Plains Wars
| American Indian Wars | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 An 1899 chromolithograph of US cavalry pursuing American Indians, artist unknown |
|||||||
|
|||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
|
American Indians (1540–1924)
First Nations (1540–1924)  Métis (1799–1924) |
 Spanish Empire (1540–1821)
 Kingdom of France (1540–1763)
Inuit (1540–1924) Yupik (1540–1924) Aleut (1540–1924)  English Empire (1607–1707)
 Dutch Empire (1614–1664)
 Swedish Empire (1638–1655)
 British Empire (1707–1867)
 Russian Empire (1733–1867)
 United States of America (1776–1924)
 Vermont Republic (1777-1791)
 Republic of West Florida (1810)
 Republic of Texas (1836–1846)
 California Republic (1846)
 Confederate States of America (1861–1865)
 Dominion of Canada (1867–1924) |
||||||
| Indian Wars East of the Mississippi |
|
The American Indian Wars, Canadian Indian Wars or Indian Wars, were the multiple armed conflicts of European governments and colonists, and later American and Canadian settlers or the American and Canadian governments, against the native peoples of North America. These conflicts occurred in the current boundaries of the United States and Canada from the time of earliest colonial settlements until 1924. In many cases, wars resulted from competition for resources and land ownership as Europeans and later Americans and Canadians encroached onto territory which had been traditionally inhabited by Native Americans. Warfare and raiding also took place as a result of conflicts between European governments and later the United States and Canada. These governments enlisted Native Americans tribes to help them conduct warfare against each other's settlements and their Native American allies.
After 1776, many conflicts were local, involving disputes over land use, and some entailed cycles of reprisal. In the 1800s, conflicts were spurred by ideologies such as Manifest Destiny, which held that the United States was destined to expand from coast to coast on the North American continent. In the years leading up to the Indian Removal Act of 1830 there were many armed conflicts between settlers and Native Americans. Prior to the Act of 1830, some conflicts were resolved through sale or exchange of territory through treaties between the federal government and specific tribes. The 1830 act authorized the large-scale removal of indigenous peoples who lived East of the Mississippi River to the West. As American and Canadian citizens continued to settle areas towards the Pacific, conflicts continued. The policy of "removal" was refined to move some indigenous peoples to very specific reservations in the United States and Canada.
The 2010 census found 2,932,248 Americans who identified themselves as being Native American (or Alaskan Native), about 0.9% of the U.S. population. In Canada, the 2011 census found 1,836,035 Canadians who identified themselves as being First Nations (or Inuit or Métis), about 4.3% of the Canadian population. No consensus exists on how many native people lived in the Americas before the arrival of Colonials, but extensive research has been and continues to be conducted. Estimates on the population of pre-Colonials North America range from a low of 2.1 million (Ubelaker 1976) to 7 million people (Russell Thornton) to 18 million (Dobyns 1983).
...
Wikipedia