Pre-Columbian Era - History - North America

North America

After the migration or migrations, it was several thousand years before the first complex civilizations arose, at the earliest emerging 5000 BCE. Paleo-Indian inhabitants of the Americas were hunter-gatherers. Many Arctic, Subarctic, and coastal peoples hunted and gathered, while agriculture was adopted in appropriate regions. Within this timeframe, roughly pertaining to the Paleo-Indian Period, the Archaic Period, the Early Woodland Period, the Middle Woodland Period and the Late Woodland Period, numerous archaeological cultures have been identified.

Early Paleoamericans soon spread throughout the Americas, diversifying into many hundreds of culturally distinct tribes. Paleo-Indian adaptation across North America was likely characterized by small, highly mobile bands consisting of approximately 20 to 50 members of an extended family. These groups moved from place to place as preferred resources were depleted and new supplies were sought. Paleo-Indian groups were efficient hunters and carried a variety of tools. These included highly efficient projectile points/knives (PP/Ks) of the types mentioned above, as well as less distinctive implements used for butchering and hide processing. During much of the Paleo-Indian period, bands are thought to have subsisted primarily through hunting now-extinct megafauna such as mastodon and bison antiquus.

The North American climate finally stabilized by 8000 BCE; climatic conditions were very similar to today's. This led to widespread migration, cultivation and subsequently a dramatic rise in population all over the Americas. Over the course of thousands of years, American indigenous peoples domesticated, bred and cultivated a large array of plant species. These species now constitute 50–60% of all crops in cultivation worldwide.

Due to the vastness and variety of the climates, ecology, vegetation, fauna, and landforms, ancient peoples migrated and coalesced separately into numerous separate peoples of distinct linguistic and cultural groups. According to the oral histories of many of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, they have been living there since their genesis, described by a wide range of traditional creation stories.