North America

=== Pre-Columbian era===
{{Main|Pre-Columbian era}}
[[File:America 1000 BCE.png|thumb|A map of subsistence methods in the [[Americas]], including North America, as of 1000&nbsp;BCE
{{legend|#FEFE00|[[Hunter-gatherer]]s}}
{{legend|#00FE00|[[Agriculture|Simple farming societies]]}}
{{legend|#FE7F3F|Complex agricultural societies, including tribal [[chiefdom]]s and [[civilization]]s}}
]]
The [[indigenous peoples of the Americas]] have many [[creation myth]]s by which they assert that they have been present on the land since its creation,<ref name="Curtin2014">{{cite book|first=Jeremiah|last=Curtin|title=Creation Myths of Primitive America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PRK1AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT2|year=2014|publisher=Jazzybee Verlag|isbn=978-3-8496-4454-3|page=2|access-date=22 November 2015|archive-date=9 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160209074925/https://books.google.com/books?id=PRK1AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT2|url-status=live}}</ref> but there is no evidence that humans evolved there.<ref name="Krensky">{{cite book|last=Krensky|first=Stephen|others=Illustrated by Steve Sullivan|title=Who Really Discovered America?|year=1987|publisher=[[Scholastic Inc.]]|isbn=978-0-590-40854-7|page=13}}</ref> The specifics of the initial [[settlement of the Americas]] by ancient Asians are subject to ongoing research and discussion.<ref name="White2006">{{cite book|first=Phillip M.|last=White|title=American Indian chronology: chronologies of the American mosaic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_VnZ8_2kSScC&pg=PA1|access-date=29 November 2011|year=2006|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-33820-5|page=1|archive-date=11 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111211639/http://books.google.com/books?id=_VnZ8_2kSScC&pg=PA1|url-status=live}}</ref> The traditional theory has been that hunters entered the [[Beringia|Bering Land Bridge]] between eastern [[Siberia]] and present-day [[Alaska]] from 27,000 to 14,000 years ago.<ref name="HavilandPrins2013">{{cite book|first1=William|last1=Haviland|first2=Harald|last2=Prins|author2-link=Harald Prins|first3=Dana|last3=Walrath|first4=Bunny|last4=McBride|author4-link=Bunny McBride|title=Anthropology: The Human Challenge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0bpuCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA219|date=2013|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-1-285-67758-3|pages=219, 220|access-date=22 November 2015|archive-date=7 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207213447/https://books.google.com/books?id=0bpuCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA219|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Sonneborn-2007">{{cite book |first= Liz |last= Sonneborn |title= Chronology of American Indian History |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=OKfBId96DTIC&pg=PA3 |date= January 2007 |publisher= Infobase Publishing |isbn= 978-0-8160-6770-1 |page= 3 |access-date= 29 November 2011 |archive-date= 3 January 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140103103603/http://books.google.com/books?id=OKfBId96DTIC&pg=PA3 |url-status= live }}</ref>{{efn|The receding of oceans during successive [[ice age]]s may have enabled migrants to cross the land bridge as far back as 40,000 years.<ref name=really>{{cite book|last=Krensky|first=Stephen|others=Illustrated by Steve Sullivan|title=Who Really Discovered America?|year=1987|publisher=[[Scholastic Inc.]]|isbn=978-0-590-40854-7|pages=11, 13}}</ref>}} A growing viewpoint is that the first American inhabitants sailed from Beringia some 13,000 years ago,<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.science.org/content/article/most-archaeologists-think-first-americans-arrived-boat-now-they-re-beginning-prove-it|title=Most archaeologists think the first Americans arrived by boat. Now, they're beginning to prove it|last=Wade|first=Lizzie|journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|date=10 August 2017|doi=10.1126/science.aan7213|access-date=26 December 2018|archive-date=31 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200131022108/https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/08/most-archaeologists-think-first-americans-arrived-boat-now-they-re-beginning-prove-it|url-status=live}}</ref> with widespread habitation of the Americas during the end of the [[Last Glacial Period]], in what is known as the [[Late Glacial Maximum#North America|Late Glacial Maximum]], around 12,500 years ago.