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Aug 3, 1492
Christopher Columbus Arrives in the Americas
He arrived in the Americas and came in contact with the Native people. He spoke of their nakedness, and how they would be easily manipulated. -
May 1, 1513
Ponce de Leon Encountered Natives
In May, Ponce de Leon came in contact with the Calusa Indians while exploring the Gulf Coast of Florida. In a fight with the Calusa, de Leon captured four warriors. -
Treaty of Paris
In 1783, the Treaty of Paris was established as a way to end the American Revolutionary War. -
Battle of Fallen Timbers
General "Mad" Anthony Wayne and an army of more than 5000 troops defeat a confederation of Native Americans (Shawnee, Miami, Delaware, Ottawa, and Ojibwa) at the battle of Fallen Timbers, leading to the Treaty of Greeneville and the surrender of vast Indian lands west and north of the Ohio River. -
Cherokee Delegation
Cherokee leaders went to Washington D.C to meet with Thomas Jefferson to discuss the government's proposal to relocate West of the Mississippi river. The Cherokee rejected this proposal. -
Cherokee Constitution
The Cherokees adopt a national constitution completing a decade of political development. -
Indian Removal Act
Congress passed and act that made it legal for the president to pursue ownership of all Indian lands east of the Mississippi River. The Natives would then be compensated with new land west of the river. -
Trail of Tears
The Natives that resisted the removal start their journey westward to their new land. -
Sand Creek Massacre
Jon Chivington and the US Calvary killed over 150 Native Americans, mostly women and children. -
Carlisle Indian School
Richard Henry Pratt and Sarah Mather brought 82 Indian children from the Dakota Territory to a boarding school in Pennsylvania. The Carlisle Indian Industrial School, implemented theories about education and assimilation. -
Wounded Knee Massacre
The Seventh Cavalry opened fire on the Sioux at Wounded Knee Creek; they killed 300 people—a majority of them were women and children. The "Wounded Knee Massacre" effectively marks the end of armed Indian resistance to white western expansion in the nineteenth century. -
National Congress of Native American Indians
The National Congress of American Indians held its first conference in Denver, Colorado. The NCAI lead the opposition to the "termination" policies advanced by Congress during the 1950s, leading to the repudiation of these policies by President Richard Nixon in 1973. http://www.shmoop.com/native-american-history/timeline.html