Summary of North America prior to European Intrusion
The First Americans
The first human beings to arrive in the Western Hemisphere immigrated from Asia. They
brought with them hunting skills, weapon- and tool-making techniques, and a full range of
other forms of human knowledge and expertise developed during previous millennia in
Africa, Europe, and Asia. Most likely, these first Americans wandered into the Western
Hemisphere more or less accidentally, hungry and in pursuit of their prey.
African and Asian Origins
The first human beings emerged in Africa approximately 2 million years ago and spread to
Asia and Europe, but the Western Hemisphere remained uninhabited because of its
inaccessibility. Two factors— climate and human adaptation— made possible the movement
of human beings into the Americas. Climatic changes created a massive land bridge, called
Beringia, across the Bering Strait and connected Asian Siberia with American Alaska. Across
this pathway, humans who had adapted to the colder temperatures were able to enter the
Western Hemisphere, many in search of game animals. Their migrations revolutionized the
history of the world, both for their descendants in the Western Hemisphere and for the
descendants of their ancestors back in Asia, Europe, and Africa. The first migrants— PaleoIndians— likely arrived sometime after 15,000 B P. Physical and linguistic evidence confirms
that they were almost certainly of Asian descent.
Paleo-Indian Hunters
The first arrivals to the Western Hemisphere were nomadic hunters who used stone-tipped
spears to pursue large mammals. As ice began to recede and corridors opened through the
Rocky Mountains, Paleo-Indians went farther south. Some may have traveled by boat down
the coast. Archaeologists' discovery of the spearhead they used, known as a Clovis point, at
sites throughout North and Central America indicates that Paleo-Indians shared a common
ancestry and way of life. About 11,000 B P, Paleo-Indians confronted a major crisis. The
mammoths and other big-game animals they hunted became extinct due to environmental
changes and overhunting; therefore, Paleo-Indians sought new ways of acquiring food, and
their culture began to diversify significantly as men and women adapted to their new and
different environments.
Archaic Hunters and Gatherers
The term Archaic is used to describe the many different hunting and gathering cultures that
descended from Paleo-Indians. The Archaic period is the several thousand years in the
history of ancient America that followed the Paleo-Indian mammoth hunters and preceded
agricultural development. Like their Paleo-Indian ancestors, Archaic Indians hunted with
spears but also killed smaller game with traps, nets, and hooks. Most Archaic peoples also
used a variety of stone tools to prepare food from wild plants. The majority of Archaic
Indians were nomadic hunter-gatherers whose migration patterns followed the availability of
wild plants and animals.
Great Plains Bison Hunters
Archaic hunters concentrated on bison, which grazed in huge herds on the plains east of the
Rockies. Like their predecessors, these Archaic tribes were nomads who moved constantly
to stay near their prey. The Great Plains inhabitants hunted on foot, killing the bison by
hurling spears or by stampeding the animals over cliffs. By A D 500, most Great Plains
hunters were using bows and arrows rather than spears, which made it easier for them to
kill their prey.
Great Basin Cultures
The Archaic peoples of the Great Basin— the region between the Rocky Mountains and the
Sierra Nevada— inhabited a region of great environmental diversity, from lake shores to
arid climates. These zones of habitation changed continually depending on the amount of
rainfall received. To adapt to their changeable environments, Great Basin Indians lived off
plants, roots, and seeds such as piñon nuts; small game like rabbits, rodents, and snakes;
and, in some areas, fish. Yet, despite the variety of foodstuffs available, Great Basin
cultures relied on plants as their most important food source.
Pacific Coast Cultures
An abundant natural environment made the California region the most densely populated in
ancient North America. About five thousand years ago, the Chumash culture emerged near
Santa Barbara. Plentiful food— particularly acorns— allowed the Chumash to establish
relatively permanent villages. Conflict arose between Chumash villages over acorngathering territory. Another culture emerged along the Pacific Northwest coast. These
Archaic peoples established large and permanent villages and harvested the bounty of the
oceans and rivers, drying their catch to last throughout the year. With time free from the
task of food gathering, people of the Northwest cultures became skilled woodworkers,
carving canoes (used for both fishing and warfare) and totems to adorn their houses.
Conflict arose between Northwestern cultures in their efforts to defend or gain access to
plentiful fishing sites.
Eastern Woodland Cultures
The forested environment east of the Mississippi River contained numerous Archaic cultures
that adapted to local conditions in a variety of ways. Despite this variety, certain
fundamental similarities were shared among all Woodland cultures. Deer, for example, was
the most important food source for nearly all Woodland hunters. Woodland peoples were
also gatherers of edible plants, seeds, and nuts. Around 6000 B P, some Woodland peoples
began to establish more or less permanent settlements and, around 4000 B P, some groups
began to cultivate plants for food and to use ceramic pottery, likely results of the
introduction of Mexican crops and pottery through trade and migration.
Agricultural Settlements and Chiefdoms
Most Archaic peoples used agriculture as a supplement to hunting and gathering, but
peoples in the Southwest came to rely on farming and to build permanent settlements.
