Who lived in the US before columbus discovered it ? Are the people living now really belong to that continet?
156792
Columbus never came to the area now known as the US. He was in the Caribbean. The Caribbean was inhabited by the Carib Indians and the Arawak Indians, and other indigenous peoples. \n\nThroughout the New World there were indigenous peoples already living here before Columbus. Some of the people living in the Americas have ancestors who were among these aboriginal peoples, but most do not.
687846
A difficult question to ask.  Generally, the American Indian, or Native American, would be the most likely candidate.  However, their ancestors arrived here via the land bridge between Siberia and Alaska not once, but three times.\nNow scientists speculate, and with some evidence, that early Europeans arrived here across the icefields of the Atlantic Ocean during the last major ice age, about 10,000 years ago.\nSo who is truly American?  Whoever is born here, I guess.
997670
If you read history you know Spain had a queen when Columbus sailed the blue in 1492.  They also had Counts but the noacounts went with Columbus.  So, there you have it in a nutty shell.  Social class in Spainland.  For more information ask a Spainperson.  One of my friends is from Spain, taught Spanish in high school until retiring last year and he had lots of class.
522863
Paleo-Indians, and it is thought that people from China and surrounding Asian areas also migrated to the West Coast before Native Americans...
974733
There's still disagreement about just where Columbus first saw the new world and set foot upon its shores.  No one knows for sure.\n\nHere are some sites that may be helpful to you.  Best of luck.
228365
Christopher Columbus (October 30, 1451? – 20 May 1506) was an explorer and trader, who crossed the Atlantic Ocean and reached the Americas on October 12, 1492 under the flag of Castile. History places a great significance on his landing in America in 1492, with the entire period of the history of the Americas before this date usually known as Pre-Columbian, and the anniversary of this event, Columbus Day, is celebrated in many parts of America. Although there is evidence of Pre-Columbian trans-Atlantic Ocean European contact, Columbus is commonly credited as "the" European discoverer of the Americas because of the profound impact his contact wrought on history. His voyage marked the beginning of the European exploration and colonization of the Americas.\n\nIt is generally assumed he was Genoese, although some historians claim he could have been born in other places, from the Crown of Aragón to the Kingdoms of Galicia or Portugal, or in the Greek island of Chios, among others. The real name of the explorer is also unknown; see the section on Columbus' national origin for a discussion of his origin and names.
287783
people will tell you we crossed the land bridge between siria and alaska meaning we migrated somewhere from siria or india, however this fact was later disputed due to archological finds predating this concept. \n\nOur history tells us we've been here since time immemorial
1178995
Ok sweetie, first of all ignore the ignorants, they are partially right but they still don't know how to answer the question. Ok here we go.\n\n Amerigo Vespucci or Américo Vespucio in spanish (see the relationship?) was an italian explorer that in 1501 arrived in what now is Guyana (North of "South" América) he sailed through the Amazona River and ended up in Patagonia (The very south of the American Continent). \n\nAmérico was the first European that realized that this was a new CONTINENT instead of Asia (What they thought at the begining, that's why we call our natives Indians because that was the destination of Columbus). The news spreaded rapidly over Europe and in 1507 a publication of a map made by the German Martin Waldseemüller using the description given by amerigo (Américo) showed the new land name as AMERICUS (In Latin) or América (Spanish because Americo was with the Spanish explorers) in honor of Americo.\n\nThe actual concept of América is the name of what people call North Central and South America which at the end and technically AND CORRECTLY speaking is the name of the whole land that starts in Canada and ends in Argentina. Back then, and, some countries now call americans refering to all people of the new continent (Not only the USA).\n\nNow in the USA, This country was called in honor to that name and also was the first country that became independent from a European authority.\n\nBeing called United States of America means States unified in a land called America which means in some kind of selfish and honorable way that the name of USA is America.\n\nThe only thing I ask you to do is please know and spread the word because there's people that really don't know how they became what they are, and yes, you can and should refer to American or americans to all people in the new continent and the nationality of the USA citizens, but you have to explain when you mean which one. To finish my answer is that everybody that know the difference and knows how to explain it is right and everybody in this WHOLE CONTINENT is an AMERICAN, the north, central and south definitions came after.\n\nThanks for letting me finally explain this to everybody. It took me a long time to figure the why's and the how's (I was born in the USA but raised in Venezuela so it helped expand my mind and knowledge).\n\nTootles
1037680
I think specialdark answered this one quite nicely. Columbus gets all the accolades because he was a white, Christian, European male of the species. The fact that people of another race had already been living here for at least 10,000 years is thus made a moot point. As a student and scholar of History, I must confess that I am not always proud of how historians have recorded such "discoveries" and other assorted feats of humankind. Revisionist history can be quite nauseating, even "politically correct," but the simple fact is that Columbus did not "discover" America.
162996
Lots of people sailed before and after Columbus.You need to be more specific.
334484
America is ONE nation...there was no cohesive government to allow people to come to America back then. There were many many Tribes, some were war like and some weren't...they all wanted to attain what we have today...sooo..to answer you, NO...America belongs to Americans..The declaration of independence was written by Americans for the rest of the world to understand that from now on...we are a nation and will protect our own.
480616
You are ABSOLUTELY right. Take in to consideration, in 1607, there was no "America", this was a new world, without a name, and without a law. The Europeans who came here did a million things wrong (treatment of Natives), but we have spent decades trying to correct that. If you are 1/3 or more Native American, you do not have to pay taxes. It's probably not enough, but you can't change the past. \n\nThank you, by the way. I was unsure when immigration laws were passed. Now I have more to feed my argument with. Let's not forget about Ellis Island. Before border control, that was all we had. Every person who came in this country for about two decades passed through there. They underwent inspection after inspection, and if they had a HINT of ilness, they were sent home, no questions asked. Think of the thousands (or more) who tried to come here the "legal" way (since that was the ONLY way), and were denied access. If we just let anybody come here, without rules or guidelines, it's like slapping the face of those who never made it. \n\nI think we need better border control, and speedier citizenship processes. We need to tell the people we want to deport "If you want to stay here, here's the paperwork. You can live HERE (name of city or building or street) and work THIS (name of specific job or jobs) until you finish your immigration papers. If you are not legal by (Set date) you will be deported. Then, we tighten border control and deport EVERYONE we see come here illegally. \n\nNow that immigration is inside the law, we need to address the issue and handle it properly. We need to quit arguing about the past, because it is behind us. Let's move on and fix our nation.
420663
In Engilish it's actually Pre-Columbian (not Columbia)\n\nIt's refering to something that happened before the first europeans came to the America's. For example, the Mayan and Aztec histories are pre-columbian.
448525
Even the "Native" Americans are immigrants.  They came from Asia about 14,000 years ago.  No humans evolved in the Americas.  All came from somewhere else.  Indeed, the only continent that has any "natives" at all is Africa, where humanity evolved.  They are immigrants everywhere else.
70184
When Christopher Columbus first found America, he was actually looking for an easier route to the Far East by traveling west instead of east, and didn't know that America existed.  Believing that he was in India, he referred to the Native Americans as Indians.  It stuck.
1041912
Correct ... there were already lots of people in North America when Columbus got here, including the Inuit who probably crossed the Bering Sea from Asia on the ice bridge thousands of years before Columbus.
83211
The history of the United States is something everyone who lives here should know. How the people before us devoted their lives and some times died so that a country could be born. The people back then had interesting lives and it is informative to look at them from our perspective because we are living in the fruits of their labor.