Reading in a single sitting 一口气读完这段历史

The specifics of Paleo-Indian migration to and throughout the Americas, including the exact dates and routes traveled, are subject to ongoing research and discussion. The traditional theory has been that these early migrants moved into the Beringia（白令）land bridge between eastern Siberia（西伯利亚）and present-day Alaska（阿拉斯加）around 40, 000-17, 000 years ago, when sea levels were significantly lowered due to the Quaternary glaciation . These people are believed to have followed herds of now-extinct pleistocene megafauna along ice-free corridors that stretched between the Laurentide（劳伦太德冰盖）and Cordilleran（科迪勒拉）ice sheets. Another route proposed is that, either on foot or using primitive boats, they migrated down the Pacific Northwest coast to South America. Evidence of the latter would since have been covered by a sea level rise of hundreds of meters following the last ice age.

archaeologists contend that Paleo-Indians migration out of Beringia (eastern Alaska), ranges somewhere between 40, 000 and 16, 500 years ago. The few agreements achieved to date are the origin from Central Asia, with widespread habitation of the Americas during the end of the last glacial period, or more specifically what is known as the late glacial maximum, around 16, 000-13, 000 years before present.

The Inuit migrated into the Arctic section of North America in another wave of migration, arriving around 1000 CE.Around the same time as the Inuit migrated into North America, Viking（维京）settlers began arriving in Greenland（格陵兰）in 982 and Vinland（文兰）shortly thereafter, establishing a settlement at L' Anse aux Meadows（安斯梅多）, near the northernmost tip of Newfoundland. The Viking settlers quickly abandoned Vinland, and disappeared from Greenland by 1500.

The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic（旧石器时代晚期）to European colonization during the Early Modern period.

Pre-Columbian is used especially often in the context of the great indigenous civilizations of the Americas, such as those of Mesoamerica[the Olmec（奥尔梅克人）, the Toltec（托尔特克人）, the Mixtec（米斯特克人）, the Aztec（阿兹特克人）, and the Maya（玛雅人）and the Andes（安第斯山脉）, Inca（印加人）, Moche（莫克人）].

Many pre-Columbian civilizations established characteristics and hallmarks which included heretical or urban settlements, agriculture, civic and monumental architecture, and complex societal hierarchies. Some of these civilizations had long faded by the time of the first permanent European arrivals (late 15 th-early 16th centuries), and are known only through archaeological investigations. Others were contemporary with this period, and are also known from historical accounts of the time. A few, such as the Maya, had their own written records. However, most Europeans of the time viewed such texts as heretical , and much was destroyed in Christian pyres. Only a few hidden documents remain today, leaving modern historians with glimpses of ancient culture and knowledge.

According to both indigenous American and European accounts and documents, American civilizations at the time of European encounter possessed many impressive accomplishments . For instance, the Aztecs built one of the most impressive cities in the world, Tenochtitlan（特诺奇蒂特兰地区）, the ancient site of Mexico City, with an estimated population of 200, 000. American civilizations also displayed impressive accomplishments in astronomy and mathematics.

总之，在前哥伦布时代，在广袤的美洲大陆上，美洲印第安人创造了三大文明，它们是位于今天的尤卡坦、危地马拉和伯利兹地区的玛雅文明，位于今天墨西哥地区的阿兹特克文明以及囊括从厄瓜多尔中部至智利中部3000英里地区的印加文明。

他们培育出包括玉米、倭瓜、土豆、胡椒、烟草、棉花和豆类等作物，今天世界上近一半的食物发源于此；发达的天体知识；以太阳金字塔为代表的建筑技术；发达的水利灌溉系统等等。但是，当自给自足、和平宁静的印第安文明遭遇正在野心勃勃四处扩张的欧洲文明时，将是一场灭顶之灾。这一切，就从哥伦布的地理大发现开始。

Key Words in History 历史关键词

1. Pueblo 普韦布洛社会

"Pueblo" is a term used to describe modern (and ancient) communities of Native Americans in the Southwestern United States of America. The first Spanish explorers of the Southwest used this term to describe communities that consisted of apartment-like structures made from stone, adobe mud, and other local material. These structures were usually multi-storied buildings surrounding an open plaza and were occupied by hundreds to thousands of Pueblo People.

