Tens of thousands of years ago, when the world was in the midst of the Ice Age, the first humans made their way into North America. At that time, thick sheets of ice covering the polar regions had tied up so much of the earth’s water that the oceans were approximately 400 feet lower than they are today. All around the world sections of land that are now underwater were then above sea level. An extensive land bridge connected Siberia to Alaska across what is now the Bering Strait and people from Asia used this route for their passage into North America.

The land bridge between the two continents was clear of ice for thousands of years, and vegetation from both sides intermixed. Grazing animals, and the people who hunted them, gradually wandered from Asia into North America, probably without ever realizing they were moving into a new region. Although the earliest immigrants may have reached North America over 40,000 years ago, most of the present evidence dates from between 23,000 and 8,000 years ago.

Much of Canada was covered with ice during this time, but periodically, ice-free corridors of land connected Alaska with the Great Plains of the United States. Over hundreds of generations nomadic people spread throughout southern North America, Central America, and South America. At least by 12,000 years ago, the first Indians lived in the southeastern United States. The prehistoric era in Louisiana begins with these first inhabitants and concludes with the arrival of the Europeans. The chart at the left outlines the long, rich prehistory of Louisiana.