Native Americans

In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed from Europe to North America and changed the world forever. Soon people from crowded European cities learned of the New World — a big, beautiful place where they could hunt, farm, and worship in freedom. For the millions of people already living there, however, this world was not new, it was home.

Their ancestors had been living on the American continents for thousands of years. They had their own rich civilizations, languages, and cultures. Columbus called them Indians, thinking he had reached India. Today, in the United States, they are called Native Americans and in Canada they are calledFirst Peoples. They are further categorized by their tribal names, such as Cherokee, Mohawk, or Hopi. Translated into English, many tribal names simply mean The People. As this name implies, they were the people of the land, the only people. Then Europeans came to North America. Colonists settled the eastern coast of North America and later established the United States. Then pioneers arrived and moved to new areas, west of the colonies. The incoming Europeans brought a hunger for more land. They also brought diseases, for which the Native Americans had no immunity.

During a period of four hundred years after the arrival of Columbus, both the Native Americans and the settlers faced immense challenges. During this time, millions of Native Americans died from disease and war. Since the 1900s, however, their populations have grown and much of their culture has survived. This encyclopedia series presents significant people and events in the history of Native Americans from the arrival of the Europeans to present-day events.