Ross - Native Americans: American History: An Overview of Native American History: Your Guide To: Native People, Indians, & Indian History

Howd They Get Here?

If you ask kids who was the first person to discover America, the first name that would usually pop in their heads is Christopher Columbus; in fact, quite a number of adults would give you the same answer. Technically speaking, Columbus did stumble upon North America on his journeys (he was actually looking for Spice Islands and not for North America in particular), but when he got off the beach there were already people waiting for him. To add insult to injury, Columbus called the natives Indians because he honestly thought that he was in India. Columbus story aside, the real mystery here was how the Native Americans got there.

The Clovis-first Theory

The conventional theory of how the Native American people first set foot in North American is the Clovis-first theory. The Clovis was an ancient race of people who seemingly just popped out of nowhere and into the annals of history, and as sudden as they seemed to appear, they also vanished in the same manner.

According to the radiocarbon dating done on a couple of Clovis artifacts, their civilization appeared at around 9,200 B.C. and suddenly vanished from the earth a mere 500 years later. Scientists theorize that the Clovis came from a tribe of hunter-gatherers from up north in Siberia, and they stumbled into Northern America during the Ice Age. During that time, the sea levels were so low because most of the Earths water was still frozen in gigantic glaciers in the polar ice caps.

Since the sea levels were so low during the Ice Age, there were numerous land bridges that used to connect the present continents to each other. The Clovis were thought to have taken the Bering land bridge, which is now under the body of water known as the Bering Strait. Scientists think that the Clovis migrated south from Siberia because they were following their main source of food, which were mastodons and mammoths. They found that North America was teeming with herds of these wild beasts so they decided to settle there.

The Kennewick Man

Recent advances in scientific research and discoveries are now disputing the once accepted Clovis-first theory, and the most plausible of the lot is the discovery of the Kennewick Man.

In 1996, a group of archaeologists dug up the ancient remains of a man who they believed to be 9,000 years old. The odd thing about this ancient man is that the skull had a long cranium and somewhat narrow face, which are the typical features of people from either Europe or India. American Indians, on the other hand, tend to have rounder skulls and wider cheekbones.

First Interactions with People from Other Countries

As mentioned earlier, many people believe that Christopher Columbus was the first foreigner to have ever encountered the Native Americans. However, many historians believe that he wasnt the first person to discover North America, he was just the first one to call for a press conference. In fact, Columbus was not even aware at the time that he was in North America; he was actually searching for an alternative route to India, which is why he mistakenly called the natives Indians, and this misappropriated term stuck for the longest time.