Америка в прошлом и настоящем. Часть I. Горчакова Е.П - 5 стр.

Reptiles1 crawled along the earth, and many kinds of birds filled the sky.
6.     But when the animals were silent, only the sounds of the wind and the sea
could be heard. There was no human life anywhere.
7.     The Native Americans changed all this. One after another, hunters crossed
the ancient land bridge. Following the animals, they traveled south and east. By 8000
B.C. some descendants of the first Americans had reached the Atlantic shores of
North America. Others were already at the southern tip of South America. At this
time the prehistoric Ice Age, which had lasted thousands of years, was finally
ending. As the huge pieces of ice melted, sea levels rose. The ancient land
bridge slowly sank back under the sea, and Alaska separated forever from
Siberia.
8.     But the American continents were richer now than they had ever been
before. They had people.

EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURE
9.     During the many centuries before Columbus, Native American society
slowly developed. First, as the Ice Age ended, the great prehistoric mammals
disappeared. The Native Americans then turned to hunting smaller animals.
They also survived by gathering and eating seeds. But the most important
moment in their development came when they discovered the secrets of farming.
Saving the seeds from fruits and vegetables and returning them to the earth
seemed to create a miracle2. A new food supply appeared where the old had
been. People no longer had to travel from place to place in search of food. At
last there was more safety and confidence in the future. Groups of Native
Americans became stronger, and population increased. Time which had been
spent on survival could now be spent on other things. In some areas, pottery,
weaving, woodcarving, painting, and sculpture developed. Languages also
developed. As many as two thousand different Native American languages
were spoken in the Americas by the fifteenth century. A few groups, like the
Maya of Mexico, had a picture system of writing. In many Native American
groups, complicated social and religious customs appeared.


NATIVE AMERICANS OF DIFFERENT REGIONS
10. In general, Native Americans who lived in the same geographical area had
similar customs. The Iroquois, for example, lived in the New York area. They
were part of a larger group of Eastern Woodlands people. The men were hunters
and warriors3. They were so fierce that they were feared by other Native
Americans and by the white settlers. Women had important positions in the

1
  reptiles: cold-blooded animals; e.g. snakes, alligators
2
  miracle: an event without human explanation which seems to be an act of God
3
  warriors: fighters

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