Native American, also called American Indian, Amerindian, Amerind, Indian,

aboriginal American, or First Nation person, member of any of the aboriginal

peoples of the Western Hemisphere, although the term often connotes only those
groups whose original territories were in present-day Canada and the United States.

Pre-Columbian Americans used technology and material culture that included fire and
the fire drill; the domesticated dog; stone implements of many kinds; the spear-
thrower (atlatl), harpoon, and bow and arrow; and cordage, netting, basketry, and,
in some places, pottery. Many indigenous American groups were hunting-and-gathering
cultures, while others were agricultural peoples. American Indians domesticated a
variety of plants and animals, including corn (maize), beans, squash, potatoes and
other tubers, turkeys, llamas, and alpacas, as well as a variety of
semidomesticated species of nut- and seed-bearing plants. These and other resources
were used to support communities ranging from small hamlets to cities such as
Cahokia, with an estimated population of 10,000 to 20,000 individuals, and
Teotihuacán, with some 125,000 to 200,000 residents.

At the dawn of the 16th century CE, as the European conquest of the Americas began,
indigenous peoples resided throughout the Western Hemisphere. They were soon
decimated by the effects of epidemic disease, military conquest, and enslavement,
and, as with other colonized peoples, they were subject to discriminatory political
and legal policies well into the 20th, and even the 21st, century. Nonetheless,
they have been among the most active and successful native peoples in effecting
political change and regaining their autonomy in areas such as education, land
ownership, religious freedom, the law, and the revitalization of traditional
culture.

Learn about the efforts of the National Museum of the American Indian to preserve
Native American culture, traditions, and beliefs
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Culturally, the indigenous peoples of the Americas are usually recognized as
constituting two broad groupings, American Indians and Arctic peoples. American
Indians are often further grouped by area of residence: Northern America (present-
day United States and Canada), Middle America (present-day Mexico and Central
America; sometimes called Mesoamerica), and South America. This article is a survey
of the culture areas, prehistories, histories, and recent developments of the
indigenous peoples and cultures of the United States and Canada. Some of the
terminology used in reference to indigenous Americans is explained in Sidebar:
Tribal Nomenclature: American Indian, Native American, and First Nation; Sidebar:
The Difference Between a Tribe and a Band; and Sidebar: Native American Self-Names.
An overview of all the indigenous peoples of the Americas is presented in American
Indian; discussions of various aspects of indigenous American cultures may also be
found in the articles pre-Columbian civilizations; Middle American Indian; South
American Indian; Arctic: The people; American Indian languages; Native American
religions; and Native American arts.

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Native American culture areas
Culture areas of North American Indians
Culture areas of North American Indians
Comparative studies are an essential component of all scholarly analyses, whether
the topic under study is human society, fine art, paleontology, or chemistry; the
similarities and differences found in the entities under consideration help to
organize and direct research programs and exegeses. The comparative study of
cultures falls largely in the domain of anthropology, which often uses a typology
known as the culture area approach to organize comparisons across cultures.

The culture area approach was delineated at the turn of the 20th century and
continued to frame discussions of peoples and cultures into the 21st century. A
culture area is a geographic region where certain cultural traits have generally
co-occurred; for instance, in North America between the 16th and 19th centuries,
the Northwest Coast culture area was characterized by traits such as salmon
fishing, woodworking, large villages or towns, and hierarchical social
organization.

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The specific number of culture areas delineated for Native America has been
somewhat variable because regions are sometimes subdivided or conjoined. The 10
culture areas discussed below are among the most commonly used—the Arctic, the
Subarctic, the Northeast, the Southeast, the Plains, the Southwest, the Great
Basin, California, the Northwest Coast, and the Plateau. Notably, some scholars
prefer to combine the Northeast and Southeast into one Eastern Woodlands culture
area or the Plateau and Great Basin into a single Intermontane culture area. Each
section below considers the location, climate, environment, languages, tribes, and
common cultural characteristics of the area before it was heavily colonized.
Prehistoric and post-Columbian Native American cultures are discussed in subsequent
sections of this article. A discussion of the indigenous peoples of the Americas as
a whole is found in American Indian.

The Arctic
Distribution of Arctic peoples
Distribution of Arctic peoples
This region lies near and above the Arctic Circle and includes the northernmost
parts of present-day Alaska and Canada. The topography is relatively flat, and the
climate is characterized by very cold temperatures for most of the year. The
region’s extreme northerly location alters the diurnal cycle; on winter days the
sun may peek above the horizon for only an hour or two, while the proportion of
night to day is reversed during the summer months (see midnight sun).

The indigenous peoples of the North American Arctic include the Eskimo (Inuit and
Yupik/Yupiit) and Aleut; their traditional languages are in the Eskimo-Aleut
family. Many Alaskan groups prefer to be called Native Alaskans rather than Native
Americans; Canada’s Arctic peoples generally prefer the referent Inuit.

The Arctic peoples of North America relied upon hunting and gathering. Winters were
harsh, but the long hours of summer sunlight supported an explosion of vegetation
that in turn drew large herds of caribou and other animals to the inland North. On
the coasts, sea mammals and fish formed the bulk of the diet. Small mobile bands
were the predominant form of social organization; band membership was generally
based on kinship and marriage (see also Sidebar: The Difference Between a Tribe and
a Band). Dome-shaped houses were common; they were sometimes made of snow and other
times of timber covered with earth. Fur clothing, dog sleds, and vivid folklore,
mythology, and storytelling traditions were also important aspects of Arctic
cultures.