1
Discovery and Settlement
of the New World
T
here are many intriguing mysteries surrounding the peo-
pling and discovery of the western hemisphere. Who were the
people to first inhabit the northern and southern continents? Why did
they come? How did they get here? How long was their migration? A
possible narrative suggests that the movement of ancient people to the
New World began when they crossed a land bridge that once existed
between what we today call Siberia and Alaska, a bridge that later dis-
appeared because of glacial melting and is now covered by water and
known as the Bering Strait. It is also possible that these early people
were motivated by wanderlust or the need for a new source of food.
Perhaps they were searching for a better climate, and maybe they came
for religious reasons, to escape persecution or find a more congenial
area to practice their partic u lar beliefs. Who knows?
Of course some scholars have argued that these ancient people came
by sea, and several modern adventurers have sought to demonstrate
how it was accomplished. But if a land route did provide the gateway to
this New World, when did it happen? How long ago? The best guess—
and it is a guess—is that it took place 50 , 000 years ago, if not more.
But was it a single long migration stretching over a number of years?
Or did it come in fits and starts during an extended period of time?
Scholars have suggested that the migration continued until 2 , 000 years
ago and that extended families came in groups. Over time, these people