ABSTRACT
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas share a common context of dealing with imposed settler-colonialism. Prior to the onset of European colonization, human beings in the Americas had no single word to describe themselves as a group. Academics may never accept the explanations offered in creation stories but new approaches, especially those that consider Indigenous knowledge, support the longer timelines of human habitation in the Americas. Hunting, fishing, gathering, and planting are seasonal activities that require a deep knowledge of local environments. Hunter-gatherer societies lived in family units, coming together in larger groups or villages for social activities, trade, weddings, and other ceremonies. The Tupi-speakers, described by scribe and nobleman Pero Vaz de Caminha in 1500, were characterized as simple, naked, and excellent prospects for conversion to Catholicism. Canada and the United States both began as settler-colonial projects. They incorporated territories from other European nations without consent from the Indigenous peoples who already lived there.
