Map Shows Pre-Columbian Tribes of North America

Artistic map shows probable locations of various known pre-Columbian tribes across North America as they were before the arrival of European colonialism

US/Canada Pre-Columbian Tribal Nations Map

The image caption from 500 Nations reads “This is the most comprehensive map of pre-contact Turtle Island in existence. It is also unique for its use of the correct names of tribes in their own languages. There are roughly 800 Nations represented” For a close-up zoom-in of this map, please go to this link.

The Concept of the Pre-Columbian Tribal Nations Map

This map presents most of the documented, known Native American tribes that were here in pre-contact time, precisely before the arrival of Europeans. All of the Tribal Nations documented here are in the locations they were in just before the European Invasion affected their movement and displacement. This is a “living map”, meaning that it is not set in s specific year, but rather shows where tribes were in the particular year or era when they first encountered Europeans.

It serves as a reminder of the specific territories that were jeopardized upon this arrival. Most of the names of tribes are in their own languages, and are not the names given to them either by the invading Europeans or even by other tribes. For example, the name Numuunu is used in place of what most Americans would call the Comanche Nation. The Western Sioux are referred to here in their own language as the Lakota. Unfortunately, many of the tribes here are indeed listed by their given name.

Their original names were lost due to conflict with outsiders which left many tribes numberless, or forced remnant bands to amalgamate into larger, stronger tribes. We seek here to honor those hundreds of tribal nations who existed in their respective territories for millennia unscathed until the encroachment of Europeans. This is a tribute to all of those forgotten tribes whose names had been lost to the wind, but who live in the hearts and minds of modern-day Native Americans who managed to survive the largest full-scale holocaust in Man’s history. The desire is to honor the Indigenous Nations of this land by showing their own names used in their languages.