Historian
Basics
Basics
When historians don't have much evidence and are trying to learn more, they make this kind of guessing 'thesis' -- a term shared with the sciences.
What is a hypothesis?
This is the most well-supported theory of origin for indigenous Americans, involving cyclical ice ages and people walking from Siberia to the Americas.
What is the Bering Land Bridge theory?
(Or What is the Beringia theory?)
Though the smallest of the three major sections of the Americas, this location was 'central' to the domestication of many important American foods, like the tomato.
What is Mesoamerica?
1492 was the year Columbus set sail, but it was also the year this European nation was first created.
What is the Kingdom of Spain?
(What is Spain?)
Generally considered the first superhero, he is at least the first superhero with a cape and a brightly colored costume, invented in 1938.
Who is Superman?
The most important kind of tool historians use, this kind of evidence tends to be discovered by archaeologists except in very modern cases.
What is a primary source?
Although the two continents have visibly related shapes, there are currently no major theories linking South American indigenous people with this continent in prehistory.
What is Africa?
There were very few plants and no animals still native to this continent which were useful for domestication by the time Columbus arrived.
What is North America?
This European power was as brutal as any other in the Caribbean, but enjoyed a friendlier relationship with the natives far up north -- unlike their English rivals.
What was the Kingdom of France?
(What was France?)
For two "generations", this television franchise has promised to "boldly go where no one has gone before" -- using space and science to study human society.
What is Star Trek?
Stronger than a hypothesis, certainly not a guess, but not quite a fact -- this kind of supposition has a lot of evidence behind it.
What is a theory?
The so-called "Clovis culture" appears to have existed on both North America and this continent.
What is Europe?
Most of the population of the Precolumbian Americas resided in this continent, the home of the Andes Mountains.
What is South America?
Both Amerigo Vespucci and Cristobal Colon ultimately hailed from a-'boot' this European region.
What is Italy?
(Italy would not be a country until much later.)
This sport is played on a so-called 'gridiron', marking every 10 yards on a field, and doesn't involve much kicking; it gets its name from being a sport you could play without needing a horse.
What is Football?
Although exceptionally good translations are sometimes considered to be as good as the original, usually translations of direct evidence are considered this kind of source.
What is a secondary source?
Genetic evidence suggests no less than this many possible origins for the peoples of America.
What is three?
This Caribbean culture was the first of the Americans to meet Christopher Columbus; he was later so cruel to them that Spain ordered him to return home and face trial.
Who are the Taino?
This European power was the first to settle New York, or as they called it, New Amsterdam.
What is the Netherlands?
(Who were the Dutch?
What is Holland?)
This team sport is by far the most popular sport that was solely invented in America -- and it was invented by a Canadian! Past greats have had nicknames like "His Royal Airness", "the Stilt", "the Mailman", "Doctor J", "Magic", and "King James."
What is Basketball?
Encyclopedias and textbooks are at best what kind of source?
What is a tertiary source?
This animal was later reintroduced to the Americas in its domesticated form after having died out there around 10,000 years ago.
What is the horse?
Though they never got very far in America, this European culture did have settlements in Greenland 400 years before Christopher Columbus.
Who are the Vikings?
This tiny European country shares the Iberian peninsula with Spain, but had almost half of all South America in one colony.
What is the Kingdom of Portugal?
(What is Portugal?)
This popular American movie franchise started in 1977, but it claims to be set "a long time ago", in someplace "far, far away"...
What is Star Wars?