Native American
From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.
Native Americans (also Aboriginal Peoples, Aboriginal Americans, American Indians, Amerindians, Amerind, Indians, First Nations, First Peoples, Alaskan Natives, Native Canadians, or Indigenous Peoples of America) are those people who were in North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean Islands when the Europeans first came there. The Europeans made a mistake and thought they were going to India, so they called the people "Indians".
Other names for these for Native Americans are First Nations (which is what they are called in Canada) and "Red Indians" (a term rare now because it is oftentimes considered quite offensive). Sometimes these people are called "Indians", but this is confusing because it is the same word used for people from India. The words aboriginal or first people or indigenous people are also used. There are many different tribes of American Indian people, with many different languages.
Many of the American Indians died after the Europeans came to their countries, from diseases that came with the Europeans that were new to the Indians, in wars with the Europeans, or because the Europeans made them work as slaves. Most of the American Indians also died due to guile on the part of settlers who used tricks such as trading them infected blankets and also by introducing foreign addicting substances such as alcohol which studies have proven are more addictive due to some biological functioning within American Indians.
Some Indian tribes and languages of North America are Cherokee, Maya or Yucatec Maya, Aztecs, Navajo, and Sioux. Some Indian tribes and languages of Central America are.
Some Indian tribes and languages of South America are Aymara, Guarani, Quechua, and Tupi.
