I understand that North America was inhabited by Native Americans when European Explorers first discovered it.  How did those native people manage to get to the Americas.  What evidence is there of other cultures living in Northern and Southern America before the European invasion?
204235
It was a land bridge over the Bering straits, they traveled down the west coast and spread out from there.\nGreat Question, there is also speculation some Egyptians, sailed to the east coast, we have even seen signs of people from king Davids reign settled in the south, New Mexico.
642705
In 1519, the native civilizations of Mexico were invaded by Spanish troops numbering about 600 soldiers, who brought with them superior weaponry and old world diseases. Early Conquistadores was Hernán Cortés, who entered the country in 1519 from a native coastal town which he renamed "Puerto de la Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz" (today's Veracruz). Contrary to popular opinion, Spain did not conquer all of Mexico when Cortés conquered Tenochtitlan in 1521. It would take another two centuries after the Siege of Tenochtitlan before the Conquest of Mexico would be complete. The conquistadores (conquers) were just that! A bloody murdering army out to plunder.\n The first successful settlement in North America was English FAMILIES, not armies, 125 years after Spain attacked south and central America.
309184
Oh God !!!\n\nDid you guys never took American History or what ???\nMost White Americans are from Europe, majority are English origin then Germans, Scott Irish, French and other small european country.\n\nBlack Americans came from continent of Africa,and some Americans are Asian Origin, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Pakistani etc (In small numbers)\n\nAnother Major group is American Indian or native Americans, they were belived to came to America thru Russia China and Indian boarder region during the Ice Age.
143409
The 13 colonies were all founded by European countries. Basically, the more land you had, the richer you were. So land in the Americas was important. \n\nThe Europeans came for :\n\nGold/Wealth\nGod (to spread their religion)\nGlory of the country.\n\nThey were aslo hoping to establish trade.\n\nJamestown, the 1st colony was established in, 1609.\nThe pilgrims came in the mayflower in 1620
3870
Are you asking about indigenuous/Native Americans or those who came from other countries? \nBoth groups(at different times) initially started with gathering, hunting, fishing and later on, farming.
54736
Vespucci didn't get to America until 1497.  He was not the first.  It is possible, I suppose, That the Japanese made it, but there is no evidence to support that.  Some say that St. Brenden the Navigator may have been the first to land on America.
258665
The camel family didn't have to spread to North America.  They originated here about 40 million years ago.  The number of camel species reached its peak 10 million years ago.  Camels began to spread to South America, Eurasia, and Africa 5 million years ago.  Two million years ago camels were one of the most prevalent hooved animals in the world, but by 12,000 all North American camelids were extinct.  The extinction of many prehistoric camelids coincides with the arrival of humans in North America. Humans stopped nomadic lifestyles and became farmers and livestock owners 10,000 years ago -- 2,000 years after the extinction of the North American camelids.  It is certain that early nomadic humans never saw these camelids as anything more than a foodsource.  It is also possible that overhunting by humans caused the North American camels to die out.  Wiping out entire species is something we've always been good at.  The last camelid to live in North America was Camelops, which resembled a giant llama or vicuna.  By the time humans began to keep livestock, alpacas and llamas had already establlished themselves in specific mountainous niches.  It is very difficult for highly-specialized animals such as llamas and alpacas to spread over long distances by themselves because they are made to survive in a specific environment.  In order to move to North America on their own, llamas and alpacas would have been forced to cross several different biomes, many of which are unsuitable for these mountain-dwellling creatures.  Therefore, llamas and alpacas were available only to South American humans that share their mountain habitat.\n\nTo more specifically answer your question:  It wasn't just the camelids that were geographically separated; the humans were too.  The Native Americans of North and South America lived in places that were not easily accessible by the other human population.  Once civilizations were established, neither North American or South American native peoples had any reason to spread to the other continent.  It is likely North American humans had no idea South American humans existed, much less their alpacas and llamas.  Neither South Americans nor North Americans would move or intersperse until late into the Age of Exploration.  Though llamas and alpacas certainly would have been beneficial animals to be utilized by either population, horses reached North Americans first and proved to be a far more profitable animal for the purposes of Native Americans (they used them to hunt large prey as well as in warfare).
