Americas

=== Pre-Columbian era ===
{{Main|Pre-Columbian era}}
[[File:CPN WEST COURT 01.jpg|thumb|The Plaza Occidental in [[Copán]], [[Honduras]]]]

The pre-Columbian era incorporates all [[archaeology of the Americas|period subdivisions]] in the [[history of the Americas|history and prehistory of the Americas]] before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the [[migration to the New World|original settlement]] in the [[Upper Paleolithic]] to [[European colonization of the Americas|European colonization]] during the [[Early Modern period]]. The term ''Pre-Columbian'' is used especially often in the context of the great [[List of pre-Columbian civilizations|indigenous civilizations of the Americas]], such as those of [[Mesoamerica]] ([[Olmec]], [[Toltec]], [[Teotihuacano]], [[Zapotec civilization|Zapotec]], [[Mixtec civilization|Mixtec]], [[Aztec]], [[Maya civilization|Maya]]) and the [[Andean civilizations]] ([[Tahuantinsuyu|Inca]], [[Moche (culture)|Moche]], [[Chavín culture|Chavín]], [[Muisca people|Muisca]], [[Cañari]]).

Many pre-Columbian [[civilization]]s established characteristics and hallmarks which included permanent or urban settlements, agriculture, civic and monumental architecture, and [[Complex society|complex societal hierarchies]]. Some of these civilizations had long faded by the time of the first permanent European arrivals ({{Circa|late 15th}}–early 16th centuries), and are known only through [[archaeology|archeological]] investigations. Others were contemporary with this period, and are also known from historical accounts of the time. A few, such as the Maya, had their own written records. However, most Europeans of the time viewed such texts as pagan, and much was destroyed in Christian pyres. Only a few hidden documents remain today, leaving modern historians with glimpses of ancient culture and knowledge.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mann|first=Charles C.|title=1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus|title-link=1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus|publisher=[[Alfred A. Knopf|Knopf]]|year=2005|isbn=978-1-4000-4006-3|location=New York|oclc=56632601|author-link=Charles C. Mann}}</ref>

==== Settlement ====
{{Further|topic=theories of Paleo-Indian migration|Peopling of the Americas}}
[[File:Spreading homo sapiens la.svg|thumb|upright=2|Map of [[early human migrations]] based on the [[Recent African origin of modern humans|Out of Africa theory]]<ref>{{cite book|first=Göran |last=Burenhult|title= Die ersten Menschen|publisher= Weltbild Verlag|year= 2000|isbn= 3-8289-0741-5}}</ref>]]

