Native American

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Article abstract: One of many terms used to refer to the peoples of North America whose cultures predate European colonization.

The term “Native American” is commonly used to refer to the many peoples of North America whose cultures existed on the continent when Europeans first arrived. It does not eliminate the possibility of foreign origin in an earlier era. It was coined as a collective name for the native peoples of the Americas (primarily North America) that would not carry the obvious falseness and the historically racist overtones of such terms as...

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