The Native Americans

The first people on the American continent came from Asia. They came across the Bering Strait from Siberia to Alaska at various times when the sea level dropped. The first migration might have been as early as 40,000 years ago. Once in America, these people migrated east across North America and south through Central and South America. When Columbus arrived in the fifteenth century, there were perhaps 10 million people in North America alone. They had developed many different kinds of societies. These were the people that Columbus called "Indians," in the mistaken belief that he had reached the East Indies.

The story of the westward growth of the United States was also the story of the destruction of the Native Americans, or Indians. Today there are about 1.5 million Indians in the United States. Western states - especially California, Oklahoma, Arizona, and New Mexico - have the largest Indian populations. About one-third of the Native Americans live on reservations, land that was set aside for them. Most of the others live in cities. Poverty and unemployment are major problems, especially on the reservations.