2. Maya Civilization 玛雅文明

The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period (2000 BC to 250 AD), according to the Mesoamerican chronology, many Maya cities reached their highest state of development during the Classic period (250 AD to 900 AD), and continued throughout the Post-Classic period until the arrival of the Spanish.

The Maya civilization shares many features with other Mesoamerican civilizations due to the high degree of interaction and cultural diffusion that characterized the region. Advances such as writing, epigraphy, and the calendar did not originate with the Maya; however, their civilization fully developed them. Maya influence can be detected from Honduras, Guatemala, Northern El Salvador and to as far as central Mexico, more than 1000 km (625 miles) from the Maya area. Many outside influences are found in Maya art and architecture, which are thought to result from trade and cultural exchange rather than direct external conquest.

3. Inca Empire 印加帝国

The Inca Empire, or Inka Empire, was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political and military center of the empire was located in Cusco in modern-day Peru. The Inca civilization arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in the early 13th century. From 1438 to 1533, the Incas used a variety of methods, from conquest to peaceful assimilation, to incorporate a large portion of western South America, centered on the Andean mountain ranges, including large parts of modern Ecuador, Peru, western and south central Bolivia, northwest Argentina, north and north-central Chile, and southern Colombia into a state comparable to the historical empires of the Old World.

The official language of the empire was Quechua, although hundreds of local languages and dialects of Quechua were spoken. The Inca referred to their empire as Tawantinsuyu which can be translated as The Four Regions or The Four United Provinces. There were many local forms of worship, most of them concerning local sacred "Huacas", but the Inca leadership encouraged the worship of Inti-the sun god-and imposed its sovereignty above other cults such as that of Pachamama. The Incas considered their King, the Sapa Inca, to be the "child of the sun."

4. Machu Picchu, the "Lost city of the Incas" 马丘比丘，“印加文明失落的城市”

Cuzco the capital city, was said by the Spanish to be "as fine as any city in Spain". Perhaps the most impressive city of the Incan was not its capital, Cuzco, but the city Machu Picchu. This mountain retreat is built high in the Andes and is sometimes called the "Lost city of the Incas." It was intended as a mountain retreat for the leaders of Incan empire and shows great artistry-the abundant dry stone walls entirely built without mortar and the blocks cut so carefully that one can' t insert a knife-blade between the massive blocks.

Background Knowledge 背景知识补充

美洲大陆的历史当然不是从1492年哥伦布抵达美洲开始的。事实上，美洲文明或许起源于上个冰河世纪，大约15000年到40000年以前。历史学家认为，印第安人的祖先可能在大约2万年前从亚洲渡过白令海峡到达美洲的，或者是通过冰封的海峡陆桥过去的。他们来到美洲并且陆续分散到各地，形成了有自己特色的部落文化。

当意大利航海家哥伦布航行至美洲时，误以为所到之处为印度，因此将此地的土著居民称作“Indians”。后来，虽然发现他错了，但习惯称法已经普及了，所以英语和其他欧洲语言中称印第安人为“西”印度人。在必要时，为了区别，称真正的印度人为“东”印度人。汉语翻译时直接把“西印度人”这个单词翻译成“印第安人”或“印地安人”。

当时的印第安原住民没有自己的文字，却有着丰富的口头文学，但随着原住民人口的锐减，这些口头文学也就难觅踪影了。从总体上讲，印第安文明相对于其他大陆上的文明来说，数千年的孤立隔绝使其演进的速度非常缓慢。虽然他们在培育植物方面成就辉煌，但除了仅能最低限度地保证人们的食物需求外，没有发展出耕作技术。他们仅有石制、木制、骨制的工具，不能熔炼矿石，更没有刀剑和火器。而在制度方面，美洲印第安人还停留在氏族部落阶段。各种各样的部落彼此间存在着巨大的差别，从语言一直到崇拜对象。比如，目前仍然存在的美洲原住民语言约有350种，分属十几个语系，至今没有公认的语言分类。

