Unit 1: 1491-1607
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The original exploration, discovery, and settlement of North and South America occurred thousands of years before Christopher Columbus was born. In fact, many archeologists now believe that the first people to settle North America arrived as much as 40,000 years ago. At that time, waves of migrants from Asia may have crossed a land bridge that then connected Siberia and Alaska (a bridge now submerged under the Bering Sea). Over a long period of time, successive generations migrated southward from the Arctic Circle to the southern tip of South America. The first Americans—or Native Americans— adapted to the varied environments of the regions that they found. They divided into hundreds of tribes, spoke different languages, and practiced different cultures. Estimates of the Native population in the Americas in the 1490s vary from 50 to 75 million persons.
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