chapter 6. America _ Bering Land Bridge

In the north, off the coast of present-day Alaska, the Americas are separated from Asia by a narrow strip of water called a strait. Known now as the Bering Strait, this body of water is fairly shallow. During the Ice Age, much of the world's water was trapped in glaciers. Thus the bottom of the Bering Strait became a land "bridge."  This land bridge, today called Beringia, provided a means for Asians to move into the Americas.

Bering Land Bridge              
From this map you can see where a strip of land across the Bering Sea connected Asia and North America during the last Ice Age. The first humans came to the Americas from Asia across this land bridge, perhaps in search of large game animals. Scholars estimate that this migration took place somewhere between 14,000 and 50,000 years ago. When the Ice Age ended around 7000 B.C., melting glaciers raised the level of the seas so that water covered the land bridge.                        

 

 

Q. What geographic feature enabled nomads to travel to the Americas?