What is an American Indian or Alaska Native?

The U.S. Census defines American Indian or Alaska Native as “A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment.”

How did American Indians come to be called American Indians?

Most of us know the story about how the Peoples of the “new world” came to be called “American Indians.” Columbus (his name gives away his secret: Cristobal Colon; the Christian colonizer) thought he was going to India and, being a vain and self-important man, insisted he had found it.

What is the difference between Native American and indindigenous?

Indigenous Peoples refers to a group of Indigenous peoples with a shared national identity, such as “Navajo” or “Sami,” and is the equivalent of saying “the American people.” Native American and American Indian are terms used to refer to peoples living within what is now the United States prior to European contact.

What percentage of American Indians identify as American citizens?

A survey of American Indian college and high-school students, reported in Native Americas[Winter, 1997], indicated that more than 96\% of the youth identified themselves with their Indian nation, and more than 40\% identified themselves solely in those terms. Only a little more than half identified themselves as American citizens.

Is Native American a race or a nation?

However, it is important to understand that “Native American” or “American Indian” are not strictly racial categories. Being a member of a tribal nation provides a membership status. Because of tribes’ status as sovereign nations, Indigenous peoples/tribes are political entities.

How are Native Americans different from other ethnic enclaves in America?

One thing that’s really different for Native Americans as opposed to other racial and ethnic enclaves in the United States is that Native Americans in most places have tribes that function as distinct governments and tribal members are really citizens of those tribal nations.