Paleo-Indians
(18,000 BCE – 8,000 BCE)

Paleo-Indians hunting a glyptodont Heinrich Harder (1858–1935), c.1920. The Lithic peoples or Paleo-Indians are the earliest known humans of the Americas. The period's name derives from the appearance of "lithic flaked" stone tools.

Paleo-Indians (Paleoindians) or Paleoamericans is a classification term given to the first peoples who entered, and subsequently inhabited, the American continents during the final glacial episodes of the late Pleistocene period. The prefix "paleo" comes from the Greek adjective palaios (παλαιός) meaning "old." The term Paleo-Indians applies specifically to the lithic period in the Western Hemisphere and is distinct from the term Paleolithic.^[1]

Evidence suggests big-game hunters crossed the Bering Strait from Asia (Eurasia) into North America over a land and ice bridge (Beringia), that existed between 45,000 BCE–12,000 BCE (47,000 – 14,000 years ago).^[2] Small isolated groups of hunter-gatherers migrated alongside herds of large herbivores far into Alaska. From 16,500 BCE – 13,500 BCE (18,500 – 15,500 years ago), ice-free corridors developed along the Pacific coast and valleys of North America.^[3] This allowed animals, followed by humans, to migrate south into the interior. The people went on foot or used primitive boats along the coastline. The precise dates and routes of the peopling of the New World are subject to ongoing debate.^[4]

Stone tools, particularly projectile points and scrapers, are the primary evidence of the earliest human activity in the Americas. Crafted lithic flaked tools are used by archaeologists and anthropologists to classify cultural periods.^[5] Scientific evidence links indigenous Americans to Asian peoples, specifically eastern Siberian populations. Indigenous peoples of the Americas have been linked to North Asian populations by linguistic factors, the distribution of blood types, and in genetic composition as reflected by molecular data, such as DNA.^[6] Between 8000 BCE – 7000 BCE (10,000 – 9,000 years ago) the climate stabilized, leading to a rise in population and lithic technology advances, resulting in a more sedentary lifestyle.

Migration into the Americas[link]

Map of early human migrations based on the Out of Africa theory.^[7]

  Homo sapiens

  Neanderthals

  Early Hominids

The specifics of Paleo-Indian migration to and throughout the Americas, including the exact dates and routes traveled, are subject to ongoing research and discussion.^[8] The traditional theory has been that these early migrants moved into the Beringia land bridge between eastern Siberia and present-day Alaska around 40,000 – 17,000 years ago,^[9][10] when sea levels were significantly lowered due to the Quaternary glaciation.^[11] These people are believed to have followed herds of now-extinct pleistocene megafauna along ice-free corridors that stretched between the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets.^[12] Another route proposed is that, either on foot or using primitive boats, they migrated down the Pacific coast to South America.^[13] Evidence of the latter would since have been covered by a sea level rise of hundreds of meters following the last ice age.^[14]

Archaeologists contend that Paleo-Indians migration out of Beringia (western Alaska), ranges from 40,000 to around 16,500 years ago.^{[3][15][16][17]} This time range is a hot source of debate and promises to continue as such for years to come. The few agreements achieved to date are the origin from Central Asia, with widespread habitation of the Americas during the end of the last glacial period, or more specifically what is known as the late glacial maximum, around 16,000 – 13,000 years before present.^[10][18] However, alternative theories exist, including migration from Europe.^[19]

Paleo-Indian periods[link]

See also: Paleo-Indians period (Canada) and History of Mesoamerica (Paleo-Indian)

The Mammut americanum (American mastodon) became extinct around 12,000 to 9,000 years ago due to human-related extinctions or climate-change. A hybrid of human-related and climate-change has been proposed in recent years. See either Quaternary extinction event or Holocene extinction

Sites in Alaska (East Beringia) are where some of the earliest evidence has been found of Paleo-Indians,^[20][21][22] followed by archaeological sites in northern British Columbia, western Alberta and the Old Crow Flats region in the Yukon.^[23] The Paleo-Indian would eventually flourish all over the Americas, primarily based in the Great Plains of the United States and Canada, with offshoots as far east as mainland Nova Scotia on the Atlantic coast, and as far south as Chile, Monte Verde.^[24] These peoples were spread over a wide geographical area; thus there were regional variations in lifestyles. However, all the individual groups shared a common style of stone tool production, making knapping styles and progress identifiable.^[22] This early Paleo-Indian period lithic reduction tool adaptations have been found across the Americas, utilized by highly mobile bands consisting of approximately 20 to 60 members of an extended family.^[25][26] Food would have been plentiful during the few warm months of the year. Lakes and rivers were teeming with many species of fish, birds and aquatic mammals. Nuts, berries and edible roots could be found in the forests and marshes. The fall would have been a busy time because foodstuffs would have to be stored and clothing made ready for the winter. During the winter coastal fishing groups moved inland to hunt and trap fresh food and furs.^[27]

