The Earliest Americans

The Earliest Americans

Ice Age

More than fifteen thousand years ago, huge sheets of ice covered much of Canada and

the northern United States. In some places the ice was thousands of feet thick 

Beringia

Some lands that are now under water were dry. That’s why dry land once connected Asia to North America. During the Ice Age, this dry land formed an area that scientists today call Beringia or the “land bridge.” 

Multiple Choice

What two Continents were connected by Beringia?

• Europe and North America

• Asia and North America

• North and South America

Multiple Choice

Beringia was:

• a metal bridge

• dry land

• water

Surviving in Beringia

Only tiny plants grew in Beringia. There were no towns, no stores, and no government, just a vast, cold wilderness. 

So how did people in Beringia live?

They had to look for plants and animals to eat. Small groups of just a few families, perhaps twenty-five to fifty people, helped each other as they moved around in search of food. People who live this way are called hunter-gatherers. 

Finding Food

While the women and children of the Ice Age looked for plants and berries, the men and older boys hunted. They tracked herds of mammoth and musk ox back and forth across Beringia. 

Multiple Choice

How did hunter-gatherers find food?

• They went to the supermarket

• They followed herds and hunted animals

• They grew crops

Multiple Choice

Hunter- gatherers

• moved around and had no permanent home

• stayed in one place in a home

The Ice Age Ends

About fourteen thousand years ago, the ice sheets began to melt. The Ice Age was ending. Hunters could now follow herds of animals farther and farther into North America. First they spread across most of what is now Alaska. Then they moved south, through what is now western Canada. 

As the ice disappeared, so did the prehistoric animals that the hunters relied on for their food, clothing, and shelter. The animals may have died out because of the change in temperatures or because the hunters killed too many mammoths, mastodons, and other large animals.

Multiple Choice

Because the ice was melting....

• People could travel further into North America.

• People were trapped in Alaska.

• People were cold.

Moving South

Between nine thousand and fifteen thousand years ago, groups of hunter-gatherers spread out through this new world. Little by little, they moved into the ice-free parts of North America. They walked everywhere—and traveled all the way to South America’s southern tip! 

Multiple Choice

In which direction did people move?

• North

• South

• West

• East

Multiple Choice

What is one reason the Native Americans moved south?

• to find more animals to hunt

• to find colder weather

Native Americans

Thousands of years passed. Groups of people moved from one place to another. As they moved, they learned to live in their new homes. They learned to use the resources available to them. They developed hundreds of languages. Their ways of life changed to fit the different parts of North and South America where they lived. Today, we consider these people Native Americans. 

Farming

Because farming meant staying in one place, groups of a few families grew in size as the population grew. With a better diet and better food, people were living longer and having more children.

Multiple Select

What do you predict will happen when people do not have to follow animals for food, but can stay in one place?

• They will build homes and stay in one place

• They will keep moving around the continent

The Inuit

One group of Native Americans. They are the people living in the Arctic Region of North America

The Inuit

When the Inuit first came to North America, they got almost everything they needed by hunting and fishing. They gathered plants during the short summer. 

Arctic Region

A thousand years ago, the Arctic climate was a little warmer than it is today. Whales migrated along the Arctic Ocean coast. Some Inuit groups followed the whales east. They traveled from Alaska to northern Canada and all the way to Greenland. They used sleds on land and kayaks on the sea.

Multiple Choice

Why did some Inuit groups travel to Canada and Greenland?

• to follow whales to hunt

• to escape the Ice Age

Multiple Choice

How did the Inuit travel on the sea?

• kayak

• truck

• swim

Multiple Choice

Is it possible to walk from Asia to North America now?

• no

• yes

Multiple Choice

Why can't you walk from Asia to North America?

• The land is covered by water

• There is ice blocking the path

Inuit's homes

The Inuit used their surroundings to survive. In the winter the Inuit lived in igloos. In the summer, they lived in tents. In the fall they lived in rock-lined pits covered with Earth

Multiple Choice

Where did the Inuit live during the summer?

• Igloos

• Tents

The Inuit learned how to make bows and arrows for hunting. They hunted caribou, fish, whales, seals and walruses.

People traveled throughout North and South America and created civilizations

A Civilization is a group of people with their own languages and way of life.

When people are civilized, they live in large organized groups like towns, not in small tribes or family groups.

All the civilizations were different, but they had some things in common.

All Civilizations have:

• Writing

• Technology

• Food Supply

• Art

• Social Classes

• Government

• Religion

Multiple Choice

All civilizations are exactly the same.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

A civilization can just be a family living together in the wilderness.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

We live in a civilization.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

The Inuit People formed a civilization in the most northern part of North America.

• True

• False