"First People"

[Helen S]

In watching the opening ceremonies in Vancouver, much attention was paid to the original inhabitants of the northern portion of the continent. I do recall similar attentions being paid by the prevailing culture in Athens (although it is still the same culture) and Syndey, but do not for any of the american olympic ceremonies.
Unfortunately I do not have a good sense of the history of the european migration into and across Canada. Was it markedly different than in the US, and is it culturally still so?

[Marlow]

Re: "First People"

In watching the opening ceremonies in Vancouver, much attention was paid to the original inhabitants of the northern portion of the continent.

I've read that the best guess is that the trans-Bering migration happened about 40,000 years ago. They would have been the first North Americans to honor.

[lonewolf]

Re: "First People"

In watching the opening ceremonies in Vancouver, much attention was paid to the original inhabitants of the northern portion of the continent.

I've read that the best guess is that the trans-Bering migration happened about 40,000 years ago. They would have been the first North Americans to honor.

I agree with Marlow as to the first trans-Bering migrants being the first North Americans.
The tribes in the NW US/Western Canada are the ones who stopped there. Others just kept going and populated the rest of North and South America. There is evidence that South American Indians may have migrated across the Pacific since recent discoveries place human habitation in South America in the same 40-50,000 years ago time frame.
As to European migration, my sense is that early migration largely ignored the US/Canada border. It does seem Northern Europeans tended to settle in the northern latitudes but I am not prepared to defend that premise.

[DrJay]

Re: "First People"

Weren't George Burns and Strom Thurmond among those early trans-Bering migrants?

[lonewolf]

Re: "First People"

Weren't George Burns and Strom Thurmond among those early trans-Bering migrants?

I don't recall seeing them but they could have been in another tribe.

[Pego]

Re: "First People"

In watching the opening ceremonies in Vancouver, much attention was paid to the original inhabitants of the northern portion of the continent.

I've read that the best guess is that the trans-Bering migration happened about 40,000 years ago. They would have been the first North Americans to honor.

I agree with Marlow as to the first trans-Bering migrants being the first North Americans.
The tribes in the NW US/Western Canada are the ones who stopped there. Others just kept going and populated the rest of North and South America. There is evidence that South American Indians may have migrated across the Pacific since recent discoveries place human habitation in South America in the same 40-50,000 years ago time frame.
As to European migration, my sense is that early migration largely ignored the US/Canada border. It does seem Northern Europeans tended to settle in the northern latitudes but I am not prepared to defend that premise.

Not long ago, I read in one of the popular science magazins (might have been Scientific American, but I am not sure) that the DNA of the indigenous population of southwest South America is similar to the Ice Age population of southwest Europe, the Solutreans IIRC, rather than to the peoples of northeast Asia. If so, that would indicate more than one prehistoric colonizations of the Americas.

Edit a typo.

[gh]

Re: "First People"

On a related note, my paper last Thursday talked about new research being published in Nature, which has genomed a Greenland find and determined that the early settlers there were Siberian, filling in one piece of what remains a complicated migration puzzle.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 1BV2EC.DTL

[Helen S]

Re: "First People"

So why did America not honor it's native residents, while other countries have done so? Will Brazil step up to that plate? I am not sure what London might do.

[gh]

Re: "First People"

London Opening Ceremony: think Druids.

[lonewolf]

Re: "First People"

So why did America not honor it's native residents, while other countries have done so?

Short answer: I don't know.
While I personally have never suffered any persecution or prejudice, as a descendant of North America's earliest residents, I am aware, but, probably for that reason not overly sensitive, that Indians have long been ignored/forgotten/overlooked. There are millions of us, some fully assimulated, some still combative. I am grateful that my grandparents had the wisdom to assimilate.

[scottmitchell74]

Re: "First People"

London Opening Ceremony: think Druids.

That would be awesome! Brit history is interesting. Will there be a nod to Vikings and Romans?

[cullman]

Re: "First People"

London Opening Ceremony: think Druids.

That would be awesome! Brit history is interesting. Will there be a nod to Vikings and Romans?

I'm thinking more like...Piltdown Man. :P ops:

[Daisy]

Re: "First People"

London Opening Ceremony: think Druids.

That would be awesome! Brit history is interesting. Will there be a nod to Vikings and Romans?

I'm thinking more like...Piltdown Man. :P ops:

Beowulf could take him down.

Surely King Arthur will make an appearance? Good old Harold defending against the Norman invaders.

[Brian]

Re: "First People"

London Opening Ceremony: think Druids.

LOL!

One of my favorite lines is to threaten my friends I'm going to run for governor on the Druid Party ticket. Hey, this is Minnesota; I could actually win...!

[IanS_Liv]

Re: "First People"

London Opening Ceremony: think Druids.

That would be awesome! Brit history is interesting. Will there be a nod to Vikings and Romans?

I don't know, but I'm fairly sure you can expect Stonehenge to make an appearance.

I do hope they include some Celtic stuff - the proper culture, not the tourist crap. I've just come back from a few days in Edinburgh, which is an amazing place. But I've never seen so much tartan in my life. And it took me a while to recover from hearing "Smoke on the Water" performed by bagpipes.

We could have a re-enactment of the Battle of Trafalgar, just to really, really annoy the French ...