hen Columbus discovered the American continent at the end of the 15th century he couldn't have imagined what the consequences of his discovery would be. The Europeans used to call themselves the conquerors or tamers of North America. In the 18th and 19th century they founded new nations on this continent that they would call 'Canada' and the 'United States of America'. They left no room for the cultures and traditions of the original inhabitants on this continent. There was only room for Indians who would trade their way of life for the western way of life. This meant they had to become Christians, that spoke the English language and lived according to the European customs of control and property. The Indian culture would not be accepted by the settlers and had to be destroyed. Some Indians managed to survive the invasion by the Europeans but many didn't. Many cultures were destroyed by the Europeans or had disappeared because of the many diseases the Europeans had brought with them (smallpox, plague, flue, diphtheria, measles). Some Indians decided that it was best for them to scatter and start a new life among friends and allies or the non-Indian majority. In the period prior to European contact between three and five million Indians inhabited the continent, in 1800 their numbers were decimated too less than one million. In 1900 there were less than 250.000 Indians left in the U.S. and approximately 100.000 in Canada. Since then however their number has increased again to 2 million in 1990.

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