Before 1492 — the peoples of the continent
Before 1492 — the peoples of the continent
Long before European ships reached its shores, North America was home to hundreds of distinct nations with their own languages, economies, religions, and forms of government. The story of American history does not begin in 1776, or even in 1492; it begins with the peopling of a continent over many thousands of years. This chapter sketches that deep past and the world beyond it.
An educational overview for demonstrating BookAtlas. Verify names and dates against a primary source before citing.
1.1A continent already peopledHuman beings reached the Americas at least 15,000 years ago, and quite possibly earlier, migrating from Asia during the last Ice Age when…1.2Cities, farms, and tradeNative North Americans built sophisticated societies. Around Cahokia, near present-day St. Louis, a Mississippian city of perhaps 10,000 to…1.3Ways of governingThere was no single Native form of government, but many. Some peoples lived in small, mobile bands led by consensus; others built powerful…1.4Many worlds, many lifewaysThe continent held a staggering variety of ways of life shaped by land and climate. On the Great Plains, peoples hunted bison on foot for…1.5Meanwhile, elsewhere (to 1492)While these societies matured in North America, the wider world was busy and interconnected. In the 1400s, China's Ming dynasty sent…