Numerous human studies suggest that the original Amerindians, or Native Americans, migrated to North America during the Ice Age which occurred 26,000 to 11,000 years ago. It is believed that the main reason for migration was due to the fact that that the Indians were traveling nomads, who followed the migration patterns of the woolly mammoths. This was possible by means of the Bering Strait; a bridge of ice which connected eastern Siberia to Alaska. In later migrations, as the strait melted, studies suggest that the Amerindians used ship craft to cross the sea into North America. As the tribes began to spread through the Continent, their customs and ways of life altered to accommodate their diverse climates and terrains.
Those on the west coast of North America, such as the Yurok tribe, lived in redwood-planked homes, fished, gathered acorns for meal, and harvested mollusks. Tribes such as the Powhatan in eastern North America relied more on farming maize and squash, and took advantage of the immense woods, building log home dwellings. Central North American Indian tribes, such as the Kiowa, indulged in the skill of hunting since the amount of buffalo was so abundant. The Inuits in the north created igloos as homes, taking advantage of the frigid climate.
Throughout the years, these tribes, as north as the arctic circle, down to southern Chile, began to evolve into basic, and then complex, civilizations.
One of the most famous and well-known Indian Civilizations is the Mayan Civilization. Between 300 and 900 AD, located in the southern-most portion of present-day Mexico, this unusually advanced group of people created extravagant stone dwellings and temples with sophisticated geometry. They cultivated numerous crops such as maize, avocados, squash, and pineapples, and even organized markets in which the population could trade and sell goods. They partook in a polytheistic form of religion which involved rituals and, often, human sacrifice, in order to please the gods. They developed a hieroglyphic-like form of writing and a renowned calendar system, which established 365 days in a year.
Another civilization was the Iroquois Confederacy, which consisted of 5 affiliated Indian tribes in the northeastern portion of the modern United States. This civilization believed in a omnipotent "great spirit," which filled all of their surroundings. There was little discrimination between genders; many of the governmental decisions were actually made by the women elders. This confederacy was actually used as an example by Benjamin Franklin during the period following the French and Indian War as a possible future plan for the 13 colonies. Although seen as ridiculous at the time, this civilization's alliance was considered when forming the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution of the United States.
Concerning South America, the Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors arrived as earlie as the 1500's, conquering and exploiting civilizations such as the notorious Aztecs. Rather than a migration of indians, the masses were racially diffused with the spanish and diminished greatly.
In North America, after the American victory in the Revolutionary War, ending the Proclamation of 1763 that prohibited colonist development past the Appalachias, the new US citizens traveled and settled farther west, encroaching the territories of numerous Indian tribes. During the Jacksonian era, against the decision of Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, Andrew Jackson called for the mass movement of east coast indian tribes to the continent's interior; this migration was known as "The Trail of Tears."
Then in the late 1800's because of the great land rush in Oklahoma the indians were forced, to either move farther west or condense into small reservations.
Today, there are still reservations throughout America for the different indian tribes, but are limited to small spaces.
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