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The world of the native peoples and cultures of America covers two vast continents. They are known as North America and South America and include the narrow strip of land that connects them, called Central America. The story of these lands covers a huge stretch of time in history, over 20.000 years. It begins when Stone Age peoples first migrated to the Americas from north-east Asia and ends with the events that followed the arrival of European Colonists in the Americas (see Christopher Columbus in 1492).
Throughout this period, many American peoples lived nomadic lives, moving from place to place depending on the seasons and the availability of food. They survived by hunting and fishing, as well as gathering nuts, roots, and berries. Others also discovered how to plant seeds to grow food. Some groups of Native Americans built up impressive civilizations, based on organized farming, trade and military conquest. These include the empires of the Aztecs and Maya in Mesoamerica and the Incas and their predecessors in South America.
The earliest peoples to set foot in the Americas were following the migrating herds of wild animals that they hunted. They came from the far north-east of Asia during the last great Ice Age. At this time, so much of the world’s oceans were frozen into the ice caps that sea levels were much lower than today. This created a land bridge between Asia and America, which allowed people and animals to travel across on dry land.
Where people live affects how they organize and feed themselves. The enormous variety of natural environments in the Americas, from deserts to rainforests, grassy plains to mountains, is reflected by the variety of lifestyles of its native peoples. Some ancient Americans became farmers and lived in small villages, controlling their environment by clearing land for fields. Other peoples lived in hot, dry regions where food was scarce and difficult to grow. They had to concentrate most of their activities just on getting enough to eat, and often lived in small groups, moving from place to place to forage for food.
In some regions, people began to experiment with controlling their environment. They learned to increase the amount of food they could grow by diverting the water from rivers into canals around their fields. In some very dry places, they learned to tap into water supplies deep underground. They increased the number of food animals they could keep by moving them around to different pastures in summer and winter. This allowed people to live in a more permanent location in larger groups. Some people didn’t even grow food for themselves, they would make the tools needed for farming and they would receive food in exchange.
When it was discovered that the process of baking clay in a fire turned it into a hard material, some people began to make pottery containers for water and food. Others built houses from mudbricks or made clothes and ornaments from this material.
Whatever their lifestyles, people of the Americas developed beliefs about the world around them to explain how the world began, what would happen in the future, or what happened after a person died. Some special people, who were recognized for their skills at interpreting signs about the world, became spiritual leaders in their communities.
Trading had developed by the time the communities developed into large, permanent settlements and their lifestyle became more complex. Powerful leaders took charge of the distribution of extra food and created rules about how to share the products of farmers and craftspeople, and how people should worship their gods. People like this became powerful rulers and often passed their authority and wealth on to their children. In the Incan and Aztec empires, it was believed that rulers were the descendants of gods themselves.
A ruler’s power was demonstrated by elaborate celebrations in or around special buildings, some of them similar to Egyptian pyramids. These buildings formed the center of the city, surrounded by houses and workshops of the poorest people. Sometimes, when law keepers could not manage to settle disagreements with words, there were physical conflicts. Empires like the Aztecs were built up by conquering neighboring groups of natives.
The civilizations of the Americas developed entirely independent from European influence. Although even though Vikings reached North America in the early 1000s, there was no contact with local natives. It wasn’t until 1492 when Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas that any European met a Native American. Columbus was quickly followed by other European adventurers since the rich resources of these lands had been revealed. The Americas soon became the New World on which Europe had a huge influence, be it religious, cultural, or political.
Even though European civilizations were quick to conquer and take advantage of these lands and their people, today there still exists communities of Native Americans who keep their traditions and culture alive.
Book and magazine recommendations:
- “Explorations and discoveries” is from 1961 ❤ Love its pictures and stories ❤
