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Beringia

Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History | 1999 | Copyright

BERINGIA

Beringia is the land bridge thought to have existed over the Bering Strait, the waterway that separates Asia (Russia) from North America (Alaska). Scholars believe that a natural bridge was formed across the strait either by ice or by dropping sea levels that exposed land masses during the late ice age (known as the Pleistocene glacial epoch, which ended around 10,000 b.c.)

Asian peoples are believed to have migrated over Beringia as they pursued large game. They arrived in North America as early as 50,000 b.c. These people were the Paleo-Indians, the first inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere. Many American Indian groups that were encountered by the Europeans in the early 1500s were descendants of the migratory Paleo-Indians.

The Bering Strait, which connects the Arctic Ocean and the Bering Sea, is 53 miles (85 kilometers) across at its most narrow point. The first European to traverse the Bering Strait (in 1728) was Danish navigator Vitus Bering (1681–1741), from whom it takes its name. He had been employed by Russian Czar Peter the Great to determine whether Asia and North America were connected.

See also: Paleo-Indians

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"Beringia." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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Beringia

A Dictionary of Earth Sciences | 1999 | | Copyright

Beringia Area comprising the Bering Strait and adjacent Siberia and Alaska. At various times in the late Mesozoic and in the Cenozoic, the strait was dry land and so provided an important migration route for plants and animals between the Palaearctic and Neoarctic biogeographical regions.

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AILSA ALLABY and MICHAEL ALLABY. "Beringia." A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

AILSA ALLABY and MICHAEL ALLABY. "Beringia." A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O13-Beringia.html

AILSA ALLABY and MICHAEL ALLABY. "Beringia." A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. 1999. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O13-Beringia.html

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Beringia

A Dictionary of Ecology | 2004 | | Copyright

Beringia An area comprising the Bering Strait and adjacent Siberia and Alaska. At various times in the late Mesozoic and Cenozoic, the Strait was dry land and so provided for plants and animals an important migration route between the Palaearctic and Nearctic biogeographical regions.

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MICHAEL ALLABY. "Beringia." A Dictionary of Ecology. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MICHAEL ALLABY. "Beringia." A Dictionary of Ecology. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O14-Beringia.html

MICHAEL ALLABY. "Beringia." A Dictionary of Ecology. 2004. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O14-Beringia.html

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Beringia

A Dictionary of Plant Sciences | 1998 | | Copyright

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MICHAEL ALLABY. "Beringia." A Dictionary of Plant Sciences. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MICHAEL ALLABY. "Beringia." A Dictionary of Plant Sciences. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O7-Beringia.html

MICHAEL ALLABY. "Beringia." A Dictionary of Plant Sciences. 1998. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O7-Beringia.html

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