Late ice age climatic changes caused plant communities and animal populations to change.^[28] Groups moved from place to place as preferred resources were depleted and new supplies were sought.^[24] Small bands utilized hunting and gathering during the spring and summer months, then broke into smaller direct family groups for the fall and winter. Family groups moved every 3–6 days, possibly covering up to 360 km (220 mi) a year.^[29][30] Diets were often sustaining and rich in protein due to successful hunting. Clothing was made from a variety of animal hides that were also used for shelter construction.^[31] During much of the Early and Middle Paleo-Indian periods, inland bands are thought to have subsisted primarily through hunting now-extinct megafauna.^[24] Large pleistocene mammals were the giant beaver, steppe wisent, musk ox, mastodons, woolly mammoths and ancient reindeer (early caribou).^[32]

Folsom projectile point.

The Clovis culture appearing around 11,500 BCE (13,500 years ago),^[33] undoubtedly did not rely exclusively on megafauna for subsistence.^[34] Instead, they employed a mixed foraging strategy that included smaller terrestrial game, aquatic animals, and a variety of flora.^[35] Paleo-Indian groups were efficient hunters and carried a variety of tools. These included highly efficient fluted style spear points, as well as microblades used for butchering and hide processing.^[36] Projectile points and hammerstones made from many sources are found traded or moved to new locations.^[37] Stone tools were traded and/or left behind from North Dakota and Northwest Territories, to Montana and Wyoming.^[38] Trade routes also have been found from the British Columbia Interior to the coast of California.^[38]

The glaciers that covered the northern half of the continent began to gradually melt, exposing new land for occupation starting from 17,500 to 14,500 years ago.^[28] At the same time as this was occurring, world wide extinctions among the large mammals began. In North America, camels and horses eventually died off, the latter not to reappear on the continent until the Spanish reintroduced the species near the end of the 15th century CE.^[39] As the Quaternary extinction event was happening the Late Paleo-Indians would have relied more on other means of subsistence pattern.^[40]

10,500 BCE – 9,500 BCE (12,500 – 11,500 years ago), the broad-spectrum big game hunters of the great plains begun to focus on a single animal species: the bison (an early cousin of the American Bison).^[41] The earliest known of these bison oriented hunting traditions is the Folsom traditions. Folsom peoples traveled in small family groups for most of the year, returning yearly to the same springs and other favored locations on higher ground.^[42] There they would camp for a few days, perhaps erecting a temporary shelter, making and/or repairing some stone tools, or precessing some meat, then moving on.^[41] Paleo-Indian were not numerous and population densities were quite low.^[43]

Archaic periods[link]

Atlatl weights and carved stone gorgets from Poverty Point.

The Archaic period in the Americas saw a changing environment featuring a warmer more arid climate and the disappearance of the last megafauna.^[44] The majority of population groups at this time were still highly mobile hunter-gatherers, but now individual groups started to focus on resources available to them locally. Thus with the passage of time there is a pattern of increasing regional generalization like the Southwest, Arctic, Poverty, Dalton and Plano traditions. These regional adaptations would become the norm, with reliance less on hunting and gathering, and a more mixed economy of small game, fish, seasonally wild vegetables and harvested plant foods.^[30][45] Many groups continued as big game hunters, but their hunting traditions became more varied and meat procurement methods more sophisticated.^[28] The placement of artifacts and materials within an Archaic burial site indicated social differentiation based upon status in some groups.^[46]

Classification[link]

Different types of Projectile points, from the Paleo-Indian periods in the south eastern United states.

