Indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas

qas: question: Who are the indigenous people of the Americas descended from?
answers: text: pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas

question: What is a common term in Spanish speaking countries for the indigenous peoples?
answers: text: Pueblos indígenas

question: What term is used in Argentina to refer to the original peoples of a continent?
answers: text: Aborigen

question: In Quebec, The Guianas and places in the Caribbean where English is spoken, what is the preferred term for the indigenous people of the Americas?
answers: text: Amerindian

question: How are the indigenous people most commonly referred to by citizens of the U.S.?
answers: text: Native Americans
context: The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the descendants of the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas. Pueblos indígenas (indigenous peoples) is a common term in Spanish-speaking countries. Aborigen (aboriginal/native) is used in Argentina, whereas "Amerindian" is used in Quebec, The Guianas, and the English-speaking Caribbean. Indigenous peoples are commonly known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, which include First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples. Indigenous peoples of the United States are commonly known as Native Americans or American Indians, and Alaska Natives.

qas: question: Where do most theories today attribute the settlement of the Americas as originating from?
answers: text: Asia

question: How did humans cross over to the Americas from Asia?
answers: text: Beringia

question: What was Beringia?
answers: text: a land bridge which connected the two continents

question: Most experts can at least agree that the earliest pre-modern human migration took place when?
answers: text: 13,500 years ago

question: How do the indigenous peoples explain how they came to live in the Americas?
answers: text: a wide range of creation myths
context: According to the prevailing theories of the settlement of the Americas, migrations of humans from Asia (in particular North Asia) to the Americas took place via Beringia, a land bridge which connected the two continents across what is now the Bering Strait. The majority of experts agree that the earliest pre-modern human migration via Beringia took place at least 13,500 years ago, with disputed evidence that people had migrated into the Americas much earlier, up to 40,000 years ago. These early Paleo-Indians spread throughout the Americas, diversifying into many hundreds of culturally distinct nations and tribes. According to the oral histories of many of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, they have been living there since their genesis, described by a wide range of creation myths.

qas: question: What incorrect term for the indigenous population originated with Christopher Columbus? 
answers: text: Indian

question: Where did Columbus believe he had arrived?
answers: text: East Indies

question: Because of Columbus' mistake, the Americas came to be known as what?
answers: text: West Indies

question: What is implied by the global term of "Indian"?
answers: text: some kind of racial or cultural unity

question: Despite fitting under the umbrella label of "Indian", Aleuts, Inuit and Yupik peoples are still considered to be what to the Americas?
answers: text: indigenous
context: Application of the term "Indian" originated with Christopher Columbus, who, in his search for Asia, thought that he had arrived in the East Indies. The Americas came to be known as the "West Indies", a name still used to refer to the islands of the Caribbean Sea. This led to the names "Indies" and "Indian", which implied some kind of racial or cultural unity among the aboriginal peoples of the Americas. This unifying concept, codified in law, religion, and politics, was not originally accepted by indigenous peoples but has been embraced by many over the last two centuries.[citation needed] Even though the term "Indian" does not include the Aleuts, Inuit, or Yupik peoples, these groups are considered indigenous peoples of the Americas.

qas: question: What were many of the indigenous people of the Americas traditionally?
answers: text: hunter-gatherers

question: What did many segments of the indigenous population also practice?
answers: text: aquaculture and agriculture

question: What remains as a testament to the time and work the indigenous people spent cultivating the flora of the Americas?
answers: text: agricultural endowment

question: What did many of the societies practice a mix of?
answers: text: farming, hunting, and gathering

question: Large cities, chiefdoms, monuments and empires were just some of the things created by which peoples?
answers: text: indigenous
context: Although some indigenous peoples of the Americas were traditionally hunter-gatherers—and many, especially in Amazonia, still are—many groups practiced aquaculture and agriculture. The impact of their agricultural endowment to the world is a testament to their time and work in reshaping and cultivating the flora indigenous to the Americas. Although some societies depended heavily on agriculture, others practiced a mix of farming, hunting, and gathering. In some regions the indigenous peoples created monumental architecture, large-scale organized cities, chiefdoms, states, and empires.

qas: question: Where are there still populations of indigenous peoples?
answers: text: Many parts of the Americas

question: Belize, Chile and Greenland are just some countries with sizable populations of what peoples?
answers: text: indigenous

question: How many different indigenous languages are spoken in the Americas?
answers: text: At least a thousand

question: What do many indigenous cultures still practice to different extends to this day?
answers: text: religion, social organization, and subsistence practices

question: What have some indigenous peoples managed to remain in relative isolation from?
answers: text: Western culture
context: Many parts of the Americas are still populated by indigenous peoples; some countries have sizable populations, especially Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Greenland, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru. At least a thousand different indigenous languages are spoken in the Americas. Some, such as the Quechuan languages, Aymara, Guaraní, Mayan languages, and Nahuatl, count their speakers in millions. Many also maintain aspects of indigenous cultural practices to varying degrees, including religion, social organization, and subsistence practices. Like most cultures, over time, cultures specific to many indigenous peoples have evolved to incorporate traditional aspects, but also cater to modern needs. Some indigenous peoples still live in relative isolation from Western culture and a few are still counted as uncontacted peoples.

qas: question: How Paleo-Indians migrated to the Americas is still a matter for what type of research?
answers: text: ongoing

question: When did humans inhabit North and South America's continents?
answers: text: last

question: What allowed people to move across Beringia to North America?
answers: text: falling sea levels

question: A small population could exist in Alaska because of it's lack of any significant what?
answers: text: snowfall

question: What confined the nomadic inhabitants to East Beringia for thousands of years?
answers: text: Laurentide Ice Sheet
context: The specifics of Paleo-Indian migration to and throughout the Americas, including the exact dates and routes traveled, provide the subject of ongoing research and discussion. According to archaeological and genetic evidence, North and South America were the last continents in the world with human habitation. During the Wisconsin glaciation, 50–17,000 years ago, falling sea levels allowed people to move across the land bridge of Beringia that joined Siberia to north west North America (Alaska). Alaska was a glacial refugia because it had low snowfall, allowing a small population to exist. The Laurentide Ice Sheet covered most of North America, blocking nomadic inhabitants and confining them to Alaska (East Beringia) for thousands of years.

qas: question: What do studies on the genetics of the first American inhabitants conclude about their ancestral population?
answers: text: single

question: Where did the single ancestral population of all the indigenous peoples of the Americas likely develop?
answers: text: in isolation

question: How many years may the isolation of the peoples in Beringia lasted?
answers: text: 10–20,000 years

question: When did the glaciers begin to melt?
answers: text: 16,500 years ago

question: What did the people follow in the corridors between the ice sheets?
answers: text: Pleistocene megafauna
context: Indigenous genetic studies suggest that the first inhabitants of the Americas share a single ancestral population, one that developed in isolation, conjectured to be Beringia. The isolation of these peoples in Beringia might have lasted 10–20,000 years. Around 16,500 years ago, the glaciers began melting, allowing people to move south and east into Canada and beyond. These people are believed to have followed herds of now-extinct Pleistocene megafauna along ice-free corridors that stretched between the Laurentide and Cordilleran Ice Sheets.

