Genocide of Indigenous Peoples

When European settlers arrived in the Americas, historians estimate there were over 10 million Native Americans living there. By 1900, their estimated population was under 300,000. Native Americans were subjected to many different forms of violence, all with the intention of destroying the community. In the late 1800s, blankets from smallpox patients were distributed to Native Americans in order to spread disease. There were several wars, and violence was encouraged; for example, European settlers were paid for each Penobscot person they killed. In the 19th century, 4,000 Cherokee people died on the Trail of Tears, a forced march from the southern U.S. to Oklahoma. In the 20th century, civil rights violations were common, and discrimination continues to this day.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

Books

Alex Alvarez – Native America and the question of genocide

Ward Churchill – A little matter of genocide: holocaust and denial in the Americas, 1492 to the present

Alexander Laban Hinton – Hidden genocides: power, knowledge, memory

Leslie Alan Horvitz – Encyclopedia of war crimes and genocide

Ben Kiernan – Blood and soil: a world history of genocide and extermination from Sparta to Darfur

Alexander Mikaberidze – Atrocities, massacres, and war crimes: an encyclopedia

David E. Stannard – American Holocaust: the conquest of the New World

Andrew John Woolford – Colonial genocide in indigenous North America

Search Terms

Genocide — North America — History

Genocide — United States — History

Indians of North America — Colonization

Indians of North America — Social conditions

Indians of North America — Violence against

Indians, Treatment of — North America — History

Jeffrey Ostler – Genocide and American Indian History

Brenden Rensink – Genocide of Native Americans: Historical Facts and Historiographic Debates [PDF]

United to End Genocide – Atrocities Against Native Americans