[[Paleo-Indians|The first inhabitants]] migrated into the Americas from Asia. Habitation sites are known in [[Alaska]] and [[Yukon]] from at least 20,000 years ago, with suggested ages of up to 40,000 years.<ref>{{cite web|title=Introduction |work=Government of Canada |publisher=Parks Canada |url=http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/docs/r/pfa-fap/sec1.aspx |year=2009 |access-date=January 9, 2010 |quote=Canada's oldest known home is a cave in Yukon occupied not 12,000 years ago like the U.S. sites, but at least 20,000 years ago |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110424103401/http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/docs/r/pfa-fap/sec1.aspx |archive-date=April 24, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Pleistocene Archaeology of the Old Crow Flats |publisher=Vuntut National Park of Canada |url=http://yukon.taiga.net/vuntutrda/archaeol/info.htm |year=2008 |access-date=January 10, 2010 |quote=However, despite the lack of this conclusive and widespread evidence, there are suggestions of human occupation in the northern Yukon about 24,000 years ago, and hints of the presence of humans in the Old Crow Basin as far back as about 40,000 years ago. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081022085345/http://yukon.taiga.net/vuntutrda/archaeol/info.htm |archive-date=October 22, 2008 }}</ref><ref name="kind">{{cite web|url=http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey/|title=Journey of mankind|work=Brad Shaw Foundation|access-date=November 17, 2009}}</ref>
Beyond that, the specifics of the [[Paleo-Indian]] migration to and throughout the Americas, including the dates and routes traveled, are subject to ongoing research and discussion.<ref name="national">{{cite web|url=https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/atlas.html?era=e003|title=Atlas of the Human Journey-The Genographic Project|date=1996–2008|publisher=National Geographic Society.|access-date=October 6, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501094643/https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/atlas.html?era=e003|archive-date=May 1, 2011}}</ref> Widespread habitation of the Americas occurred after the [[Late Glacial Maximum#North America|Late Glacial Maximum]], from 16,000 to 13,000 years ago.<ref name="kind" /><ref>{{cite journal|last2=Salzano|first2=FM|year=1997|title=A single and early migration for the peopling of the Americas supported by mitochondrial DNA sequence data|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|publisher=National Academy of Sciences|volume=94|issue=5|pages=1866–71|doi=10.1073/pnas.94.5.1866|pmc=20009|pmid=9050871|last1=Bonatto|first1=SL|bibcode=1997PNAS...94.1866B|doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[File:Palazzo_Ferreria_statue_4_America.jpeg|thumb|left|upright|Statue representing the Americas at [[Palazzo Ferreria]], in [[Valletta]], [[Malta]]]]
The traditional theory has been that these early migrants moved into the [[Beringia]] land bridge between eastern Siberia and present-day Alaska around 40,000–17,000 years ago,<ref name="SpencerWells2">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WAsKm-_zu5sC&q=The%20Journey%20of%20Man&pg=PA138|title=The Journey of Man – A Genetic Odyssey|last2=Read|first2=Mark|publisher=Random House|year=2002|isbn=0-8129-7146-9|pages=138–140|format=Digitised online by Google books|first1=Spencer|last1=Wells|access-date=November 21, 2009}}</ref> when sea levels were significantly lowered during the [[Quaternary glaciation]].<ref name="national" /><ref name="Smithsonian">{{cite web|first1=Drs. William |last1=Fitzhugh |first2=Ives |last2=Goddard |first3=Steve |last3=Ousley |first4=Doug |last4=Owsley |first5=Dennis |last5=Stanford |url=http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/nmnh/origin.htm |title=Paleoamerican |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Anthropology Outreach Office |access-date=January 15, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105215737/http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI//nmnh/origin.htm |archive-date=January 5, 2009 |url-status=dead }} 
</ref> These people are believed to have followed herds of now-extinct [[pleistocene megafauna]] along ''ice-free corridors'' that stretched between the [[Laurentide Ice Sheet|Laurentide]] and [[Cordilleran Ice Sheet|Cordilleran]] ice sheets.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.physorg.com/news169474130.html |title=The peopling of the Americas: Genetic ancestry influences health|work=Scientific American|access-date=November 17, 2009}}</ref> Another route proposed is that, either on foot or using [[boat#History|primitive boats]], they migrated down the Pacific coast to South America.<ref>{{cite journal|date=January 1979|title=Alternate Migration Corridors for Early Man in North America|volume=44|issue=1|pages=55–69|doi=10.2307/279189|jstor=279189|journal=American Antiquity|last1=Fladmark|first1=K. R.|s2cid=162243347 }}</ref> Evidence of the latter would since have been covered by a [[sea level rise]] of hundreds of meters following the last ice age.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/01/sea-will-rise-to-levels-of-last-ice-age/|title=68 Responses to "Sea will rise 'to levels of last Ice Age'"|work=Center for Climate Systems Research, Columbia University |date=January 26, 2009 |access-date=November 17, 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091027133849/http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/01/sea-will-rise-to-levels-of-last-ice-age/| archive-date= October 27, 2009 | url-status= live}}</ref> Both routes may have been taken, although the genetic evidences suggests a single founding population.<ref>{{cite journal | url = http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090108/full/news.2009.7.html | title = Earliest Americans took two paths | journal = Nature | last = Ledford | first = Heidi | date = January 8, 2009 | doi=10.1038/news.2009.7}}</ref> The [[Microsatellite (genetics)|micro-satellite]] diversity and distributions specific to [[South American Indigenous people]] indicates that certain populations have been isolated since the initial colonization of the region.<ref name="subclades">{{cite web|title=Summary of knowledge on the subclades of Haplogroup Q |url=http://64.40.115.138/file/lu/6/52235/NTIyMzV9K3szNTc2Nzc=.jpg?download=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510204204/http://64.40.115.138/file/lu/6/52235/NTIyMzV9K3szNTc2Nzc%3D.jpg?download=1 |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 10, 2011 |publisher=Genebase Systems |year=2009 |access-date=November 22, 2009 }}</ref>