qas: question: What does the data indicate about the population the individual was from?
answers: text: directly ancestral

question: What populations is the individual closely related to?
answers: text: present North American Native American

question: What type of divergence is implicated to have occurred between North American and South American populations?
answers: text: early

question: Theories that there were invasions which overwhelmed or assimilated previous migrants into the Americas have been what?
answers: text: ruled out
context: The data indicate that the individual was from a population directly ancestral to present South American and Central American Native American populations, and closely related to present North American Native American populations. The implication is that there was an early divergence between North American and Central American plus South American populations. Hypotheses which posit that invasions subsequent to the Clovis culture overwhelmed or assimilated previous migrants into the Americas were ruled out.

qas: question: The term Pre-Columbian technically refers to which era?
answers: text: before Christopher Columbus' voyages of 1492

question: When was Columbus' first voyage?
answers: text: 1492

question: In practice, Pre-Columbian refers to the history of the indigenous cultures of America prior to Europeans doing what to them?
answers: text: conquered or significantly influenced

question: What term is used most often when discussing the great civilizations of the Americas?
answers: text: "Pre-Columbian"

question: What area of the Americas did the Inca Empire, Moche culture and Muisca confederation hail from?
answers: text: Andes
context: While technically referring to the era before Christopher Columbus' voyages of 1492 to 1504, in practice the term usually includes the history of American indigenous cultures until Europeans either conquered or significantly influenced them, even if this happened decades or even centuries after Columbus' initial landing. "Pre-Columbian" is used especially often in the context of discussing the great indigenous civilizations of the Americas, such as those of Mesoamerica (the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacano, the Zapotec, the Mixtec, the Aztec, and the Maya civilizations) and those of the Andes (Inca Empire, Moche culture, Muisca Confederation, Cañaris).

qas: question: Urban settlements and complex societal hierarchies are just some of the hallmarks established by which civilizations?
answers: text: pre-Columbian

question: What had long faded prior to the first European and African arrivals?
answers: text: Some of these civilizations

question: How do we know about some of the civilizations that were gone by the time of European arrival?
answers: text: oral history and through archaeological investigations

question: What did European colonists destroy on their pyres?
answers: text: written records

question: What gave today's historians a glimpse of the culture and knowledge of the indigenous civilizations?
answers: text: a few documents
context: Many pre-Columbian civilizations established characteristics and hallmarks which included permanent or urban settlements, agriculture, civic and monumental architecture, and complex societal hierarchies. Some of these civilizations had long faded by the time of the first significant European and African arrivals (ca. late 15th–early 16th centuries), and are known only through oral history and through archaeological investigations. Others were contemporary with this period, and are also known from historical accounts of the time. A few, such as the Mayan, Olmec, Mixtec, and Nahua peoples, had their own written records. However, the European colonists of the time worked to eliminate non-Christian beliefs, and Christian pyres destroyed many pre-Columbian written records. Only a few documents remained hidden and survived, leaving contemporary historians with glimpses of ancient culture and knowledge.

qas: question: What had the civilizations in the Americas achieved by the time the Europeans encountered them?
answers: text: many accomplishments

question: What had the Aztec civilization constructed?
answers: text: one of the largest cities in the world

question: How big was the population of the Aztec cit of Tenochtitlan?
answers: text: 200,000

question: Astronomy and mathematics were also accomplishments of which civilizations?
answers: text: American

question: How many years of selective breeding did it take to domesticate maize?
answers: text: thousands
context: According to both indigenous American and European accounts and documents, American civilizations at the time of European encounter had achieved many accomplishments. For instance, the Aztecs built one of the largest cities in the world, Tenochtitlan, the ancient site of Mexico City, with an estimated population of 200,000. American civilizations also displayed impressive accomplishments in astronomy and mathematics. The domestication of maize or corn required thousands of years of selective breeding.

qas: question: What did the European colonization forever change?
answers: text: lives and cultures of the peoples of the continents

question: How much did the population of the Americas decrease after first contact with the Europeans?
answers: text: between 80 and 90%

question: What was the leading cause of death for the native population after European contact?
answers: text: disease

question: What triad of disease epidemics ravaged the American continent?
answers: text: smallpox, measles, and cholera

question: Why did Native Americans suffer such high mortality rates to the diseases?
answers: text: lack of prior exposure
context: The European colonization of the Americas forever changed the lives and cultures of the peoples of the continents. Although the exact pre-contact population of the Americas is unknown, scholars estimate that Native American populations diminished by between 80 and 90% within the first centuries of contact with Europeans. The leading cause was disease. The continent was ravaged by epidemics of diseases such as smallpox, measles, and cholera, which were brought from Europe by the early explorers and spread quickly into new areas even before later explorers and colonists reached them. Native Americans suffered high mortality rates due to their lack of prior exposure to these diseases. The loss of lives was exacerbated by conflict between colonists and indigenous people. Colonists also frequently perpetrated massacres on the indigenous groups and enslaved them. According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census (1894), the North American Indian Wars of the 19th century cost the lives of about 19,000 whites and 30,000 Native Americans.

qas: question: Who was the first group of indigenous people Columbus encountered?
answers: text: the 250,000 Taínos of Hispaniola

question: What did the Taínos represent in the Greater Antilles and Bahamas?
answers: text: dominant culture

question: What percentage of the Taínos were dead thirty years after contact with Columbus?
answers: text: 70%

question: Why were outbreaks of measles and smallpox able to so easily decimate the Taínos' population?
answers: text: no immunity to European diseases

question: What led to the last great Taínos rebellion?
answers: text: Increasing punishment
context: The first indigenous group encountered by Columbus were the 250,000 Taínos of Hispaniola who represented the dominant culture in the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas. Within thirty years about 70% of the Taínos had died. They had no immunity to European diseases, so outbreaks of measles and smallpox ravaged their population. Increasing punishment of the Taínos for revolting against forced labour, despite measures put in place by the encomienda, which included religious education and protection from warring tribes, eventually led to the last great Taíno rebellion.

qas: question: What behaviors did the Taínos begin to adopt after years of mistreatment?
answers: text: suicidal

question: What did Taínos women start doing to their infants?
answers: text: aborting or killing

question: Why would ingesting untreated cassava be a bad idea?
answers: text: violent poison

question: How many years was a Taínos Cacique able to hold ou in the Baoruco Mountain Range?
answers: text: thirteen

question: Who was sent to negotiate a peace treaty with the rebels?
answers: text: Francisco Barrionuevo
context: Following years of mistreatment, the Taínos began to adopt suicidal behaviors, with women aborting or killing their infants and men jumping from the cliffs or ingesting untreated cassava, a violent poison. Eventually, a Taíno Cacique named Enriquillo managed to hold out in the Baoruco Mountain Range for thirteen years, causing serious damage to the Spanish, Carib-held plantations and their Indian auxiliaries. Hearing of the seriousness of the revolt, Emperor Charles V (also King of Spain) sent captain Francisco Barrionuevo to negotiate a peace treaty with the ever-increasing number of rebels. Two months later, after consultation with the Audencia of Santo Domingo, Enriquillo was offered any part of the island to live in peace.

