Melting Pot of America

Melting Pot of America

Migrations

As Population grew during the Paleolithic period, people wanted more space to live a roam about. Since they didn’t have a stable place to live, they were always moving and finding better places. Evidence indicates that the first peoples to migrate into America, coming from northeastern Siberia into Alaska (the Bering Straits), were carrying stone tools during Paleolithic period. They lived in groups of about 100. They used skin tents for shelter. They were nomadic, moving camp several times each year to take advantage of seasonal sources of food. Groups gathered a couple times a year to trade and gather valuable information that could be obtained about new sources of food or raw materials. It led families to move into new territory, eventually into Alaska and then farther south into the Americas. Evidence from the study of Native American languages, and materials, suggest that these earliest migrations may have taken place around 30,000 years ago. Bone tools, founded in Canada, have been discovered that have been radiocarbon-dated to 22,000 BC.

Early Population

It is estimated that at the time of first European contact, North and South America was inhabited by more than 90 million people: about 10 million in America north of present- day Mexico; 30 million in Mexico; 11 million in Central America; 445,000 in the Caribbean islands; 30 million in the South American Andean region; and 9 million in the remainder of South America. These population figures are a rough estimate (some authorities cite much lower figures); exact figures are impossible to ascertain. When colonists began keeping records, the Native American populations had been drastically reduced by war, famine, forced labor, and epidemics of diseases introduced through contact with Europeans.

Europeans