Native Americans

A picture of a man from the Gros Ventre tribe
Total population
70 million +
Languages
Indigenous languages of the Americas, Spanish, Portuguese, English, Dutch, Danish, French
Religion
Inuit religion Native American religion Mesoamerican religion Christianity

Native Americans (also called Aboriginal Americans, American Indians, Amerindians or indigenous peoples of the Americas) are the indigenous peoples and their descendants, who were in the Americas before Europeans arrived.

Sometimes these people are called Indians, but this may be confusing, because it is the same word used for people from India. When Christopher Columbus explored, he did not know about the Americas. He was in the Caribbean but thought he was in the East Indies, so he called the people Indians. Today, some think that calling a Native American an Indian is racist.