500 Nations - Season 1

First aired: 4/20/1995 8 episodes

Episodes

1. The Ancestors: Early Cultures of North America

Aired: 4/20/1995

This volume takes a look at the massacre of the Sioux at Wounded Knee then flashes back to examine societies of Native Americans prior to the arrival of European settlers.

2. Mexico: The Rise and Fall of the Aztecs

Aired: 4/20/1995

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.

3. Clash of Cultures: The People Who Met Columbus

Aired: 4/21/1995

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.

4. Invasion Of The Coast: The First English Settlements

Aired: 4/21/1995

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.

5. Cauldron Of War: Iroquois Democracy And The American Revolution

Aired: 4/27/1995

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.

6. Removal: War And Exile In The East

Aired: 4/27/1995

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.

7. Roads Across The Plains: Struggle For The West

Aired: 4/28/1995

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.

8. Attack On Culture: 'I Will Fight No More Forever'

Aired: 4/28/1995

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.