These people began migrating thirty thousand years before Christopher Colombus 'discovered' the Americas. Native Americans migrated from Asia, crossing a land bridge where the Bering Strait off the coast of Alaska is today. Over the centuries these people spread throughout the continents of North and South America. Since the arrival of the Europeans in 1492 the American Indian has been dehumanized, decivilized and redefined into terms that represent a dominate European view. The Spanish explorers under …showed first 75 words of 892 total…

…showed last 75 words of 892 total…used to describe their race. The term Native American refers to hundreds of distinct societies- including; Aluets, Eskimos,Cherokee, Zuni, Sioux, Mohawk, Aztec and Incan- who first settled the western hemisphere. Indians in today's society are often looked down upon as not as productive or not as stable as other cultures. The high alcoholism rates and the third world living conditions found on reservations do not improve the terms used to describe the American Indian.