qas: question: What was the overwhelming reason for the decline of Native American populations?
answers: text: epidemic disease

question: Old World diseases accounted for up to what percentage of deaths among the native New World population?
answers: text: 90 to 95%

question: How long did it take for the Old World diseases to decimate the native population to the extent it did?
answers: text: 150 years

question: What disease killed almost a third of the population of Hispaniola in 1518?
answers: text: Smallpox

question: How did smallpox cause the Inca Civil War?
answers: text: By killing the Incan ruler Huayna Capac
context: Various theories for the decline of the Native American populations emphasize epidemic diseases, conflicts with Europeans, and conflicts among warring tribes. Scholars now believe that, among the various contributing factors, epidemic disease was the overwhelming cause of the population decline of the American natives. Some believe that after first contacts with Europeans and Africans, Old World diseases caused the death of 90 to 95% of the native population of the New World in the following 150 years. Smallpox killed up to one third of the native population of Hispaniola in 1518. By killing the Incan ruler Huayna Capac, smallpox caused the Inca Civil War. Smallpox was only the first epidemic. Typhus (probably) in 1546, influenza and smallpox together in 1558, smallpox again in 1589, diphtheria in 1614, measles in 1618—all ravaged the remains of Inca culture.

qas: question: What percent of the Aboriginal population of North America was killed in the first hundred years after first contact by smallpox and measles?
answers: text: between 50 and 67 per cent

question: How much of the native population near Massachusetts was killed by smallpox in the epidemic between 1617 and 1619?
answers: text: 90 per cent

question: Who were the Native Americans exposed to smallpox because of?
answers: text: Europeans

question: When did smallpox read the lands of the Iroquois?
answers: text: by 1679

question: What did the Indian Vaccination Act of 1832 establish?
answers: text: a smallpox vaccination program for Native Americans
context: Contact with European diseases such as smallpox and measles killed between 50 and 67 per cent of the Aboriginal population of North America in the first hundred years after the arrival of Europeans. Some 90 per cent of the native population near Massachusetts Bay Colony died of smallpox in an epidemic in 1617–1619. In 1633, in Plymouth, the Native Americans there were exposed to smallpox because of contact with Europeans. As it had done elsewhere, the virus wiped out entire population groups of Native Americans. It reached Lake Ontario in 1636, and the lands of the Iroquois by 1679. During the 1770s, smallpox killed at least 30% of the West Coast Native Americans. The 1775–82 North American smallpox epidemic and 1837 Great Plains smallpox epidemic brought devastation and drastic population depletion among the Plains Indians. In 1832, the federal government of the United States established a smallpox vaccination program for Native Americans (The Indian Vaccination Act of 1832).

qas: question: What Empire brought horses to the Americas?
answers: text: Spanish

question: How long had horses been extinct in the Americas prior to their re-introduction?
answers: text: 7500 years

question: What kind of impact did the re-emergence of horses have on some Native American cultures?
answers: text: profound

question: What did some tribes achieve by domesticating horses?
answers: text: great success

question: What enabled some tribes to expand territory, increase trade and capture more game?
answers: text: horses
context: The Spanish Empire and other Europeans brought horses to the Americas. Some of these animals escaped and began to breed and increase their numbers in the wild. The re-introduction of the horse, extinct in the Americas for over 7500 years, had a profound impact on Native American culture in the Great Plains of North America and of Patagonia in South America. By domesticating horses, some tribes had great success: horses enabled them to expand their territories, exchange more goods with neighboring tribes, and more easily capture game, especially bison.

qas: question: What did the indigenous peoples of America cultivate over the course of thousands of years?
answers: text: a large array of plant species

question: What percent of worldwide crops in cultivation derive from the efforts of the America's indigenous people?
answers: text: 50–60%

question: How were new species and strains of crops developed?
answers: text: artificial selection

question: What was the origin of maize?
answers: text: wild teosinte grasses

question: What products sometimes retain their native names in both English and Spanish?
answers: text: agricultural
context: Over the course of thousands of years, American indigenous peoples domesticated, bred and cultivated a large array of plant species. These species now constitute 50–60% of all crops in cultivation worldwide. In certain cases, the indigenous peoples developed entirely new species and strains through artificial selection, as was the case in the domestication and breeding of maize from wild teosinte grasses in the valleys of southern Mexico. Numerous such agricultural products retain their native names in the English and Spanish lexicons.

qas: question: Where was a center of early agriculture?
answers: text: South American highlands

question: Based on genetic testing, what has been suggested about the origin of the potato?
answers: text: single

question: Where did the potato originate?
answers: text: area of southern Peru

question: How long ago was the decedent of 99% of all modern potatoes cultivated as long ago as?
answers: text: 10,000 years ago

question: What event in 850 AD coincided with the collapse of Mayan civilization?
answers: text: persistent drought
context: The South American highlands were a center of early agriculture. Genetic testing of the wide variety of cultivars and wild species suggests that the potato has a single origin in the area of southern Peru, from a species in the Solanum brevicaule complex. Over 99% of all modern cultivated potatoes worldwide are descendants of a subspecies indigenous to south-central Chile, Solanum tuberosum ssp. tuberosum, where it was cultivated as long as 10,000 years ago. According to George Raudzens, "It is clear that in pre-Columbian times some groups struggled to survive and often suffered food shortages and famines, while others enjoyed a varied and substantial diet." The persistent drought around 850 AD coincided with the collapse of Classic Maya civilization, and the famine of One Rabbit (AD 1454) was a major catastrophe in Mexico.

qas: question: When did the North American natives begin farming?
answers: text: approximately 4,000 years ago

question: What had pottery become 4,000 years ago in the Americas?
answers: text: common

question: What did technology make feasible when it came to trees?
answers: text: small-scale felling

question: How did Archaic Indians use fire?
answers: text: a controlled manner

question: What was the intentional burning of vegetation intended to mimic?
answers: text: effects of natural fires
context: Natives of North America began practicing farming approximately 4,000 years ago, late in the Archaic period of North American cultures. Technology had advanced to the point that pottery was becoming common and the small-scale felling of trees had become feasible. Concurrently, the Archaic Indians began using fire in a controlled manner. Intentional burning of vegetation was used to mimic the effects of natural fires that tended to clear forest understories. It made travel easier and facilitated the growth of herbs and berry-producing plants, which were important for both food and medicines.

qas: question: What global industry owes its existence to having been domesticated by indigenous Americans?
answers: text: Many crops

question: What is arguably the most important crop in the world?
answers: text: corn

question: Squash, beans, and peppers are all examples of what type of crop?
answers: text: significant

question: What type of bean is used to make chocolate?
answers: text: cocoa

question: Who do we owe gratitude for even some species of cotton to?
answers: text: indigenous Americans
context: Many crops first domesticated by indigenous Americans are now produced and used globally. Chief among these is maize or "corn", arguably the most important crop in the world. Other significant crops include cassava, chia, squash (pumpkins, zucchini, marrow, acorn squash, butternut squash), the pinto bean, Phaseolus beans including most common beans, tepary beans and lima beans, tomatoes, potatoes, avocados, peanuts, cocoa beans (used to make chocolate), vanilla, strawberries, pineapples, Peppers (species and varieties of Capsicum, including bell peppers, jalapeños, paprika and chili peppers) sunflower seeds, rubber, brazilwood, chicle, tobacco, coca, manioc and some species of cotton.

qas: question: What did geographical zones encourage the sharing of?
answers: text: Cultural practices

question: What did people in the same reason adopt?
answers: text: similar technologies and social organizations

question: Where did millennia of coexistence produce a culture with advanced agricultural and social patterns?
answers: text: Mesoamerica

question: How long was there a homogeneous culture on the North American plains?
answers: text: until the 19th century

question: What creature did the nomadic hunter-gatherers of the plains hunt?
answers: text: buffalo
context: Cultural practices in the Americas seem to have been shared mostly within geographical zones where unrelated peoples adopted similar technologies and social organizations. An example of such a cultural area is Mesoamerica, where millennia of coexistence and shared development among the peoples of the region produced a fairly homogeneous culture with complex agricultural and social patterns. Another well-known example is the North American plains where until the 19th century several peoples shared the traits of nomadic hunter-gatherers based primarily on buffalo hunting.

