Native American history
First peoples' past
The history of Indigenous peoples in what is now the Americas, spanning thousands of years before European contact through colonization, forced removal, and into the present.
The term encompasses diverse nations with distinct cultures, languages, and experiences: The museum's exhibit on Native American history.
Academic treatment has shifted from depicting Indigenous peoples as passive subjects to centering their perspectives and sovereignty.
- Great PlainsCentral North American grassland
- Trail of Tears1830s forced indigenous relocation
- forced relocationInvoluntary removal from home
- Indian Removal ActLaw authorizing tribal expulsion
- broken treatiesAgreements no longer honored
tribal councils · Wounded Knee Massacre · oral storytelling · boarding schools · tribal sovereignty · reservation systems · Standing Rock · Columbian Exchange · indigenous languages · medicine wheel · ceremonial dances · pow wow · treaty rights · settler colonialism · Ghost Dance · missionary schools · ancestral knowledge · chiefdoms
- Western FrontierOld West, cowboy culture, ghost towns, frontier towns, pioneer trails
- Oklahoma Countycounty seat, rural communities, rural community, regional economy, Cherokee Nation
- American HistoryRevolutionary War, colonial era, founding fathers, Declaration of Independence, George Washington
- US HistoryCivil War, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, US Constitution, Bill of Rights
- KentuckyLouisville, Lexington, Frankfort, Kentucky Derby, bourbon
- Four CornersFour Corners, Colorado Plateau, Monument Valley, Canyonlands, Navajo Nation