They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as intact political communities. The terminology used to refer co Native Americans is controversial.

European colonization of the Americas led to centuries of conflict and adjustment between Old and New World societies. Most of the written historical record about Native Americans was made by Europeans after initial contact. Native Americans lived in hunter/farmer subsistence societies with significantly different value systems than those of the European colonists. The differences in culture between the Native Americans and Europeans, and the shifting alliances among different nations of each culture, led to great misunderstandings and long lasting cultural conflicts.

After the colonies revolted against Great Britain and established the United States of America, the ideology of Manifest Destiny became integral to the American nationalist movement. Manifest Destiny had serious consequences for Native Americans since continental expansion implicitly meant the occupation of Native American land. Manifest Destiny was an explanation or justification for expansion and westward movement, or, in some interpretations, an ideology or doctrine which helped to promote the process of dvilizadon. Advocates of Manifest Destiny believed that expansion was not only good，but that it was obvious and certain.

In the late 18th century，George Washington and Henry Knox conceived of the idea of “civilizing” Native Americans in preparation of American citizenship. Assimilation (whether voluntary or forced) became a consistent policy through American administrations. In the early 19th century, most Nadve Americans of the American Deep South were removed from their homelands to accommodate American expansion with some groups presently residing in Alabama, Florida, Lousianna, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Tennessee. By the American Civil War, many Native American nations had been relocated west of the Mississippi River. Major Native American resistance took place in the form of “Indian Wars，” which were frequent up undl the 1890s.

In the nineteenth century, the incessant westward expansion of the United States compelled large numbers of Native Americans to resettle further west, often by force, almost always reluctantly. Under President Andrew Jackson, United States Congress passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830，which authorized the President to conduct treaties to exchai^e Native American land east of the Mississippi River for lands west of the river. As many as 100,000 Native Americans relocated to the West as a result of this Indian Removal policy. In theory, relocation was supposed to be voluntary and many Native Americans did remain in the East. In practice, great pressure was put on Native American leaders to sign removal treaties.

Native American Removal forced or coerced the relocation of major Native American groups in the Eastern United States, resnldne directly and indirectly in the deaths of tens of thousands. Tribes were generally located to reservations where they could more easily be separated from traditional life and pushed into European - American society. Some southern states additionally enacted laws in the 19th century forbidding non-Native American settlement on Native American lands, with the intention to prevent sympathetic white missionaries from aiding the scattered Native American resistance.

Native Americans today have a unique relationship with the United States of America because they can be found as members of nations, tribes, or bands of Native Americans who have sovereignty or independence from the government of die United States. Their societies and cultures still flourish amidst a larger immigrated American populace of African, Asian, Middle Eastern, and European peoples. Native Americans who were not already U.S. citizens were granted citizenship in 1924 by the Congress of the United States.

Estimates of the pre-Columbian population of what today constitutes the United States of America vary significantly, ranging from 1 million to 18 million. By the end of the 19th century, the Indian population had been reduced to less than 250,000, and most of the remaining Native Americans had been forcibly resettled in reservations west of the Mississippi. Their traditional patterns of living have been largely destroyed, and their life chances are almost completely subject to the whims of white - controlled institutions. They were, and are vicdms of racism.

Of course, not all Indians live on reservations. Probably only one out of every four nowadays is a 44reservation Indian”. Uprooted and discriminated，Indians have found it hard to live in modem American dries. At present, about 20 percent live below the poverty line, and their employment is higher than that of Afncan Americans.

Native American strughes amid poverty to maintain life on the reservation or in larger society have resulted in a variety of health issues, some related to nutrition and health practices. The community suflers a disproportionately high rate of alcoholism. In addition, some studies have found high rates of heart disease, diabetes, drug addiction, mental illness and suicide. Agencies working with Native American communities are trying better to respect their traditions and integrate benefits of Western medicine within their own cultural practices.