Where did the Indians that were in America at the time of Columbus originate from?

Answer 1

Most likely their ancesters migrated to the Americas from Asia over the frozen north passage across the Bearing Sea.

However; I also think it is possible that when the continents broke apart and the Americas seperated from Africa that the seeds of human existance were already here.

The short answer to you question is that they were already here for many generations before Columbus.



g-day!

Answer 2

LONG BEFORE the white man set foot on American soil, the American Indians, or rather the Native Americans, had been living in America.
When the Europeans came here, there were probably about 10 million Indians populating America north of present-day Mexico.
It is believed that the first Native Americans arrived during the last ice-age, approximately 20,000 - 30,000 years ago through a land-bridge across the Bering Sound, from northeastern Siberia into Alaska. The oldest documented Indian cultures in North America are Sandia (15000 BC), Clovis (12000 BC) and Folsom (8000 BC)

Although it is believed that the Indians originated in Asia, few if any of them came from India. The name "Indian" was first applied to them by Christopher Columbus, who believed mistakenly that the mainland and islands of America were part of the Indies, in Asia.

Answer 3

Columbus didn't go to America. He only got as far as the Caribbean.

The 'Indios' he came into contact with were the Taino on the island he named Hispanola (now I believe the Dominican Rep.). Like all Native North and South Americans it is generally believed they were originally a Mongol people from Eastern Asia that came across a land bridge where the Bering Straits are now, and gradually migrated through the continents.

The fact that human remains have been found in the southern states of the US that PRE-DATE the Bering land bridge has been conveniently forgotten. Or ignored.

Answer 4

The Indians in America were from several racial stocks. The western Indians probably miragrated from Mexico and Asia.

Some of the eastern tribes, such as the Cherokee, may have come in contact with Vikings or other caucasian explorers long before Columbus. The Cherokee lived in log houses, farmed, and had a written alphabet. Some had blue eyes. Other than that, I don't know where they originated from except God placed them here. Most Indian legends claim the "Great Spirit" brought them to this Land.

I think the Genesis 1 people were of different racial stock than the Adam-kind in Genesis 2. For example, Cain married a woman from the land of Nod.

Answer 5

Columbus encountered the Cibonay, Carib, Arawak, and Tiano native Americans. It was mentioned by eyewitnesses that the Caribbean Indians had the appearance of Polynesians. However, anthropologists believe that North American natives originated with the Beringer Indians in eastern Russia in Siberia. These where the ones that crossed the Bering Straits of Alaska and fathered the Eskimo, Athabaskan, and others. These natives were ones that allegedly migrated south to make up the people Columbus misidentified as "Indians".

But the "Indians" of Central and South America are speculated as being of North African origin, ideally Egyptian origin. Thor Heyerdahl speculated that they used reed boats to cross the west African east South America crossing to start the Inca and Aztec which may account for pyramid building in Mexico and Central America. No one knows for sure but a anthropologist from Harvard has been doing fascinating work with the National Geographic Ethnographic Project and DNA. He has proven that the Navajo do in fact descend from Beringers of Siberia.

If you are a Bible believer, as I am, then you might believe that ALL cultures descend from the upper Mesopotamia in ancient Iraq/Iran/Eastern Turkey. Many Native Americans have a common global flood myth too in their cultures. This was pre-Christian exposure myths so it can't be blamed on missionary exposure. Certainly the Beringer theory coincides with the Biblical account of ethnic migration across Asia.
---------------------------
The white complexion blue-eyed Indians were NOT the Cherokee as one poster said. They were the Mandan of Minnesota. They allege Viking exposure in 1300 AD.
---------------------------
Indians did not come from Mongolia per se. Some came from the Beringers of Siberia which is NORTH of Mongolia. But may be of Mongol ancestry too. They are STILL there today under Russian rule and speak Russian too. But look and live TOTALLY like American Indians!
----------------------------
Indian activists like Russell Means are wrong as he has a hidden agenda. DNA has proven the Beringer theory and essentially blows away the old steady-state evolution theory of American Indians being always from America. Just wishful thinking on their parts. Floyd "Gray Fox" Westerman too. This also eliminates them from the primary races bringing it from 4 to 3. They are ASIAN 1 of the 3.
-----------------------------

Answer 6

There are a lot of theories on where we Natives originated from. I've heard that we migrated from Mongolia and came across a land bridge hundreds of thousands of years ago. I listened to a lecture that actor/activist Russell Means gave at my college a few years ago and he said that there is evidence that Native people are indigenous to North America and we evolved separately from any other race of people. He was saying that we are not related to any race at all. I'm not sure how true that is and it's one man's opinion. It's a nice thought though.

I knew an archeologist a few years ago and he told me that there are settlements here in Wyoming that are hundreds of thousands of years old. We Natives have been around for a long time.

Answer 7

Three of the four main ancestral groups diverged from their Asian forbears at least 20,000 years ago. And even more striking, the first Americans didn't all come at once, but in at least three waves of migration. The fourth ancestral group had DNA tracings back to the Solutreans, people who lived in Ice Age France and Spain. Their progeny are linked by DNA to the modern day Ojibwe Indians.

Answer 8

Central Asia. If you look at Modern Haplogroups most native Americans share Haplogroups with people living today in Siberia and Central Asia. Here an example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Map-of-human-migrations.jpg

Answer 9

It's generally thought that the Native Americans came from upper Asia over an emormous land-bridge to what is now Alaska,of course that begs the question,"Where did the asians come from!"

Answer 10

Alaska. There is a book called "Before the Mayflower" that goes into detail of all of the people here before columbus.