<ref name="Pauketat2012">{{cite book|first=Timothy R.|last=Pauketat|author-link=Timothy R. Pauketat|title=The Oxford Handbook of North American Archaeology|date=23 February 2012|publisher=OUP US|isbn=978-0-19-538011-8|page=96}}</ref> The oldest [[petroglyph]]s in North America date from 15,000 to 10,000 years before present.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2013/08/16/212569006/n-americas-oldest-known-petroglyphs-discovered-in-nevada|title=N. America's Oldest Known Petroglyphs Discovered In Nevada|last=Shogren|first=Elizabeth|date=16 August 2013|website=[[NPR]]|access-date=12 December 2018|archive-date=5 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805060403/https://www.npr.org/2013/08/16/212569006/n-americas-oldest-known-petroglyphs-discovered-in-nevada|url-status=live}}</ref>{{efn|While not conclusive, some [[South America]]n rock painting has been dated to 25,000 years ago.<ref name=bradshaw>{{cite web|url=http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/south_america/serra_da_capivara/index.php|title=America's Oldest Art – The Rock Art of Serra da Capivara|last=Nash|first=George|year=2011|website=[[Bradshaw Foundation]]|access-date=12 December 2018|archive-date=24 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924163146/http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/south_america/serra_da_capivara/index.php|url-status=live}}</ref>}} [[Genetic history of indigenous peoples of the Americas|Genetic research]] and [[anthropology]] indicate additional waves of migration from Asia via the [[Bering Strait]] during the Early-Middle [[Holocene]].<ref name="SkoglundMallick2015">{{cite journal|last1=Skoglund|first1=P.|last2=Mallick|first2=S.|last3=Bortolini|first3=M.C.|last4=Chennagiri|first4=N.|last5=Hünemeier|first5=T.|last6=Petzl-Erler|first6=M.L.|last7=Salzano|first7=F.M.|last8=Patterson|first8=N.|last9=Reich|first9=D.|title=Genetic evidence for two founding populations of the Americas|journal=Nature|date=21 July 2015|doi=10.1038/nature14895|pmid=26196601|pmc=4982469|volume=525|issue=7567 |pages=104–8|bibcode=2015Natur.525..104S }}</ref><ref name="BellwoodNess2014">{{cite book|first1=Peter|last1=Bellwood|author1-link=Peter Bellwood|first2=Immanuel|last2=Ness|author2-link=Immanuel Ness|title=The Global Prehistory of Human Migration|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2HMTBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA194|date=2014|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-118-97059-1|page=194|access-date=22 November 2015|archive-date=7 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207210859/https://books.google.com/books?id=2HMTBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA194|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Krensky|first=Stephen|others=Illustrated by Steve Sullivan|title=Who Really Discovered America?|year=1987|publisher=[[Scholastic Inc.]]|isbn=978-0-590-40854-7|pages=17–27}}</ref>

Prior to the arrival of European explorers and colonists in North America, the [[Paleo-Indians|natives of North America]] were divided into many different polities, ranging from small [[Band society|bands]] of a few families to large empires. They lived in several [[Classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas|culture areas]], which roughly correspond to [[Geography of North America|geographic and biological zones]] that defined the representative cultures and lifestyles of the indigenous people who lived there, including the [[Plains Bison|bison]] [[hunter-gatherer|hunters]] of the [[Plains Indian|Great Plains]] and the farmers of [[Mesoamerica]]. Native groups also are classified by their [[Indigenous languages of the Americas|language families]], which included [[Athabaskan languages|Athapascan]] and [[Uto-Aztecan languages|Uto-Aztecan]] languages. Indigenous peoples with similar languages did not always share the same [[material culture]], however, and were not necessarily always allies. Anthropologists speculate that the [[Inuit]] of the high [[Arctic]] arrived in North America much later than other native groups, evidenced by the disappearance of [[Dorset culture]] artifacts from the [[archaeological record]] and their replacement by the [[Thule people]].

