A NEW WORLD
1
THE FIRST A M ERICANS
CI ,ri.<f/'I'Iu,C(,I",,,~,,s.. 1 " ",1,''''1''''.1,)'p,'rlr" i,"I'S,·h,I." ;''''''J..I
" i,'",,,"'.
At davbn-ako nth e mo rning o f Friday.Augu stJ
14lJ2,;1Illtulinn adven t ur ernamedChristo pher
Columbussetsail fromSpain tofindanewwayfror u
Europe to Asia. His aimwastoo penlipJshorter
{talkro ut ebetweenth etwocontinents.in Asia.he
intendedto load his th r eesmall shipswithsilks.
spicesandgold .andsail backtoEuropeJrich 111 :111.
Columbu sfirstsailedso u th to the C anaryIslands.
Thenheturnedw estacr ossth eunknownwatersof
the m id - Atlan tic Ocean.Tenweeks afterleaving
Spain.0 11themorn ingofO ctober12. hestepped
ashore 011 thebeachofa lo w sandyislan d. IIt-named
the islandSail Salvad o r- i lo ly Savior .COhll11b us
believed thathe hadlaudedin th e Ind i es,a~rollPofislands d osetoth e m ainlandofludia .Forth is reaso n
he called thefriendly,brown-sk innedpeoplewho
greetedhim"losInd io s" -Indians.
Inf~([.Colu mbu s was 11 ()(ncar Ind ia. h w asnottill'
edgeo f Asiathathe h adreached.butislan dsoffthe
shoreso f a newco n tinen t.European swouldsoon
name th e newcont ine nt Am erica. bu tforlTlany yea rs
th eywcn r oncallingits inhabitants Indian s.Only
recently h aveth ese firstAmericans bee n described
m o r e cccu rarclyas"native Ameri cans" or
Amcrindians.
There weremallYdiffcrrn rg ro u ps ofAmerindian s.
T ho seno rt hofM exic o , illw hatis nowtheU n ited
StatesandCanada.w ere scattered acrossthe
g rasslandsandfo rests insep arateg ro upscalled
"mbcs. "Theserribcsfollowedveryd iff e rentways
oflife.SOI11l' were hun ters.so mewere farmers.
Some wert'peaceful. otherswarlike,Theyspo ke
o verthreehundredseparatelan gu ages. someo f
w hichwere asdiff erent fromo neanother as Engli...h
isfromChinese.
Euro peanscalledAmerica" theN ewWorld."Bmit
was nornewtotheAmer ind ians, T hei r ancestors had
alr ead y beenliving the re for maybe50,000Yl'ars
when C(11UlllbIlSste ppedontothebeach inSan
Salvad or,
We say"maybe"becauseno bod yis comple te lysure.
Scicur isr...belie veth attill'd ist antan cesto rsofthe
Anll'rindiallsGUIll'to AmericafromAsia.T his
hap pened. thcvsay, durmg rhc earth's[a...t i n ' ag e.
lo n gbefore people beganto mak ewrittenrecord....
At that rime a br idgeoficcjoinedAsia to Ameri ca
aero......what isnowthe Berin gStrait.H un ter...fro rn
Siberiacro ssedthis b ridgeintoAlask a.FromAlaska
th e huntersmo vedso uth and casta CTOSSAmerica,
follo wingherd sofcaribo uand buffaloasthean i mals
wentfromo ne feedingg ro un dtotheIll'XLMaybe
12.(M)()years ago.descend ant s o f t hesefirst
Amer icansw erecross ing the i...rhmn...o fl' uunmaint o