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Colorado History
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Colorado
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Early History
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Apart from the brief visit of the Scandinavians in the early
eleventh century, the Western Hemisphere remained unknown to Europe until Columbus's voyage in
1492. However, the native peoples of North and South America arrived from Asia long before, in a
series of migrations that began perhaps as early as forty thousand years ago across the land
bridge that connected Siberia and Alaska.
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Colorado Early History
First Early Inhabitants of Colorado
Early history examines the archaeological record that tells the story of the first inhabitants of Colorado. Learn about the history and culture of the first inhabitants, and what lessons it might teach us about the early history of Colorado.
Colorado First Early Inhabitants
- 1500 BC - Earliest inhabitants of Colorado were known as the Basket Makers.
- 500 BC - Other Native Americans, ancestors of the Pueblo, entered the area and most probably intermingled with the Basket Makers.
- 1 to 1299 - Advent of great Prehistoric Cliff Dwelling Civilization in the Mesa Verde region.
- 1276 to 1299 - A great drought and/or pressure from nomadic tribes forced the Cliff Dwellers to abandon their Mesa Verde homes.
The earliest inhabitants of Colorado were known as the Basket Makers. They arrived in the region around 1500 BC and were primarily nomadic hunters. The Basket Makers developed a sophisticated practice of basket making, and they created waterproof containers by covering baskets with clay and baking them.
Gradually, the Basket Makers developed farming practices and raised corn and squash. By 500 BC, other Native Americans, ancestors of the Pueblo, entered the area and most probably intermingled with the Basket Makers. Later inhabitants,probably the Anasazi Indians, who included the cliff dwellers who built multi-storied stone houses in the alcoves of canyon walls in the southwestern corner of Colorado. At the end of the thirteenth century, these Indians abandoned their cliff dwellings and apparently moved southward.
When Spanish explorers came to the area in the 16th century, they found many different tribes of Native Americans. The Ute inhabited the mountain valleys, while the Comanche, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Kiowa lived in the Great Plains region. Warfare between these groups of early inhabitants was continuous. Eventually, the Plains Indians combined forces in an attempt to stop the invasion of their homelands by white settlers.
Today, most of the state's Native American population is found on the Southern Ute reservation in the Denver area.
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US History
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Understanding history is empowering. An incident is but the furthest
ripple of an ever-expanding wave that may have started eddying outward hundreds of years ago. One
who has "insight" in history is able to harness the power of that wave's entire journey.
United States of America has an early history beginning
sometime prior to 15,000 years ago, as well as the past 200 years or so of rich and proud
history, which is relatively short compared to other countries and nations. From
Independence to the Civil War to the World Wars to the Cold War, we have a lot of things to
tell and things to be proud of.
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