Beginning around 2500 B P, the Archaic Woodland cultures around the Mississippi River built
burial mounds that reflected the existence of a new social and political hierarchy known as a
chiefdom.
Southwestern Cultures
To provide themselves with more predictable food sources in their dry environments,
Southwestern peoples used irrigation to develop a more sedentary and agriculturally
oriented culture. Corn was introduced around 3500 B P and became the basic staple crop of
the southwestern peoples; the demands of corn cultivation required that they stop
migrating in order to tend the plants. In southern New Mexico, the Mogollon (A D 200-900)
and later the Hohokam (A D 500) cultures reflected this settled agrarian orientation. North
of the Mogollon and Hohokam cultures, the Anasazi and their descendants built extensive
pueblos and cliff dwellings, some with hundreds of units that housed entire settlements.
Woodland Burial Mounds and Chiefdoms
Around 2500 B P, Woodland cultures throughout the drainage area of the Mississippi River
began to build burial mounds. The Adena were Woodland hunter-gatherers who lived in
what is now Ohio between about 2500 B P and 2100 B P Their burial mounds often
contained a wide array of grave goods, including weapons, tools, and ritual items. The size
of the mounds, the labor and organization required to erect them, and the differences in the
artifacts buried with certain individuals suggest the existence of a social and political
hierarchy that archaeologists term a chiefdom. Around 2100 B P, Adena culture evolved into
the more complex Hopewell culture. The Hopewell people built larger mounds and filled
them with even richer grave goods. Objects found in these mounds suggest that the
Hopewell culture traded with areas as far away as Florida and Wyoming. About A D 800,
another mound-building culture, the Mississippian, flourished. At Cahokia, in present-day
Illinois, and other sites, the Mississippian peoples (who worshiped a sun god) built
enormous, flat-topped earthen mounds containing the expected grave goods as well as
many sacrificial victims. By A D 1500, on the eve of European contact, Cahokia and other
Mississippian cultures had declined.
Native Americans in the 1490s
By the 1490s, approximately 4 million Native Americans had settled throughout North
America. Regions in North America with abundant resources had relatively high population
densities, such as California and the Northwest coast. In the food-scarce Great Plains and
Great Basin, the population density was, respectively, half and one-third as much as the
continental average.
By the 1490s, about a third of Native Americans lived in the Eastern Woodland region that
stretched west from the Atlantic coast nearly to the Mississippi, and from the Great Lakes
south to the Gulf of Mexico. Three major groups of tribes inhabited the vast Eastern
Woodland region. The Algonquian peoples lived along the Atlantic seaboard, in the Great
Lakes region, and in much of the upper Midwest. Coastal Algonquians hunted, fished, and
grew corn and other crops; inland and northern Algonquians found agriculture impractical
due to severe weather conditions. The Iroquois tribes, located primarily in Pennsylvania and
upstate New York, and part of the Carolinas and Georgia, successfully cultivated corn and
other crops, which allowed them to build permanent settlements. Five Iroquois tribes— the
Seneca, Onondaga, Mohawk, Oneida, and Cayuga— formed a confederation, the League of
Five Nations, for purposes of war and diplomacy.
The Muskogean peoples, which included the Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Natchez
tribes, were spread throughout the Southeast, south of the Ohio River and east of the
Mississippi. This region offered the Muskogean Indians abundant food, both from agriculture
and hunting and gathering. West of the Mississippi River were the Great Plains Indians,
many of whom had migrated from the Eastern Woodland s, forced westward by Iroquois
and Algonquian tribes. Most of these tribes, including the Teton Sioux, Blackfeet, and
Comanche, became dependent on the buffalo for their existence.
In the Southwest, the descendants of the Anasazi, Hohokam, and Mogollon peoples
continued to live in settled agricultural communities. Around A.D. 1300, warlike Athapascan
peoples invaded the area, attacking the pueblo Indians. Similar dependence on hunting and
gathering persisted along the Northwest coast, where fishing reigned supreme. Indian
cultures depended on hunting and gathering for their food sources, and many engaged in
agriculture. Nonetheless, important trading centers existed throughout North America,
particularly in the Southwest; it is likely that the Dalles site was the largest native American
trading center on the continent.
All North Americans used bows and arrows for hunting and warfare and, although they did
not use writing, they expressed themselves in a variety of other ways, such as by weaving
patterns in baskets and textiles, dancing, and making music. They also engaged in
elaborate burial rituals and religious rites. It would be a mistake, however, to conclude that
Native North Americans lived in blissful harmony with nature and each other. Archaeological
sites provide ample evidence of violent conflict among Native Americans, including signs of
human sacrifice and even cannibalism. Native Americans not only adapted to the natural
environment, they also changed it in many ways, building thousands of structures, favoring
useful plants over others, and by using fire for hunting, communication, and waging war.
Conclusion: The World of Ancient Americans,
Until the arrival of Europeans, ancient Americans shaped New World history. Although much
about their existence remains a mystery, the artifacts and monuments they left behind give
us an idea of what their lives were like. They succeeded in establishing a continuity of
human habitation in the hemisphere. They survived and established cultures through their
resourceful adaptation to the New World's continually changing environments.