Paleo-Indians are generally classified by lithic reduction or lithic core "styles" and by regional adaptations.^[22][47] Lithic technology fluted spear points, like other spear points, are collectively called projectile points. The projectiles are constructed from chipped stones that have a long groove called a "flute". The spear points would typically be made by chipping a single flake from each side of the point.^[48] The point was then tied onto a spear of wood or bone. As the environment changed due to the ice age ending around 17-13 Ka BP on short, and 25-27 ka BP on the long,^[49] many animals migrated over the land to take advantage of the new sources of food. Humans following these animals, such as bison, mammoth and mastodon, thus gained the name big-game hunters.^[50] But, Pacific coastal groups of the period would have relied on fishing as the prime source of sustenance.^[51]

Archaeologists are piecing together evidence that the earliest human settlements in North America were thousands of years before the appearance of the current Paleo-Indian time frame (before the late glacial maximum 20,000 plus years ago).^[52] Evidence indicates that peoples were living as far east as northern Yukon, in the glacier-free zone called Beringia before 30,000 BCE (32,000 years ago).^[53][54] Until recently, it was generally believed that the first Paleo-Indian peoples to arrive in North America belonged to the Clovis culture. This archaeological phase was named after the town of Clovis, New Mexico, where in 1936 unique Clovis points were found in situ at the site of Blackwater Draw, where they were directly associated with the bones of Pleistocene animals.^[55]

Recent data from a series of archaeological sites throughout the Americas suggest that Clovis (thus the "Paleo-Indians") time range should be re-examined. In particular, sites located near Cactus Hill in Virginia,^[56] Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Pennsylvania,^[57] Monte Verde in Chile,^[58] Topper in South Carolina,^[59] and Quintana Roo in Mexico^[60][61] have generated early dates for wide-ranging Paleo-Indian occupation. Some sites significantly predate the migration time frame of ice-free corridors, thus suggesting that there were additional coastal migration routes available, traversed either on foot and/or in boats.^[62] Geological evidence suggests the Pacific coastal route was open for overland travel before 23,000 years ago and after 16,000 years ago.^[63]

Archaeogenetics[link]

An autosomal genetic tree showing the main neighbour-joining relationships within Amerindian populations.

The haplogroup most commonly associated with indigenous Amerindian genetics is Haplogroup Q1a3a (Y-DNA).^[64] Y-DNA, like (mtDNA), differs from other nuclear chromosomes in that the majority of the Y chromosome is unique and does not recombine during meiosis. This allows the historical pattern of mutations to be easily studied.^[65] The pattern indicates Indigenous Amerindians experienced two very distinctive genetic episodes; first with the initial peopling of the Americas, and secondly with European colonization of the Americas.^[6] The former is the determinant factor for the number of gene lineages and founding haplotypes present in today's Indigenous Amerindian populations.^[6]

Human settlement of the New World occurred in stages from the Bering sea coast line, with an initial 20,000-year layover on Beringia for the founding population.^[3][66] The micro-satellite diversity and distributions of the Y lineage specific to South America indicates that certain Amerindian populations have been isolated since the initial colonization of the region.^[67] The Na-Dené, Inuit and Indigenous Alaskan populations, however, exhibit haplogroup Q (Y-DNA) mutations that are distinct from other indigenous Amerindians with various mtDNA mutations.^[68][69][70] This suggests that the earliest migrants into the northern extremes of North America and Greenland derived from later migrant populations.^[71]

See also[link]

	Indigenous peoples of the Americas portal
	Indigenous peoples of North America portal
	Aboriginal peoples in Canada portal

References[link]

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Paleoindian

• Atlas of the Human Journey, Genographic Project, National Geographic
• Journey of Mankind - Genetic Map - Bradshaw Foundation
• The Paleoindian Period - United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service
• Alabama Archaeology: Prehistoric Alabama - The University of Alabama, Department of Archaeology
• The Paleoindian Database - The University of Tennessee, Department of Anthropology.
• Paleoindians and the Great Pleistocene Die-Off - American Academy of Arts and Sciences, National Humanities Center

