Introduction to the Native Americans
Native American is an expression having a lot of diversified meanings. However, in general it refers to an individual having America as his birthplace or it may also express a group of aboriginal individuals from the United States. Native Americans may include people belonging to United States and its territories or they may be the inhabitants of continental United States only, also referred to as the American Indians. (Walker, 1997)
Yet, in the nineteenth century, members of the Native American Party or the associated movements were cited as the Native Americans.
Brief History of the Native Americans
The inhabitants or Indians of North and South America, also known as the Native Americans deny the fact of migration to United States. Instead they are of a view that they have been dwelling at the place from the beginning. One of the most noteworthy theories indicating towards the ancestry of the Native Americans is the Bering Strait Land Bridge Theory. (Mann, 2005)
According to this theory, the Native Americans have their lineage dated back to a time period between 15,000 and 9,000 B.C., during which they may have migrated from Siberia utilizing the Bering Strait Land Bridge. This theory also suggests that the course of migration had comprised of three intervals. (American Demographics, 2001)
During the first one, the predecessors of Clovis and Folsom performed the migration and propagated over the entire hemisphere. The second interval consisted of the relocation of the Na-Dene individuals from Alaska and Canada to Pacific Northwestern United States and the American Southwest. In the third exodus, the ancestors of the Inuit, Yupik and Aleut peoples arrived at Alaska in 1,000 B.C. (Takaki, 1993)
After these resettlements and immigrations, by 1500 B.C., the tribes began to form communities and villages and adopted various modes of employment..................
