Native Americans also known as American Indians indigenous Americans and other terms or the indigenous people of the United States except Hawaii the name Indian was given by Christopher Columbus who mistakenly believed he had landed in the Indies the history of Native Americans in the u.s. began in ancient times tens of thousands of years ago late in the Ice Age humans journeyed across the Bering Land Bridge that joined Siberia to Alaska they had gradually migrated across the land and southward into Mexico and beyond their descendants explored along the west coast of North America as early as 1000 BC they had covered nearly the entire continent over thousands of years as they migrated across the continents American Indians have developed a variety of languages and civilizations they came from different tribes such as in Europe Asia or Africa when the Ice Age ended the Native Americans developed their tribes by making wise use of natural resources available they had first experience with growing different crops such as corn and squash racing animals like turkeys llamas and guinea pigs for food hunting deer bison sea mammals and catching fish by using a variety of efficient methods another development during the period before the European invasions was the mound building from the present day region of the Midwestern United States to southern Peru in South America centers of government were marched by enormous mounds of Earth most of these mounds were flat on top with palaces and temples built on them some were burial sites of honored leaders American Indian cities were as big as the cities in Europe and Asia at that time their fine architecture is still greatly admired after 1492 European exploration and colonization of the Americas revolutionized how the old and new worlds perceive themselves many of the first major contacts were in Florida and the Gulf Coast by Spanish explorers from the 16th through the 19th centuries the population of Indians sharply declined most mainstream scholars believe that among the various contributing factors epidemic disease was the overwhelming cost of the population decline of the Native Americans because of their lack of immunity to new diseases brought from Europe such as measles chicken pox cholera yellow fever and many more devastating diseases however these diseases were rarely fatal among Europeans with the meeting of two worlds animals insects and plants were carried from one to the other both deliberately and by chance and what is called the Columbian Exchange especially horse which escaped and began to breed and increase their numbers in the wild native America used horses to carry goods to hunt game and to conduct Wars in horse rates the Europeans started colonizing the Americas in order to cultivate new farm lands and create new jobs for the growing populations of Europe the do so they often fought Native American tribal nations for the land during the American Revolution the newly proclaimed United States competed with the British for the allegiance of Native American nations east of the Mississippi River most Native Americans who joined the struggle sided with the British based both on their trading relationships and hopes that the colonial defeat would result in the halt to further colonial expansion onto Native American land the United States was eager to expand develop farming and settlements new areas and satisfy land hunger of settlers from New England and new immigrants the national government initially sought to purchase Native American land by treaties the states and settlers were frequently at odds with this policy United States policy toward Native Americans continue to evolve after the American Revolution George Washington and Henry Knox believed that Native Americans were equals but their society was inferior Washington formulated a policy to encourage the civilizing process this led to the civilization fund Act of 1819 as American expansion continued Native Americans resisted settlers encroachment in several regions in the 1830s President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830 a policy of relocating Indians from their homelands to Indian Territory and reservations and surrounding areas to open their lands for non-native settlements this resulted in the Trail of Tears Native American nations on the plains in the West continued armed conflicts with the u.s. throughout the 19th century through what were called generally Indian Wars notable conflicts in this period include the Dakota war Great Sioux war snake war Colorado war and Texas Indian Wars and one of the last events during the Indian Wars was the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 here warriors women and children alike were ferociously slaughtered by the US Cavalry in 1919 the United States under President Woodrow Elson rented citizenship to all Native Americans who had served in World War one nearly ten thousand men had enlisted and served a high number in relation to their population despite this in many areas Native Americans faced local resistance when they tried to vote and were discriminated against with barriers to voter registration On June 2nd 1924 US President Calvin Coolidge signed the Indian Citizenship Act which made all Native Americans born in the United States and its territories American citizens prior to passage of the Act nearly two-thirds of Native Americans were already US citizens through marriage military service or accepting land allotments the Act extended citizenship to all non citizen Indians born within the territorial limits of the United States under the US Constitution American Indians today in the u.s. have all rights to vote in elections and run for political office controversies however remain over how much the federal government has jurisdiction over tribal affairs sovereignty and cultural practices