Links to related articles v t e Indigenous peoples of the Americas History Paleo-Indians Pre-Columbian era Classification Archaeology Genetics European colonization European colonization Population history Columbian Exchange By country North America Greenland Canada United States Jamaica Mexico Central America El Salvador Costa Rica West Indies Panama South America Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Paraguay Peru Venezuela South American Indigenous people Related topics Indigenous American studies Indigenous languages Indigenous Movements Indigenous art Artists Writers Category Portal v t e    Pre-Columbian North America Archaeological cultures North American pre-Columbian chronology – Adena – Alachua – Ancient Pueblo (Anasazi) – Baytown – Belle Glade – Buttermilk Creek Complex – Caborn-Welborn – Calf Creek – Caloosahatchee – Clovis – Coles Creek – Deptford – Folsom – Fort Ancient – Fort Walton – Fremont – Glades – Glacial Kame – Hopewell (List of Hopewell sites) – Hohokam – Leon-Jefferson – Mississippian (List of Mississippian sites) – Mogollon – Monongahela – Old Cordilleran – Oneota – Paleo-Arctic – Paleo-Indians – Patayan – Plano – Plaquemine – Poverty Point – Prehistoric Southwest – Red Ocher – Santa Rosa-Swift Creek – St. Johns – Steed-Kisker – Tchefuncte – Tocobaga – Troyville Archaeological sites Angel Mounds – Bandelier National Monument – The Bluff Point Stoneworks – Cahokia – Chaco Canyon – Casa Grande – Coso Rock Art District – Eaker – Effigy Mounds National Monument – Etowah Indian Mounds – Eva – Folsom Site – Fort Ancient – Fort Center – Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument – Holly Bluff Site – Hopewell Culture National Historical Park – Kincaid Mounds – Kolomoki – Manitou Cliff Dwellings – Marksville – Meadowcroft Rockshelter – Mesa Verde – Moorehead Circle – Moundville – Mummy Cave – Nodena Site – Ocmulgee National Monument – Old Stone Fort – Parkin Park – Pinson Mounds – Portsmouth Earthworks – Poverty Point – Pueblo Bonito – Rock Eagle – Rock Hawk – Salmon Ruins – Serpent Mound – Spiro Mounds – SunWatch – Taos Pueblo – Toltec Mounds – Town Creek Indian Mound – Winterville Miscellaneous Ballgame – Black drink – Buhl woman – Calumet – Chunkey – Clovis point – Container Revolution – Eastern Agricultural Complex – Eden point – Effigy mound – Falcon dancer – Folsom point – Green Corn Ceremony – Horned Serpent – Kennewick man – Kiva – Metallurgy – Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing – Medicine wheel – Mound builders – N.A.G.P.R.A. – Norse colonization of the Americas – Piasa – Pueblo dwellings – Southeastern Ceremonial Complex – Three Sisters agriculture – Thunderbird – Underwater panther Related: Genetic history · Indigenous Portal of North America · Pre-Columbian era v t e Pre-Columbian civilizations and cultures  Americas Paleo-Indians  · Genetic history · Archaeology of the Americas · Indigenous peoples of the Americas  North America North American pre-Columbian cultures – Caddoan Mississippian – Chichimeca –Hopewell tradition – Coles Creek – Fremont – Marksville – Mississippian – Mogollon – Plaquemine – Plum Bayou – Poverty Point – Troyville – Weeden Island –  Mesoamerica Mesoamerican pre-Columbian chronology – Capacha – Cholula – Coclé – Epi-Olmec – Huastec – Izapa – Mezcala – Mixtec – Olmec – Pipil – Quelepa – Shaft tomb tradition – Teuchitlan – Tarascan – Teotihuacan – Tlatilco – Tlaxcaltec – Toltec – Totonac – Veracruz – Xochipala – Zapotec  South America South American Indigenous people – pre-Columbian chronology – Cañaris – Chachapoya – Chancay – Chavín – Chimu – El Abra – Hydraulic culture of mounds (Bolivia) – Las Vegas – Lima – La Tolita (Tumaco) – Manteño-Guancavilca – Mapuche – Moche – Mollo – Muisca (Chibchas) – Nariño – Nazca – Norte Chico – Quimbaya – San Agustin – Shuar – Sican – Taino – Tairona – Tiwanaku – Tierradentro – Valdivia – Wari Aztec civilization Maya civilization Inca Empire – Inca civilization  Language Nahuatl language Mayan languages Quechua  Writing Aztec writing Mayan writing Quipu  Religion Aztec religion Maya religion Inca religion  Mythology Aztec mythology Maya mythology Inca mythology  Calendar Aztec calendar Maya calendar  Society Aztec society Maya society Inca society  Infrastructure Chinampas Maya architecture Inca architecture (road system) Incan agriculture  History Aztec history Inca history  People Moctezuma I Moctezuma II Cuitlahuac Cuauhtémoc K'inich Janaab' Pakal Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil Jasaw Chan K'awiil I Manco Cápac Pachacutec Atahualpa Manco Inca  Conquest Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire (Hernán Cortés) Spanish conquest of Yucatán (Francisco de Montejo) Spanish conquest of Guatemala (Pedro de Alvarado) Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire (Francisco Pizarro) See also Portal:Indigenous peoples of North America – Columbian exchange – Mesoamerican writing systems – Native American cuisine – Native American pottery – Population history of American indigenous peoples – Pre-Columbian art – Painting in the Americas before Colonization v t e Cultural areas of indigenous North Americans Arctic · California · Great Basin · Mexico (Aridoamerica · Mesoamerica) · Northeastern Woodlands · Northwest Coast · Plains · Plateau · Southeastern Woodlands · Southwest · Subarctic

