The First Inhabitants of North America

Hello Students:

On Monday, October 14^th, we will have a day off from school to celebrate Columbus Day.  Columbus is credited with "discovering" America and yet there were people living here for thousands of years before that. Today you are gong to read about the first inhabitants of North America and answer some questions in a quiz in your Google Classroom.

The first inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere were Native Americans. It is thought that they originally came from Asia (Siberia) by way of the Bering Strait about 40,000 years ago. The hunters and gatherers constantly walked south (away from the glaciers) in search of food. 

One of the animals hunted were mammoths, a giant elephant-like animal

They probably followed them over the land bridge shown on the map above and eventually got to what is now Canada, the United States and points south.. They stopped and settled in certain regions, perhaps, because they found a good geographic location. Food, water, and a means of transportation were all considerations. If they found a place with a Spring and Summer season long enough to grow crops, these early hunters and gatherers could become farmers. This permitted them to stay in one place, to form villages.

How do we know how long the Native Americans have been here? Archaeologists have done some digging and have come up with some very old artifacts. For instance, they have found artifacts that date the presence of Native Americans in present day New York State back 11,500 years! The people did not write anything down then, so the only clues we have are what the scientists find buried in the ground. They have found such things as stone axes, projectile points (arrowheads), pottery or stone bowls, and fire rings. With knowledge, an archaeologist can date these materials and tell when people lived where. 

DEFINITIONS:

Inhabitant- person who lives in an area

Bering Strait - a narrow body of water separating Asia and North America at Alaska

Native American - an American Indian

Archaeologist- a scientist who studies artifacts to learn about the past.

Artifact - an object made by people who lived in the past.

Click here to sign into your Google Classroom and take the quiz.

When you have finished answering the questions, raise your hand and I will check your answers before you submit them.