"BeverlyTyler's North America Page " a North America Travel Page by BeverlyTyler

HISTORY CLOSE AT HAND
by Beverly C. Tyler

NORTH AMERICA IS A LAND OF IMMIGRANTS. According to what we know today, the first immigrants reached North America about 13, 200 years ago, coming across the land bridge from from Asia to Alaska; these asiatic people were the first humans on the continent.

The first North Americans are called Clovis people, referring to the Clovis Point that was used by the earliest Native Americans as a spear point to hunt and kill the elephant-like Mammoths and Mastadons that populated North America at the time. The Clovis Point is unique to North America. During a 300 year period, Clovis people spread all over North America, including Long Island, and hunted the Mastadon and Mammoth to extinction.

Native Americans, descendants of these and other Asiatic people who made the journey to North America were the first of waves of immigrants that came to this lush and hospitable continent. The second wave of immigrants came from Europe beginning in the 16th century. The third wave came again from asia beginning about 1850 with the opening of California and the west coast.

Schooners, barks and full-rigged ships of every size and discription opened North America to the world in the 16th through the 19th century. Planes, trains and automobiles have continued to transform the world but the challenge and romance of wooden sailing ships has stayed a vital part of our story.

Today, North America still welcomes immigrants, but it also welcomes tourists eager to see the wonders of Canada, America and Mexico from the beauty of the northern wildernesses to the Grand Canyon and the American Southwest to the lush tropical beaches and historic sites of Mexico.