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

Quechua women in the Andahuaylillas District of Peru, 2007
Total population
Approximately 48 million
Regions with significant populations
(not including mixed race populations in Latin America)
Peru 13.8 million [1]  Mexico 10.1 million [2]  Bolivia 6 million [3]  Guatemala 5.4 million [4]  Ecuador 3.4 million  United States 2.5 million [5]  Colombia 1.4 million [6]  Canada 1.2 million [7]  Brazil 700,000 [8]  Chile 692,000 [9]  Argentina 600,000 [10]  Venezuela 524,000 [11]  Honduras 520,000 [12]  Nicaragua 443,847 [13]  Panama 204,000 [14]  Paraguay 95,235 [15]  El Salvador ~70,000 [16]  Costa Rica ~60,000 [17]  Guyana ~60,000 [18]  Belize ~24,501 (Maya) [19]  French Guiana ~19,000 [20]  Suriname ~12,000 - 24,000
Languages
Indigenous languages of the Americas, English, Spanish. French
Religion
Inuit religion Native American mythology Native American religion Christianity

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America and their descendants. Pueblos indígenas (indigenous peoples) is a common term in Spanish-speaking countries. Aborígen (aboriginal/native) is used in Argentina, while "Amerindian" is used in Guyana, but not commonly used in other countries.^[21] Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples,^[22] and in the United States as Native Americans.^[23]

According to a prevailing New World migration model, migrations of humans from Eurasia to the Americas took place via Beringia, a land bridge which connected the two continents across what is now the Bering Strait. The most recent migration could have taken place around 12,000 years ago, with the earliest period remaining a matter of some unresolved contention.^[24][25] These early Paleo-Indians soon spread throughout the Americas, diversifying into many hundreds of culturally distinct nations and tribes.^[25] According to the oral histories of many of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, they have been living there since their genesis, described by a wide range of traditional creation accounts.

Application of the term "Indian" originated with Christopher Columbus, who thought that he had arrived in the East Indies, while seeking Asia.^{[26][27][28][29][30][31]} Later the name was still used as the Americas at the time were often called West Indies. This has served to imagine a kind of racial or cultural unity for the aboriginal peoples of the Americas. Once created, the unified "Indian" was codified in law, religion, and politics. The unitary idea of "Indians" was not originally shared by indigenous peoples, but many over the last two centuries have embraced the identity. The term "Indian" does not include indigenous peoples such as the Aleuts, Alutiiq, Cupik, Yupik, and Inuit peoples.

While some indigenous peoples of the Americas were traditionally hunter-gatherers, and many, especially in Amazonia still are, many groups practiced aquaculture and agriculture. The impact of their agricultural endowment to the world is a testament to their time and work in reshaping and cultivating the flora indigenous to the Americas.^[32] Some societies depended heavily on agriculture while others practiced a mix of farming, hunting, and gathering. In some regions the indigenous peoples created monumental architecture, large-scale organized cities, chiefdoms, states, and empires.

Many parts of the Americas are still populated by indigenous Americans; some countries have sizable populations, especially Bolivia, Peru, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, and Ecuador. At least a thousand different indigenous languages are spoken in the Americas. Some, such as Quechua languages, Aymara, Guaraní, Mayan languages, and Nahuatl, count their speakers in millions. Many also maintain aspects of indigenous cultural practices to varying degrees, including religion, social organization and subsistence practices. Some indigenous peoples still live in relative isolation from Western society, and a few are still counted as uncontacted peoples.

General Introduction[link]

Native American people, from the Nordisk familjebok.