A second migration occurred after the initial peopling of the Americas;<ref name="Meltzer2009">{{cite book |last=Meltzer |first=David J. |title=First Peoples in a New World: Colonizing Ice Age America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rnc-bg2voI8C&pg=PA146|date=May 27, 2009|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-25052-9|page=146}}</ref> [[Na-Dene languages|Na Dene speakers]] found predominantly in North American groups at varying genetic rates with the highest frequency found among the [[Athabaskan languages|Athabaskans]] at 42% derive from this second wave.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Reich|first=David |date=August 16, 2012|title=Reconstructing Native American population history|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|volume=488|issue=7411|pages=370–374|display-authors=etal|doi=10.1038/nature11258|pmc=3615710|bibcode=2012Natur.488..370R|pmid=22801491}}</ref> [[Linguists]] and [[biologist]]s have reached a similar conclusion based on analysis of [[Indigenous languages of the Americas|Amerindian language groups]] and [[ABO blood group system]] distributions.<ref name="Meltzer2009" /><ref>{{cite book|title=An introduction to the languages of the world|first=Anatole |last=Lyovi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y6Y-L4ogfhIC&q=Indigenous+languages+of+the+Americas&pg=PA309|year=1997|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=309|isbn=0-19-508115-3 |access-date=March 25, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Mithun|first=Marianne|s2cid=146205659|year=1990|title=Studies of North American Indian Languages|journal=Annual Review of Anthropology|volume=19|issue=1|pages=309–330|doi=10.1146/annurev.an.19.100190.001521}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Vajda|first=Edward|year=2010|title=A Siberian link with Na-Dene languages|url=http://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar?q=cache:G4veoXaTjUAJ:scholar.google.com/|publisher=Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska|volume=5}} {{Dead link|date=November 2015}}</ref> Then the people of the [[Arctic small tool tradition]], a broad cultural entity that developed along the [[Alaska Peninsula]], around [[Bristol Bay]], and on the eastern shores of the Bering Strait {{circa|2,500 BCE}} moved into North America.<ref name="Fagan">{{cite book|last=Fagan|first=Brian M.|title=Ancient North America: The Archaeology of a Continent|edition=4|year=2005|publisher=Thames & Hudson Inc.|location=New York|pages=390, p396|isbn=0-500-28148-3}}</ref> The Arctic small tool tradition, a [[Paleo-Eskimo]] culture branched off into two cultural variants, including the [[Pre-Dorset]], and the [[Independence II culture|Independence traditions]] of Greenland.<ref name="YoungBjerregaard2008" /> The descendants of the Pre-Dorset cultural group, the [[Dorset culture]] was displaced by the final migrants from the Bering sea coast line, the [[Thule people]] (the ancestors of modern [[Inuit]]), by 1000&nbsp;[[Common Era]] (CE).<ref name="YoungBjerregaard2008">{{cite book|author1=T. Kue Young|author2=Peter Bjerregaard|title=Health Transitions in Arctic Populations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uTim7CZnKGEC&pg=PA121|date=June 28, 2008|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-9401-8|page=121}}</ref>

==== Norse colonization ====
{{Main|Norse colonization of North America}}
Around the same time as the Inuit migrated into Greenland, Viking settlers began arriving in [[Greenland]] in 982 and [[Vinland]] shortly thereafter, establishing a settlement at [[L'Anse aux Meadows]], near the northernmost tip of [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Vinland|url=http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/education/teacher-resources/oracles/archaeology/rmcghee/vinland|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101110020418/http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/education/teacher-resources/oracles/archaeology/rmcghee/vinland|archive-date=November 10, 2010|publisher=Canadian Museum of Civilization}}</ref> Contact between the Norse colonies and Europe was maintained, as [[James Watson Curran]] states:{{blockquote|From 985 to 1410, Greenland was in touch with the world. Then silence. In 1492 the [[Holy See|Vatican]] noted that no news of that country "at the end of the world" had been received for 80 years, and the bishopric of the colony was offered to a certain ecclesiastic if he would go and "restore Christianity" there. He didn't go.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Curran|first=James Watson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eSxCAAAAIAAJ|title=Here was Vinland: The Great Lakes Region of America|publisher=[[The Sault Star|Sault Daily Star]]|year=1939|location=Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario|pages=207|language=en}}</ref>}}