Who are Native Americans?

Native Americans are the descendents of this land's first inhabitants. The homelands of Native American peoples once spread across all of North America and Alaska. The Native American community is made up of several different tribes with varying languages, religious practices and other traditional elements. Today over 500 tribes are recognized by the United States government. These tribes are regarded as distinct governments within the United States.

Scientific evidence suggests that Native Americans have lived throughout North America for thousands of years. There are several theories as to how Native Americans came to this land:

• Many Native Americans have their own deeply held beliefs about their creation or arrival in their ancient homelands. These legends and religious stories vary from group to group.
• Some experts think the first Americans came from Asia. They may have walked across a strip of land that once bridged the Bering Strait between Asia and Alaska. (This strip of land is underwater today.)

Many civilizations thrived in the Americas before the arrival of Europeans. These included:

• Adena
  When and where they thrived: about 100 BC-400 AD in the Ohio River Valley
  Notable features: built mounds for burial and other purposes, indicating a complex social organization.
• Hopewell
  When and where they thrived: about 100 BC-400 AD between the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes
  Notable features: built large burial mounds; created pottery and artwork of stone, copper and mica; established wide trade networks.
• Mississippian
  When and where they thrived: about 700 AD, in the Mississippi River Valley and other river valleys.
  Notable features: built large ceremonial mounds; practiced advanced farming; settlement at Cahokia (in present-day Illinois) was home to 10, 000 or more.
• Hohokm, Mogollon, and Anasazi
  When and where they thrived: about 500 AD-1400 AD, in the American Southwest
  Notable features: created complex farming systems, including irrigation networks; built large brick or stone "apartment buildings" called pueblos; crafted distinctive potter and other arts.

In the 1500s, Native Americans occupied every corner of the land. Each tribe and nation was different. But, within each region, groups shared similar ways of life.

Northwest
Great forests provided wood for shelter, tools and boats. The sea, rivers and forests supplied plentiful food, which allowed people to settle in villages.

California
Coastal peoples fished, forest peoples hunted ant gathered acorns, and trade was widespread. Basket making was a special skill among many groups.

Plateau
Rivers offered transportation and food for groups that settled along river banks. Hunting and trade were other important enterprises.

Great Basin
This dry region offered few resources; therefore, Great Basin peoples lived in small groups that moved constantly in search of food and water.

Southwest
The dry climate led Southwest peoples to develop advanced farming and irrigation methods. Some peoples built large pueblos.

Great Plains
In much of this region, the buffalo was the main source of food and supplies. Plains peoples moved often in search of this resource.

Arctic
Few plants grow in the harsh climate. Arctic peoples hunted wildlife, which provided food, clothing and tools. They developed the kayak to aid in hunting.

Subarctic
Fish and game were plentiful in the Subarctic. Its people were skilled hunters who moved in small bands in search of food, using birch-bark canoes and toboggans.

Southeast
Rich forests and farmland offered an abundant food supply. Many peoples built permanent villages. Distant trade was common in this area.

Eastern Woodland
Lifestyles of different tribes varied according to available resources. An organization of tribes called the Iroquois dominate a huge area and developed a democratic system of government.

Recent American Indian history

1500s
European explorers began visiting North America in search of wealth and trade routes to Asia. Many began trading goods with Native Americans.

1598
Spain's Don Juan de Onate established missions in present-day New Mexico where he forced Native Americans to work and adopt the Christian religion.

1621-22
Squanto, a Wampanoag Indian, aided the English Pilgrims who had just arrived in present-day Massachusetts. His guidance helped these and many other English settlers to survive.

1675-76
To resist growing European settlement in New England, Wampanoag leader Metacomet organized attacks on settlers. The settlers defeated Metacomet and his allies, forcing many Native Americans to be banished from New England.

Early 1700s
Trade between Native Americans and European settlers grew. As Indians received European goods, traditional hunting and trading practices disappeared. Tribes began to compete with each other over trade.

1754-63
Competition between France and Britain erupted into war in North America. Native Americans were separated in factions with some supporting the French and others the British. French supporters suffered greatly when the British won.

1763
The British promised to respect Indian property rights west of the Appalachians; however, the British failed to stop the flow of American settlers onto these lands.

1787
The new United States government pledged respect for American Indian property rights. But settlers continued pushing west with the United States usurping vast areas of American Indian lands.

1830
Congress passed the Indian Removal Act which sought to remove Native Americans from their homelands to reservations west of the Mississippi River.

1848
Settlers streamed across the continent to mine gold which was found in California. Native Americans of the Plains and the West were now "surrounded." Open warfare flared as more settlers entered Native American land. Indians were pitted against settlers and the United States Army.

1876
At Little Bighorn, warriors led by Crazy Horse defeated Lieutenant Colonel George Custer's forces. It was the last major Native American military victory.

1887
Congress passed the Dawes Act. This divided some reservation land into individual farms for individual Indians. One goal was to help Native Americans become more "civilized." In reality, the Act disrupted Native American communities and cultures.

Early 1900s
During these years, many of the farms created under the Dawes Act failed, often because the land could not support agriculture. These failures help explain the loss or sale of 90 million acres of Native American land between 1886-1934. In 1924, a congressional act granted U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans.

1934
Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act. This new policy sought to protect Native Americans from loss of their lands and provided funds for economic development. It also helped reestablish tribal governments.

1953
The federal government sought to terminate its special relationship with Native Americans. Many groups lost federal health, housing and other benefits they had come to depend on. Native cultures and languages faded as Native Americans moved to cities in search of work.

1960s-70s
The federal government again began to change its policies. The focus shifted back toward aiding Native Americans in government themselves and in overcoming poverty within the Native American community. In 1975, Congress passed the Indian Self-Determination and Educational Assistance Act to further these goals.

Source-Scripto Publications