Notable Native Americans
This Shoshone woman guided the Lewis and Clark expedition through the Northwest Territories.
Who is Sacajawea? For much of the journey, Sacajawea carried her infant son Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau with her. The expedition leaders nicknamed him “Little Pompey.”
Indigenous to the southeastern woodlands of the United States, these people were relocated along what became known as the Trail of Tears.
What is Cherokee? Sequoyah developed a written syllabary of the Cherokee language in the early 19th century, making it the first written American Indian language outside of Central America.
This was the original location of the Plymouth Bay Colony, with the state taking its name from an Algonquin word meaning “great hill, small place.”
What is Massachusetts? The name likely referred to the sight of Boston Harbor from the many hills around the city.
Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic for the first time this year, marking the start of European settlement of the western hemisphere.
What is 1492? Columbus sailed for the Kingdom of Spain, which in 1492 was still fighting the Moors for control over what is now southern Iberia.
The Native Americans who practiced agriculture often utilized this efficient method of using fire to clear brush land for planting.
What is slash-and-burn agriculture? Fire was also used in hunting, to drive game animals toward waiting hunters.
This is a vertical carving of symbols or figures from the trunks of large trees by Native Americans in the northwestern United States.
What is a totem pole? Totem poles can be used to record history, tell a story, record lineage, or serve a symbolic purpose.
She was born to the chief of the Powhatan people and later married the first governor of the newly established Virginia Colony, John Rolfe.
Who is Pocahontas? Pocahontas reportedly converted to Christianity and adopted a European lifestyle. She even traveled with her husband to London, where she was treated as foreign royalty.
This nation from the American Southwest developed a unique code language used by the U.S. Marines to transmit secure messages during World War II.
What is Navajo? Navajo language is so difficult to translate that American radio operators used it for transmitting secret messages during World War Two.
Now one of the most densely populated locations in the western hemisphere, this borough of New York City takes its name from a Lenape word meaning “thicket containing wood to make bows.”
What is Manhattan? The Dutch famously acquired Manhattan Island from the natives in exchange for a small amount of cloth, metal, and beads. Later, the British would take control over Manhattan in exchange for two small Islands in what is now Indonesia.
President Andrew Jackson relocated many of the Creek and Cherokee natives westward along a route that now has this infamous name.
What is the Trail of Tears? Though the relocation was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, Andrew Jackson’s attitude is usually expressed through the likely apocryphal quote, “Chief Justice Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.”
Nomadic people like the bison hunters of the Great Plains were said to follow this lifestyle, living off what meat and plants they could find in nature.
What is hunter-gatherer? Even after encountering agriculture, metal tools, and firearms through European contact, some nomadic tribes chose to preserve their traditional ways of living in close relationship with the land.
It was a string or mat of purple and white shells that could record events or be used as currency.
What is wampum? Belts of wampum were exchanged with European colonists at important occasions, such as the sale of Pennsylvania to William Penn, and to George Washington at the signing of a treaty in 1789.
Born into the Shawnee tribe, he united many tribes in the Great Lakes region to fight against the United States during the War of 1812.
Who is Tecumseh? Tecumseh’s brother Tenskwatawa helped unite the tribes along religious grounds, even going so far as to proclaim himself the Prophet of the Shawnee.
This confederacy of tribes from the Great Lakes region called themselves “Haudenosaunee,” or “people of the longhouse.” It was made up of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca tribes, with the Tuscarora joining in 1722.
What is Iroquois? The Iroquois system of electing leaders and sharing power worked so well that it is said they heavily influenced the formation of the United States Constitution.
This state with a panhandle north of Texas gets its name from a Choctaw word meaning “red people.”
What is Oklahoma? Twenty-five Native American languages are spoken in Oklahoma, with Choctaw spoken by over 10,000 residents.
This war saw Native Americans fighting for either the French or the British in the hopes of securing their homeland from the other’s encroachment.
What is the French and Indian War? The British won, though the financial strain caused the British to raise taxes on American colonists, later triggering the American Revolution.
Famous for being the sites of high-status burials, these earthen structures were constructed by many tribes across the Midwest.
What is a mound? Some of the larger mounds had hundreds of people buried within after death, most likely ceremonially along family lines.
Some of the most famous examples of this Native American rock art were created by the ancestors of the Pueblo people in the American southwest.
What are petroglyphs? Created from about 3000 BC to 1880 AD, many petroglyph sites are likely yet to be discovered.
He was a Lakota chief who led resistance to American expansion in the Dakota Territories and defeated Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn.
Who is Sitting Bull? After surrendering to U.S. armed forces, Sitting Bull worked for a time in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.
This tribe from Florida first met Europeans in the early 1500s and resisted colonial domination until the 1850s. Many hundreds escaped deep into the Everglades and never officially surrendered.
What is Seminole? The Seminole tribe now owns the Hard Rock Cafe chain of restaurants, as well as several resorts on their land in Florida.
This Midwestern state means “beautiful river” in Iroquois, referring to the Mississippi tributary of the same name.
What is Ohio? In 1835, Ohio and Michigan militia almost went to war over the valuable land around what is now Toledo. The conflict was resolved peacefully.
It was possibly the largest city built in what is now the contiguous United States, hundreds of years before European contact.
What is Cahokia? Part of the Mississippian culture, the high-status residents of Cahokia built lodgings on top of earthen mounds of varying heights, which are the only part of the city still visible today.
Many of the farming cultures of North America built communal structures that housed multiple families and could be efficiently heated from a single central fire, called this.
What is a longhouse? Longhouses were made from wooden frames and covered with bark or skins. They were measured by how many fires could fit inside them.
Leaders of many Plains Indian nations wore these, earning the right to do so through selfless acts of courage and honor.
What is a feather headdress or war bonnet? The act of wearing a feather headdress as part of a costume by those who have not earned the right is so offensive to Native people that the United States has banned the collection of eagle feathers for everyone except members of a federally recognized Native American tribe.
He was a medicine man and warrior chief of the Apache who led numerous raids on United States military outposts after the Mexican-American War.
Who is Geronimo? Geronimo’s military campaigns also included resistance to the Mexican government’s encroachment on Apache territory.
This Native tribe lived along the east coast, including what is now New York City, New Jersey, and Philadelphia.
What is Lenni Lenape? Called the Delaware people by Europeans, the term Lenni Lenape means “Pure Original Person.”
These states, both North and South, get their name from a Sioux word meaning “allies,” referring to a confederation of tribes that formed there.
What are the Dakotas? The land around what is now Mount Rushmore was ceded by the Dakota to the United States in the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868. Before that, the mountain was called the “six grandfathers” for its multiple peaks and wrinkled appearance.
This conflict in the 1670s saw a great chief of the Narragansett, Metacomet, unite his people in an attempt to eliminate British colonization.
What is King Phillip’s War? The Nipmuck and Pocumtuck joined the Narragansett in their fight, though the Mohawk and Mohegan tribes fought on the side of the British.
This was the term for the paramount leader of a Native tribe in the eastern United States.
What is a sachem or sagamore? Though they ruled by consensus and succession did not always follow family lines, the early American settlers interpreted their status as royalty.
This Ojibwe woman is a prolific author, and in 2021, she won the Pulitzer Prize for her book The Night Watchman.
Who is Louise Erdrich? Erdrich claims storytelling is part of her culture and includes many aspects of Native life in her books.