210246
Well, the GABI (Great American Biotic Interchange) went both ways, and several families of mammals from North America came to South America, and viceversa. However, only few native South Americans remain today in North America (NA), whereas many originally Holarctic families are thriving in South America (SA) at present. \n\nThe above answerer has outlined the three major "strata" defined by GG Simpson for the mammals of SA. The "original" South American mammals before the GABI included marsupials (shared with Australia, but forming a distinct cohort with different families) but also the exclusively South American xenarthrans (although there is a possible fossil anteater from Europe), and the Caviomorph rodents (closely related to the hystricognathous African rodents). In addition, there were some carnivores that had made it from NA. \n\nAfter the Panama land bridge appeared, the GABI was intense. North and South American faunas mixed and they appear to have coexisted for a long time. \nThe subsequent Pleistocene extinctions involved groups of both origins, but the South American natives were more intensely affected. Among the hypotheses to explain this,  interspecific competition has been mentioned, but also climatic changes. \nFirst of all, direct competition is _very_ difficult to prove, and more so with respect to fossil remains from strata that may not be exactly coeval. A more recent and preferred explanation involves a little paleoclimatology. \n** During the glaciations (and other stressful periods), South American conditions were more benign, because the continent is closer to the Equator, whereas environments in NA were much harsher, facilitating the extinction of the South American immigrants, along with many native North American giant forms. \n**In addition, the Central American corridor, which had been at first a savanna-like environment that permitted passage, later in the Pleistocene became more like a tropical forest. Then many cursorial (running) animals that inhabited open areas were unable to "cross the bridge". The giant ground sloths and glyptodonts were trapped in NA, and when climate and vegetation kept changing toward colder and drier conditions, became extinct.\n\nAnimals left from this: \nAmong the original South American natives, only the xenarthrans (sloths, armadillos, and anteaters) and marsupials (opossums)[early inhabitants], and the caviomorph rodents (originally derived from their African relatives) [second stratum colonizers] are alive today. The immensely diverse native ungulates went extinct, along with the representatives of the megafauna (giant sloths, glyptodonts, etc). At least one species of armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) is expanding its range in NA today, and the opossums (I remember Didelphis virginiana, not sure if there are others) are well established there. Caviomorph rodents also occur in NA (porcupines, genus Erethizon), but are mostly confined to Central America. \nThese are the South American contributions to North American fauna. In contrast, about 50% of the South American mammal genera have North American origin.\n\nWith respect to birds, at least the Passeriformes Suboscines are South American in origin, but I have no idea _when_ they colonized NA. They include the Tyrannidae (tyrant flycatchers). Other birds with Neotropical origin are the hummingbirds (Trochiliformes or Apodiformes).\n\n---------------------\nUpdate:\nMmm... I’m not sure what you call “non-speed strategies”. Predators? Running forms such as ungulates? There were many native ungulates in South America and they went extinct; also many marsupial predators such as the marsupial sabertooth “cat”  that also disappeared. Many caviomorph rodents are cursorial (capybaras, agoutis, etc).\nI would relate it more to size. Size _is_ a constraint because large animals have different energetic balance and need large amounts of food and room. And those went extinct in both co
294469
(1) I feel that Native Americans or American Indians are people who are indigenous to the Americas. \n\n(2) I read that the name Indian was first applied to them by Christopher Columbus, who believed mistakenly that the mainland and islands of America were part of the Indies, in Asia.
250500
Excellent question. I have often thought about this before. They say that Egyptians never came to the new world but I don't buy it. Pyramids, heiroglyphs, burials, tombs And they way they looked. Too much to be coincidence. National geographic has a special called the curse of the cocaine mummies. They found the coca plant in Egyptian mummies which proves that they had trade.
179371
baby_balla_gaby, Chell, spd2romero@s... and latin_hussla all need to go back to school and learn something. For starters the USA bought the land from the Mexican government and not steal it. Yes our ancestors who came here took the land from the Native Americans living here at the time. All civilization came up form the Africa and Middle East regions and spread throughout the world. Asians did come across from Siberia to what is now Alaska a long time ago. So many of you really need to go back to school yourselves. Majority of the people who live in north America today are dececndts from either the Spanish and Europeans. The Native Americans were here centuries before but their ancestors came from Asia. \n\nIt seems to me that many of the people supporting illegal immigrants want to get rid of all laws in this land and everywhere else. Tell me I am wrong here but it is the truth. Like what was said before their were no laws in the land until the mid to late 1800’s. So you can’t argue about the past but you need to start thinking about the future. If the Mexican people rely on the money that their relatives send home then they are making their lives worse every day with that mentality. Instead of  going to the US for a better life why don’t you work on getting your government to fix your economy and not rely on someone’s else.
