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The very first Americans were big-game hunters who came from Asia and carried spears of bone and stone.
They didn’t come here because they were searching for a new place to live. They were following the giant buffalo and huge woolly mammoths that they tracked and killed to survive.
When they arrived in North America, they found beavers that were as big as bears. But there were no roads or highways, no towns or cities, and no shopping malls. The landscape was wild yet peaceful. No jets roared through the skies, and no car horns honked. A nimble squirrel could travel thousands of miles across the continent jumping from tree to tree without ever touching the ground.
Over thousands of years, the first Americans developed many different ways to live in this new land. Some of them settled along the coastline near the oceans. Others came to live in the forests, on the plains, or in cliff houses high above the deserts. However, no matter where they made their homes, they used the land’s natural resources wisely.
By 1492, most first Americans were making their living by hunting or farming. In the Arctic, they hunted whales, seals, and caribou. In other places, they fished, gathered wild plants, and hunted animals such as buffalo and deer. They didn’t hunt these animals for fun or sport, but for food, shelter, and clothing.
In 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas. Let’s take a look at what North America was like just a short time before Columbus landed. We’ll have to step back in time more than 500 years to meet the first Americans. If you’re ready to time-travel, let’s go!
