What was the native american population when Columbus discovered America?

Answer 1

According to William M. Denevan in his book "The Native Population of the Americas in 1492" some research scholars have placed the population as high as 112 million to as low as 8 million. In any case he claims that by by 1650 there were less than 6 million in the area stretching from modern Panama on up to the Arctic Circle.

Answer

The number of native americans was estimated at 14 million in 1492. There is no official census.

Answer 2

Our knowledge of the tribal groupings before 1492 is extremely limited, since there was nobody to record details before white explorers reached the interior of North America.

Many tribes simply did not exist at that time: the Crows and Arikaras had not yet split from the Hidatsas and Pawnee, the historic tribes of the Sioux did not yet exist and so on. To maker matters more difficult, many of the tribes we know after white contact were earlier known by completely different names while other tribes (such as the many small Ohio groups) became extinct before white explorers arrived.

For some native populations, such as the Mound Builders and occupants of Cahokia, we have no idea of the names of the tribes involved, or even what languages they spoke.

It is impossible to give an accurate answer to your question, since the evidence is too sparse and confusing to give an exact number.

Answer 3

It was estimated that the population of Native Americans in North America before Columbus was about five million. By the middle of the 20th century that population was less than 300,000.

Answer 4

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