New World Beginnings, 33,000 B.C.E.–1769 C.E
Chapter 1 New Worldr Beginnings 33,000 b.c.e.–1769 c.e. I have come to believe that this is a mighty continent which was hitherto unknown. Your Highnesses have an Other World here. Christopher Columbus, 1498 everal billion years ago, that whirling speck of of western North America—the Rockies, the Sierra dust known as the earth, fifth in size among the Nevada, the Cascades, and the Coast Ranges—arose Splanets, came into being. much more recently, geologically speaking, some 135 About six thousand years ago—only a minute in million to 25 million years ago. They are truly “Ameri- geological time—recorded history of the Western world can” mountains, born after the continent took on its began. Certain peoples of the Middle East, developing own separate geological identity. a written culture, gradually emerged from the haze of By about 10 million years ago, nature had sculpted the past. the basic geological shape of North America. The con- Five hundred years ago—only a few seconds figu- tinent was anchored in its northeastern corner by the ratively speaking—European explorers stumbled on massive Canadian Shield—a zone undergirded by the Americas. This dramatic accident forever altered ancient rock, probably the first part of what became the future of both the Old World and the New, and of the North American landmass to have emerged above Africa and Asia as well (see Figure 1.1). sea level. A narrow eastern coastal plain, or “tidewa- ter” region, creased by many river valleys, sloped gen- tly upward to the timeworn ridges of the Appalachians.
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