qas: question: What was one of the many achievements of the American cultures?
answers: text: development of writing

question: What region produced several writing systems independent of other areas of the world?
answers: text: the Mesoamerican region

question: When were writing systems being created in the Americas?
answers: text: beginning in the 1st millennium BCE

question: What is presumed to be written upon the Cascajal Block?
answers: text: extensive text

question: When has the Olmec tablet been dated to?
answers: text: 900 BCE
context: The development of writing is counted among the many achievements and innovations of pre-Columbian American cultures. Independent from the development of writing in other areas of the world, the Mesoamerican region produced several indigenous writing systems beginning in the 1st millennium BCE. What may be the earliest-known example in the Americas of an extensive text thought to be writing is by the Cascajal Block. The Olmec hieroglyphs tablet has been indirectly dated from ceramic shards found in the same context to approximately 900 BCE, around the time that Olmec occupation of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán began to wane.

qas: question: What writing system combined phonetic symbols and logograms?
answers: text: Maya

question: What signs play a significant role in the Mayan's writing system?
answers: text: syllabic

question: What is the Mayan writing system the only known pre-Columbian one to completely represent this?
answers: text: spoken language of its community

question: How many different glyphs in total does the Mayan writing system have?
answers: text: more than one thousand

question: How many of the Mayan glyphs had phonetic or syllabic interpretations?
answers: text: some two hundred
context: The Maya writing system (often called hieroglyphs from a superficial resemblance to the Ancient Egyptian writing) was a combination of phonetic symbols and logograms. It is most often classified as a logographic or (more properly) a logosyllabic writing system, in which syllabic signs play a significant role. It is the only pre-Columbian writing system known to represent completely the spoken language of its community. In total, the script has more than one thousand different glyphs although a few are variations of the same sign or meaning and many appear only rarely or are confined to particular localities. At any one time, no more than about five hundred glyphs were in use, some two hundred of which (including variations) had a phonetic or syllabic interpretation.

qas: question: Who taught indigenous scribes to write their languages?
answers: text: Spanish

question: When were indigenous scribes taught to use Latin letters?
answers: text: the sixteenth century

question: What were a large number of the local documents in regards to?
answers: text: lawsuits and other legal matters

question: What were Spanish translations at the time made for?
answers: text: legal cases

question: What viewpoint have scholars translated and analyzed documents to writes histories from?
answers: text: indigenous
context: Spanish mendicants in the sixteenth century taught indigenous scribes in their communities to write their languages in Latin letters and there is a large number of local-level documents in Nahuatl, Zapotec, Mixtec, and Yucatec Maya from the colonial era, many of which were part of lawsuits and other legal matters. Although Spaniards initially taught indigenous scribes alphabetic writing, the tradition became self-perpetuating at the local level. The Spanish crown gathered such documentation and contemporary Spanish translations were made for legal cases. Scholars have translated and analyzed these documents in what is called the New Philology to write histories of indigenous peoples from indigenous viewpoints.

qas: question: What characteristic did the majority of Native American music have?
answers: text: monophonic

question: What did traditional Native American music center around?
answers: text: drumming

question: What are examples of popular percussive instruments of Native Americans?
answers: text: Rattles, clappersticks, and rasps

question: How were flutes constructed by the Native Americans?
answers: text: rivercane, cedar, and other woods

question: How many strings did the Apache fiddle have?
answers: text: single
context: Native American music in North America is almost entirely monophonic, but there are notable exceptions. Traditional Native American music often centers around drumming. Rattles, clappersticks, and rasps were also popular percussive instruments. Flutes were made of rivercane, cedar, and other woods. The tuning of these flutes is not precise and depends on the length of the wood used and the hand span of the intended player, but the finger holes are most often around a whole step apart and, at least in Northern California, a flute was not used if it turned out to have an interval close to a half step. The Apache fiddle is a single stringed instrument.

qas: question: What feature did the music of Central America have?
answers: text: pentatonic

question: What role did music play in the religious festivities? 
answers: text: inseparable from

question: What instruments were used to make music by the Central Americans?
answers: text: large variety of percussion and wind

question: Where did archaeologists find a depiction of a Mayan stringed instrument?
answers: text: a jar in Guatemala

question: What did the Mayan's stringed instrument sound like when played?
answers: text: a jaguar's growl
context: The music of the indigenous peoples of Central Mexico and Central America was often pentatonic. Before the arrival of the Spaniards and other Europeans, music was inseparable from religious festivities and included a large variety of percussion and wind instruments such as drums, flutes, sea snail shells (used as a trumpet) and "rain" tubes. No remnants of pre-Columbian stringed instruments were found until archaeologists discovered a jar in Guatemala, attributed to the Maya of the Late Classic Era (600–900 CE), which depicts a stringed musical instrument which has since been reproduced. This instrument is one of the very few stringed instruments known in the Americas prior to the introduction of European musical instruments; when played it produces a sound virtually identical to a jaguar's growl.

qas: question: What comprises a major category in the world art collection?
answers: text: Visual arts by indigenous peoples

question: Pottery, weavings and carvings are just some of the contributions to art by which peoples? 
answers: text: indigenous

question: Why did the U.S. pass the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990?
answers: text: too many artists were posing as Native Americans

question: What does the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 require artists to prove they're enrolled in?
answers: text: a state or federally recognized tribe

question: When was a national Native Arts and Cultures Foundation established?
answers: text: 2007
context: Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas comprise a major category in the world art collection. Contributions include pottery, paintings, jewellery, weavings, sculptures, basketry, carvings, and beadwork. Because too many artists were posing as Native Americans and Alaska Natives in order to profit from the caché of Indigenous art in the United States, the U.S. passed the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990, requiring artists to prove that they are enrolled in a state or federally recognized tribe. To support the ongoing practice of American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian arts and cultures in the United States, the Ford Foundation, arts advocates and American Indian tribes created an endowment seed fund and established a national Native Arts and Cultures Foundation in 2007.

qas: question: What was the number of indigenous people in Argentina as of 2005?
answers: text: about 600,329

question: How many Mapuche were there in Argentina in 2005?
answers: text: 113,680

question: Who are the Quechua and Chorote?
answers: text: Minor but important peoples

question: What indigenous population is now virtually extinct?
answers: text: The Selknam

question: Who still speaks Southern Tehuelche? 
answers: text: a handful of elderly people
context: In 2005, Argentina's indigenous population (known as pueblos originarios) numbered about 600,329 (1.6% of total population); this figure includes 457,363 people who self-identified as belonging to an indigenous ethnic group and 142,966 who identified themselves as first-generation descendants of an indigenous people. The ten most populous indigenous peoples are the Mapuche (113,680 people), the Kolla (70,505), the Toba (69,452), the Guaraní (68,454), the Wichi (40,036), the Diaguita-Calchaquí (31,753), the Mocoví (15,837), the Huarpe (14,633), the Comechingón (10,863) and the Tehuelche (10,590). Minor but important peoples are the Quechua (6,739), the Charrúa (4,511), the Pilagá (4,465), the Chané (4,376), and the Chorote (2,613). The Selknam (Ona) people are now virtually extinct in its pure form. The languages of the Diaguita, Tehuelche, and Selknam nations have become extinct or virtually extinct: the Cacán language (spoken by Diaguitas) in the 18th century and the Selknam language in the 20th century; one Tehuelche language (Southern Tehuelche) is still spoken by a handful of elderly people.

