Beringia Facts

1. Beringia was a land bridge roughly 1,000 at its greatest, which joined present-day Alaska and eastern Siberia during the Pleistocene ice ages. It is believed that approximately 25,000 years ago, Beringia enabled the population of the Americas from an emigration from Asia (founder effect).

2. Clovis a prehistoric Paleo-Indian culture that appeared at the end of the last glacial period, and are characterized by their namesake “Clovis points” and bone/ivory tools. They appeared roughly 13,500 to 13,000 years ago. Clovis sites have since been identified throughout much North America (excluding Canada) and even into Northern South America. The significance of the Clovis culture is that they were the first human inhabitants of the New World
Hernán Cortés is probably one of the most infamous (more well-known in common knowledge) of the Spanish conquistadores who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the Spanish Crown. He is mentioned by Zinn in chapter 1 as an example of the brutality of the conquistadores as well as the motivation and mindset towards their work. In August 1521, the Aztec Empire subjugated to Spanish control, and Cortés was able to claim it for Spain, renaming it as Mexico City. At the start of the expedition, Cortés explored and secured the interior of Mexico for colonization, using a woman Malinche (Doña Marina) as a translator. Cortés is significant in history for his part in the downfall of great civilization and start of Spanish colonization of
Powhatan Confederacy was a part of the Algonquin tribes that occupied land in the Virginia Territory during the settlement of Jamestown in the 1600s. Wahunsunacawh (aka Chief Powhatan) organized the confederacy which held land in eastern Virginia. Their affiliation with the English settlers eventually led to their downfall as more English encroached on their land. The chief’s daughter Pocahontas married John Rolfe, a tobacco planter, and the small period of peace did nothing to stop later annihilation of the natives by the English. 31. Joint-stock company is a company or partnership that has two participants. Stocks or charters are given to each holder in exchange for financial contribution. These holders can also sell or transfer their stocks. The first joint-stock companies used in the Americas were the Virginia and Plymouth companies in the 1600s. The joint-stock companies allowed for safer investments as well as business partnerships in the future, setting up a capitilistic economic