Indigenous peoples and pre-Columbian history

Further information: Native Americans in the United States

Monks Mound, in Cahokia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

The Cliff Palace, built by the Ancestral Puebloans

It has been generally accepted that the first inhabitants of North America migrated from Siberia by
way of the Bering land bridge and arrived at least 12,000 years ago; however, increasing evidence
suggests an even earlier arrival.[22][52][53] After crossing the land bridge, the first Americans moved
southward along the Pacific coast[54] and through an interior ice-free corridor between
the Cordilleran and Laurentide ice sheets.[55] The Clovis culture appeared around 11,000 BC, and is
considered to be an ancestor of most of the later indigenous cultures of the Americas.[56] The Clovis
culture was believed to represent the first human settlement of the Americas.[57] Over the years, more
and more evidence has advanced the idea of "pre-Clovis" cultures including tools dating back about
15,550 years ago. It is likely these represent the first of three major waves of migrations into North
America.[58]
Over time, indigenous cultures in North America grew increasingly complex, and some, such as
the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture in the southeast, developed advanced agriculture, grand
architecture, and state-level societies.[59] The Mississippian culture flourished in the south from 800 to
1600 AD, extending from the Mexican border down through Florida.[60] Its city state Cahokia is
considered the largest, most complex pre-Columbian archaeological site in the modern-day United
States.[61] In the Four Corners region, Ancestral Puebloans culture developed as the culmination of
centuries of agricultural experimentation, which produced greater dependence on
farming.[62] Three UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the United States are credited to the
Pueblos: Mesa Verde National Park, Chaco Culture National Historical Park, and Taos
Pueblo.[63][64] The earthworks constructed by Native Americans of the Poverty Point culture in
northeastern Louisiana have also been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. In the
southern Great Lakes region, the Iroquois Confederacy (Haudenosaunee) was established at some
point between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries.[65]