qas: question: What percentage of the residents in Bolivia self-identify as belonging to an indigenous people?
answers: text: 62%

question: What percent of people in Bolivia grew up with an indigenous mother tongue yet don't call themselves indigenous?
answers: text: 3.7%

question: In the 2001 census, how much of Bolivia's population was labeled as being indigenous?
answers: text: 66.4%

question: How many cultures does the Constitution of Bolivia recognize?
answers: text: 36

question: How many total groups of indigenous peoples are in Bolivia?
answers: text: fifty
context: In Bolivia, a 62% majority of residents over the age of 15 self-identify as belonging to an indigenous people, while another 3.7% grew up with an indigenous mother tongue yet do not self-identify as indigenous. Including both of these categories, and children under 15, some 66.4% of Bolivia's population was registered as indigenous in the 2001 Census. The largest indigenous ethnic groups are: Quechua, about 2.5 million people; Aymara, 2.0 million; Chiquitano, 181,000; Guaraní, 126,000; and Mojeño, 69,000. Some 124,000 belong to smaller indigenous groups. The Constitution of Bolivia, enacted in 2009, recognizes 36 cultures, each with its own language, as part of a plurinational state. Some groups, including CONAMAQ (the National Council of Ayllus and Markas of Qullasuyu) draw ethnic boundaries within the Quechua- and Aymara-speaking population, resulting in a total of fifty indigenous peoples native to Bolivia.

qas: question: Who retained indigenous language and culture after the Spanish conquest?
answers: text: Bolivian highland peasants

question: What did the highland peasants resist attempts at?
answers: text: dissolution of communal landholdings

question: What took place frequently until 1953?
answers: text: Indigenous revolts

question: What re-emerged during the Katarista movement in the 1970s?
answers: text: ethnic and class militancy

question: What march successfully pressured the national government to sign the ILO Convetion 169?
answers: text: March for Territory and Dignity
context: Large numbers of Bolivian highland peasants retained indigenous language, culture, customs, and communal organization throughout the Spanish conquest and the post-independence period. They mobilized to resist various attempts at the dissolution of communal landholdings and used legal recognition of "empowered caciques" to further communal organization. Indigenous revolts took place frequently until 1953. While the National Revolutionary Movement government begun in 1952 discouraged self-identification as indigenous (reclassifying rural people as campesinos, or peasants), renewed ethnic and class militancy re-emerged in the Katarista movement beginning in the 1970s. Lowland indigenous peoples, mostly in the east, entered national politics through the 1990 March for Territory and Dignity organized by the CIDOB confederation. That march successfully pressured the national government to sign the ILO Convention 169 and to begin the still-ongoing process of recognizing and titling indigenous territories. The 1994 Law of Popular Participation granted "grassroots territorial organizations" that are recognized by the state certain rights to govern local areas.

qas: question: Who came up with a policy for indigenous autonomy?
answers: text: Morales

question: When did Morales launch his policy in the eastern lowlands?
answers: text: 2009

question: What was Bolivia the first country in the history of South America to do?
answers: text: affirm the right of indigenous people to govern themselves

question: What did the President vow he would never betray?
answers: text: fight

question: What effect has the issue of indigenous autonomy had on Bolivia?
answers: text: divided
context: Morales began work on his "indigenous autonomy" policy, which he launched in the eastern lowlands department on August 3, 2009, making Bolivia the first country in the history of South America to affirm the right of indigenous people to govern themselves. Speaking in Santa Cruz Department, the President called it "a historic day for the peasant and indigenous movement", saying that, though he might make errors, he would "never betray the fight started by our ancestors and the fight of the Bolivian people". A vote on further autonomy will take place in referendums which are expected to be held in December 2009. The issue has divided the country.

qas: question: How much of Brazil's population is comprised of indigenous peoples?
answers: text: 0.4%

question: How many Brazillians have some indigenous ancestry?
answers: text: millions

question: Where do the majority of the indigenous people of Brazil live?
answers: text: Indian reservations

question: How many different uncontacted tribes were confirmed in Brazil in 2007?
answers: text: 67

question: What country has the largest number of uncontacted tribes?
answers: text: Brazil
context: Indigenous peoples of Brazil make up 0.4% of Brazil's population, or about 700,000 people, even though millions of Brazilians have some indigenous ancestry. Indigenous peoples are found in the entire territory of Brazil, although the majority of them live in Indian reservations in the North and Center-Western part of the country. On January 18, 2007, FUNAI reported that it had confirmed the presence of 67 different uncontacted tribes in Brazil, up from 40 in 2005. With this addition Brazil has now overtaken the island of New Guinea as the country having the largest number of uncontacted tribes.

qas: question: What is the term Eskimo said to mean?
answers: text: "eater of raw meat."

question: First Nations and Inuit are labels for what peoples in Canada?
answers: text: Aboriginal

question: How many Aboriginal nations evolved trade, as well as spiritual and social hierarchies?
answers: text: Hundreds

question: What resulted from First Nation and Inuit people marrying European settlers?
answers: text: The Métis culture

question: What has been enacted between European immigrants and First Nations across Canada?
answers: text: Various laws, treaties, and legislation
context: Aboriginal peoples in Canada comprise the First Nations, Inuit and Métis; the descriptors "Indian" and "Eskimo" are falling into disuse, and other than in neighboring Alaska. "Eskimo" is considered derogatory in many other places because it was given by non-Inuit people and was said to mean "eater of raw meat." Hundreds of Aboriginal nations evolved trade, spiritual and social hierarchies. The Métis culture of mixed blood originated in the mid-17th century when First Nation and native Inuit married European settlers. The Inuit had more limited interaction with European settlers during that early period. Various laws, treaties, and legislation have been enacted between European immigrants and First Nations across Canada. Aboriginal Right to Self-Government provides opportunity to manage historical, cultural, political, health care and economic control aspects within first people's communities.

qas: question: What were the early interactions between First Nations and Europeans?
answers: text: relatively peaceful

question: What have Canadian indigenous peoples been able to have a strong influence on?
answers: text: national culture

question: How long have European Canadians been encouraging Aboriginals to assimilate into their culture?
answers: text: late 18th century

question: What does National Aboriginal Day recognize from the Aboriginal peoples of Canada?
answers: text: cultures and contributions

question: How many recognized First Nations governments are spread across Canada?
answers: text: over 600
context: Although not without conflict, European/Canadian early interactions with First Nations and Inuit populations were relatively peaceful compared to the experience of native peoples in the United States. Combined with a late economic development in many regions, this relatively peaceful history has allowed Canadian Indigenous peoples to have a fairly strong influence on the early national culture while preserving their own identity. From the late 18th century, European Canadians encouraged Aboriginals to assimilate into their own culture, referred to as "Canadian culture". These attempts reached a climax in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with forced integration. National Aboriginal Day recognises the cultures and contributions of Aboriginal peoples of Canada. There are currently over 600 recognized First Nations governments or bands encompassing 1,172,790 2006 people spread across Canada with distinctive Aboriginal cultures, languages, art, and music.

