Tens of thousands of years ago, when the world was in the midst of the
Ice Age, the first humans made their way into North America. At that
time, thick sheets of ice covering the polar regions had tied up so much
of the earth’s water that the oceans were approximately 400 feet lower
than they are today. All around the world sections of land that are now
underwater were then above sea level. An extensive land bridge connected
Siberia to Alaska across what is now the Bering Strait and people from
Asia used this route for their passage into North America.
The land bridge between the two continents was clear of ice for
thousands of years, and vegetation from both sides intermixed. Grazing
animals, and the people who hunted them, gradually wandered from Asia
into North America, probably without ever realizing they were moving
into a new region. Although the earliest immigrants may have reached
North America over 40,000 years ago, most of the present evidence dates
from between 23,000 and 8,000 years ago.
Much of Canada was covered with ice during this time, but periodically,
ice-free corridors of land connected Alaska with the Great Plains of the
United States. Over hundreds of generations nomadic people spread
throughout southern North America, Central America, and South America.
At least by 12,000 years ago, the first Indians lived in the
southeastern United States. The prehistoric era in Louisiana begins with
these first inhabitants and concludes with the arrival of the Europeans.
The chart at the left outlines the long, rich prehistory of Louisiana.