History of the Americas

The history of the Americas is the collective history of North and South America, including Central America and the Caribbean. It begins with people migrating to these areas from Asia and possibly Oceania during the height of an Ice Age. These groups are generally believed to have had little or no contact with peoples of the "Old World" until the coming of Europeans in the 15th century.

The ancestors of today's Native Americans were hunter-gatherers who migrated into North America. The most popular theory asserts that migrants came to the Americas via the Bering Land Bridge, Beringia, the land mass covered by the cold ocean waters in the Bering Strait. Small Paleo Indian groups probably followed the mammoth and other prey animals. It is possible that groups of people may also have wandered into North America on shelf or sheet ice along the northern Pacific coast.

Cultural traits brought by the first immigrants later evolved and spawned such cultures as Iroquois on North America and Pirahã of South America. These cultures later developed into civilizations, just as in the Old World. In many cases, these cultures expanded at a later date than their Old World counterparts. Cultures that may be considered advanced or civilized include: Cahokia, Zapotec, Toltecs, Olmec, Aztecs, and the Inca.

Migration into the continents

Exactly when the first group of people migrated into the Americas is subject to much debate. Recent archaeological finds suggest multiple waves of migration, some of which may have taken place as early as 40,000 BCE. All theories agree that the Inuit and related peoples arrived separately and at a much later date, probably around the 6th century, moving across the glaciers from Siberia into Canada.

It is generally believed that the North American continent received the first people, Asian nomads who crossed the Bering Land Bridge, which connected Siberia and Alaska over the Bearing Sea. For many years, scientists accepted that the earliest people were of the Clovis culture, with sites dating from some 13,500 years ago. Older sites occupied up to 20,000 years ago are still not widely accepted, although they are supported by recent DNA evidence. By 10,000 BCE, humans are thought to have reached Cape Horn, at the southern tip of South America. Artifacts have been found in both North and South America which have been dated to about 10,000 BCE. [1] [2]

Before advanced civilizations

After the migration or migrations, it was several thousand years before the first complex civilizations arose, emerging at earliest 5000 BCE. They were hunter-gatherers and even with the emergence of advanced civilizations, most of the continent's area was still inhabited by such societies until the 18th century. Hunter gatherer societies were quickly displaced with only a few in South America surviving into the 21st century. Numerous archaeological cultures can be identified with some of the classifications including Early Paleo-Indian Period, Late Paleo-Indian Period, Archaic Period, Early Woodland Period, Middle Woodland Period and Late Woodland Period. lol

Civilizations

Civilizations were started long after migration. Several large, centralized civilizations developed in the Western Hemisphere (e.g., the Caral and Chavń in the Andes, the Aztecs and the Maya in Central America). The capital of the Cahokians, Cahokia - located near modern East St. Louis, Illinois may have reached a population of over 20,000. At its peak, between the 12th and 13th centuries, Cahokia was the most populous city in North America. Monk's Mound, the major ceremonial center of Cahokia, remains the largest earthen construction of the prehistoric New World. Far larger cities where built by the Maya and Aztecs. Cities of the Aztecs and Incas were as large as the largest in the Old World, with estimated populations of 300,000 in Tenochtitlan. The market established there was the largest ever seen by the conquistadors when they arrived.

These civilizations developed agriculture as well, breeding maize (corn) from having ears 2-5 cm in length to perhaps 10-15 cm in length. Potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins and avocados are other plants grown by Natives. They did not develop extensive livestock as there were few suitable species; however the guinea pig was raised for meat in the Andes. By the 15th century AD, maize had been transmitted from Mexico and was being farmed in the Mississippi River Valley, but further developments were cut short by the arrival of Europeans. Potatoes were utilized by the Inca and chocolate by the Aztec.

North America

Pueblo people

For the Pueblo people of what is now the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico, living conditions were that of large stone apartment like adobe structures. They live in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, and possibly surrounding areas.

Cahokia

Mesoamerica

Zapotec

The Zapotec emerged around 1500 years BCE. Their writing system influenced the later Olmec. They left behind the great city Monte Alban.

Olmec

The Olmec civilization emerged around 1200 BCE in Mesoamerica and ended 400 BCE but left enough art and concepts to surrounding neighbours for them to build civilizations of their own. This civilization was the first in America to develop a writing system. After the Olmecs abandoned their cities for unknown reasons, the Maya, Zapotec and Teotihuacan took over.