253590
The only native American group that had written language were the Mayans (and subsequently the Aztecs when they conquered them).  The record of the ancient Americans is called the Book of Mormon.
172370
I suggest to you that you read 'Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee' by Dee Brown; and '500 Nations by Alvin Josephy, Jr.\n\nMost American Indians, if you were to try to discuss openly and fairly with you, would tell you they are quite aware of the tribal divisions among our ancestors.\n\nThese divisions were pivotal in the taking of American Indian lands, as the French, English and U.S. played various tribes against each other by promising them positions of power if their side won.\n\nI believe European history is rife with these kinds of dealings amongst warring factions of peoples too.\n\np.s. who's the author of the book you mention?  And, how could the white hurry up the eventual downfall of the American Indian?  Downfall to who else? The only people to conquer the American Indians WERE the white man.\n\np.p.s. of course tribes fought against each other for control of food supplies, etc. If the early American soil was "soaked in Indian blood", as you suggest, how would you descibe European soil as being?  Europeans killed many more millions of each other before they even thought about sailing over here.\n\np.p.p.s. My e-mail is Wlvrne1964@yahoo.com, if you want to seriously discuss this in a rational way.  I'll address all 3 of your questions.
229466
I will definitely take your side on this question, listen...Yes, the Continent is called "North America" and it is included.  Anyway the U.S.A has been so dominant since "white people" have taken over the country and that may be why and EVERYBODY HEAR THIS:  The white people that say "I am half American and half English(U.K) are not.  The so-called "Americans are actually most of them are descendants from Britain and most of Europe.  Listen to this one.  What are "Native Americans"?  That's right, they are Indians, which means that most of the ones that consider themselves white Americans are actually European and here is another the term "WHITE PERSON" ranges from now..U.S.A, Canada, Australia, and most of Europe including Russia.  And yes about the government, the decisions they make do affect us, for instance(please don't hate me for speaking the truth) The War that we are in, in my opinion it is made a bigger deal than it should be and it is affecting us in one example by using up money and jacking the gas prices way up, so if I tried to FULLY ANSWER THIS QUESTION, it would be too long to try to read and if you want me to give you a full answer modify detail on your question and I will make it able to contact me.
304251
Hi.  This is a very interesting question and one that is close to home for me. I am a home educator and when I first began home schooling my children, like the year before, I brushed up on history.  So many things were difficult to tell my children, namely, the beginning when so many lives were lost during the Europeans taking over the land. I think what we walked away with year after year (now 10 years of teaching this topic) is that the native americans at first were quite puzzled as to why anyone would want to fight over this land, as they did not even view it as their own. The land didn't belong to them any more than the white man. If I am correct, they believe the land was there by \nGod(s) and we are to replenish it and respect it. White believed what ever they could take by force, should be theirs. Now I do not set around blaming Europeans any more than I hold present Native Americans responsible for the killings that some of tribes attributed to. But I do believe that lack of compassion is taught in our school books, when introducing America to our children. There are many Christian history books that I have bought and read and taught from however, that do teach this compassion to the original people, the Native Americans.  Interesing also is that some folks do not believe "native Americans" were the native people, but that vikings such as Leif Ericson were the first in North America.  Or maybe the Asians, who came across the Bering St. before the ocean covered it...and that is where native americans come from?  Sorry to be so lengthy. I just love history of America and this topic is near my heart.  God bless!
558667
It has been PROVEN through DNA that Native Americans came to America during the last ice age, by walking across the land bridge between Alaska and Russia.  With a lot of moisture locked up in the ice sheet, ocean levels were much lower then than now.
542031
Consider the fact that Indians lived and fought all over the country before Americans landed and many died and were buried or creamated. Also pioneers buried their dead anywhere they died. We cannot be sure that nobody died there.