Native American

Introduction
Native American culture areas
- The Arctic
- The Subarctic
- The Northeast
- The Southeast
- The Plains
- The Southwest
- The Great Basin
- California
- The Northwest Coast
- The Plateau
Prehistory
- Paleo-Indian cultures
  - The Clovis and Folsom cultures
  - Pre-Clovis cultures
- Archaic cultures
  - Pacific Coast Archaic cultures
  - Desert Archaic cultures
  - Plains Archaic cultures
  - Eastern Archaic cultures
- Prehistoric farmers
  - Southwestern cultures: the Ancestral Pueblo, Mogollon, and Hohokam
  - Eastern Woodland cultures
  - Mississippian cultures
  - Plains Woodland and Plains Village cultures
Native American history
- North America and Europe circa 1492
  - The population of Native America
  - Native American ethnic and political diversity
  - European populations and polities
- Colonial goals and geographic claims: the 16th and 17th centuries
  - Spain
  - France
  - England
  - The Netherlands and Sweden
- Native Americans and colonization: the 16th and 17th centuries
  - Southwest peoples
  - Southeast peoples
  - Northeast peoples
    - The mid-Atlantic Algonquians
    - The Iroquoians of Huronia
  - Subarctic and Arctic peoples
- The chessboard of empire: the late 17th to the early 19th century
  - Eastern North America and the Subarctic
    - Queen Anne’s War (1702–13) and the Yamasee War (1715–16)
    - The French and Indian War (1754–63) and Pontiac’s War (1763–64)
    - The American Revolution (1775–83)
    - The War of 1812 (1812–14)
  - The Southwest and the southern Pacific Coast
  - The northern Pacific Coast
  - The Plains and Plateau culture areas
- Domestic colonies: the late 18th to the late 19th century
  - Removal of the eastern nations
  - The conquest of the western United States
  - The conquest of western Canada
    - The Red River crisis and the creation of Manitoba
    - The Numbered Treaties and the Second Riel Rebellion
- Assimilation versus sovereignty: the late 19th to the late 20th century
  - Allotment
  - Boarding schools
  - Reorganization
  - Termination
Developments in the late 20th and early 21st centuries
- The outplacement and adoption of Indigenous children
- Religious freedom
- Repatriation and the disposition of the dead
- Economic development: tourism, tribal industries, and gaming
- International developments

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

A dancer in a bright pink shawl with fringe, wearing traditional regalia adorned with blue and black accents, performs at an outdoor cultural event.

Culture areas of the Indigenous peoples of North America

A bronze bust of an Indigenous American figure sits in a kitchen, overlaid with sacks of rice marked with a green check and milk with sugar cubes crossed out.

Distribution of Arctic peoples

Distribution of American Subarctic cultures

Distribution of Northeast American peoples

Distribution of Indigenous peoples of the American Southeast

Distribution of Indigenous peoples of the North American Plains

Distribution of the Indigenous peoples of the American Southwest

Native American

Indigenous peoples of Canada and United States

Also known as: First Nations, Northern American Indian

Written by

Elizabeth Prine Pauls

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Mar. 18, 2026 •History

Native American, member of any of the aboriginal peoples of the Western Hemisphere, although the term often connotes only those groups whose original territories were in present-day Canada and the United States. Pre-Columbian Americans used technology and material culture that included fire and the fire drill; the domesticated dog; stone implements of many kinds; the spear-thrower (atlatl), harpoon, and bow and arrow; and cordage, netting, basketry, and, in some places, pottery. Many Indigenous American groups...

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