Native Americans
Timeline
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Native Americans for Kids
BCE
5000 - Tribal peoples begin to develop across North America.
1000 - The Woodland period begins including the Adena culture and the Hopewell peoples.
CE
1000 - The Mississippian culture develops along the Mississippi River and the Ohio River. These people are known for building large mounds which can still be seen today.
1400s - The land that would become the United States is inhabited by various historic tribes such as the Apache, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Navajo, and Sioux.
1492 - Christopher Columbus makes contact with native people on the island of San Salvador. He calls them Indians because he mistakenly thinks he has landed in the East Indies.
1513 - Juan Ponce de Leon explores Florida and comes into contact with Native Americans. He takes eight of them captive.
1539 - Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay, Florida and kills 100 Native American warriors.
1539 - The Spanish make first contact with the Pueblo Indians in the southwest.
1620 - Pocahontas marries Englishman John Rolfe.
1680 - The Pueblo Indians revolt against the Spanish and take back their homeland for 12 years.
1754 - The beginning of the French and Indian War between France and Great Britain. Indian tribes were involved on both sides. The war ended in 1763.
1764 - Chief Pontiac of the Ottawa led a rebellion against the British in the Ohio River Valley.
1810 - Tecumseh begins to put together his confederation of Native American Tribes in an effort to stop the expansion of the United States.
1811 - The Shawnee are defeated by William Henry Harrison at the Battle of Tippecanoe.
1812 - Native Americans under Tecumseh ally with the British against the United States in the War of 1812.
1817 - The First Seminole War is fought when Andrew Jackson invades Florida in order to catch runaway slaves.
1824 - The U.S. established the Office of Indian Affairs.
1830 - President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act into law.
1835 - The Second Seminole War starts when the U.S. tries to forcibly move the Seminole Indians from Florida to Oklahoma.
1838 - The Cherokee are forced to march from North Carolina to Oklahoma. Thousands of them die along the way in what will be known as the Trail of Tears.
1855 - The Third Seminole War is fought against legendary leader Billy Bowlegs.
1855 - The Nez Perce sign an agreement with the U.S. Government which would later be rescinded when gold was discovered on the Nez Perce land.
1862 - The Homestead Act is passed by the U.S. government opening Indian land in the Midwest to settlers.
1874 - The Red River War is fought in Northern Texas.
1876 - George Custer and the U.S. Army is soundly defeated at the Battle of Little Big Horn by Native Americans led by Sitting Bull.
1877 - The Nez Perce people led by Chief Joseph retreat from U.S. forces and travel 1,400 miles until they surrender in what would be known as the Nez Perce War.
1890 - Sitting Bull is killed by Indian Agents who fear he will support the Ghost Dancers.
1890 - The Wounded Knee Massacre takes place in South Dakota. Two hundred Native American women and children are killed.
1907 - Charles Curtis becomes the first Native American U.S. Senator. He would later become vice president of the United States.
1912 - Jim Thorpe wins two gold medals in the Olympics and is named the greatest athlete in the world.
1965 - Native American Maria Tallchief becomes the first American prima ballerina of the New York City Ballet.
1969 - All Native American Indians are declared citizens of the United States.
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