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AMERICAS

Specialty Definition: History of the Americas

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The history of the Americas begins with their colonization by Native Americans from Asia, who went on to establish civilizations such as the Maya, the Toltecs, the Aztecs, the Inca, and the Iroquois.

The North American continent was first colonized by Asian nomads that crossed the frozen Bering Strait sometime around 20,000 BC. These tribes quickly spread out, reaching Cape Horn, which is located at the Southern tip of South America, roughly 10,000 years later. Although several large, centralized civilizations developed in the western hemisphere (e.g., the Inca in the Andes, the Aztecs and the Maya in Central America), the major North American mound building civilizations like the Cahokians had very few major population centers. The capital of the Cahokians, Cahokia -located near modern East St Louis, IL may have reached a population of over 20,000. At its peak, between the 12th and 13th centuries Cahokia was the most populous city in North America. Monks Mound, the major ceremonial center of Cahokia remains the largest earthen construction of the prehistoric New World. By the 15th century AD, corn had been transmitted from Mexico and was being farmed in the Mississippi Valley, but further developments were cut short by the arrival of Europeans.

The continent was rediscovered by Europeans later. Initially the Vikings established a short-lived settlement in Newfoundland. Theories exist about earlier and later Old World discoveries of the east coast (or of the west coast by the Chinese), but none of these are considered proven. It was the later voyage of Christopher Columbus that led to extensive European colonization of the Americas. Direct control from Europe began to unravel on July 4, 1776 with the United States Declaration of Independence.

• History of North America
  • History of Central America
  • History of the Caribbean

• History of South America

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a different view of the history of the Americas as set forth in the Book of Mormon. There are other theories about ancient visitors to the Americas (see the cover story in the January 2000 issue of Atlantic Monthly for details).

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "History of the Americas."

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The Americas

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The Americas (sometimes referred to as America) is the area including the land mass located between the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, namely North America and South America. The term also usually includes the Caribbean, the islands in and around the Caribbean Sea, and Greenland, though not Iceland, for cultural and historical reasons. The isthmus of Central America is usually considered geographically part of North America. The Americas are often also described collectively as the Western Hemisphere or the New World.

Most references consider there to be two continents, North America and South America. However, most Spanish language references consider the two to be a single continent, "America". Even so, many Spanish speakers consider América del norte and América del sur to be separate continents. The use of America to refer to the New World as a whole is also sometimes used in English, such as in the common phrase "Christopher Columbus discovered America".

People who live in the Americas are sometimes referred to as being American, although the word "American" is more commonly used to refer only to a citizen of the United States of America. (See also Alternate words for American)

See naming of America for a discussion of how the Americas were named.

See also Latin America.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "The Americas."

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Abbreviations & Acronyms: AMERICAS

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