500 Nations

The rise and fall of the Aztec Empire is examined from their defeat of the Toltec regime to Cortez's ultimate conquest of the Aztecs and all of Mexico.

Columbus' arrival and the subsequent defeat of the Caribbean tribes are chronicled, along with De Soto's destruction of the Southeast tribes such as the Coosa and the Mobile nation.

An examination of the Native Americans of New England and their experiences with the British who settled at Jamestown and Plymouth. Includes background to the first Thanksgiving.

Hostilities between Native Americans and European settlers erupt across the eastern part of the continent as the colonists prepare for revolution. Pontiac's siege of Detroit and the splintering of the Iroqois Confederacy are examined.

After Tecumseh's Shawnee people side with the British in the War of 1812, President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act, forcing all tribes to move into "Indian Territory," along the famed trail of tears.

The twin gold rushes in California and Colorado bring hordes of settlers into the Western Territories where such Native American leaders as Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull and the Kiowa chief Satanta organize futile resistance.

The Indian resistance of the late 19th-century is examined, including Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce, the Apache leader Cochise and Geronimo, who surrenders and is imprisoned into the 20th-century. The government-mandated suppression of Native American culture culminates in the massacre at Wounded Knee, bringing the series full circle.