BEFORE COLUMBUS
When Columbus arrived in the Caribbean in 1492, he thought he had landed in the East Indies in Asia, so he called the people there 'Indians'. In fact, they were Native Americans, who had arrived in the Americas over 40.000 years before him.
At that time, Native Americans lived all over North America. Many of them lived in small groups of about 20-50 people. Most of them were very peaceful people, win) lived by hunting and collecting food. Other Native Americans lived in small villages where they had farms. The Native Americans were the first people to cultivate many of the plants that we now eat: potatoes, beans, maize, tomatoes, pineapples, cacao and many more. There were thousands of different languages and tribes, each with its own culture.
THE ARRIVAL OF THE EUROPEANS
When the Europeans arrived, they tried to take land away from the Native Americans and there were many wars. Millions of Native Americans also died from the diseases that the Europeans brought with them. As the Europeans took control over the eastern part of North America, the Native Americans had to move to the west in order to survive. After the United States became independent, white Americans moved further west into the lands where Native Americans lived, and there were many battles - as we can see in the 'cowboys and Indians' films. Then, starting in 1830, the US Government forced the Native Americans to move even further west into 'reservations'. The Native Americans fought against this, and for many years there were wars against the white Americans, ending with the massacre of Sioux men women and children at Wounded Knee in 1890.