Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The scope of this indigenous peoples of the Americas article encompasses the definitions of indigenous peoples and the Americas as established in their respective articles.

European colonization of the Americas

The European colonization of the Americas forever changed the lives and cultures of the indigenous peoples of the continent. In the 15th to 19th centuries, their populations were ravaged by the privations of displacement, by disease, and in many cases by warfare with European groups and enslavement by them. The first indigenous group encountered by Columbus, the 250,000 Arawaks of Hispaniola, were enslaved. Only 500 survived by the year 1550, and the group was extinct before 1650.

Related Topics:
European colonization of the Americas - 15th - 19th centuries - Arawaks - Hispaniola - 1550 - 1650

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In the 15th century Spaniards and other Europeans brought horses to the Americas. Some of these animals escaped and began to breed and increase their numbers in the wild. Ironically, the horse had originally evolved in the Americas, but the last American horses, (species Equus scotti and others http://www.acnatsci.org/museum/jefferson/otherFossils/equus.html) died out at the end of the last ice age. The re-introduction of the horse had a profound impact on Native American and First Nations culture in the Great Plains of North America. This new mode of travel made it possible for some tribes to greatly expand their territories, exchange goods with neighboring tribes, and more easily capture game.

Related Topics:
15th century - Spaniard - Horse - Ice age - Great Plains - Game

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Europeans also brought diseases against which the indigenous peoples of the Americas had no immunity. Chicken pox and measles, though common and rarely fatal among Europeans, often proved fatal to the indigenous people, and more dangerous diseases such as smallpox were especially deadly to indigenous populations. It is difficult to estimate the total percentage of the indigenous population killed by these diseases. Epidemics often immediately followed European exploration, sometimes destroying entire villages. Some historians estimate that up to 80% of some indigenous populations may have died due to European diseases. For more information, see population history of American indigenous peoples.

Related Topics:
Disease - Immunity - Chicken pox - Measles - Smallpox - Epidemic - Population history of American indigenous peoples

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