The Earliest Americans and the Age of Exploration

Archaeologists believe that the first generations of Native Americans crossed over the Bering land bridge from Asia around 12,000 BCE. As the various groups spread across the continent, they developed distinct customs, languages, and ways of life. Prior to European arrival in 1492, the population of North America was anywhere from 2 million to 18 million people.

The map shows the different cultural groups that existed in North America prior to European arrival. Some of those groups depended heavily on hunting for food. For example, the Sioux and Cheyenne tribes in the Great Plains group relied on the buffalo for subsistence. The Arctic peoples, which include the Inuit, relied on a combination of hunting and fishing to survive in an area with little plant life. Other groups relied on agriculture for food. Tribes from the Woodlands regions such as the Iroquois and the Cherokee grew maize for food, as did the Hopi and Navajo tribes in the Southwest. Despite the distances between the regions, tribes traded with one another.

Although some Europeans claimed that Native Americans were not builders or that they were all nomadic, this is not true. As early as 3500 BCE, groups known as the Mound Builders built large earthworks with cities on top, often in elaborate shapes. The largest, Cahokia, was home to between 20,000 and 30,000 people. In the Southwest, the Anasazi built settlements into the cliff walls.

DID YOU KNOW?
There are 175 Native American languages still spoken in the United States today, though many of them have only a few speakers left.

Native American tribes could be very different from one another. Some of the tribes were patriarchal, meaning that men held most of the power, but in others women had more power and influence. Some of the tribes developed complicated power systems. By the time of European arrival in North America, the Iroquois Confederacy consisted of six different tribes that managed their own affairs but came together to make decisions that would affect the whole group. Internally, many tribes were democratic and made decisions based on the will of the majority.

Example

How did humans first enter North America?

The correct answer is C. The first people to arrive in North America crossed over the Bering land bridge into what is now Alaska.