During the thousands of years of native habitation on the continent, cultures changed and shifted. One of the oldest yet discovered is the [[Clovis culture]] (c.&nbsp;9550–9050&nbsp;BCE) in modern [[New Mexico]].<ref name=bradshaw/> Later groups include the [[Mississippian culture]] and related [[Mound builder (people)|Mound building]] cultures, found in the [[Mississippi River]] valley and the [[Ancestral Puebloans|Pueblo culture]] of what is now the [[Four Corners]]. The more southern cultural groups of North America were responsible for the [[domestication]] of many common [[crops]] now used around the world, such as tomatoes, [[Squash (plant)|squash]], and [[maize]]. As a result of the development of agriculture in the south, many other cultural advances were made there. The [[Maya civilization|Mayans]] developed a [[Maya script|writing system]], built [[Mesoamerican pyramids|huge pyramids and temples]], had a [[Maya calendar|complex calendar]], and developed the concept of zero around 400&nbsp;CE.<ref>{{cite magazine | url = http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-is-the-origin-of-zer | title = What is the origin of zero? How did we indicate nothingness before zero? | first = Robert | last = Kaplan | magazine = [[Scientific American]] | date = 16 January 2007 | access-date = 19 February 2008 | archive-date = 19 March 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110319151336/http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-is-the-origin-of-zer | url-status = live }}</ref>

The first recorded European references to North America are in [[Vinland sagas|Norse sagas]] where it is referred to as [[Vinland]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Groeneveld |first1=Emma |title=Vinland |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Vinland/ |website=World History Encyclopedia |access-date=12 June 2020 |archive-date=20 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420181420/https://www.worldhistory.org/Vinland/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The earliest verifiable instance of [[pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact]] by any European culture with the North America mainland has been dated to around 1000&nbsp;CE.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |first1=Linda S. |last1=Cordell |first2=Kent |last2=Lightfoot |first3=Francis |last3=McManamon |first4=George |last4=Milner |title=L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site |encyclopedia=Archaeology in America: An Encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=arfWRW5OFVgC&pg=PA82 |date=2009 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-02189-3 |page=82 |access-date=19 December 2020 |archive-date=30 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161230134928/https://books.google.com/books?id=arfWRW5OFVgC&pg=PA82 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[L'Anse aux Meadows#Norse site (c. 1000)|The site]], situated at the northernmost extent of the island named [[Newfoundland]], has provided unmistakable evidence of [[Norsemen|Norse]] settlement.<ref>[[Helge Ingstad|H. Ingstad]] and [[A. Stine Ingstad]], ''The Viking Discovery of America'' (2000), p. 141.</ref> Norse explorer [[Leif Erikson]] (c.&nbsp;970–1020 CE) is thought to have visited the area.{{efn|Descriptions of sites Erikson explored seem to correspond to [[Baffin Island]], the [[Labrador]] coast near [[Cape Porcupine, Newfoundland and Labrador|Cape Porcupine]], as well as [[Belle Isle (Newfoundland and Labrador)|Belle Isle]], and a site which led him to name the country [[Vinland]] ('Wineland').<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wernick |first1=Robert |title=The Vikings |date=1979 |publisher=Time-Life Books |location=Alexandria, VA |isbn=0-8094-2709-5 |pages=149–151}}</ref>}} Erikson was the first European to make landfall on the continent (excluding Greenland).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Little |first1=Becky |title=Why Do We Celebrate Columbus Day and Not Leif Erikson Day? |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/10/151011-columbus-day-leif-erikson-italian-americans-holiday-history/ |website=National Geographic |access-date=28 May 2020 |date=11 October 2015 |archive-date=28 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328203350/https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/10/151011-columbus-day-leif-erikson-italian-americans-holiday-history/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=History – Leif Erikson |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/erikson_leif.shtml |website=BBC |access-date=8 June 2020 |archive-date=20 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120185237/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/erikson_leif.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Mayan culture was still present in [[Yucatan Peninsula|southern Mexico]] and Guatemala when the Spanish [[conquistador]]s arrived, but political dominance in the area had shifted to the [[Aztec Empire]], whose capital city [[Tenochtitlan]] was located further north in the [[Valley of Mexico]]. The Aztecs were conquered in 1521 by [[Hernán Cortés]].<ref name="Grunberg">Bernard Grunberg, ''"La folle aventure d'Hernan Cortés''", in ''[[L'Histoire]]'' n°322, July–August 2007 {{incomplete short citation|date=February 2014}}</ref>