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The history of North America encompasses the past developments of people populating the continent of North America. The continent became a human habitat later than continents such as Africa, Asia, and Europe, when people migrated across the Bering Sea 40,000 to 17,000 years ago.〔 〕 These migrants settled in many locations on the continent, from the Inuit of the far north to the Mayans and Aztecs of the south. These isolated communities each developed their own unique ways of life and cultures, and their interaction with one another was limited in comparison to the extensive trade and conflict of civilizations across the Atlantic in Europe and Asia. As the Age of Exploration dawned in Europe, Europeans began to arrive in the Americas and develop colonial ambitions for both North and South America. Christopher Columbus was credited with "discovering" the New World for Europeans, although at least the Norse are known to have explored it almost 500 years previously, and influxes of Europeans soon followed and overwhelmed the native population. North America became a staging ground for ongoing European rivalries. The continent was divided by three prominent European powers: Great Britain, France, and Spain. The influences of colonization by these states on North American cultures are still apparent today. Post-Columbian history as a "discovery" is a contested idea because the Americas were already heavily populated by the indigenous Native American peoples, now known to have been distinctive civilizations in their own right. Conflict over resources on North America ensued in various wars between these powers, but, gradually, the new European colonies developed desires for independence. Revolutions, such as the American Revolution and Mexican War of Independence, created new, independent states that came to dominate North America. The Canadian Confederation formed in 1867, creating the modern political landscape of North America. From the 19th to 21st centuries, North American states have developed increasingly deeper connections with each other. Although some conflicts have occurred, the continent has for the most part enjoyed peace and general cooperation between its states, as well as open commerce and trade between them. Modern developments include the opening of free trade agreements, extensive immigration from Mexico and Latin America, and drug trafficking concerns in these regions. ==The beginning of North America== The specifics of Paleo-Indians migration to and throughout the Americas, including the exact dates and routes traveled, are subject to ongoing research and discussion.〔 For years, the traditional theory has been that these early migrants moved into the Beringia land bridge between eastern Siberia and present-day Alaska around 40,000 – 17,000 years ago, when sea levels were significantly lowered due to the Quaternary glaciation.〔 These people are believed to have followed herds of now-extinct pleistocene megafauna along ice-free corridors that stretched between the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The peopling of the Americas: Genetic ancestry influences health )〕 Another route proposed is that, either on foot or using primitive boats, they migrated down the Pacific coast to South America.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Alternate Migration Corridors for Early Man in North America )〕 Evidence of the latter would since have been covered by a sea level rise of hundreds of meters following the last ice age.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=68 Responses to "Sea will rise ‘to levels of last Ice Age’" )〕 Archaeologists contend that Paleo-Indians migration out of Beringia (eastern Alaska), ranges from 40,000 to around 16,500 years ago.〔 (【引用サイトリンク】 url =http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/02/13/beringia-native-american.html ) (page 2 ) 〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Jorney of mankind )〕 This time range is a hot source of debate and promises to continue as such for years to come. The few agreements achieved to date are the origin from Central Asia, with widespread habitation of the Americas during the end of the last glacial period, or more specifically what is known as the late glacial maximum, around 16,000 – 13,000 years before present.〔 However, older alternative theories exist, including migration from Europe. Stone tools, particularly projectile points and scrapers, are the primary evidence of the earliest human activity in the Americas. Crafted lithic flaked tools are used by archaeologists and anthropologists to classify cultural periods. Scientific evidence links indigenous Americans to Asian peoples, specifically eastern Siberian populations. Indigenous peoples of the Americas have been linked to North Asian populations by linguistic dialects, the distribution of blood types, and in genetic composition as reflected by molecular data, such as DNA.〔 〕 8,000 BCE – 7,000 BCE (10,000 – 9,000 years ago) the climate stabilized, leading to a rise in population and lithic technology advances, resulting in a more sedentary lifestyle. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of North America」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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