Lesson 1 Commentary: The Native Americans—The Beginning

The Native Americans

The Beginning

Were they left by alien spacecraft? remnants of peoples stranded when the continents broke apart? descendants of ancient seamen? Many theories have been developed as to where the people of the Americas originated. The most likely is the theory that they crossed a land bridge that used to exist across the Bering Strait.

The migration of people into the Americas began thousands of years ago, when changes in climate caused the vast plains of eastern Asia to lose their supply of moisture. As the grass died, the herds of animals began an outward movement in search of food. The people followed, for the animals were their source of food. This migration spread across eastern Asia and eventually across the land bridge of the current Bering Strait. Over hundreds of years, wave after wave of hunters and their families crossed into America. Each group pushed those ahead of them farther south. They moved down the coast into South and Central America and fanned out across the Rockies into the plains and then into the wooded areas of the eastern part of the continent. By the time the glaciers began to melt and the land bridge was covered with water, thousands of people were settled in the new land.