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America
was discovered long before Christopher Columbus - by Ice Age travellers.
The polar icecaps had frozen so much water that sea levels were
lower, and Beringia, or what is now the Bering Strait, separating
Asia from America, was a plain on which large animals grazed.
The humans who hunted those animals or gathered fruit and molluscs
crossed over to our continent without realising it. Here they
found vast expanses of territory, with rich and varied natural
environments that provided them with sustenance. For thousands
of years they had no need to cultivate the land, as they could
live off what nature offered them, roaming around their territory
to get to hunting grounds or gathering from plants during the
seasons when these were productive.
In Colombia, traces have been found of these early settlers
dating back 16,000 years. Remains recorded by archaeologists
indicate that 5,000 years ago, many groups decided to settle,
and to put into practice their extensive knowledge of their
surroundings to cultivate the land. Settlements grew, and as
time passed, they appointed leaders and chieftains to arrange
and order their political and ritual lives. It was a mere 2,500
years ago that these leaders began to use goldwork as a symbol
of their power.
Man's first
marks on the continent
America at
the end of the Ice Age
Stones tell
their own story
Colombia: Gateway
to South America
A splendid
dinner 8,000 years ago
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