What was the most populous Native American tribe in North America before Old World interference.?

Answer 1

~The Anasazi, until they became extinct at the hands of other American Indians.

Note re above answers: (especially to yodabeard who claims to be "studying Native Americans")

There was no such tribe as the Iroquois. The Iroquois Conferderation, at its peak, was still a relatively small group, with the combined 5 (and later 6 - after the Tuscarora got kicked out of North Carolina by their red brothers and joined up) were invariably outnumbered by their neighbors and foes. They were just better tactitians and more organized.

There was no such tribe as the Sioux. That name is a French perversion of the Algonquin name for the Dakota. Add in the Lakota, the Nakota, the Ogalala, the Winnebago, the Minniconjou, the Mandan, the Minnitari, the Hunkpapa, the Brule, the Osage, the Iowa, the Oceti Sakowin, the Assiniboine, the Crow, the Santee, the Yankton, the Teton, the Hidatsa, the Omaha, the Missouri, the Catawba, the Santee, the Oto, the Ponca, the Biloxi and the other Siouan-Yuchi tribes and you get one heck of a group, but they were not "Sioux". Sorry, but John Ford and John Wayne got it wrong.

Believing there is a tribe called the "Iroquois" or the "Sioux" is akin to calling all Teutons "German", but this would discount the Gauls, the Saxons, the Angles, the Lombards, the Tuscans, the Franks, the Etruscans, the Goths, the Visogoths, the Vandals, the Danes, the Rus, and the others and one would lose all sight of the driving force behind the settlement of France, Great Britain and Ireland, the "civilizing" of western Europe after the the fall of Rome (a Teutonic civilization originally) and colonization of North and South America.

(and by the way, they prefer to be called American Indians, not Native Americans, although most, like a good American Teuton, would prefer to be called either "American", or referred to by tribe and/or clan.)

Answer 2

At what point in time prior to? There have been several civilizations in the period from when man first arrived and Europeans arrived. There were the Anasazi, the mound builders, and the river people. All who were prior to what the European found. The populations went up and down all over the place. It would be almost impossible to say which was the most populace.

The ones the Europeans found were fairly late. The Sioux had just moved into the Black Hills, displacing the Cheyenne and the Pueblos where among the strongest people in the southwest. The Iroquois Nation was less than a 100 yrs old at the time. The Algonquins were newly established from the interior of Canada. The Cree, Blackfoot and Cherokee formed a loose confederation. The Apache Nations were still forming. The Aztecs where wide spread in Mexico. In short, everything was pretty well fragmented.

After the Europeans arrived, even more tribes and affiliations were formed.

Answer 3

There is no tribe named SIOUX!

"The term Sioux is itself derived from an Ojibwe term, nadouessioux , which means “little snakes” or “enemies.” This usage reflects the often hostile relationship between the Ojibwe (Anishinaabe, also known as Chippewa) and Sioux."

They called themselves lakota or dakota(depending upon linguistic diffences between the different bands)

As to the question itself, at Cahokia(present day IL) a city with a 13th century population of 30k was built. "Cahokia's population was greater than any contemporary European city of the day, and it wasn't until the late 18th century that a North American City, Philadelphia, finally had population that eclipsed that of 13th Century Cahokia."

The Mesoamerican cultures(Mayan, Aztec, etc) were larger than the cultures in latter day Canada and the US.

whale

Answer 4

Records are inexact but most likely the Iroquois followed by Algonquin, with Chee, Cherokee and Sioux rounding out the top five...


Bearing in mind that the Natives had lots of tribes but many could be collected until an umbrella' such as those sited above. The Natives were quite content to live in smaller bands they did not have the European disease that caused them to seize & subject people under one of a few 'nationalities,' the Natives were more like the States of Germany than Great Britain - - - -

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/maine/

http://www.nps.gov/archive/jeff/LewisClark2/Circa1804/Heritage/NativeAmericans/NativeAmericanInfluence.htm

http://www.tolatsga.org/dela.html
Pax....

Answer 5

Collectively, the mound builders along the Missippi River. However, though they all did the same thing, I doubt that they all were considered to be the same tribe. The Sioux always had a bunch of people, but I would think that the northern New England tribes (Iroquois, etc) would give the mound builders a run for their money.

Answer 6

There's honestly NO WAY to know, some tribes did keep winter counts but ol blue eyes still don't know how to count em.
Just out here in california , Pre contact your talking over 300 seperate tribes and 3,000 dialects.

It's a question only a time machine can answer.

Answer 7

Could have been as the first answerer asserted, or might have been the Chacoan/Mogollons. They vanished before the Spaniards arrived, so there's no telling.

But judging from the numbers of ruins spread across the southwestern US, there were a LOT of them, considering how briefly they rose and fell.

Answer 8

I believe it was the Sioux