About 40 million years ago, the simians split into the groups: the Platyrrhini (New World monkeys) and Catarrhini (apes and Old World monkeys). The key question is how did the early monkeys get to the Americas? There is at present no evidence for either of the two possible routes. Route one is across the then less wide Atlantic. Route two is across Asia, across the Bering Strait, and down through North America.