Hopi tribe

New World Beginnings The Shaping of North America Recorded history began 6,000 years ago. It was 500 years ago that Europeans set foot on the Americas to begin the era of accurately recorded history on the continent. The theory of ?Pangaea? exists?suggesting that the continents were once nestled together into one mega-continent. The continents then spread out as drifting islands. Geologic forces of continental plates created the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains. The Great Ice Age thrust down over North America and scoured the present day American Midwest. Peopling the Americas The ?Land Bridge? theory? As the Great Ice Age diminished, so did the glaciers over North America.