North America, indigenous peoples of. This article deals with the peoples who inhabited North America before the arrival of the Europeans. Now often called Native Americans, they have long been called Indians because it was initially believed that Columbus had reached the East Indies. Migrating in waves from Asia (see Americas, Prehistory Of The), these peoples spoke widely varying Native American Languages, but all had straight black hair, dark eyes, and yellow- to red-brown skin. In 1492 they numbered 1 to 2 million N of Mexico, in six major cultural areas: Northwest Coast, Plains, Plateau, Eastern Woodlands, Northern, and Southwest. Peoples of the Northwest Coast (e.g., Kwakiutl, Haida, Modoc, Tsimshian) lived along the Pacific from S Alaska to N California and spoke Nadene, Wakashan, and Tsimshian languages. They subsisted chiefly on salmon, sea and land mammals, and wild fruits, and built wooden houses and boats. Their arts included weaving, basketry, masks, and Totem poles. Their generally stratified societies, whose ceremonial displays of wealth included the Potlatch, were not affected by whites until the late 18th cent. Plains peoples lived in the grasslands from the Mississippi R. to the Rocky Mts. and from S Canada to Texas, speaking mainly Algonquian-Wakashan, Aztec-Tanoan, and Hokan-Siouan languages. Sedentary tribes (e.g., Omaha, Mandan, Pawnee) farmed the river valleys and lived in walled villages of domed earth lodges. The nomadic tribes (e.g., Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Comanche) hunted buffalo-on foot until they acquired horses in the 18th cent.-for food, clothing, and Tepees. Their culture was characterized by warrior clans, the coup (a war honor awarded for striking an enemy with conspicuous bravery), the Sun Dance, and bead-and-feather artwork. A mutually intelligible sign language developed among the nomadic Plains tribes, who were the last to submit to white encroachments. Peoples of the Plateau (e.g., Kootenai, Nez Percé, Paiute), from S Canada to California and the Southwest, were diverse in language and culture. Sedentary California Native Americans, living in brush shelters or lean-tos, gathered edible plants, made acorn bread, and hunted small game. Their basketry was highly developed. The harsh environment between the Cascades and the Rockies demanded a simple social, religious, and political life; Native Americans there lived in partly buried lodges and hunted small game, fished with nets and spears, and gathered insects. The adoption (c.1730) from the Plains tribes of the horse and tepee changed the plateau culture markedly. In the Eastern Woodlands, Algonquian-Wakashan and Hokan-Siouan speakers predominated. Peoples from the Atlantic to the Mississippi (e.g., Delaware, Huron, Iroquois Confederacy, Mohegans) were deer hunters; the women also grew corn, squash, and beans. Their houses included the dome-shaped wigwam and the longhouse; they used the birchbark canoe. Males wore deerskin clothing, face and body paint, and scalp locks. Peoples in the area from the Ohio R. to the Gulf of Mexico (e.g., Cherokee, Choctaw, Natchez, Seminole) developed a farming and trading economy featuring a high technology and excellent pottery. A stratified society observed elaborate rites including sun worship; burial mounds (see Mound Builders) were unique to these groups. In the semiarctic Northern area, covering most of Canada, Algonquian-Wakashan and Nadene tongues predominated. Nomadic hunters (e.g., Kutchin, Montagnais And Naskapi) followed caribou migrations for food, clothing, and shelter; the snowshoe was important to their material culture. Their religion centered on the Shaman. Peoples of the Southwest (e.g., Apache, Navaho, Pueblo) spoke mainly Aztec-Tanoan languages and reflected the advanced culture of the Aztecs to the south. By 700 B.C. the basketmakers had mastered intensive agriculture and pottery making. The Cliff Dwellers later built terraced community houses and ceremonial Kivas on cliff ledges. The Pueblo tribes further developed farming, pottery, textiles, and a complex mythology and religion. After the long struggle (see Indian Wars) between whites and Native Americans came to an end in the 1890s, Native Americans settled into a life dominated by poverty, poor education, unemployment, and gradual dispersal. U.S. government policy, administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, encouraged converting tribal lands into individual holdings, many of which were sold to whites. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 aimed at revitalization of Native American economic life, but also at assimilation into white society; the policy of the 1950s to terminate tribes aggravated the situation. In the 1970s the American Indian Movement was organized, and various tribes filed suits to reclaim formerly seized lands from the U.S. Government. Beginning in the late 1970s some tribes opened high-stakes bingo halls to generate income, and the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act has led to the widespread establishment of gambling casinos by Native Americans. Of approximately 1.9 million Native Americans in the U.S. today, most live in the Southwest and mountain states. Survivors of many Eastern tribes live among whites in Oklahoma, while unassimilated native culture is strongest among the Pueblos of Arizona and New Mexico and among some tribes of the Pacific Northwest. See also articles on individual tribes Bright Star