<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The diverse Native American tribes that inhabited the area of the present day United States could not be said to have comprised a nation, and even if they did, the current United States neither considers itself as a continuity of the native culture, nor are its people primarily descendents of the natives.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Small addition to this. It's true that the diverse N American native Americans did not comprise *a* nation: they comprised a union of <i>united nations</i>. That's where the European settler Americans got the idea from to model the United States on.
The native Americans formed various communities called Nations in English (in Canada, the native Canadian communities are called First Nations). But the nations together formed a united whole and had a set of agreed <i>inter</i>actions that they were all aware of. They were also connected by a common thread of traditions - though some traditions were community specific, others were shared by all the Nations.
So in that sense, the N America of the native Americans was indeed a single whole. (Not commenting about the settlers here. Their version of America was created afterwards, which Sankrant Sanu's article explains.)
With the creation of Canada and America as separate countries, N America's native American Nations (communities) were separated from each other in a manner they had never known before.
The native Americans formed various communities called Nations in English (in Canada, the native Canadian communities are called First Nations). But the nations together formed a united whole and had a set of agreed <i>inter</i>actions that they were all aware of. They were also connected by a common thread of traditions - though some traditions were community specific, others were shared by all the Nations.
So in that sense, the N America of the native Americans was indeed a single whole. (Not commenting about the settlers here. Their version of America was created afterwards, which Sankrant Sanu's article explains.)
With the creation of Canada and America as separate countries, N America's native American Nations (communities) were separated from each other in a manner they had never known before.