Theda Perdue

In October 1492, Christopher Columbus encountered the native people of a small island in the Caribbean. He thought he was in the East Indies, so it made sense for him to refer to the people he met as “los Indios,” or Indians. Even after Europeans realized that Columbus was mistaken, the name stuck. Thus the native people of the Americas are, collectively, Indians. But the people of the Americas had no collective term for themselves. The names Native Americans call themselves often can be translated as “The Real People,” “The Principal People,” simply “The People,” or perhaps the people of a particular place.

The stories underscore the distinctiveness of each group and remind us how inadequate it is to think, as Columbus did, of Native Americans collectively. They have become Indians in our thinking and our literature, but in reality they have never been any such thing

Amazing architects, the Anasazis built towns that have become, in the form of Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde,

at the time when European explorers first began to enter and describe Native America, it was primarily an agricultural world.

the cultural diversity of American Indians remains one of the central characteristics of Native America

the diversity of language is a strong indicator of the diversity of Indian cultures

When Europeans began their invasion of America, Native Americans had long and dynamic histories, a rich and diverse array of cultures, and satisfying ways of life.

population estimates for North America at the time of Columbus currently range from five to seven or eight million people. Census records for the United States in 1890 reveal a Native American population of about 250,000.

smallpox that, for example, killed more than 90 percent

the compelling theme of the European colonial invasions and occupations of America was economic.