United States of America - Indigenous Peoples

The Native Americans of the United States (also known as Indians or American Indians, among others), are an ethnic group who have populated the land that is today the United States since at least 9,000 B.C., more than one hundred centuries before the arrival of European settlers. As in other countries throughout the Western Hemisphere, the impact of European colonization of the Americas changed the lives and cultures of the Native Americans. In the 15th to 19th century, their populations were ravaged by displacement, disease, warfare with the Europeans, and enslavement.

In the 19th century, the incessant westward expansion of the United States incrementally compelled large numbers of Native Americans to resettle further west, sometimes by force, almost always reluctantly. Under President Andrew Jackson, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which authorized the president to conduct treaties to exchange Native American land east of the Mississippi River for lands west of the river. As many as 100,000 Native Americans eventually relocated in the West as a result of this Indian Removal policy. In theory, relocation was supposed to be voluntary (and many Native Americans did remain in the East), but in practice great pressure was put on Native American leaders to sign removal treaties.

Conflicts, generally known as "Indian Wars", broke out between U.S. forces and many different tribes. U.S. government authorities entered numerous treaties during this period, but later abrogated many for various reasons. On January 31, 1876, the United States government ordered all remaining Native Americans to move into reservations or reserves.

The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 gave United States citizenship to Native Americans, in part because of an interest by many to see them merged with the American mainstream, and also because of the heroic service of many Native American veterans in the First World War.

As of 2003 according to the 2003 United States Census Bureau estimates, there were 2,786,652 Native Americans in the United States. However, an unknown number of largely indigenous peoples from Latin American countries, particularly Mexico, have migrated to the U.S. over the years. Other tribes, such as the Yaqui have persisted on both sides of the U.S./Mexican border crossing freely for many years until the current border clampdown.

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