qas: question: What percent of the Chilean population were indigenous according to the 2002 census?
answers: text: 4.6%

question: What is the name for the Polynesian people living on Easter Island?
answers: text: the Rapanui

question: Who are many of the people of Chile the descendants of?
answers: text: the Mapuche

question: How long were the Mapuche able to fight off the Spaniards?
answers: text: 350 years

question: When did the Mapuche surrender to the Chilean army?
answers: text: 1880s
context: According to the 2002 Census, 4.6% of the Chilean population, including the Rapanui (a Polynesian people) of Easter Island, was indigenous, although most show varying degrees of mixed heritage. Many are descendants of the Mapuche, and live in Santiago, Araucanía and the lake district. The Mapuche successfully fought off defeat in the first 300–350 years of Spanish rule during the Arauco War. Relations with the new Chilean Republic were good until the Chilean state decided to occupy their lands. During the Occupation of Araucanía the Mapuche surrendered to the country's army in the 1880s. Their land was opened to settlement by Chileans and Europeans. Conflict over Mapuche land rights continues to the present.

qas: question: What was Ecuador the site of?
answers: text: many indigenous cultures

question: Where did the Valdivia culture develop?
answers: text: coastal region

question: What two cultures unified to for an elaborate civilization?
answers: text: the Caras and the Quitus

question: What culture did the Inca fear the most?
answers: text: The Cañaris

question: What did the Spaniards and Incas destroy?
answers: text: architecture remains
context: Ecuador was the site of many indigenous cultures, and civilizations of different proportions. An early sedentary culture, known as the Valdivia culture, developed in the coastal region, while the Caras and the Quitus unified to form an elaborate civilization that ended at the birth of the Capital Quito. The Cañaris near Cuenca were the most advanced, and most feared by the Inca, due to their fierce resistance to the Incan expansion. Their architecture remains were later destroyed by Spaniards and the Incas.

qas: question: What percentage of Ecuador's indigenous population are Highland Quichuas?
answers: text: 96.4%

question: Where do the Highland Quichuas live?
answers: text: valleys of the Sierra region

question: Who are the Highland Quichuas primarily descended from?
answers: text: Inca

question: What language do the Highland Quichuas speak?
answers: text: Kichwa

question: The Saraguro and Panzaleo are two of the member groups of what population?
answers: text: Highland Quichuas
context: Approximately 96.4% of Ecuador's Indigenous population are Highland Quichuas living in the valleys of the Sierra region. Primarily consisting of the descendents of Incans, they are Kichwa speakers and include the Caranqui, the Otavalos, the Cayambi, the Quitu-Caras, the Panzaleo, the Chimbuelo, the Salasacan, the Tugua, the Puruhá, the Cañari, and the Saraguro. Linguistic evidence suggests that the Salascan and the Saraguro may have been the descendants of Bolivian ethnic groups transplanted to Ecuador as mitimaes.

qas: question: El Salvador was home to which indigenous peoples?
answers: text: the Pipil, the Lenca, Xinca, and Kakawira

question: What was a major Pipil settlement in western El Salvador?
answers: text: Cuzcatlan

question: What was the language of the Pipil?
answers: text: Nawat

question: What did the Princes and Princesses see the Spanish as?
answers: text: barbaric invaders

question: What people resulted from the Spaniards intermarrying with Pipll and Lenca women?
answers: text: Mestizo
context: Much of El Salvador was home to the Pipil, the Lenca, Xinca, and Kakawira. The Pipil lived in western El Salvador, spoke Nawat, and had many settlements there, most noticeably Cuzcatlan. The Pipil had no precious mineral resources, but they did have rich and fertile land that was good for farming. The Spaniards were disappointed not to find gold or jewels in El Salvador as they had in other lands like Guatemala or Mexico, but upon learning of the fertile land in El Salvador, they attempted to conquer it. Noted Meso-American indigenous warriors to rise militarily against the Spanish included Princes Atonal and Atlacatl of the Pipil people in central El Salvador and Princess Antu Silan Ulap of the Lenca people in eastern El Salvador, who saw the Spanish not as gods but as barbaric invaders. After fierce battles, the Pipil successfully fought off the Spanish army led by Pedro de Alvarado along with their Mexican Indian allies (the Tlaxcalas), sending them back to Guatemala. After many other attacks with an army reinforced with Guatemalan Indian allies, the Spanish were able to conquer Cuzcatlan. After further attacks, the Spanish also conquered the Lenca people. Eventually, the Spaniards intermarried with Pipil and Lenca women, resulting in the Mestizo population which would become the majority of the Salvadoran people. Today many Pipil and other indigenous populations live in the many small towns of El Salvador like Izalco, Panchimalco, Sacacoyo, and Nahuizalco.

qas: question: How much of the population of Honduras is of full-blooded indigenous descent?
answers: text: About five percent

question: What percentage of Hondurans have African blood mixed in with the rest of their ancestry?
answers: text: about ten percent

question: Where are the main concentrations of indigenous people in Honduras? 
answers: text: rural westernmost areas

question: The Lencas, Miskitos, Mayans Pech, Sumos and Tolupan comprise the majority of what in Honduras?
answers: text: indigenous people
context: About five percent of the population are of full-blooded indigenous descent, but upwards to eighty percent more or the majority of Hondurans are mestizo or part-indigenous with European admixture, and about ten percent are of indigenous or African descent. The main concentration of indigenous in Honduras are in the rural westernmost areas facing Guatemala and to the Caribbean Sea coastline, as well on the Nicaraguan border. The majority of indigenous people are Lencas, Miskitos to the east, Mayans, Pech, Sumos, and Tolupan.

qas: question: What was Mexico home to prior to the arrival of the Spaniards?
answers: text: indigenous civilizations

question: When did the Olmecs flourish?
answers: text: from between 1200 BCE to about 400 BCE

question: Who held sway in the mountains of Oaxaca?
answers: text: the Zapotecs and the Mixtecs

question: Who lived in the Yucatan?
answers: text: the Maya

question: Where was the Aztec's central capital located?
answers: text: Tenochtitlan
context: The territory of modern-day Mexico was home to numerous indigenous civilizations prior to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores: The Olmecs, who flourished from between 1200 BCE to about 400 BCE in the coastal regions of the Gulf of Mexico; the Zapotecs and the Mixtecs, who held sway in the mountains of Oaxaca and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec; the Maya in the Yucatan (and into neighbouring areas of contemporary Central America); the Purépecha in present-day Michoacán and surrounding areas, and the Aztecs/Mexica, who, from their central capital at Tenochtitlan, dominated much of the centre and south of the country (and the non-Aztec inhabitants of those areas) when Hernán Cortés first landed at Veracruz.

qas: question: What grants all indigenous languages spoken in Mexico validity? 
answers: text: General Law of Linguistic Rights of the Indigenous Peoples

question: What are indigenous peoples entitled to request?
answers: text: some public services and documents in their native languages

question: How many languages have been giving the status of "national languages"?
answers: text: more than 60

question: What has the Mexican government promoted in some indigenous rural communities?
answers: text: bilingual primary and secondary education

question: How many of the indigenous peoples in Mexico speak an indigenous language?
answers: text: about 67% of them
context: The "General Law of Linguistic Rights of the Indigenous Peoples" grants all indigenous languages spoken in Mexico, regardless of the number of speakers, the same validity as Spanish in all territories in which they are spoken, and indigenous peoples are entitled to request some public services and documents in their native languages. Along with Spanish, the law has granted them — more than 60 languages — the status of "national languages". The law includes all indigenous languages of the Americas regardless of origin; that is, it includes the indigenous languages of ethnic groups non-native to the territory. As such the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples recognizes the language of the Kickapoo, who immigrated from the United States, and recognizes the languages of the Guatemalan indigenous refugees. The Mexican government has promoted and established bilingual primary and secondary education in some indigenous rural communities. Nonetheless, of the indigenous peoples in Mexico, only about 67% of them (or 5.4% of the country's population) speak an indigenous language and about a sixth do not speak Spanish (1.2% of the country's population).

