North America has been home to thousands of cultures, each with its own traditions, languages, and stories. The first people to travel across the Bering Strait from Asia to North America established societies that expanded and evolved other thousands of years, independent of outside influence. However, beginning in the 15th century, the arrival of European colonists, who brought with them their own languages, cultures, weapons, and diseases, transformed the lives of the Native peoples and the land of North America forever. Written by Carl Waldman