1. Why do people move? Where do they go? Why do they go there?
Human Migration
Why do people move? Where do they go? Why do they go there?

2. What is migration?

3. “Push Factors”
Push factors are things that make large groups of people want to leave a place.
These factors are things that push you away from your home – things that make you want to find a new place to live, because they are so bad.
So when you think of push factors – think bad things.
What kinds of things do you think would make thousands of people want to leave their home?

4. “Pull Factors”
Pull factors are things that attract large groups of people to go somewhere specific that are coming from one or more places.
These factors are things that pull you to a specific place – something that sounds so great, you want to go get it.
When you think of pull factors – think of good things – things that people want.
What kinds of things do you think would attract people from all over the world?

5. Modern Migrations
Can you think of any instances of thousands or millions of people moving from one place to another within the last 100 years?
For these examples, try to think of the push factors and the pull factors.

6. The First Americans Who were they? How did they get here?
How do we know? [Are we even sure?]

7. Ice Age Climate change isn’t new.
Extreme weather events can cause chemicals deep in the earth to be released into the atmosphere and cause the Earth to warm up or cool down.
Periods of warming and cooling tend to happen in cycles that last between 10 and 50 thousand years.
The last ice age began about 40,000 years ago in 38,000 BCE.

8. The Bering Land Bridge Now: 2 miles apart
In that ice age, the Arctic Ice Cap expanded, freezing much of the Arctic Ocean into massive glaciers.
Sea levels fell because less water was circulating around earth. Land that is now underwater was exposed.
It is likely that Alaska and Russia were connected unlike the are now.
The connection between Russia and Alaska is called the Bering Land Bridge.
Then: connected

9. So… they came from Russia?
Well… there was no “Russia” at the time.
The First Americans – Paleo- Indians as they are now known, came from a region called Siberia – where the white tigers are from.
This is an environment known as the tundra. It is very cold and tough to live in.

10. When they crossed over, where did they go?

11. How do we even know any of this?
Well – it’s interesting that you ask. Because we aren’t 100% positive. There is still a debate about this, but we think this is the MOST likely option.
Historians have to use scientific research to test their hypotheses about history. Without the scientific theory – historians are just guessing.
cultures/videos/the-first-americans

12. Are there other theories out there?
Absolutely! And it’s important to keep our minds open. Check out this video:
Trans-Atlantic Theory:
Asian Navigation – Chinese and Japanese naval captains could have traversed the Northern Pacific and sailed South before, during, or after an ice age.