8 places to go to learn about Native American history in Colorado

Here are eight places to learn about Native American history in Colorado:

1. Ute Indian Museum

This museum consists of exhibits that focus on the Ute Peoples' history of adaptation and persistence, unfolding around a "central theme of geography, highlighting significant locations in Ute history." Visitors will learn about topics like Ute cultural survival, political determination, economic opportunity, and the celebration of the Bear Dance.

2. Mesa Verde National Park

Visitors can learn about the lives of the ancestral Puebloans by exploring Mesa Verde National Park's cliff dwellings and mesa-top villages, built between 600 and 1300 AD.

3. Southern Ute Cultural Center and Museum

Located in Ignacio, this museum's mission is to "foster understanding of and respect for the unique origin, culture, language, history, and way of life of the Ute People and to advance people-to-people relations through inclusive and effective programming and services." The museum, library, and gift shop is open Tuesday-Saturday from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

4. Canyons of the Ancients National Monument

This monument in southwest Colorado includes thousands of archaeological sites that provide information on Ancestral Puebloan and other indigenous cultures.

5. Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site

This site commemorates the November 29, 1864 attack on a village of about 700 Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho people along Sand Creek. Approximately 675 soldiers of the 1st and 3rd Regiments, Colorado Volunteer (U.S.) Cavalry killed more than 230 Cheyenne and Arapaho people. Congress declared Sand Creek Massacre as a national historic site in 2000, and it was opened to the public on April 27, 2007. Visitors can learn about the massacre through wayside exhibits, as well as a ranger-led interpretive program, a park brochure, site bulletins, and other printer material.

6. Denver Indian Center, Inc.

As an "urban cultural gathering center" for the American Indian and Alaska Native community of the Denver area, the Denver Indian Center, Inc. provides programs, support resources, and connection for its visitors.

7. Plains Conservation Center

Visitors will get to see replicas of a homestead village and tipi camp that demonstrate what life was like for pioneers and plains Native Americans in the late 1800s at this nature preserve and educational center. The center consists of over 1,100 acres of short grass prairie.

8. Hovenweep National Monument

Hovenweep consists of six prehistoric villages built between A.D. 1200 and 1300. Visitors will get to explore a variety of structures, including multistory towers across a 20-mile expanse of mesa tops and canyons, according to the National Park Service.