According to the New World migration model, a migration of humans from Eurasia to the Americas took place via Beringia, a land bridge that connected the two continents across what is now the Bering Strait. The most recent point at which this migration could have taken place, where the first Americans set foot on Alaska, is 40,000 - 12,000 years ago; a hotly disputed topic.^[24][25] The early Paleo-Indians spread throughout the Americas, diversifying into many hundreds of culturally distinct nations and tribes.^[25] According to the oral histories of many of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, they have been living there since their genesis, described by a wide range of traditional creation accounts.

While some indigenous peoples of the Americas were historically hunter-gatherers, many practiced aquaculture and agriculture. The impact of their agricultural endowment to the world is a testament to their time and work in reshaping and cultivating the flora indigenous to the Americas.^[32] Some societies depended heavily on agriculture while others practiced a mix of farming, hunting, and gathering. In some regions the indigenous peoples created monumental architecture, large-scale organized cities, chiefdoms, states, and empires.

Many parts of the Americas are still populated by indigenous Americans; some countries have sizable populations, especially Bolivia, Peru, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, and Ecuador. At least a thousand different indigenous languages are spoken in the Americas.^[33] Some, such as Quechua languages, Aymara, Guaraní, Mayan languages, and Nahuatl, count their speakers in millions. Many also maintain aspects of indigenous cultural practices to varying degrees, including religion, social organization and subsistence practices. Some indigenous peoples still live in relative isolation from Western society, and a few are still uncontacted peoples.

History[link]

Migration into the continents[link]

Map of early human migrations^[34]

  Homo sapiens

  Neanderthals

  Early Hominids

Reconstruction of the face of Luzia Woman, Minas Gerais, Brazil, one of the oldest human remains found in the Americas, dated to 11,500 years ago^[35]

The specifics of Paleo-Indian migration to and throughout the Americas, including the exact dates and routes traveled, are subject to ongoing research and discussion.^[36] The traditional Western theory has been that these early migrants moved into the Beringia land bridge between eastern Siberia and present-day Alaska around 40,000—16,500 years ago,^{[37][38][39][40]} when sea levels were significantly lowered due to the Quaternary glaciation.^[36][41] These people are believed to have followed herds of now-extinct Pleistocene megafauna along ice-free corridors that stretched between the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets.^[42] Another route proposed is that, either on foot or using primitive boats, they migrated down the Pacific Northwest coast to South America.^[43] Evidence of the latter would since have been covered by a sea level rise of hundreds of meters following the last ice age.^[44]

The time range of 40,000—16,500 years ago is a hot topic of debate and will be for years to come. The few agreements achieved to date are the origin from Central Asia, with widespread habitation of the Americas during the end of the last glacial period, or more specifically what is known as the late glacial maximum, around 16,000 — 13,000 years before present.^[40][45]

Stone tools, particularly projectile points and scrapers, are the primary evidence of the earliest human activity in the Americas. Crafted lithic flaked tools are used by archaeologists and anthropologists to classify cultural periods.^[46] Scientific evidence links indigenous Americans to Asian peoples, specifically eastern Siberian populations. Indigenous peoples of the Americas have been linked to North Asian populations by linguistic factors, the distribution of blood types, and in genetic composition as reflected by molecular data, such as DNA.^[47]

Pre-Columbian era[link]

Language families of North American indigenous peoples

The Pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European and African influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic to European colonization during the Early Modern period.^[48]

While technically referring to the era before Christopher Columbus's voyages of 1492 to 1504, in practice the term usually includes the history of American indigenous cultures until they were either conquered or significantly influenced by Europeans, even if this happened decades or even centuries after Columbus' initial landing.^[49] Pre-Columbian is used especially often in the context of the great indigenous civilizations of the Americas, such as those of Mesoamerica (the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacano, the Zapotec, the Mixtec, the Aztec, and the Maya) and the Andes (Inca, Moche, Chibcha, Cañaris).

Paleo-Indians hunting a glyptodont

Many pre-Columbian civilizations established characteristics and hallmarks which included permanent or urban settlements, agriculture, civic and monumental architecture, and complex societal hierarchies.^[50] Some of these civilizations had long faded by the time of the first permanent European and African arrivals (ca. late 15th–early 16th centuries), and are known only through oral history and archaeological investigations. Others were contemporary with this period, and are also known from historical accounts of the time. A few, such as the Maya, Olmec, Mixtec, and Nahua peoples, had their own written records. However, the European colonists of the time viewed such texts as heretical, and much was destroyed in Christian pyres. Only a few hidden documents remain today, leaving contemporary historians with glimpses of ancient culture and knowledge.

