Native Americans, also known as American Indians, Indians, Indigenous Americans, They are the indigenous peoples of America. There are around 500 federally recognised tribes within the U.S., about half of which are associated with Indian reservations.

The ancestors of modern Native Americans arrived in what is now the United States at least 15,000 years ago, possibly much earlier, from Asia via Beringia. A vast variety of peoples, societies and cultures subsequently developed. Native Americans were greatly affected by the European colonisation of the Americas, which began in 1492, and their population declined precipitously due to introduced diseases, warfare, and slavery.