Before Christopher Columbus set foot in the Americas in 1492, a vibrant and thriving world already existed. Millions of Native Americans, belonging to thousands of distinct tribes, lived across the continent, building cities, farming the land, and establishing extensive trade networks.
Yet after European arrival, much of this world was erased or forgotten. Remembering this history reminds us: America did not begin in 1492 — it had been flourishing long before.
Before the United States: The Age of the Native Peoples
Long before the United States existed, North America was the domain of Native American tribes — the original stewards of the land for thousands of years.
Great cultures like the Iroquois, Cherokee, Sioux, and Pueblo built sophisticated societies with complex governance, agriculture, and spiritual life. They farmed, traded, and crafted impressive architecture such as earth mounds, stone dwellings, and circular villages.
Arrowmaker, a man of the Ojibwe tribe. Photo taken in 1903.
Portrait of a girl named Minnehaha. Photo taken in 1904.
Charles American Horse, son of Chief American Horse of the Oglala Lakota tribe. Photograph taken in 1901 by William Herman Rau.
It was an age of resilience, creativity, and wisdom — a chapter of history that deserves remembrance, not obscurity.