The colonizers and explorers brought measles, smallpox, cholera, yellow fever, and many more devastating diseases. This drastically decreased the Native American population and annihilated whole villages. In addition to this, the arrogant attitude of the growing number of white men led to the Indian Wars, the Indian Removal Act (1830), and in 1890, to one of the worst massacres of all time - Wounded Knee, in South Dakota. Here warriors, women and children, were slaughtered fiercely by the United States Cavalry. The government of the United States began the Relocation Programs and the now famous march of the Trail of Tears, where hundreds of Cherokee Indians died of hunger, cold and disease. The American Indian people were not only reduced in number, but they were taken from their homes, stripped of their customs, and even banned from speaking in their native languages. Their children were taken from them and sent to schools to "civilize them," forced to abandon every aspect of their inheritance. In January of 1876, the government of the United States forced them to live on "reservations" where most of the Indians of the United States still reside today.
Some consider the Native Americans as a race of tempera. The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 granted official citizenship to Native American tribes. This was due in part to the heroic service of many of them in the First World War. Others, such as Jim Thorpe, Sequoyah, and Sacajawea have represented their people with greatness. Currently, there are more than 500 tribal governments recognized in the United States. They govern themselves and are considered sovereign nations of peoples within North America. Currently, there are more than 2.48 million indigenous people in the United States, according to the 2000 census office.