Fun Facts About Native Americans

Posted by
Jonathon Andrews

1 year ago

November is Native American Heritage Month. To celebrate here’s a list of fun facts about Native Americans.

Native Americans are credited with the invention of hockey. They played a game called “shinny” , in which a buckskin ball was knocked down the field with a curved stick. During the winter, it was played on the ice. White settlers eventually picked it up and developed it into the modern sport known as hockey.
Native Americans are also responsible for domesticating the strain of maize into popcorn thousands of years ago.
Native Americans were forcibly removed from their land in 1830, as part of the “Indian Removal Act”. This forced Native Americans to be relocated from areas in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee to what is currently Oklahoma. This was done so white settlers could occupy their land to grow cotton in valuable areas in the South.
Almost one hundred years after being displaced, Native Americans were granted American Citizenship in 1924. Although they still weren’t allowed to vote until 1965.
The Navajo Nation is the largest tribe in the United States. It is 25,000 square miles. It now also has the biggest population, recently surpassing the Cherokee Nation in 2021.
There are currently 574 federally recognized Native American tribes. About 200 of them are in Alaska.
The first bilingual newspaper in the United States, the Cherokee Phoenix was first published in 1828. It was printed in both Cherokee and English.
Native Americans also played a vital role in World War II. They spoke in code behind enemy lines, giving the US a huge advantage because their codes were never broken.
“American Indian Day” was first declared in 1916. George H.W. Bush declared November to be National American Heritage Month.
Native Americans spoke over 300 languages prior to colonization.