Indigenous peoples of the United States

Indigenous peoples of the United States
Abbasi786786 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Name	Indigenous peoples of the United States
Caption	Group portrait, early 20th century
Regions	Alaska, Hawaii, Lower 48 states
Languages	Navajo language, Cherokee language, Lakota language, Ojibwe language
Religions	Animism, Peyotism, Catholic Church, Protestantism
Related	First Nations, Métis, Native Hawaiians

Contents

Indigenous peoples of the United States are the ethnically diverse Indigenous nations, tribes, bands, pueblos, villages, and communities originally inhabiting the territories now comprising the United States and its jurisdictions. Their histories and contemporary lives involve complex interactions with European colonial powers such as Spain, France, England, and Portugal, later with the United States federal institutions including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Supreme Court of the United States, and federal policies like the Indian Removal Act and the Indian Reorganization Act.

Overview and Terminology

Terminology varies across contexts: terms such as Native American, American Indian, First Nations (comparative), and specific nation names like Lakota Sioux, Cherokee Nation, and Navajo Nation are used in legal, cultural, and community settings, while treaties—e.g., the Treaty of Medicine Lodge, the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, and the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868—define legal statuses for groups such as the Seminole people, Choctaw, and Cheyenne. Federal instruments including the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 and court cases like Worcester v. Georgia and McGirt v. Oklahoma shape present terminology and recognition for nations including the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, Tulalip Tribes, and Mohegan Tribe.

Precontact societies from the Arctic to the Gulf of Mexico developed diverse lifeways exemplified by the Ancestral Puebloans, the Mississippian culture with sites like Cahokia, the Haida and Tlingit maritime cultures, and the agricultural innovations of the Iroquois Confederacy (Haudenosaunee). Archaeological evidence from sites such as Monte Verde, Clovis culture, and Cactus Hill documents migrations and adaptations that influenced later nations including Apache, Comanche, Pueblo peoples, and Yupik people.

European contact prompted alliances and conflicts involving the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the French and Indian War, and the American Revolutionary War, affecting nations such as the Pueblo Revolt, the Powhatan Confederacy, and the Wampanoag. Colonial and early United States policies—manifest in instruments like the Homestead Act, the Treaty of Greenville, and military engagements such as the Battle of Little Bighorn—reconfigured territories affecting nations including the Sioux, Nez Perce, Shoshone, and Ute. Religious missions such as those of Junípero Serra and institutions like the Catholic Church and Moravian Church played roles in cultural transformations experienced by the Abenaki, Miwok, and Klamath.

Forced removals and assimilation policies intensified through events such as the Trail of Tears, the Dakota War of 1862, and federal programs administered by the Office of Indian Affairs. Boarding schools like Carlisle Indian Industrial School and legislation such as the Dawes Act aimed to allot land and assimilate peoples including the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Chickasaw, Pueblo of Zuni, and Blackfeet Nation. Resistance movements—from figures like Sitting Bull, Geronimo, and Tecumseh to organizations like the National Congress of American Indians—contested removal and assimilation throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

Tribal sovereignty is recognized through treaties, federal statutes, and judicial decisions including Worcester v. Georgia, Talton v. Mayes, and Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, affecting governance for entities such as the Cherokee Nation, Federated Indians of the Graton Rancheria, and Tohono Oʼodham Nation. Federal policies like the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, modern self-determination legislation such as the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, and prosecutions under the Major Crimes Act shape jurisdictional relations involving the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes, Coquille Indian Tribe, and Aleutian communities. Contemporary litigation and agreements, including the McGirt v. Oklahoma decision and compacting under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, affect economic enterprises like tribal casinos operated by nations such as the Mohegan Tribe and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation.

Population and identity statistics documented by the United States Census Bureau and studies by institutions like the Smithsonian Institution show linguistic diversity including families such as Algonquian languages, Siouan languages, Uto-Aztecan languages, and Eskimo–Aleut languages. Cultural expressions persist through artists and leaders like Joy Harjo, N. Scott Momaday, Wilma Mankiller, and Charles Eastman, and through institutions such as the National Museum of the American Indian, Autry Museum of the American West, and community centers in places like Alaska Native Village Statistical Areas. Ethnobotanical knowledge held by the Klamath Tribes, Pueblo peoples, and Cherokee informs contemporary environmental collaborations with agencies such as the National Park Service.

Contemporary issues include land rights disputes exemplified by activists at Standing Rock, health disparities addressed by the Indian Health Service, and cultural revitalization movements for languages like Tlingit language and Hopi language. Political advocacy by organizations such as the National Congress of American Indians, Native American Rights Fund, and Native American Journalists Association intersects with movements including Red Power, events like the Occupation of Alcatraz, and tribal economic development through enterprises operated by the Oneida Indian Nation and Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Efforts in language revitalization, cultural repatriation under laws such as the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and climate resilience initiatives led by nations like the Yupik people and Inupiat demonstrate ongoing sovereignty, cultural endurance, and adaptation.