由于美洲原住民没有统一的语言，没有文字，再加上原住民人口在新大陆被发现之后锐减90%，因此，目前残存的古代文明材料已经不多。想要更深入地了解这段历史，我们只好寄希望于古代印第安文化遗址的大力发掘。 7mM+15p263YQThA5aTV1G8glLXhoeVouvLoUBtKAGPfOTaYVFL7SP9XeLjVjEO/0

Reading in a single sitting 一口气读完这段历史

On October 12, 1492, Columbus and his crew arrived at an island in the Bahamas（巴哈马）inhabited by the Arawak（阿拉瓦克）Indians. When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, the Arawaks ran to greet them bringing food and gifts. Columbus wrote the following in his log...

They...brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells. They willingly traded everything they owned...They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance...They would make fine servants...With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.

As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which i found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts.

In 1492, when the European invasion of the Americas was instigated by a human error that saw Christopher Columbus get lost at sea while trying to reach the Indies, and making landfall instead in the Americas, the two Continents were not, as some would have us believe, two vast and vacant land masses that were created by the Great Spirit for the specific purpose of enriching Europeans. In fact, both Continents were widely populated by humans who were citizens of hundreds of well established diverse civilizations-a statement of fact that may not set well with those who buy into the White Supremacist belief that the inhabitants of the two Continents were not civilized human beings but savage animals.

The following are some of the major tragic consequences that stem from the European invasion. First and foremost the suffering that it caused American Indians over the centuries is beyond measurement , and the number that perished because of it is so immense that uncountable millions is the only reasonable estimate that can be given! Besides out and out genocide , starvation, which was caused by the deliberate destruction of Indigenous trading patterns and food supplies, took a heavy toll. Another item that took a heavy toll was malnutrition. It started shortly after the invasion' s onset and slowly became universally widespread among the Indigenous Peoples of the two Continents and continued until recent times. Initially, it was caused by food supply destruction, but later the major cause was the near starvation rations passed out to them by Caucasian（高加索的）governments-in a weakened state even common illnesses were very often deadly. The fact that people sold into slavery was also a huge factor. Then we must not forget the hundreds of thousands of American Indians who died at the hands of brutal Caucasian governments during the 1900 s, in such places as Guatemala, where they were the majority population fighting the minority for representation. Notable, is the fact that Caucasian Canadian and American politicians turned a blind eye to the atrocities that their peers were committing in these countries, probably justifying their non-interference by labeling the rebellions communist inspired.

With racial superiority notions prevailing, the European invaders utilized two very effective White Supremacist creations to justify their invasion of the generally peaceful Nations of the Americas, and the pillaging of them. Without conscience, demonizing propaganda was created and used to dehumanize American Indians, and the Doctrine of Discovery, a Papal document that stated that non-Christians could not own land, was used to give a smidgeon of legality and a Christian blessing to the stealing of American Indian National territories, and the carnage that the invaders visited upon the citizens of the land they stole.

哥伦布是第一个从热带亚热带海域横渡并往返大西洋两岸的人，是第一个发现美洲加勒比海的全部主要岛屿的人。

哥伦布处在15世纪末16世纪初欧洲商业资本主义发展和封建制度瓦解的转变时期，他对美洲的发现顺应了欧洲资产阶级掠夺新财富、发展资本主义的迫切要求。美洲的发现和殖民化，促进了世界市场的形成。大量金银流入欧洲，扩大了资本主义原始积累，推动了欧洲资本主义的发展，加速了欧洲封建制度崩溃。同时，哥伦布发现美洲以后，在拉丁美洲建立起殖民奴役制度，给印第安人带来了深重的灾难。

Key Words in History 历史关键词

1. Christopher Columbus 克里斯托弗·哥伦布

Christopher Columbus (31 October 1451-20 May 1506) was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the Western Hemisphere. Those voyages, and his efforts to establish permanent settlements in the island of Hispaniola, initiated the process of Spanish colonization, which foreshadowed the general European colonization of the "New World."

