Which term refers to the first people to inhabit North America during the late Pleistocene?

The term that refers to the first people to inhabit North America during the late Pleistocene is Paleoindians. These early inhabitants are significant because they are characterized by their hunting and gathering lifestyle and are often associated with the Clovis culture, which is recognized for its distinctive stone tool technology. Paleoindians are believed to have migrated across the Bering Land Bridge from Asia to North America during the last Ice Age, adapting to the changing environments as they spread across the continent.

In contrast, Neolithic settlers were part of a much later period marked by the development of agriculture in different global regions and are not associated with the earliest inhabitants of North America. Bronze Age inhabitants refer to cultures that emerged in various parts of the world with the advent of metal tools, which is also not relevant to the late Pleistocene context. Amazonian tribes specifically denote indigenous groups from the Amazon rainforest, which are geographically and culturally distinct from the early inhabitants of North America. This contextual understanding emphasizes the uniqueness of Paleoindians as the original inhabitants and their importance to the history of human settlement in North America.