Immigration by Land Bridge

• During the most recent Ice Age, the North American continent was linked to Siberia by a land bridge across what is now the Bering Sea. According to the prevailing theory, the first settlers of North America were people from Siberia who came across the land bridge before the Ice Age ended. As the Ice Age came to an end, melting glaciers flooded the land bridge, separating Siberia and North America. More recent studies, however, have cast doubt on this theory because the land bridge seems to have existed for a relatively short time and to have been submerged by water much earlier than previously thought. It is possible that some of the first settlers came over by this land bridge, while others came over on boats like the later settlers.
  
  

Immigration by Viking Ship

• If the phrase "first immigrants" is restricted to those who arrived after the continent had been settled by its indigenous inhabitants, then it could refer to the Vikings. Viking explorer Leif Eriksson is said to have led his followers to North America in 1000 A.D., naming the new continent "Vinland" and its native inhabitants "skraelings." Archaeological digs in Newfoundland have confirmed that there was a Viking colony at L'Anse aux Meadows. The Vikings would have traveled to America in a "langskip," a Viking warship, or a "knarr," a Viking merchant vessel. Both ships were single-masted sailing vessels, although the "langskip" also made use of banks of oars.
  
  

Immigration by Tall Ship

• If the phrase "first immigrants" is confined to those whose ancestors later founded the United States, it would refer to the early colonists from England and elsewhere in Europe, such as those from the Plymouth Colony and Jamestown. These settlers made the passage across the Atlantic Ocean in wooden sailing vessels, such as the Mayflower, a four-masted ship that was 106 feet long and 25 feet wide that carried the settlers of the Plymouth colony.
  
  

Immigration by Servitude

• If the phrase "first immigrants" is restricted to those who came over after the American colonies had already been established, then many of the first immigrants arrived as slaves or indentured servants. Indentured servitude was a practice in which an immigrant would work as a servant for several years in exchange for passage to America. "Redemptioners," a type of indentured servant, actually traveled over without any way to pay for their voyage at all. They were kept on the ship in the harbor until someone paid the ship owners and took the redemptioner on as a servant.