2. Doctrine of Discovery 发现论

Papal Bulls of the 15th century gave Christian explorers the right to claim lands they "discovered" and lay claim to those lands for their Christian Monarchs. Any land that was not inhabited by Christians was available to be "discovered", claimed, and exploited. If the "pagan" inhabitants could be converted, they might be spared. If not, they could be enslaved or killed.

The Discovery Doctrine is a concept of public international law expounded by the United States Supreme Court in a series of decisions, intially in Johnson v. M' Intosh in 1823. The doctrine was Chief Justice John Marshall' s explanation of the way in which colonial powers laid claim to newly discovered lands during the Age of Discovery. Under it, title to newly discovered lands lay with the government whose subjects discovered new territory. The doctrine has been primarily used to support decisions invalidating or ignoring aboriginal possession of land in favor of colonial or post-colonial governments.

3. Indian Removal Act《印第安人迁移法案》

The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830.

President Andrew Jackson called for an Indian Removal Act in his 1829 speech on the issue. The Removal Act was strongly supported in the South, where states were eager to gain access to lands inhabited by the Five Civilized Tribes. In particular, Georgia, the largest state at that time, was involved in a contentious jurisdictional dispute with the Cherokee nation. President Jackson hoped removal would resolve the Georgia crisis. The Indian Removal Act was also very controversial. While Native American removal was, in theory, supposed to be voluntary, in practice great pressure was put on Native American leaders to sign removal treaties. Most observers, whether they were in favor of the Indian removal policy or not, realized that the passage of the act meant the inevitable removal of most Indians from the states. Some Native American leaders who had previously resisted removal now began to reconsider their positions, especially after Jackson' s landslide re-election in 1832. Affected tribes include the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole.

4. White Supremacist : 白人至上主义

White supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance by whites. White supremacy, as with racial supremacism in general, is rooted in ethnocentrism and a desire for hegemony, and has frequently resulted in violence against non-whites. Different forms of white supremacy have different conceptions of who is considered white, and not all White Supremacist organizations agree on who is their greatest enemy.

Background Knowledge 背景知识补充

美国建国以后，随着疆土的大踏步向西扩展，资产阶级政权对印第安人的征讨和屠杀进一步加强了。美国政府开始正式建军后，命令军队立即向西开进。美国陆军第一团从成立之日起，征剿印第安人就成为它的基本任务。美国联邦正规军队和民兵从事的这种残暴的屠杀和征剿，从1803年（正规军正式开始投入战斗是1811年）一直持续到1892年，差不多进行了整整一个世纪。特别是在l9世纪60年代到90年代，在当地民兵的配合下，美国联邦正规军采取分进合击等战术，集中发起了1000多次不同规模的军事行动，基本上完成了消灭印第安人的作战任务。威廉·福斯特在有关著作中叙述这段历史时写道：“美国向西、向南、向北三个方面猛烈推进时，不仅排挤了阻止它前进的国家，并且残暴地粉碎了这些土地上原来的主人——印策安人——的反抗。这种残酷地驱逐印第安人的行动是美国历史上最可耻的污点之一，而当时美国许多杰出的民主领袖也曾积极参加这种行动。”

据美国一些诚实、严谨的学者在20世纪80年代末期到90年代初期依据史料重新做出的推算，当哥伦布1492年“发现”美洲新大陆时，在现在美国和加拿大境内居住的印地安人总人口少则为3000万，多则达l亿。而在20世纪70年代，被迫分散聚居在美国全国各穷乡僻壤的“保留地”里的印地安人总人口还剩下了多少呢？据美国官方统计，还不到80万人。 7mM+15p263YQThA5aTV1G8glLXhoeVouvLoUBtKAGPfOTaYVFL7SP9XeLjVjEO/0