-Pre-Columbian population estimates for the Americas vary widely.
    -50 million to 100 million for the Americas
    -15 million to 60 million for North America
    -one million to 12 million for the area of North America that is
     today the U.S. and Canada

-Bering Strait    the strait which separates Alaska and northeastern
                    Asia

-strait            a narrow passage of water joining two larger
                    bodies of water

*Beringia    -a land bridge between Asia and North America which
               appeared during the last ice age
              "What is Beringia?"     

*Paleo-Siberians/
or Paleo-Indians   peoples who crossed Beringia between 35,000 and
                    8000 years ago
                        -They shared certain characteristics w/
                         modern east Asians and American Indians,
                         including:
                            -yellow to dark brown skin pigment
                            -pronounced cheek bones
                            -dark eyes
                            -course, straight dark hair
                            -epicanthic folds around the eyes

-migratory drift  migration patterns followed by peoples who crossed
                    Beringia from Asia to North America

-The development of Indian societies occurred in several stages,
resembling in complexity the development of African, Asian, and
European societies.

-The first stage is characterized by
    -reliance on the hunting of megafauna
    -a nomadic lifestyle
    -small groups of extended families
    *Clovis hunters

-The second stage is characterized by
    -reliance on the hunting of smaller game than megafauna, fishing,
     and the foraging of plants.
    -a semi-nomadic lifestyle w/ the appearance of permanent
     or semi-permanent villages and the development of agriculture

*Russell Cave   a cave in northeastern Alabama inhabited, parti-
                   cularly during the winter, by small bands of
                   Indians who relied on hunting and gathering, from
                   approximately 6550-6145 B.C.E. to 1000 C.E.

-The third stage is characterized by
    -agriculture, as well as hunting, gathering, and/or fishing
    -the formation of sedentary communities
    -the development of complex social heirarchies

*Poverty Point

*The Mississippian Culture exemplified this third stage.
    -thrived from 700 to 1400 C.E.
    -an economy based on agriculture as well as hunting, gathering,
     and fishing
    -extensive trade network
    -ceremonial mounds

*Cahokia -Mississippian Culture city located on the other
           side of the Mississippi River from present-day St. Louis
              -est. maximum population - 75,000
              -85 temple and burial mounds
              -Monk's Mound
                   -covered 16 acres at its base and stood
                   100 feet high at completion
                  -built in 14 stages from about 900 to
                   1150 C.E. by basketfulls of dirt

*Anasazi
    -Navajo word meaning "ancient ones"
    -a people who lived in sedentary, agricultural communities in
     the four corners area of the southwestern U.S. from about 550 to
     1300 C.E.
        -They employed drying farming methods.
    -They had trade contacts w/ Mississippian Culture peoples.
    -known for their cliff dwellings built out of sandstone.

examples of the diversity of peoples living in the Americas in 1492:

    -the Sioux nomadic bison hunters of the northern Great Plains
    -the Apache nomadic raiders of the present-day SW U.S.
    -the Shoshoni gatherers who lived in present-day Nevada and Wyoming
    -the Cree a nomadic people who lived in present-day eastern
     and central Canada relying on hunting, fishing, and foraging
    -Eskimos peoples of the Arctic and subarctic regions who
     relied primarily on hunting
    -the Creek a semi-nomadic people who lived in Alabama, Florida,
     Georgia, and Tennessee and relied primarily on agriculture and
     secondarily on hunting, fishing, and gathering plants
    -Aztecs/Incas - Indian peoples of Mesoamerica and South America,
     respectively who established societies most like European
     civilizations in many ways