| Native Americans are the indigenous | | | | Dominican Republic (Quisqueya), the |
| peoples from the regions of North | | | | Cubanacan (Cuba), and Haiti. It is said |
| America now encompassed by the | | | | that only 500 survived by the year 1550, |
| continental United States, including | | | | and the group was considered extinct |
| parts of Alaska. They comprise a large | | | | before 1650. Yet DNA studies show that |
| number of distinct tribes, states, and | | | | the genetic contribution of the Taino to |
| ethnic groups, many of which are still | | | | that region continues, and the |
| enduring as political communities. There | | | | mitochondrial DNA studies of the Taino |
| is some controversy surrounding the | | | | are said to show relationships to the |
| names used: they are also known as | | | | Northern Indigenous Nations, such as |
| American Indians, Indians, Amerindians, | | | | Inuit (Eskimo) and others.[1] |
| Amerinds, or Indigenous, Aboriginal or | | | | In the fifteenth century, Spaniards and |
| Original Americans. In Canada they are | | | | other Europeans brought horses to the |
| known as First Nations. | | | | Americas. Some of these animals escaped |
| The U.S. states and several of the | | | | and began to breed and increase their |
| inhabited insular areas that are not | | | | numbers in the wild. Ironically, the |
| part of the continental U.S. also | | | | horse had originally evolved in the |
| contain indigenous groups. Some of these | | | | Americas, but the early American horses |
| other indigenous peoples in the United | | | | were game for early human hunters, and |
| States, including the Inuit, Yupik | | | | went extinct about 7,000 BC, just after |
| Eskimos, and Aleuts, are not always | | | | the end of the last ice age. The |
| counted as Native Americans, although | | | | re-introduction of the horse had a |
| the US Census 2000 demographics listed | | | | profound impact on Native American |
| "American Indian and Alaskan Native" | | | | culture in the Great Plains of North |
| collectively. Native Hawaiians (also | | | | America. This new mode of travel made it |
| known as Kanaka Maoli and Kanaka | | | | possible for some tribes to greatly |
| ‘Oiwi) and various other Pacific | | | | expand their territories, exchange goods |
| Islander American peoples such as the | | | | with neighboring tribes, and more easily |
| Chamorros can also be considered Native | | | | capture game. |
| American, but it is not common usually | | | | Europeans also brought diseases, against |
| due to their different historical origin | | | | which the Native Americans had no |
| (i.e. Polynesian). | | | | immunity. Chicken pox and measles, |
| The European colonization of the | | | | though common and rarely fatal among |
| Americas decimated the populations and | | | | Europeans, often proved fatal to Native |
| cultures of the Native Americans. During | | | | Americans, and more dangerous diseases |
| the fifteenth through nineteenth | | | | such as smallpox were especially deadly |
| centuries, their populations were | | | | to Native American populations.[2] It is |
| ravaged by disease, displacement, | | | | difficult to estimate the total |
| enslavement, internal warfare, as well | | | | percentage of the Native American |
| as conflicts with European explorers and | | | | population killed by these diseases. |
| colonists. | | | | Epidemics often immediately followed |
| The first Native American group | | | | European exploration, sometimes |
| encountered by Christopher Columbus in | | | | destroying entire villages. Some |
| 1492, were the 250 thousand to 1 million | | | | historians estimate that up to 80% of |
| Island Arawaks (more properly called the | | | | some Native populations may have died |
| Taino) of Boriquen (Puerto Rico), | | | | due to European diseases. |