The story of the North American indigenous peoples is a story of loss, hardship, violence, betrayal, and misappropriation. It is also a story of community, spirituality, diversity, honor, and resilience.

 

Few history books capture the beauty and complexity of indigenous life on North America before the arrival of European settlers. None of them can adequately trace the life, religious practices, and customs of the more than 600 unique tribes that lived above the Rio Grande Valley before the 15th century.

 

Most history books settle for accounts of the encounters between European settlers and Native tribes as told from the perspective of the settlers. In brief sections and sentences, they will allude to the most vivid moments in the history of colonization: the French and Indian War, the Creek War, the Indian Removal Act, the Seminole Wars, the Trail of Tears, the Long Walk of the Navajo, the Battle of Little Bighorn (or the Battle of Greasy Grass), the massacre at Wounded Knee, and many more.

 

But no historian has been or ever will be able to properly tell the story of life in North America from the perspective of Native peoples from antiquity up until the present day.