Native Americans in the United States
The Eurasian migration to the Americas began over millennia via Beringia, a land bridge connecting Siberia and Alaska. Archaeological evidence suggests these migrations started 25,000 years ago and continued until around 12,000 years ago. Some groups may have arrived even earlier by fishing in kayaks along what is known as the Kelp Highway. Major Paleo-Indian cultures included the Clovis and Folsom traditions, identified through unique spear points and large-game hunting methods. Around 8000 BCE, new cultural periods like the Archaic stage arose during which hunter-gatherer communities developed complex societies. The Mound Builders created large earthworks such as at Watson Brake and Poverty Point, dating to 3500 BCE and 2200 BCE. By 1000 BCE, Native societies in the Woodland period developed advanced social structures and trade networks. The Hopewell tradition connected the Eastern Woodlands to the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. This period led to the Mississippian culture with large urban centers like Cahokia, a city with complex mounds and a population exceeding 20,000 by 1250 CE. Ethnographers classify Indigenous peoples into ten cultural areas including the Arctic, Subarctic, Northeastern Woodlands, Southeastern Woodlands, Great Plains, Great Basin, Northwest Plateau, Northwest Coast, California, and Southwest.
European colonization from 1492 resulted in a precipitous decline in the size of the Native American population due to newly introduced diseases. Smallpox was especially devastating, causing populations in some regions to fall by 90 percent or more in the first century after contact. Pre-Columbian population estimates for the area of the modern United States range from 2 to over 18 million. By the end of the 18th century, numbers had collapsed to around 600,000 due to disease, warfare, and genocide. George Washington and Henry Knox advocated a civilizing policy to assimilate Native Americans as U.S. citizens during the early republic. The ideology of manifest destiny drove westward expansion, increasing pressure on Native lands throughout the 19th century. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 authorized mass relocations west of the Mississippi River, resulting in ethnic cleansing and forced marches such as the Trail of Tears. One of the last major events was the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890, where up to 300 Lakota were killed during a Ghost Dance gathering. A justification for conquest stemmed from dehumanizing stereotypes like those in the Declaration of Independence, which described Native Americans as merciless Indian savages.
When the United States was established, Native American tribes were considered semi-independent nations because they generally lived in communities separate from white settlers. The federal government signed treaties at a government-to-government level until the Indian Appropriations Act of 1871 ended recognition of independent Native nations. This law started treating them as domestic dependent nations subject to applicable federal laws while preserving rights including a large degree of tribal sovereignty. Many Native American reservations remain independent of state law today. The actions of tribal citizens on these reservations are subject only to tribal courts and federal law. The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 granted U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans born in the United States who had not yet obtained it. This emptied the Indians not taxed category established by the Constitution and allowed Natives to vote in elections. Titles II through VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 comprise the Indian Civil Rights Act, applying to Native American tribes. There are currently 574 federally recognized tribal governments and 326 Indian reservations in the United States. These tribes possess the right to form their own governments and enforce laws within their lands.
The 2020 census reports the U.S. population at 331.4 million, with 3.7 million people reporting American Indian or Alaska Native ancestry alone. In addition, 5.9 million people reported American Indian or Alaska Native in combination with one or more other races. As of 2020, states with the highest percentage of Native Americans include Alaska, Oklahoma, Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas. Today there are over five million Native Americans in the United States, about 80 percent of whom live outside reservations. Urban areas with significant Native American populations include Minneapolis, Denver, Phoenix, Tucson, Chicago, Oklahoma City, Houston, New York City, and Los Angeles. As of 2012, 70 percent of Native Americans live in urban areas, up from 45 percent in 1970 and 8 percent in 1940. The largest self-reported tribes are Cherokee with 1,449,888 individuals, Navajo with 434,910, Choctaw with 295,373, Blackfeet with 288,255, Sioux with 220,739, and Apache with 191,823. In 2000, eight out of ten Americans with Native American ancestry were of mixed ancestry.
