the truth is that humans were
living in both North and South America for many
thousands of years before he arrived.
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The Americas was already home to millions of
Native Americans who spoke thousands of different
languages and live in various states of
civilization and technology. How did they get
here and how long had they been here?
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Scientists know that around 18,000 years ago the
Earth was in the middle of an Ice age. Glaciers
(huge ice sheets) covered most of Canada and a
good bit of the USA. They slowly shrunk,
retreating northward and exposing land.
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The most popular theory of migration to the
Americas is that the Ocean levels shrank due to
all of the water being consumed by ice (the
glaciers). This meant that there were land
bridges where today there is open ocean water.
One of these is Beringia, the area between Russia
and Alaska. There have been many archeological
finds in Alaska to support this theory.
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Many scientists and historians now believe that
nomadic hunter-gatherers traveled between the
melting ice fields to the present day area around
Florida. Then they moved west, to the western
United States.
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Eventually the humans would spread out over the 2
continents. We presume that they followed
animals and eventually learned how to grow a
variety of crops
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Another theory called the Pacific crossing,
believes that people from the Area of New Zealand
traveled on rafts like the one above to settle in
modern day South America.
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Other theories have humans traveling by boat, but
hugging the coastlines or the edge of glaciers.
Some believe they came from Europe, others from
Russia.
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Regardless of the exact route, DNA testing has
found that the majority of Native Americans are
closely related to people who live in
Northeastern Asia. This means that the Native
Americans did indeed come from the area of
Siberia/Kamchatka in Russia.