Before Bol.com Before The New World Paperback

Long before Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic, the Americas were home to societies with thousands of years of history. People had migrated across the hemisphere, established permanent communities, developed complex political systems and built civilizations whose achievements would rival those of the ancient worlds of Europe, Africa and Asia.From Hunters to Settlers explores this forgotten history from the earliest human settlement of the Americas to the eve of European contact.Beginning with the first communities to enter the hemisphere, the book follows the transformation of human societies as settlements became larger and more complex. It traces the emergence of monumental traditions in the Andes and Mesoamerica before exploring the civilizations that followed.Discover the world of Caral, the Olmec, Monte Albán, Teotihuacan and the Maya, and follow the later development of powerful Andean societies including the Moche, Nazca, Wari, Tiwanaku, Chimú and Inca. The story also moves beyond these better-known civilizations to explore Cahokia, the societies of the American Southwest, the Eastern Woodlands, Amazonia and the Caribbean.Rather than presenting the Americas as a single civilization, this book explores the different ways societies developed across the hemisphere. Kingdoms, cities, confederacies and other political systems emerged under very different circumstances, creating a history far more diverse than the traditional image of the pre-Columbian Americas suggests.