A Brief History of America | Series 8 Episode 0

Before we begin our adventures exploring the history and folklore of the Thirteen Colonies of America, we present our first episode of Series 8: A Brief History of America!

We explore the history of North America from the earliest human migration across the Beringia land bridge, now the Bering Strait.

Looking at the distinct archaeological stages of American pre-history, we talk through the Lithic, the Archaic, the Formative, the Classic and the Post-Classic phases, and the development of distinct societies and cultures.

It's a fascinating picture of complex early societies with incredible trade networks like the Hopewell Exchange System, which allowed goods and resources to travel great distances from their place of origin.

All this came before the first contact with European explorers. Searching for a western route through to India to bypass Ottoman control of eastern trade, sailors made landfall in the Americas almost by accident, yet it ultimately led to wide-scale colonisation.

We hope it's an interesting listen, whether you are American or otherwise - and the story of how 'America' got its name should at least make you laugh!

About Three Ravens 🔮

Three Ravens is a completely independent English myth and folklore podcast where we share stories, celebrate folk culture, and fall backwards through the hedgerows of history.

Hosted by real-life couple Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux, and mostly recorded at our home in rural Sussex in southern England, Three Ravens is rated 4.8/5 from over 500 reviews and has grown by word of mouth care of our lovely listener community ‘The Conspiracy of Ravens.’

We release three episodes a week, on Mondays, Thursday and Saturdays, through which we explore folktales, folkways, fairy stories, folk songs, mythology, local heritage, seasonal customs and traditional beliefs.

Our research inspires our retellings of stories from across history and culture, with episodes standing alone but connected together across over 500 chatty, mostly light-hearted, swear-free installments driven by passion, kindness and curiosity.

Now ranked as an all-time Top 5 podcast across several categories by Goodpods, charting in the Spotify, Apple and Rephonic UK Fiction Top 10 across 2024, 2025 and 2026, if you’re interested in ghosts, monsters, regional beliefs, and the things that unite us all, then join us round the campfire and listen in…