This Wendat (or Huron) belt produced some time between 1600 and 1650 is similar in to the Kaswentha, or two row wampum belt, that begins and ends the exhibit. While it features very different images, its images still symbolize an agreement between the U.S. and an American Indian nation. (Photo courtesy of the National Museum of the American Indian/Photo by Ernest Amoroso)

The Treaty of Canandaigua, signed in 1794 between the U.S. and the Iroquois American Indian Nation, is the first of nine rotating treaties on view in the exhibit. It is signed in the lower right hand corner by President George Washington, while all the American Indian negotiators signed with an ‘x’. (Photo courtesy of the National Museum of the American Indian/National Archives, Washington, D.C.)

This work by Shan Goshorn of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation appears near the end of the Nation to Nation exhibit. It is a basket woven from pieces of colored paper containing words from various treaties between the U.S. and American Indian Nations. (Photo courtesy of the National Museum of the American Indian/Photo by Ernest Amoroso)

The opening of a new exhibit Sunday at the National Museum of the American Indian invites visitors on an odyssey through the history of government-tribal relations.

“Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations” features more than 125 artifacts and pieces spanning from the beginning of European colonization to the present.

The showcase presents a history of nine separate treaties signed by the United States and a variety of American-Indian tribes and nations. Each treaty is explored from both the American and American Indian points of view, along with historical context and an image of the treaty.

Guest curator Suzan Shown Harjo, an American Indian rights advocate, organized the collection.

The exhibit is available to the public on the fourth floor of the museum on the National Mall until fall 2018.

Evan Berkowitz is a freshman journalism major and can be reached at evanjberkowitz@gmail.com.