All about the ancient tribes
Prior to the first waves of colonization, the major Pennsylvania Indian tribes were the Lenape, Susquehannock, Shawnee, and Iroquois. Those original people of what would become the city of Philadelphia were the Lenape.
The Cherokee tribe is the second most common, with 285,476 Americans identifying with that group. 2010 Census Data.
Name | Population |
---|---|
Navajo | 308,013 |
Cherokee | 285,476 |
Sioux | 131,048 |
Chippewa | 115,859 |
The 6 Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy Mohawk. The Mohawk, or Kanien’kehá:ka (“People of the Flint”), were the easternmost people of the early Iroquois Confederacy. Oneida. For most of the historic era, the Oneida lived in a single village near Lake Oneida in north-central New York state. Onondaga. Cayuga. Seneca. Tuscarora.
They are known to us today as the Wendat (also known as Huron,) Neutral-Wenro, Erie, Laurentian (or St. Lawrence Iroquoian,) Susquehannock, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, Tuscarora, Nottaway, and Cherokee.
Poverty rates on the ten largest reservations
Reservation | Location | Poverty Rate (Families with Children) |
---|---|---|
Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation | Arizona | 44.3 |
Cheyenne River Indian Reservation | South Dakota | 42.3 |
Standing Rock Indian Reservation | South Dakota and North Dakota | 41.2 |
Crow Indian Reservation | Montana | 31.5 |
Like Zunigha, most Lenape today don’t live in New York City or the surrounding area. There are only two federally recognized Delaware tribes in the U.S., and both of them are in Oklahoma, where large groups of the Lenape ended up due to forced migration.
Today, the Shakopee Mdewakanton are believed to be the richest tribe in American history as measured by individual personal wealth: Each adult, according to court records and confirmed by one tribal member, receives a monthly payment of around $84,000, or $1.08 million a year.
Tribal group | Total | American Indian/Alaska Native alone |
---|---|---|
Total | 4,119,301 | 2,475,956 |
American Indian tribes | ||
Cherokee | 729,533 | 299,862 |
Navajo | 298,197 | 275,991 |
Quahadis were the hardest, fiercest, least yielding component of a tribe that had long had the reputation as the most violent and warlike on the continent; if they ran low on water, they were known to drink the contents of a dead horse’s stomach, something even the toughest Texas Ranger would not do.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs uses a blood quantum definition—generally one-fourth Native American blood —and/or tribal membership to recognize an individual as Native American. However, each tribe has its own set of requirements—generally including a blood quantum—for membership (enrollment) of individuals.
Today, there are over five million Native Americans in the United States, 78% of whom live outside reservations: California, Arizona and Oklahoma have the largest populations of Native Americans in the United States.
In the United States, Native American has been widely used but is falling out of favor with some groups, and the terms American Indian or indigenous American are preferred by many Native people.
The number of people in the U.S. identifying as American Indian has climbed in recent years, with California, Arizona and Oklahoma accounting for the largest concentration of the nation’s American Indian and Alaska Native populations, according to a new USAFacts analysis of Census Bureau data.
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma. Eastern Shoshone Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming. Elem Indian Colony of Pomo Indians of the Sulphur Bank Rancheria, California. Elk Valley Rancheria, California. Ely Shoshone Tribe of Nevada. Enterprise Rancheria of Maidu Indians of California.
American Indian Tribes Today Chickahominy Tribe. Eastern Chickahominy Tribe. Mattaponi Tribe. Monacan Indian Nation. Nansemond Tribe. Pamunkey Tribe. Rappahannock Tribe. Upper Mattaponi Tribe.