How it fits together
Native peoples lived throughout the Americas long before European colonization. They included many distinct nations with their own languages, cultures, and political institutions. “American Indians” and “Native Americans” are broad terms, not names for a single shared tribe.
A closer look
Native nations are part of the present as well as the past. Federally recognized tribes have a government-to-government relationship with the United States. When the test asks for one tribe, provide a specific accepted name such as Apache rather than the broad term “Native Americans.”