4500 BC: The earliest evidence of homes in North America date from this period
2600 BC: People begin living in permanent villages in Florida
AD 1000: The Inuit people see Viking ships and trade with the Vikings
1492: The Taíno people encounter Christopher Columbus
1493–1550s: Native peoples begin dying from European diseases
1607: The Powhatan Chiefdom fights the newly-founded colony of Virginia
1778: The U.S.
makes its first treaty with an
American Indian
tribe, the Lenape people
1790s: American Indian nations unite to fight the U.S. as the country pushes westward
c. 1829:
Geronimo is
born
1851:
The U.S. creates the
reservation system
1877: The people of the Nez Perce Tribe battle their way across Oregon for their homeland
1879: Chief Standing Bear argues in court and wins. For the first time, Native Americans are considered “persons” under the law
1889: Susan La Flesche becomes the first American Indian woman
to graduate from medical school
1914–1917: More than 12,000 American Indians serve in the U.S. military during WWI
1924: American Indians are granted
U.S. citizenship
1942: The Code Talkers save American lives during WWII
1968: Two hundred American Indians meet in Minneapolis to found the American Indian Movement
1978: Native Americans are allowed to freely practice their religion
2002: John Herrington becomes the
first Native American to fly in space and perform a spacewalk
2021: Deb Haaland becomes the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary