Claim: Central America contains agriculture.

The Pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents , spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during the Early Modern period .   While the phrase `` pre-Columbian era '' literally refers only to the time preceding Christopher Columbus 's voyages of 1492 , in practice the phrase is usually used to denote the entire history of indigenous Americas cultures until those cultures were vanquished , diminished , or extensively altered by Europeans , even if this happened decades or centuries after Columbus 's first landing . For this reason the alternative terms of Precontact Americas , Pre-Colonial Americas or Prehistoric Americas are also in use . In areas of Latin America the term usually used is Pre-Hispanic . Similarly , the Norse colonization of North America is generally not treated as `` pre-Columbian '' , despite the fact that it predates Columbus by several centuries .   Many pre-Columbian civilizations established hallmarks which included permanent settlements , cities , agriculture , civic and monumental architecture , major earthworks , and complex societal hierarchies . Some of these civilizations had long faded by the time of the first permanent European colonies and the arrival of enslaved Africans -LRB- c. late 16th -- early 17th centuries -RRB- , and are known only through archaeological investigations and oral history . Other civilizations were contemporary with the colonial period and were described in European historical accounts of the time . A few , such as the Maya civilization , had their own written records . Because many Christian Europeans of the time viewed such texts as heretical , men like Diego de Landa destroyed many texts in pyres , even while seeking to preserve native histories . Only a few hidden documents have survived in their original languages , while others were transcribed or dictated into Spanish , giving modern historians glimpses of ancient culture and knowledge .   Indigenous American cultures continue to evolve after the pre-Columbian era . Many of these peoples and their descendants continue traditional practices , while evolving and adapting new cultural practices and technologies into their lives .