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Native American History

A bison herd on the American Prairie reserve roams at sunset on October 18, 2018, in Montana

The Bison Is America’s National Mammal. Here’s How Indigenous Tribes and Conservationists Aided Its Return to the Prairies After Near Extinction

The past, present and future of the giant bovine are front and center in a new exhibition as the country approaches its 250th birthday

An 1818 John Trumbull painting of the presentation of the draft Declaration of Independence to the Continental Congress

In 1776, the Declaration of Independence Was Breaking News. Here’s How the Founding Document Reached the American Public

A new book by historian Emily Sneff records the journeys of the Declaration’s first printed copies, tracking their reception in the Thirteen Colonies and overseas

Early examples of Native American dice discovered in the United States

Are These the Earliest Known Dice in the World? Native Americans May Have Used Them to Play Games of Chance More Than 12,000 Years Ago

A new study suggests that humans were playing with probability during the Ice Age—and that dice were invented 6,000 years earlier than previously thought

An illustration of British General John Burgoyne addressing a group of his Native allies

America's 250th Anniversary

Native Nations Fought in the American Revolution to Protect Their Ancestral Lands. After the War, Settlers Seized Their Territory Anyway

The conflict divided the six tribes of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, most of whom decided to join the British. The former allies clashed at the Battle of Oriskany in New York in 1777

This 1804 depiction of Jane McCrea's death cemented a dramatized version of her killing in the public imagination.

America's 250th Anniversary

A Native Soldier Allied With the British Killed a Young White Woman in 1777. Propaganda Transformed Her Into a Martyr of the American Revolution

The patriots weaponized Jane McCrea’s death to demonize their enemies and paint Indigenous people as uniquely violent

Once treated by humans as prey, horses became key to transportation, warfare, trade and companionship. Their history is intertwined with our own.

Gallop Into the Year of the Horse With These Five Amazing Equine Discoveries

Since their domestication, horses have changed the course of human history. It’s no wonder the Chinese zodiac associates them with prosperity and success

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Here Are 250 Places to Visit to Celebrate America’s 250th Birthday. How Many Have You Been To?

Journey around the nation with this interactive map, divided by region or category, and discover American history in a way you’ve never seen before

Ottawa, Truman Lowe, pine, peeled willow saplings, 1992. Installation view of "Cultural Confluence: Work by Truman Lowe," February 9–September 16, 2017, Plains Art Museum, Fargo, North Dakota

With His Sculptures Full of Natural Splendor, Artist Truman Lowe Could Make Wood Look Like Water

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian is hosting the first major retrospective of the Ho-Chunk sculptor’s work

Smithsonian magazine's picks for the best history books of 2025 include We the People, The Stolen Crown and Medicine River.

The Best Books of 2025

The Ten Best History Books of 2025

Our favorite titles of the year resurrect overlooked histories and examine how the United States ended up where it is today

A John Trumbull painting of the death of General Hugh Mercer at the Battle of Princeton in 1777

America's 250th Anniversary

Ken Burns Says His New Documentary Forced Him to Revisit Everything He Thought He Knew About the American Revolution

Ahead of the PBS production’s premiere, the legendary filmmaker and co-director Sarah Botstein share insights on their research process and the surprising, long-overlooked stories featured in the six-part series

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A Chance for Healing, 170 Years After a Lakota Massacre

Dozens of personal belongings from the Rosebud Sioux tribe find their way home after spending decades in the Smithsonian collections

The wampum beads found this summer by Calum Brydon, an archaeology graduate student

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Seven Rare Wampum Beads at 17th-Century English Settlement in Canada

Indigenous groups created the small beads from mollusk shells. They’re the first artifacts of their kind ever found at the Colony of Avalon in Newfoundland

The Blue Water valley viewed from Ash Hollow State Historical Park, not far from the massacre site. The park’s visitor center will store the belongings while the Lakota decide on their final disposition. Smithsonian opted not to include photographs of the items out of respect for descendants of the victims. 

The Return of Plundered Belongings Offers a Chance for Healing to a Grieving Lakota Community 170 Years After a Long-Forgotten Massacre

In the conclusion of a long-awaited turn of events, the Great Plains tribe has now reclaimed cherished items stolen from their ancestors by the U.S. Army

Fess Parker (left) played Davy Crockett (right) in a popular 1950s Disney TV show.

How Davy Crockett, the Rugged Frontiersman Killed at the Alamo, Became an Unlikely American Hero

During his lifetime, Crockett—who went by David, not Davy—shaped his own myth. In the 20th century, his legacy got a boost from none other than Walt Disney

On June 10, state and tribal officials recovered the vessel from the water.

Cool Finds

This Dugout Canoe Made From a 12-Foot-Long Log Was Found Bobbing in a North Carolina River

The newly discovered vessel is one of 79 known dugout canoes that have been unearthed throughout the state

Ancestral Menominee farmers grew corn, beans and squash in earthen mounds they built on Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

New Research

Massive Fields Where Native American Farmers Grew Corn, Beans and Squash 1,000 Years Ago Discovered in Michigan

The ancestors of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin built earthen mounds to grow crops. The site could be the largest preserved archaeological field system in the eastern United States

Visitors pose atop Arch Rock, a geological formation on Mackinac Island.

How America’s Forgotten Second National Park Lost Its Federal Status—and Gained a New Lease on Life as a State Park

Much of Mackinac Island was designated as a national park in 1875, but it proved to be too expensive for the government to maintain, so it was transferred to the State of Michigan in 1895

Sarah Grandmother’s Knife, Apsáalooke (Crow), age 10, wearing an elk-tooth dress and sticking out her tongue playfully in Montana, 1910

See the Stunning Archival Photographs That Tell the Stories of Everyday Native Life and Communities

The Archive Center at the National Museum of the American Indian presents a new exhibition that can help “interrupt the romanticized, stereotypical images often shared of Native peoples throughout history”

Whatever happend to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's tradition of fireside chats?

What Happened to FDR’s Fireside Chats? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts

The Newark Earthworks in Ohio consist of three sections of preserved earthworks: the Great Circle Earthworks, the Octagon Earthworks and the Wright Earthworks.

An Ohio Earthwork Where Thousands Once Gathered for Celestial Observations and Religious Ceremonies Is Open to the Public

An earthen enclosure called the Octagon is drawing much-deserved attention to the state’s history-filled mounds built some 2,000 years ago by the Hopewell culture

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