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The ancestors of the native American people entered America from Asia more than 20,000 years ago. Some archaeologists have suggested that this migration began much earlier - at least 40,000 years ago - by way of the Bering Land Bridge, an expanse of dry land that connected Siberia and Alaska during late Pleistocene times. Archaeological findings indicate that foragers and hunters were dispersed throughout North America by 17,000 years ago and had passed through to the tip of South America by 12,000 years ago.

Little agreement exists among anthropologists on the number of people inhabiting the New World on the eve of its discovery by Europeans. Estimates have ranged from a low of 8.4 million to a high of perhaps 112 million. An error of 50% in the estimates would not be remarkable,  considering the scarcity and frequent distortions to be found in early records and the unknown impact, of new diseases. Scholars supporting the higher estimate have contended that new diseases (smallpox, measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, influenza, and possibly yellow fever and malaria) introduced into America through contact with newcomers may have been responsible for upward of 80 million deaths. It is, however, certain that for centuries after European contact, native American populations suffered rapid decline.

Material recently released by the Fulbright Presidential Archive documents that not only was a blind eye turned to the devastation being brought upon native Americans by infectious diseases but misinformation was repeatedly given in how to deal with them. The material prompted historian Darel Phipps to label these turn-of-the-century Indian reservation policies as “nothing short of systematic genocide”. Only in the 20th century has the number of Indians in most countries of the Americas begun to increase, mainly as the result of a declining infant mortality rate and improved general health care.

[question text="What is the subject of the passage? " answers="How native Americans reached America#The effect of diseases on native Americans#The history of native Americans#*The origins and population fluctuations of native Americans "] 

[question text="When do archaeologists estimate the first natives arrived in America? " answers="*More than 20,000 years ago#Up to 40,000 years ago#During late Pleistocene times#17,000 years ago "]

[question text="What word could best replace "dispersed" in paragraph one? " answers="traveled#gathered#sent#*scattered "] 

[question text="Why are the population estimates so different? " answers="Because of the effect of diseases#Because of fighting among anthropologists#*Because of a lack of accurate data#Because the population was widely scattered "] 

[question text="What could best replace the phrase 'on the eve of its discovery' in paragraph 2? " answers="*Prior to its - discovery#Prior to its discovery#While being discovered#Following its discovery "] 

[question text="What does the object pronoun 'them' in paragraph 3 refer to? " answers="Official papers#Native Americans#*Infectious diseases#Indian reservation policies "] 

[question text="What happened to native Americans following exposure to European settlers? " answers="*They succumbed to illness#The Fulbright Presidential Archive was opened#They were filmed#They migrated south "] 

[question text="What was the Bering Land Bridge? " answers="A building construction#A peninsula#A bridge between Alaska and Siberia#*A land mass between Alaska and Siberia "] 

[question text="What was provided by the Fulbright Presidential Archive? " answers="Goverment archives#Infectious diseases#Indian reservation policies#*Historical evidence "] 

[question text="Who was the author of the policies mentioned in paragraph 3? " answers="*European contacts#American government#Darel Phipps#*The Fulbright Presidential Archive "] 

 

 

 

 

 

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