Indigenous peoples of the Americas

Also known as: American Indian, Amerind, Amerindian, Indian, Indigenous American, Native American, aboriginal American(Show More)

Written by

Elizabeth Prine Pauls

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Nov. 10, 2026 •History

Indigenous peoples of the Americas, any of the aboriginal peoples of the Western Hemisphere. Inuit, Yupik/Yupiit, and Unangan (Aleuts) are sometimes excluded from this category, because their closest genetic and cultural relations were and are with other Arctic peoples rather than with the groups to their south. The ancestors of the contemporary Indigenous peoples of the Americas were members of nomadic hunting and gathering cultures. The earliest of these groups to reach the Americas traveled...