Native Americans faced racism and prejudice for hundreds of years, increasing after the American Civil War through Jim Crow Laws and segregation in the Deep South. Martin Luther King Jr. began assisting Native Americans in the south in the late 1950s after they reached out to him regarding school desegregation efforts. Tribal leaders contacted King when light-complexioned Native children were allowed to ride school buses while dark-skinned Native children from the same band were barred. Through King's intervention, the problem was quickly resolved. The National Indian Youth Council rose in 1961 to fight for Native American rights during the Civil Rights Movement. During the 1963 March on Washington there was a sizable Native American contingent including many from South Dakota and the Navajo nation. The NAACP inspired the creation of the Native American Rights Fund patterned after the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. Contemporary Native American struggles have resulted in health issues related to nutrition and high rates of alcoholism, stroke, heart disease, and diabetes. A 2009 New York Times article about growing gang violence on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation estimated there were 39 gangs with 5,000 members on that reservation alone.
Because Indian reservations have tribal sovereignty, states have limited ability to forbid gambling there as codified by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988. As of 2011, there were 460 such operations run by 240 tribes with total annual revenue of $27 billion. Only 40 percent of the 562 federally recognized tribes operate casinos despite this success. The estimated 2.1 million Native Americans are the most impoverished of all ethnic groups according to census data. According to a 2007 survey, only 1 percent of Native Americans own and operate a business. Barriers include lack of access to capital, human capital, effective planning, natural resources, and distance from markets. Fractionalization occurs when land is inherited by children but not subdivided, meaning one parcel might be owned by 50 different individuals. About 46 percent of Native American women have been raped, beaten, or stalked by an intimate partner according to a 2010 study by the Centers for Disease Control. More than 80 percent of Indian victims identify their attacker as non-Indian.
The terms used to refer to Native Americans have been controversial throughout history. Usage varies by region and generation, with many older Native Americans preferring Indian or American Indian while younger generations often choose Indigenous or Aboriginal. The term Native American was introduced in the United States in preference to the older term Indian to distinguish Indigenous peoples from people of India. It may have been coined by Mohican Sachem John Wannuaucon Quinney in an 1852 address to Congress where he argued against proposed resettlement. Russell Means, an Oglala Lakota activist, opposed the term Native American because he believed it was imposed without consent. A 1995 U.S. Census Bureau survey found more Native Americans preferred American Indian to Native American. Most American Indians are comfortable with Indian, American Indian, and Native American. The term is reflected in the name chosen for the National Museum of the American Indian which opened in 2004 on the Mall in Washington D.C. Other commonly used terms include First Americans, First Nations, and Native Peoples. Up to the early to mid 18th century, the word Americans was not applied to people of European heritage but equivalent to Indians.
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Common questions
When did the Eurasian migration to the Americas begin and end?
Archaeological evidence suggests these migrations started 25,000 years ago and continued until around 12,000 years ago. Some groups may have arrived even earlier by fishing in kayaks along what is known as the Kelp Highway.
What caused the precipitous decline in Native American population after European colonization from 1492?
European colonization resulted in a precipitous decline due to newly introduced diseases such as smallpox which caused populations in some regions to fall by 90 percent or more in the first century after contact. By the end of the 18th century numbers had collapsed to around 600,000 due to disease warfare and genocide.
Which law ended recognition of independent Native nations and when was it passed?
The Indian Appropriations Act of 1871 ended recognition of independent Native nations and started treating them as domestic dependent nations subject to applicable federal laws while preserving rights including a large degree of tribal sovereignty.
How many federally recognized tribal governments exist in the United States today?
There are currently 574 federally recognized tribal governments and 326 Indian reservations in the United States. These tribes possess the right to form their own governments and enforce laws within their lands.
When did the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act allow states limited ability to forbid gambling on reservations?
States have limited ability to forbid gambling on reservations as codified by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988. As of 2011 there were 460 such operations run by 240 tribes with total annual revenue of $27 billion.