According to both indigenous American and European accounts and documents, American civilizations at the time of European encounter possessed many impressive accomplishments.^[51] For instance, the Aztecs built one of the most impressive cities in the world, Tenochtitlan, the ancient site of Mexico City, with an estimated population of 200,000. American civilizations also displayed impressive accomplishments in astronomy and mathematics. Inuit, Alaskan Native, and American Indian creation myths tell of a variety of originations of their respective peoples. Some were "always there" or were created by gods or animals, some migrated from a specified compass point, and others came from "across the ocean".^[52]

So far, the only verifiable site of "pre-Columbian" European settlement anywhere in the Western Hemisphere is L'Anse aux Meadows, located near the very northern tip of the Canadian island of Newfoundland. It was settled by the Norse around the end of the 10th century.

European colonization[link]

Cultural areas of North America at time of European contact

The European colonization of the Americas forever changed the lives, bloodlines and cultures of the peoples of the continent. The population history of American indigenous peoples postulates that infectious disease exposure, displacement, and warfare diminished populations, with the first the most significant cause.^[32][53] The first indigenous group encountered by Columbus were the 250,000 Taínos of Hispaniola who were the dominant culture in the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas. In thirty years, about 70% of the Taínos died.^[54] They had no immunity to European diseases, so outbreaks of measles and smallpox ravaged their population.^[55] The increased ignorance towards the practice of punishing the Taínos for revolting themselves from forced labour, despite the measures brought by the encomienda which included religious education and protection from warring tribes,^[56] eventually helped conceive the last great Taíno rebellion.

Mistreated, the Taínos began to adopt suicidal behaviors, with women aborting or killing their infants, men jumping from the cliffs or ingesting manioc, a violent poison.^[54] Eventually, a Taíno Cacique named Enriquillo managed to hold out in the mountain range of Bahoruco for thirteen years conducting serious damage to the Spanish, Carib-held plantations and their Indian auxiliaries.^[57] After hearing of the seriousness of the revolt, Emperor Charles V sent captain Francisco Barrionuevo to negotiate a peace treaty with the ever increasing number of rebels. Two months later, with the consulting of the Audencia of Santo Domingo, Enriquillo was offered any part of the island to live in peace.

The Laws of Burgos, 1512-1513 were the first codified set of laws governing the behavior of Spanish settlers in America, particularly with regards to native Indians. They forbade the maltreatment of natives, and endorsed their conversion to Catholicism.^[58] The Spanish crown found it difficult to enforce these laws in a distant colony.

Drawing accompanying text in Book XII of the 16th-century Florentine Codex (compiled 1540–1585), showing Nahuas of conquest-era central Mexico suffering from smallpox

Reasons for the decline of the Native American populations are variously theorized to be from epidemic diseases, conflicts with Europeans, and conflicts among warring tribes. Scholars now believe that, among the various contributing factors, epidemic disease was the overwhelming cause of the population decline of the American natives.^[59][60] After first contacts with Europeans and Africans, some believe that the death of 90 to 95% of the native population of the New World was caused by Old World diseases.^[61] Half the native population of Hispaniola in 1518 was killed by smallpox.^[62] Within a few years smallpox killed between 60% and 90% of the Inca population, with other waves of European disease weakening them further.^[63] Smallpox was only the first epidemic. Typhus (probably) in 1546, influenza and smallpox together in 1558, smallpox again in 1589, diphtheria in 1614, measles in 1618—all ravaged the remains of Inca culture. Smallpox had killed millions of native inhabitants of Mexico.^[64][65] Unintentionally introduced at Veracruz with the arrival of Pánfilo de Narváez on April 23, 1520, smallpox ravaged Mexico in the 1520s,^[66] possibly killing over 150,000 in Tenochtitlan alone (the heartland of the Aztec Empire), and aided in the victory of Hernán Cortés over the Aztec empire at Tenochtitlan (present-day Mexico City) in 1521.^[67]

Over the centuries, the Europeans had developed high degrees of immunity to these diseases, while the indigenous Americans had no such immunity.^[68] Europeans had been ravaged in their own turn by such diseases as bubonic plague and Asian flu that moved west from Asia to Europe. In addition, when they went to some territories, such as Africa and Asia, they were more vulnerable to malaria.