One Nation of Different Nations?

    When we think about Indians, we imagine them as we have seen them in movies: all speak the same language, all dress in the same way, all are dressed with feathers and bonnets, all are savages, all live in tipis ... Thus, although there were and there are many distinct tribes, History has made them one.
    Tribes differ one from another in religious beliefs, political organization, language, worldview, origins and myths, and living conditions. Some historians and scholars have tried to describe tribes by geographical areas but this method is also confusing since tribes living in the same area are not the same. So, each tribe is culturally distinct.
    Nowadays, there are approximately 2.1 million Indians belonging to many different native nations. They live either on reservations, the most traditionalists, or off reservations, the more progressives. Either way, membership depends on each native nation.