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The Pre-Columbian Belize history is the period from initial indigenous presence, across millennia, to the first contacts with Europeans - the Pre-Columbian or ''before Columbus'' period - that occurred on the region of the Yucatán Peninsula that is present day Belize. Belize's history begins with the Paleo-Indians. They were nomadic people that arrived in the Asia to the Americas migration across the frozen Bering Strait, perhaps as early as 35,000 years ago. In the course of many millennia, their descendants settled in and adapted to different environments in the Americas, creating many cultures in North America, Central America, and South America. The Mayan culture emerged in the lowland area of the Yucatán Peninsula and the highlands to the south, in what is now southeastern Mexico, Guatemala, western Honduras, and Belize.〔 Many aspects of this culture persist in the area despite nearly half a millennium of European domination. All evidence, whether from archaeology, history, ethnography, or linguistic studies, points to a cultural continuity in this region. The descendants of the first settlers in the area have lived there for at least three millennia.〔Bolland, Nigel. "Belize: Historical Setting". In (''A Country Study: Belize'' ) (Tim Merrill, editor). Library of Congress Federal Research Division (January 1992). ''This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.''〕 ==Paleo-Indian and Archaic periods (c. 35,000—2,500 BC)== Prior to about 2500 BC, some hunting and foraging bands settled in small farming villages. While hunting and foraging continued to play a part in their subsistence, these farmers domesticated crops such as corn, beans, squash, and chili peppers, which are still the basic foods in Central America. A profusion of languages and subcultures developed within the Mayan core culture. Between about 2500 BC and AD 250, the basic institutions of Mayan civilization emerged. The peak of this civilization occurred during the Classic Period, which began about AD 250.〔 Farmers engaged in various types of agriculture, including labor-intensive irrigated and ridged-field systems and shifting slash-and-burn agriculture. Their products fed the civilization's craft specialists, merchants, warriors, and priest-astronomers, who coordinated agricultural and other seasonal activities with a cycle of rituals in ceremonial centers. These priests, who observed the movements of the sun, moon, planets, and stars, developed a complex mathematical and calendrical system to coordinate various cycles of time and to record specific events on carved stelae.〔 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「Pre-Columbian Belize」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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