Maya

The Maya supplanted the Olmecs and their history spanned 3,000 years, this civilization may have collapsed due to changing climate in the end of the 10th century, or the Mayans simply abandoned civilization and returned to a feral lifestyle.

Toltec

The Toltec were a militaristic nomadic people, dating from the 10th - 12th century, whose language was spoken by the Aztecs as well.

Teotihuacan

Teotihuacan (4th century BCE - 7/8th century CE) was both a city, and an empire of the same name, which, at its zenith between 150 and the 5th century, covered most of Mesoamerica.

Aztec

The Aztec having started to build their empire around 14th century found their civilization abruptly ended by the Spanish conquistadors. They lived in central America, and surrounding lands.

South America

Caral

The oldest known civilization of the Americas was established in the Caral Supe valley, dating from c. 3000 BCE and inhabited until c. 1600 BCE. The Quipu, a distinctive recording device among Andean civilizations, apparently dates from the era of Caral's prominence. Caral was part of a larger culture called the Norte Chico civilization. .

Chavín

The Chavín established a trade network and developed agriculture by as early as (or late compared to the Old World) 900 BCE according to some estimates and archaeological finds. Artifacts were found at a site called Chavín in modern Peru at an elevation of 3,177 meters. Chavín civilization spanned from 900 BCE to 300E BC.

Inca

Holding their capital at the great city of Cusco, the Inca civilization dominated the Andes region from 1438 to 1533. Known as Tahuantinsuyu, or "the land of the four regions," in Quechua, the Inca culture was highly distinct and developed. Cities were built with precise, unmatched stonework, constructed over many levels of mountain terrain. Terrace farming was a useful form of agriculture. There is evidence of excellent metalwork and even successful brain surgery in Inca civilization.

European discovery and colonization

Thousands of years after the Indians arrived, the continent was rediscovered by Europeans. Initially the Vikings established a short-lived settlement in Newfoundland, with some evidence suggesting the Norsemen penetrated as far as Minnesota, either coming down from Hudson Bay or going west through the Great Lakes. Theories exist about other Old World discoveries of the east coast (or of the west coast by the Chinese), but none of these are considered proven. Evidence has been found of settlements during the period of the Roman Republic (509-31 BCE), by immigrants from the Celtic lands of Europe in the area of New England. It was the later voyage of Christopher Columbus that led to extensive European colonization of the Americas and the marginalization of its inhabitants. While we know that many immigrants and discoverers had already come to this new world of the Americas, that it has been "discovered' many times, Columbus came at a time in which many technical developments in sailing techniques and communication made it possible to report his voyages easily and to spread word of them throughout western Europe. It was also a time of growing economic rivalries that led to a competition for the establishment of colonies.

The mass death of the Native Americans from slavery, disease and war led to severe changes in the population and ethnic identity of America's inhabitants. The slave labor of Americans killed by European incursions was replaced by that of sub-Saharan African peoples through the slave trade. Native populations became increasingly minor as the European and African slave populations grew rapidly. The dominance of White Americans continued through the period of widespread independence from European rule, begun in the late 18th century by the United States.

There is a substantial difference though, between the English and Spanish areas and models of colonisation. While Native Americans suffered death, slavery and exploitation throughout the Americas and were virtually exterminated almost everywhere, Native Americans, along with Mestizos, now make up the majority of the population in many Central and South American countries due to higher rates of intermarriage between the Spanish and Native Americans, ^{[citation needed]} the lower rates of European immigration there, ^{[citation needed]} and the lack of the black-white racial classification system found in the United States. More importantly, the Southern parts were much more populated before European colonisation (50m) compared to the North (2m).

The number of Native Americans is increasing now in the U.S. by actual population growth, changing enrollment laws, and from the immigration from Spanish America, especially from Mexico, though the definition being applied to them is Hispanic.

Effects of slavery

Slavery has had a significant role in the economic development the New World after the colonization of the Americas by the Europeans. Slaves helped build the roads upon which they were transported. The cotton, tobacco, and sugar cane harvested by slaves became important exports for the United States and the Caribbean countries.