qas: question: What percentage of the Nicaraguan population are indigenous?
answers: text: About 5%

question: What is the largest indigenous group in Nicaragua?
answers: text: Miskito

question: How did Creole English come about?
answers: text: frequent contact with the British

question: What didn't the king have in Miskito society?
answers: text: total power

question: How many Mayanga people are in Nicaragua?
answers: text: some 10,000
context: About 5% of the Nicaraguan population are indigenous. The largest indigenous group in Nicaragua is the Miskito people. Their territory extended from Cape Camarón, Honduras, to Rio Grande, Nicaragua along the Mosquito Coast. There is a native Miskito language, but large groups speak Miskito Coast Creole, Spanish, Rama and other languages. The Creole English came about through frequent contact with the British who colonized the area. Many are Christians. Traditional Miskito society was highly structured with a defined political structure. There was a king, but he did not have total power. Instead, the power was split between himself, a governor, a general, and by the 1750s, an admiral. Historical information on kings is often obscured by the fact that many of the kings were semi-mythical. Another major group is the Mayangna (or Sumu) people, counting some 10,000 people.

qas: question: What percentage of Peru's population is indigenous?
answers: text: 45%

question: What has shaped the way Peruvians live and see themselves today?
answers: text: Native Peruvian traditions

question: What is not very well developed in Peru?
answers: text: Cultural citizenship

question: What regions suffer from state-sponsored abuse and violence?
answers: text: Amazonian
context: Indigenous population in Peru make up around 45%. Native Peruvian traditions and customs have shaped the way Peruvians live and see themselves today. Cultural citizenship—or what Renato Rosaldo has called, "the right to be different and to belong, in a democratic, participatory sense" (1996:243)—is not yet very well developed in Peru. This is perhaps no more apparent than in the country's Amazonian regions where indigenous societies continue to struggle against state-sponsored economic abuses, cultural discrimination, and pervasive violence.

qas: question: Where are the indigenous peoples referred to as "American Indians"?
answers: text: the contiguous United States

question: How many cultures and languages do the indigenous peoples of Alaska have?
answers: text: 11

question: Eyak and Tlingit are some of the peoples who are collectively called what?
answers: text: Alaska Natives

question: Tahitian and Tongan are two examples of indigenous peoples of what descent?
answers: text: Polynesian

question: How are Pacific Islands Americans distinct from the indigenous peoples of the Americas?
answers: text: geographically and culturally
context: Indigenous peoples in what is now the contiguous United States, including their descendants, are commonly called "American Indians", or simply "Indians" domestically, or "Native Americans" by the USCB. In Alaska, indigenous peoples belong to 11 cultures with 11 languages. These include the St. Lawrence Island Yupik, Iñupiat, Athabaskan, Yup'ik, Cup'ik, Unangax, Alutiiq, Eyak, Haida, Tsimshian, and Tlingit, who are collectively called Alaska Natives. Indigenous Polynesian peoples, which include Marshallese, Samoan, Tahitian, and Tongan, are politically considered Pacific Islands American but are geographically and culturally distinct from indigenous peoples of the Americas.

qas: question: What amoun of the United States population is compromised of Native Americans?
answers: text: 0.97% to 2%

question: How many people identified as Native American in the 2010 census?
answers: text: 5.2 million

question: How many of the self-identified Native Americans are recognized as enrolled tribal members?
answers: text: 1.8 million

question: Where do a minority of US Native Americans live?
answers: text: Indian reservations

question: What tribe has the legal right to freely cross the US-Canadian border?
answers: text: Haudenosaunee
context: Native Americans in the United States make up 0.97% to 2% of the population. In the 2010 census, 2.9 million people self-identified as Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native alone, and 5.2 million people identified as U.S. Native Americans, either alone or in combination with one or more ethnicity or other races. 1.8 million are recognized as enrolled tribal members.[citation needed] Tribes have established their own criteria for membership, which are often based on blood quantum, lineal descent, or residency. A minority of US Native Americans live in land units called Indian reservations. Some California and Southwestern tribes, such as the Kumeyaay, Cocopa, Pascua Yaqui and Apache span both sides of the US–Mexican border. Haudenosaunee people have the legal right to freely cross the US–Canadian border. Athabascan, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Iñupiat, Blackfeet, Nakota, Cree, Anishinaabe, Huron, Lenape, Mi'kmaq, Penobscot, and Haudenosaunee, among others live in both Canada and the US.

qas: question: What do most Venezuelans have?
answers: text: some indigenous heritage

question: How many different languages does the 2% of truly indigenous Venezuelans speak?
answers: text: around 29

question: Why are the languages of the indigenous peoples of Venezuela in danger of becoming extinct?
answers: text: groups are very small

question: Who were the most advanced native people to have lived in what is present-day Venezuela?
answers: text: Timoto-cuicas

question: What made the Timoto-cuicas so advanced?
answers: text: agricultural techniques used
context: Most Venezuelans have some indigenous heritage, but the indigenous population make up only around 2% of the total population. They speak around 29 different languages and many more dialects, but some of the ethnic groups are very small and their languages are in danger of becoming extinct in the next decades. The most important indigenous groups are the Ye'kuana, the Wayuu, the Pemon and the Warao. The most advanced native people to have lived in present-day Venezuela is thought to have been the Timoto-cuicas, who mainly lived in the Venezuelan Andes. In total it is estimated that there were between 350 thousand and 500 thousand inhabitants, the most densely populated area being the Andean region (Timoto-cuicas), thanks to the advanced agricultural techniques used.

qas: question: What remains a controversy regarding how to refer to the indigenous peoples of the Americas?
answers: text: The Native American name

question: How may subsets of peoples be named?
answers: text: shared language, region, or historical relationship

question: Many of what have been used to refer to the indigenous peoples of the Americas?
answers: text: English exonyms

question: Who used foreign language terms to give names to indigenous peoples?
answers: text: earlier explorers and colonists

question: Why were pejorative terms sometimes used for the native populations?
answers: text: out of prejudice and fear
context: The Native American name controversy is an ongoing dispute over the acceptable ways to refer to the indigenous peoples of the Americas and to broad subsets thereof, such as those living in a specific country or sharing certain cultural attributes. When discussing broader subsets of peoples, naming may be based on shared language, region, or historical relationship. Many English exonyms have been used to refer to the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Some of these names were based on foreign-language terms used by earlier explorers and colonists, while others resulted from the colonists' attempt to translate endonyms from the native language into their own, and yet others were pejorative terms arising out of prejudice and fear, during periods of conflict.

qas: question: What have the peoples in the Americas been more vocal about since the 20th century?
answers: text: the ways they wish to be referred to

question: What terms do the indigenous people press to eliminate?
answers: text: obsolete, inaccurate, or racist.

question: Who initially proposed using the term "Native American" to recognize the primacy of the native population?
answers: text: United States government

question: What naming convention is accepted by all indigenous groups?
answers: text: none
context: However, since the 20th century, indigenous peoples in the Americas have been more vocal about the ways they wish to be referred to, pressing for the elimination of terms widely considered to be obsolete, inaccurate, or racist. During the latter half of the 20th century and the rise of the Indian rights movement, the United States government responded by proposing the use of the term "Native American," to recognize the primacy of indigenous peoples' tenure in the nation, but this term was not fully accepted. Other naming conventions have been proposed and used, but none are accepted by all indigenous groups.

