Opened in September 2004, the NMAI is the first national museum dedicated to Native Americans and the first new museum on the Mall since 1987. Fifteen years in creation, the museum holds 825,000 objects representing more than 1,200 indigenous cultures spanning some 12,000 years of North, South, and Central American history. Long-term exhibits focus on topics like native cosmologies, history from Indian points of view, and the lifestyles of Indians in the 20C.