Summary
For thousands of years, the first residents of the Western Hemisphere had established unique worlds for themselves. From their earliest Ice Age ancestors' arrival across the Bering Land Bridge in 10,000 BCE until 500 years ago, American Indians flourished on the North, Central, and South American continents. Highly sophisticated tribal or national identities based on social, political, and religious customs were developed. Establishing the cornerstones of civilized native life, including hunting, fishing, gathering, and farming, these peoples fashioned weapons and tools out of simple materials, such as bone, stone, and wood. They used the land and its resources to their advantage. But the Indians' world would one day intersect with a people as curious as the their migrating ancestors had been. After thousands of years of Indian dominance over the future United States, Europeans introduced new ideas, new technologies, and a new religion.
In The New World: Prehistory to 1542, Updated Edition, learn how these newcomers forever affected the lives of those native peoples who had long called America their home. This informative eBook serves as a time capsule of the era, bringing to life the people and events that have shaped the nation through a clear and entertaining narrative and lively full-color and black-and-white photographs and illustrations. Students will find this eBook valuable for reports, a prime supplement to textbooks, or simply engaging reading.
About the Author(s)
Tim McNeese is an associate professor of history at York College in York, Nebraska, where he has been teaching for more than 15 years. McNeese earned an associate's degree from York College, a B.A. in history and political science from Harding University, and an M.A. in history from Missouri State University. He has published more than 100 books and educational materials over the past 20 years on everything from Picasso to landmark Supreme Court decisions. His writing has earned him a citation in the library reference work Contemporary Authors. In 2006, McNeese appeared on the History Channel program Risk Takers/History Makers: John Wesley Powell and the Grand Canyon.
Richard Jensen is a research professor at Montana State University, Billings. He has published 11 books on a wide range of topics in American political, social, military, and economic history, as well as computer science. He earned his Ph.D. from Yale and has taught at numerous colleges and universities, including Michigan, Harvard, Illinois–Chicago, and West Point.