ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a profile of the American Indian population nationwide, including population distribution and socioeconomic characteristics. Clearly, "European settlement of the Americas initiated a devastating decline to the native population". The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) counts from the nineteenth century showed a severe decline in the American Indian population from 400,764 in 1850 to 306,543 in 1880. The BIA's urban relocation policies of the 1950s and 1960s further strengthened the trend toward urbanization. The BIA and census enumerations of the American Indian population from 1850 to 2000, with projections to 2050. As of 2000, the lion's share of the American Indian population was found in the West and in the South Census Regions. Although the American Indian population is economically challenged, their economic profile is in many ways similar to that of other minorities. The many indicators of both economic progress and remaining challenges form the "echo" of that history.
