Many
Natives Of North America , when the Europeans found them, were semi-nomadic tribes of hunter-gatherers; others were sedentary and agricultural
Civilization s. Many formed new
Tribes or confederations in response to European colonization. Well-known groups included the
Aztec ,
Maya ,
Huron ,
Mohawk ,
Apache ,
Cherokee ,
Sioux ,
Mohegan ,
Iroquois , and
Inuit .
Factors supporting
Asiatic Migration are discoveries in
Cassiar, British Columbia of
Chinese Coins identified as circulating in China in
2000 BC , in
Telegraph Creek, British Columbia of large
Buddhist Charms of a type not manufactured for 1500 years, in
Nanaimo, British Columbia of a
Japanese Sword eleven feet underground.
Linguist Father Jean Marie Le Jeune recorded that he found evidence of
Hebraic words in native languages in
British Columbia , possibly stemming from
Early Jewish Influence In China .
Anthropological Models Of Migration To The New World also provide insight into the earliest history of North American indigenous people.
The first Europeans known for certain to have reached (
Newfoundland ) North America are the
Vikings , who called it
Vinland . They reached it around the year
1000 . While some settlement activity took place, they did not leave much of a mark on the continent.
After
Christopher Columbus 's
1492 voyage, the Spanish were the first Europeans to arrive to stay. They gained control of most of the largest islands in the
Caribbean and conquered the Aztecs, gaining control of
Mexico and
Central America .
While some smaller powers like the Dutch and Swedish had minor holdings on the continent, the main land and most of the islands were divided between the
Spanish , the
French , and the
English empires.
Almost 500 years after
Leif Ericson ,
John Cabot explored the east coast of what would become
Canada in
1497 .
Giovanni Da Verrazzano explored the
East Coast of America from Florida to presumably Newfoundland in
1524 .
Jacques Cartier made a series of voyages on behalf of the French crown in
1534 and penetrated the
St. Lawrence River .
The first successful English settlements were at
Jamestown (1607) (and its satellite,
Bermuda (1609)) and
Plymouth Rock (1620), in what are today
Virginia and
Massachusetts respectively. The first French settlements were
Port Royal (1604) and
Quebec City (1608) in what is now
Nova Scotia and
Quebec .
- Bennett, Norma V. (1997), ''Pioneer Legacy'', ISBN 0-9683026-0-2
