North America 2500 BCE

What is happening in North America in 2500BCE

Population growth

Over the past thousand years farming, based on maize as the staple crop, has begun to spread northwards from Mexico. Nowhere is it the primary source of food, and elsewhere in North America hunter-gatherer cultures prevail. In a few areas, where game and edible plants are particularly abundant, dense populations have emerged, most notably on the Pacific coast of the present-day USA and Canada. Here the plentiful marine life, combined with the rich flora and fauna of the mountains and streams, have allowed large permanent villages to develop.

Arctic hunters

In the far north, Arctic hunters have arrived from northern Siberia in North America in small boats across the Bering Sea. They are the ancestors of the present-day Inuit and Aleuts.

Rock artworks

At about this time some peoples begin creating elaborate rock artworks on canyon walls and rock outcrops. The most famous of these are to be found along the Pecos river, in Texas.

Next map, North America in 1500 BCE

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The coming of farming

Hunter-gatherers

Pre-Columbian civilizations of America

Pre-Columbian peoples of North America