What do you know about Native Americans? Have you read any books or seen films about them?  Watch the video to get a short overview about their way of life.

Read the text and find out more information about Native Americans. 

When European settlers arrived in America, some 10 million people had already lived in the area that would become the USA. They were Native Americans. They called their continent Turtle Island and believed it rested on the back of a giant turtle. 

Native Americas lived in tribes. There were more than a hundred tribes that had different traditions and spoke different languages. Some of the most famous tribes are the Sioux, the Navahos, the Apache, the Cherokee and the Lakota. Most of them were nomads and travelled from place to place. That's why their homes, called tepees were easy to move and build. They followed buffaloes and hunted them for food. 

Native Americans believed that people should live in harmony with nature. They respected the land and all living creatures. They knew a lot about herbs and natural medicine. Dance was also very important to them. They danced to drums to celebrate weddings, good harvests or simply to bring rainfall. They were also great storytellers and passed their myths and legends from generation to generation. 

At first, Native Americans were friendly to the European settlers. Europeans called the Natives "Indians" because Christopher Columbus thought that he had come to India. But there was a clash of different cultures. Soon Native Americans realised that the settlers wanted to take their land. In the 19th century there were a lot of battles between the European settlers and the native Americans. Sitting Bull was a Chief of the Sioux tribe. He fought against the settlers because he wanted to keep his way of life. The Sioux won the Battle of Little Big Horn and kept their land. But the Indians were often cheated and humiliated. The last big battle of the ‘Indian Wars’ was fought at Wounded Knee. The settlers won the battle and that was the end of the Indian hope that they could keep their land. In the end, they were forced to live in reservations. 

Here are some photos which represent Indian culture and way of life. Can you describe them?

If you want to find out more about the Native Americans and their history, watch the video.