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Native Americans

Cultural  
  1. The descendants of the original inhabitants of North America and South America before the arrival of white settlers from Europe, also called Indians or American Indians. The term Native American is sometimes preferred over Indian because the latter is a misnomer that originated with Columbus, who mistook the inhabitants of America for the people of India. Both terms, however, are accepted.


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In recent years, Native American activism has taken the form of calls for the protection of their tribal or ancestral shrines and artifacts.

Example Sentences

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There were three quarters of a million people of African descent, thousands of Native Americans, people from every European nation and quite a few from elsewhere.

From Salon Aug. 30, 2026

This is possibly linked to where Native Americans and Europeans had more prolonged trade contact, scholars say.

From The Wall Street Journal Aug. 11, 2026

The Sturgeon Moon - named after the freshwater fish caught by Native Americans in the Great Lakes, will rise on 28 August.

From BBC Jul. 30, 2026

Pope Francis declared him a saint in 2015, despite protests from Native Americans because of his treatment of their ancestors.

From Los Angeles Times Jul. 4, 2026

However, even where Native Americans do survive, there has been extensive replacement of their culture and languages with those of the Old World.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

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