[maxerickson]

Humans are likely the first hominids to occupy the Americas.

There's some speculation of earlier migrations:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/new-evidence-hu...

In any case, humans had been living here for several thousand years before Columbus arrived 500 years ago. Is it so difficult to see a distinction between millions of people with hundreds of years of history and thousands of people arriving on ships?

(Estimates of the total population vary quite a lot; millions is quite a safe claim: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_history_of_indigeno... )