When Columbus landed in the New World in 1492, more than 300 Native American languages were spoken in what is now the United States. Only 175 of those languages survive today.
No matter where they lived, Native Americans made the most of their natural resources, using local materials to make complex tools. Their creativity allowed them to survive, and thrive, in harmony with the land.
After Christopher Columbus and other European explorers arrived in the Americas, the lands they explored were often called the :New Worlds." However, these lands were new only to the people of Europe.
Long before Europeans arrived in the Americas, Native Americans maintained bitter rivalries and from time to time shed one another's blood. Native American warfare took different forms and was fought for different reasons.
Native Americans had many different kinds of festivals and ceremonies. These involved everything from significant events in a person's life to the changing of the seasons, the arrival of special people or places, and the elements of nature.
In the past, a Nation was a group of Indigenous People who were connected by common rituals, beliefs, and language. A confederacy was an alliance between two or more Native American Nations.
