Chapter 1: New World Beginnings (33,000 B.C. ? A.D. 1769)
The Shaping of North America
225 million years ago ? supercontinent w/ all world?s dry land
break away into continents & oceans
earth?s crust shifts and folds, forms mountain ranges
ex. Appalachians, Rockies, Sierra Nevada, Cascades, Cost Ranges
10 million years ago ? North America basic shape formed
Canadian Shield
Great Ice Age
2 million years ago
10,000 years ago ? glaciers retreat
Canadian Shield is depressed, topsoil gone
Great Lakes filled
Peopling the Americas
most come by land, some by boat
35,000 years ago ? Ice Age fuse oceans, lower sea level
land bridge from Eurasia N. America in Bering Sea
Asian hunters, nomads, cross to Americas
sea level rise after Ice Age over
isolate Americas