pre-Columbian
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of pre-Columbian
First recorded in 1885–90
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
While medieval Iberia and pre-Columbian Mexico were radically different places, the imagination that birthed these beasts reveals shared interests that transcended time, place and culture.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Mexican anthropologist and sculptor Francisco Cornejo assisted the architects to craft a building that was based on authentic designs of pre-Columbian American societies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2025
The terrain is difficult enough and inaccessible enough that it likely would not have been utilized even by pre-Columbian peoples, certainly not in a permanent way.
From Salon ● Apr. 26, 2025
An archaeologist from the University of New Hampshire and her team have collected data which indicates the presence of a large-scale pre-Columbian fish-trapping facility.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 22, 2024
Las Casas’s successors usually shared his ideas—the eighteenth- century Jesuit Francisco Javier Clavijero, for example, asserted that the pre-Columbian population of Mexico alone was thirty million.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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