Reading - Part 1

Read the text. Fill in each gap with ONE word. You must use a word which is somewhere in the rest of the text.

Native Americans

Once, before European settlers began moving to North America in the 16th century, the continent was inhabited by a small number of native tribes. Some of these (1) were sedentary, living in established villages; but most of these "Indians" were nomadic people, living in teepees or other movable homes. The first European (2) called them "Indians", because they had dark skin like (3) from India. Although these "Indians" had nothing to do with India, the name remained, and is still used today. The word "Indian" is still used in many official contexts, even by Indians themselves; but several other terms are also used, including "Native Americans". Five hundred years ago, when the first Europeans reached North (4), there were about ten million Native Americans living north of today's Mexican border. In three hundred (5), their population fell to less than half a million. Many were killed in battles, but the biggest cause of their decline was disease. European settlers brought diseases with them from Europe, which were fatal to American Indians. Since the twentieth century, the Native American (6) has been growing again, and today there are over two and a half million Native Americans in the U.S.A.