The history of America begins 15,000 years ago when people first arrived in the Americas. By 1492, when Columbus arrived in the Americas, there were perhaps 50 million people living in the Americas, of which four to six million were living in North America. Native American societies developed around their natural environments, using the resources that were available to them. For example, the Southwest, Plains and Great Basin were quite dry, and so societies in these regions adapted to the dry climate in several ways. In the Northwest, fishing in the Pacific Ocean gave Native Americans a plentiful source of food, while farming allowed the Mississippian peoples to develop large settlements, like Cahokia, near modern day St. Louis, which, at its peak, may have had as many as 25,000-40,000 residents. By the time that Europeans began to arrive in the late 1400s and 1500s, native societies had been evolving for over 14,000 years. But the introduction of European people, pathogens, plants, and animals would introduce an unprecedented amount of change in the Americas.
What is the name of the period of time before Europeans arrived in the Americas?
What is the name of the land bridge that people may have traveled across to reach the Americas?
What is the estimated population of Native Americans in the Americas when Europeans arrived?
What is the name of the crop that was domesticated in Mexico around 5000 BCE and allowed people to begin settled agriculture?
What is the name of the region that was quite dry and where Native American groups continued their hunting and gathering way of life?