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= Pre-Columbian America (before 1492) =
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== The First Americans ==
It is believed that the first inhabitants of the Americas were people from Asia, who crossed the
Bering Strait (at that time spanned by a thin isthmus of land) into Alaska. The exact time of this
migration is unknown, though one may speculate, based on scientific evidence, that it was later
than fourteen thousand years ago. These migrants then traveled southward through America,
either along the Pacific coast or along the Rocky Mountains.

Originally, theories suggested that the first Americans lived on the continent no earlier than
11,500 years ago. However, recent discoveries have revealed signs of settlement in the
Americas at least 1000 years prior to that period. Archaeological finds near the present town of
Clovis, New Mexico, reveal that 12,000 years ago a culture existed with the ability to shape
flint into arrowheads and spear tips. Some evidence points to the theory that people inhabited
the continent even earlier than 13,000 years ago, but this evidence is ambiguous at best.
Such evidence is made even more ambiguous by the traces of DNA that span the Pacific Ocean
from Australia to Papua New Guinea, across Micronesia to east Asia. This opens the possibility
of sea travel hugging the coast; unfortunately evidence of such a theory that would be left on
the shores would be eliminated over time due to sustained coastal erosions and sea level
changes. The DNA facts significantly negate, and arguably eliminate, the Bering Strait theory,
which is not supported by any conflicting physical evidence. The flint points are used on a
flatboard (like bristles on a toothbrush) on the Asian mainland, rather than mounted on spears
like the Clovis points, thereby calling into question the idea of tool migration, a major source of
this post-Ice-Age migration theory.

Regardless of how they arrived on the continent, or what route they took as they traveled
towards Mexico and South America, it is clear that by the time Christopher Columbus
"discovered" the New World in the fifteenth century, several civilizations existed across the
Americas.

== The Mayans ==
In about 2000 BCE, Native Americans were settled in the Yucatán Peninsula of present-day
Mexico. The agricultural Maya society began to develop a complex culture. Tribal chiefs and
elders instituted a system of government. Several other political and religious institutions also
developed.

Around 300 CE, the date of the so-called Classic Period, is often considered a turning point in the
Mayan civilization. Government and society became more complex, with each city having its
own king and nobility. A polytheistic (many-god) religion also developed, as did the custom of
human sacrifices. These sacrifices were conducted by decapitation, by shooting with arrows, coby the cutting open of the body and the removal of the heart.

In addition to politics and religion, science also developed. For example, a 365-day calendar
was created. Furthermore, Mayans developed a system of writing known as hieroglyphics
(distinct from Egyptian writing of the same name).

The Maya civilization remained prosperous until the ninth century CE. The civilization slowly
began to disintegrate and finally collapsed in about 900 CE. The exact cause is still unknown,
but internal strife, rebellion, foreign warfare, and natural disasters could have all aided the
downfall.

After the Classic Period, which is considered to have ended in 900 CE, Mayans continued to
live in some parts of the Yucatán Peninsula. However, the civilization was never again to be as
dominant in Mexico as it once was.

== The Aztecs ==
The Aztecs had a highly developed calendar system based on the sun and represented in these circular tablets
The Mexica, the citizens of the Aztec Empire, are the people after whom Mexico is named. In
1325, the Mexica created a city called Tenochtitlán near Lake Texcoco, in the Valley of
Mexico (the site of present-day Mexico City). Tenochtitlán grew in influence over the next
century; in 1428, Tenochtitlán led an alliance that conquered much of Mexico.

Just as with the Maya, religion was extremely important in the Aztec Empire. A polytheistic
religion was important in several aspects of life, and human sacrifices were very common. It is
reputed that in 1487, over 80,000 imprisoned enemy warriors were sacrificed. To express their
religion, Aztec artists created idols and temples, which often included large amounts of gold
and silver.

The Aztec Empire was destroyed by the Spanish invaders. However, thousands of descendants
of the Mexica live in present-day Mexico, carrying on some of the traditions of the Aztec
culture.

== The Incas ==
While the Aztec Empire dominated Central America, the Inca Empire dominated South
America. Originally, during the thirteenth century CE, the Inca inhabited land near Lake
Titicaca in present-day Peru. At its peak, situated along the Andes Mountains and the Pacific9
Coast of South America, it included parts of Peru, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, and Ecuador, with
the capital at Cuzco, in Peru. It is important that one understand the difference between the Inca
and the Aztec. The Aztec Empire was a collection of different cities under the control of one
powerful city. The Inca Empire, however, was actually one whole nation.

Religion was significant in Inca life. The royal family were believed to be descendants of the
Inca Sun God. Thus, the emperor had absolute authority, checked only by tradition. Under the
emperors, a complex political structure was apparent. The Inca Emperor, regional and village
leaders, and others were part of an enormous bureaucracy. For every ten people, there was on
average one official. The organization of the Empire also included a complex transportation
infrastructure. To communicate across the entire empire, runners ran from village to village,
relaying royal messages.

