美洲是世界古文明的重要发祥地之一,印第安人则是美洲古文明的创造者。对美洲印第安人的起源问题,历来众说纷纭。如今世界上占主导的看法是:冰川时期(公元前7万—公元前1.2万年),亚洲东北部与美洲西北部有陆桥相连,一批亚洲猎手越过陆桥进入北美地区,并繁衍生息,发展成后来的美洲印第安人。印第安人经过漫长的渔猎采集生活,大约在公元前3000—公元前2000年开始定居并从事农业种植。玉米种植是印第安文明的基础,故印第安文明又称“玉米文明”。 The Americas are one of the important birthplaces of the ancient civilizations of the world. Indians are the creators of the ancient civilizations of the Americas. There have been many opinions about the origin of the American Indian. Today, the world’s dominant view is that during the glacial period (70,000 BC - 12,000 BC), the northeastern part of Asia was linked to a land bridge in the northwestern part of the Americas, and a group of Asian hunters crossed the land bridge into North America and thrived. Later became the American Indians. After a long period of time, the Indians collected and lived. They settled and began farming in 3,000 to 2,000 BC. Corn planting is the basis of Indian civilization, so Indian civilization is also known as “maize civilization.”