In 1492, Christopher Columbus set out to find a new way from Europe to Asia. His aim was to open up a shorter trade route between the two continents. On the morning of October 12th, he stepped ashore on the beach of a low sandy island. He named the island San Salvador. He named the brown skinned people who lived there Indians. Only recently have these first Americans been described more accurately as “native Americans” or Amerindians. There were many different groups of Amerindians, and they all followed very different ways of life. Together, they spoke over 300 separate languages. Europeans called America “the New World.”. but it was not new to the Amerindians. Their ancestors had already been living there for over 50.000 years when Columbus arrived. Scientists believe that the distant ancestors of the Amerindians came to America from Asia, during the last ice age. At that time, a bridge of ice joined Asia to America across what is now the Bering Strait.