The Spanish conquered the Inca just as they had conquered the Aztec. However, millions of
descendants of the Inca live in Peru and other parts of the former Inca Empire.

== North American Cultures ==

While the Mayan, Aztec, and Inca cultures can be classified as civilizations, the cultures that
lived in the present day United States and Canada cannot, as they lacked written
communication, domestication of animals, and government, among other things.

=== Early Natives ===
The earliest Native Americans that developed cultures in North America were the Mound
Builders of the east. Evidence of their existence has been found as far north as the Great Lakes
and as far south as Florida. The mound building first began around 1000 BCE. These people
were not one tribe, but they were many different cultures that all had the custom of building
pyramid shaped, grass covered hills. The Adena are among the earliest Mound Builders, being
hunters and gatherers that prospered in the Ohio River Valley at around 800 BCE. They were
followed by the Hopewell, who thrived from 200 BCE. to 500 CE. The Hopewell were traders
and farmers, and they also built the famed Great Serpent Mound, which resembles a giant
snake. The Mississippians built the largest Mound Builder settlement, Cahokia. Cahokia was
home to around 30,000 residents and had many dwellings and pyramids, so it strongly
resembled many Mayan cities. The actual origin of the Mound Builders is unknown, but
according to Natchez (descendants of the Mound Builders) legend, their people once lived from
the mouth of the Mississippi and west, along the shore of what is thought to be the Gulf of
Mexico.

Other early Native Americans settled in the desert southwest. The Hohokam came from Mexico
at around 300 BCE. and prospered from about 300 CE. to about 1200 CE. in present-day
Arizona. The Hohokam were excellent water regulators, and built hundred of miles of irrigation
channels. They also left behind carved stone, pottery, and shells. Not much else is known about
the Hohokam. The Anasazi also settled the Southwest at about the same time as the Hohokam.
These people built pueblos, villages made out of baked earth and clay. In addition, they built
cliff dwellings and complex road systems.

=== Later Native American Cultures ===
The Mound Builders, Hohokam, and Anasazi eventually fell and gave way to new cultures.
These cultures still lived in North America at the time that European explorers were first
beginning to arrive on the continent.

The cultures of North America can be placed into six distinct cultural regions: the Southeast,
the Northeast Woodlands, the Plains, the Northwest Coast, the Southwest, and the Arctic North.
In the Southeast, the Creek, Chickasaw, Cherokee, (and later) the Miccosukee, and the
Seminoles were the major cultures. These Native Americans were primarily farmers, harvesting
corn, and tobacco, among other things. They lived in loose communities.

In the Northeast, there were the Iroquois, Algonquians, and others. Interestingly, the Iroquois
were five Indian nations that joined together in a loose confederation with leaders elected by
the women. The peoples of the Northeast live in long, wooden houses, simply called
longhouses, and were mostly hunters and gatherers. They did, however, raise corn (maize),
squash and beans (the three sisters) which were a very important part of their diet.

The Plains were home to many tribes, including the Sioux, Cheyenne, Blackfoot, and Crow
tribes. The Plains tribes had a very different way of life than those in the east, due to the
abundance of buffalo and deer. The tribes lived in collapsible tepees, which they slept in while
following the herds of buffalo, which they hunted for food and clothing.

The Northwest Coastal Indians were fishers. They hunted whale for food and blubber (which
they used as oil), and fished in the rivers for the abundant salmon. The Tinglit, Nootka,
Kwakiutl and Chinook lived here. They were nomadic.

The desert Southwest was home to the Pueblo, Navajo and Apache tribe. The Pueblo and
Navajo tribes built apartment-type dwellings called pueblos. The pueblos were made out of sun
dried earth called adobe. They farmed corn and other crops suitable to the area. The Apache
were very different than the Pueblo or Navajo tribes; they never settled down and hunted and
stole from neighboring tribes. For this reason, they became known as the "Apache Raiders."
In the northern Arctic, there were a handful of scattered nomadic tribes, including the Inuit
(eskimo) and Inupiat tribes. These tribes followed many of the same customs as the tribes of
the Northwest Coast, but they were better suited for the cold temperatures. For example, these
tribes built igloos and followed wolves to find caribou to eat.

Most of these tribes would eventually fade away as Europeans quickly snapped up the area that
they had discovered in the early 1500s. As tribes interacted with Europeans, customs and items
were exchanged in what came to be known as the Columbian Exchange. Seemingly inevitable
were the clashes between European settlers and the various tribes of American Indians. Many
of these clashes were in the form of uprisings or outright war.

Pre-Columbian America - Revision history

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