The hundreds of Indigenous groups that had developed by the late 1400s were

Indigenous communities developed distinct ways of life in response to the environments around them. Geography influenced food sources, housing, trade, and patterns of settlement, so groups living in different regions adapted in different ways. European diseases had not yet reached these communities in the late 1400s, and Indigenous peoples lived throughout the continent rather than mostly along the coasts.

AI-written and checked against the verified answer.