qas: question: Where has there been a rise of indigenous movements in recent years?
answers: text: the Americas (mainly South America)

question: What do the organizing groups hope to obtain for themselves?
answers: text: preservation of their culture

question: What is an example of a movement which is working to obtain rights for Amazonian populations everywhere?
answers: text: Indian Council of South America

question: Where can similar movements for indigenous rights be seen?
answers: text: Canada and the United States,
context: In recent years, there has been a rise of indigenous movements in the Americas (mainly South America). These are rights-driven groups that organize themselves in order to achieve some sort of self-determination and the preservation of their culture for their peoples. Organizations like the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon River Basin and the Indian Council of South America are examples of movements that are breaking the barrier of borders in order to obtain rights for Amazonian indigenous populations everywhere. Similar movements for indigenous rights can also be seen in Canada and the United States, with movements like the International Indian Treaty Council and the accession of native Indian group into the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization.

qas: question: Who started a forum in support of Morales' legal process of change?
answers: text: Representatives

question: What did the meeting condemn plans by the Europeans to do?
answers: text: destabilize the country

question: What did the forum express for Morales and his proposed changes?
answers: text: solidarity

question: What did the forum question about US interference?
answers: text: diplomats and NGOs

question: What was the forum suspicious of?
answers: text: plots against Bolivia and other countries
context: Representatives from indigenous and rural organizations from major South American countries, including Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile and Brazil, started a forum in support of Morales' legal process of change. The meeting condemned plans by the European "foreign power elite" to destabilize the country. The forum also expressed solidarity with the Morales and his economic and social changes in the interest of historically marginalized majorities. Furthermore, in a cathartic blow to the US-backed elite, it questioned US interference through diplomats and NGOs. The forum was suspicious of plots against Bolivia and other countries, including Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador, Paraguay and Nicaragua.

qas: question: What does the genetic history of indigenous peoples of the Americas primarily focus on?
answers: text: Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups

question: How is Y-DNA passed along?
answers: text: patrilineal line

question: Which type of DNA is passed from the mother to offspring of both genders?
answers: text: mtDNA

question: What is the only way that Y-DNA and mtDNA change?
answers: text: chance mutation

question: What is AtDNA generally only used to measure?
answers: text: average continent-of-ancestry
context: Genetic history of indigenous peoples of the Americas primarily focus on Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups and Human mitochondrial DNA haplogroups. "Y-DNA" is passed solely along the patrilineal line, from father to son, while "mtDNA" is passed down the matrilineal line, from mother to offspring of both sexes. Neither recombines, and thus Y-DNA and mtDNA change only by chance mutation at each generation with no intermixture between parents' genetic material. Autosomal "atDNA" markers are also used, but differ from mtDNA or Y-DNA in that they overlap significantly. AtDNA is generally used to measure the average continent-of-ancestry genetic admixture in the entire human genome and related isolated populations.

qas: question: Who have studies of the mtDNA of Turkic-speaking peoples shown they're closest to genetically?
answers: text: Amerindians

question: What group were the ancestors of the American Indians separated from?
answers: text: Asian population

question: When did the ancestors of the American Indians separate from their parent population?
answers: text: Middle Paleolithic

question: When did research find evidence for a common ancestry between Native Americans and Altaians?
answers: text: 2012

question: What DNA analysis indicated the common ancestry of the Native Americans?
answers: text: mitochondrial DNA and Y-Chromosome
context: Genetic studies of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of Amerindians and some Siberian and Central Asian peoples also revealed that the gene pool of the Turkic-speaking peoples of Siberia such as Altaians, Khakas, Shors and Soyots, living between the Altai and Lake Baikal along the Sayan mountains, are genetically closest to Amerindians.[citation needed] This view is shared by other researchers who argue that "the ancestors of the American Indians were the first to separate from the great Asian population in the Middle Paleolithic. 2012 research found evidence for a recent common ancestry between Native Americans and indigenous Altaians based on mitochondrial DNA and Y-Chromosome analysis. The paternal lineages of Altaians mostly belong to the subclades of haplogroup P-M45 (xR1a 38-93%; xQ1a 4-32%).

qas: question: What did human settlement of the New World occur in?
answers: text: stages

question: How long of a layover did the human nomads have in Beringia?
answers: text: 15,000 to 20,000-year

question: What do the diversity and distributions of Y lineage specific to South America indicate about certain peoples there?
answers: text: isolated since the initial colonization of the region

question: What population has mtDNA and atDNA mutations, making them distinct from other indigenous peoples of the Americas?
answers: text: Alaskan

question: What does the DNA evidence suggest about the migrants into the northern extremes of North America?
answers: text: later migrant populations
context: Human settlement of the New World occurred in stages from the Bering sea coast line, with an initial 15,000 to 20,000-year layover on Beringia for the small founding population. The micro-satellite diversity and distributions of the Y lineage specific to South America indicates that certain indigenous peoples of the Americas populations have been isolated since the initial colonization of the region. The Na-Dené, Inuit and Indigenous Alaskan populations exhibit haplogroup Q (Y-DNA) mutations, however are distinct from other indigenous peoples of the Americas with various mtDNA and atDNA mutations. This suggests that the earliest migrants into the northern extremes of North America and Greenland derived from later migrant populations.

qas: question: When was a study about the DNA of a young boy published in Nature?
answers: text: 2013

question: How old was the young boy's remains?
answers: text: 24,000-year-old

question: What culture was the boy from?
answers: text: Mal'ta-Buret'

question: What may one-third of the indigenous Americans ancestry be traced back to?
answers: text: western Eurasians

question: What percent of Native American ancestry may originate through gene flow from the Mal'ta-Buret' population?
answers: text: 14 to 38 percent
context: A 2013 study in Nature reported that DNA found in the 24,000-year-old remains of a young boy from the archaeological Mal'ta-Buret' culture suggest that up to one-third of the indigenous Americans may have ancestry that can be traced back to western Eurasians, who may have "had a more north-easterly distribution 24,000 years ago than commonly thought". "We estimate that 14 to 38 percent of Native American ancestry may originate through gene flow from this ancient population," the authors wrote. Professor Kelly Graf said,

qas: question: What is more likely than the Solutrean hypothesis?
answers: text: route through Beringia

question: What supports a scenario of dual origin for Paleo-Indians?
answers: text: similarities in ages and geographical distributions

question: What is C4c deeply rooted in the Asian portion of?
answers: text: the mtDNA phylogeny

question: When did Kashani and others make their statement regarding the similarities for C4c distributions?
answers: text: 2012

question: Because C4c and X2a are characterized by parallel genetic histories means what controversial hypothesis may be dismissed?
answers: text: an Atlantic glacial entry route into North America
context: A route through Beringia is seen as more likely than the Solutrean hypothesis. Kashani et al. 2012 state that "The similarities in ages and geographical distributions for C4c and the previously analyzed X2a lineage provide support to the scenario of a dual origin for Paleo-Indians. Taking into account that C4c is deeply rooted in the Asian portion of the mtDNA phylogeny and is indubitably of Asian origin, the finding that C4c and X2a are characterized by parallel genetic histories definitively dismisses the controversial hypothesis of an Atlantic glacial entry route into North America."