New Mexico is home to 19 pueblos and three indian reservations.
Reservations A to Z
An Indian reservation is an area of land managed by a Native American tribe under the United States Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs. There are about 310 Indian reservations in the United States, meaning not all of the country’s 550-plus recognized tribes have a reservation — some tribes have more than one reservation, while others have none. In addition, because of past land allotments, leading to some sales to non-Indians, some reservations are severely fragmented. Each piece of tribal, individual, and privately held land is a separate enclave. This jumble of private and public real estate creates significant administrative, political, and legal difficulties.
Other names that mean indian reservation
In California, about half of the Indian reservations are called Rancherias and many tribes are referred to as Mission Indians. In New Mexico, most reservations are called Pueblos. In some western states, such as Nevada, there are Native American areas called Indian Colonies.In Alaska, with one exception, Alaskan Natives do not have reservations, but are organized by villages, which do own lands reserved for the use of the village, and whose interests are overseen by Regional Corporations.
In Canada, reservations are called Reserves.
2.3% of the United States is designated as Indian reservations.
The collective geographical area of all reservations is 55.7 million acres (225,410 km²), representing 2.3% of the area of the United States (2,379,400,204 acres; 9,629,091 km²). Twelve Indian reservations are larger than the state of Rhode Island (776,960 acres; 3,144 km²) and nine reservations are larger than Delaware (1,316,480 acres; 5,327 km²). The Navajo Indian Reservation, the largest in the US, compares in size to the state of West Virginia. Reservations are unevenly distributed throughout the country. The majority are west of the Mississippi River and occupy lands that were first reserved by treaty or ‘granted’ from the public domain.
Most reservations have laws independent of off-reservation lands
Because tribes possess tribal sovereignty, even though it is limited, laws on tribal lands vary from the surrounding area These laws can permit legal tribal casinos on reservations, for example. The tribal council and tribal courts, not the local or federal government, generally has jurisdiction over reservations. Different reservations have different systems of government, which may or may not replicate the forms of government found outside the reservation.Most Indian reservations were established by the federal government. A limited number, mainly in the East, owe their origin to state recognition. As sovereignties, Native American tribes are allowed to enforce both civil and criminal laws among their members. The exception is when a felony crime, such as murder, is involved. Then the FBI has jurisdiction.They also tax, license, and regulate all activities and commerce that is conducted within their jurisdictional boundaries. The governments established by the 564 federally recognized Native American tribes are granted with enforcement of many of the same powers the federal government grants to individual states. These Native American tribes also function under many of the same limitations the government places on states, too. Individual states and Native American tribes are restricted in their operations by three major limitations placed upon them by the US government. Neither entity can wage war, coin their own money or establish a money system, and they cannot engage in independent relationships with foreign nations.
Why they are called indian ‘reservations’
The name “reservation” comes from the conception of the Indian tribes as independent sovereigns at the time the U.S. Constitution was ratified. Thus, the early peace treaties (often signed under duress) in which Indian tribes surrendered large portions of land to the U.S. also designated parcels which the tribes, as sovereigns, “reserved” to themselves, and those parcels came to be called “reservations.” The reservation term remained in use even after the federal government began to forcibly relocate tribes to parcels of land to which they had no historical connection.
As of 2010, approximately 51% of Native Americans and Alaska Natives live somewhere other than their designated tribal reservations, often in large western urban areas, partly due to federal government relocation programs introduced in the 1940s, and partly because that is where employment opportunities are likely to be found….Read more about american indian reservation beginnings.
Also see:Reservation NewsUS Indian Reservations by StateUS Indian Reservations by Tribe
Indian reservations starting with A to C | D to G | H to K | L to N | O to R | S to T | U to Z
There are 16 indian reservations in the state of Nevada.
Nebraska Indian Reservations
22 ViewsThere are seven indian reservations in Nebraska.
Minnesota Indian Reservations
23 ViewsThere are eleven indian reservations in the state of Minnesota.
Michigan Indian Reservations
36 ViewsThere are five American indian reservations in the state of Michigan.
Massachusettes Indian Reservations
20 ViewsThere are three Massachusetts indian reservations.
Maryland Indian Reservations
21 ViewsThere are no indian reservations in the state of Maryland.
Maine Indian Reservations
20 ViewsThere are three Maine indian reservations. Passamaquoddy Indian Township Reservation Passamaquoddy Pleasant Point Reservation Penobscot Indian Island Reservation
Kansas Indian Reservations
37 ViewsMore than thirty-five tribes and bands lived in Kansas at one time or another. Many tribes were moved there during the indian removal years. Today, thre are six indian reservations in Kansas.
Iowa Indian Reservations
29 ViewsSeventeen indian tribes either lived in or hunted in Iowa at one time or another. Today, there are three current indian reservations in the state of Iowa, and one that has been disbanned.
Idaho Indian Reservations
21 ViewsNineteen different indian tribes either lived or hunted in the state of Idaho. Today, there are four indian reservations in Idaho. There were two more that are no longer in existence.
Hawaii Indian Reservations
21 ViewsThere are no indian reservations in Hawaii. Instead, they have Hawaiian homelands. A Hawaiian home land is an area held in trust for Native Hawaiians by the state of Hawaii under by the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1921.
In 1921, the federal government of the United States set aside as approximately 200,000 acres (810 km2) in the Territory of Hawaii as a land trust for homesteading by Native Hawaiians. The law mandating this, passed by the U.S. Congress on July 9, 1921, was called the “Hawaiian Homes Commission Act” (HHCA) and, with amendments, is still in effect today.
Florida Indian Reservations
41 ViewsAbout fifty-four indian tribes have been associated with the state of Florida at one time or another. Many of these tribes are now extinct, or were combined to make new tribes, or removed from the state by the US Government. At one time, there were eleven different reservations in Florida. Today, there are seven federally recognized […]
Connecticut Indian Reservations
20 ViewsThere were once 13 different tribes who roamed the lands we now call Connecticut. The name of this state comes from the Indian word Quinnehtukqut meaning “beside the long tidal river.” There were once nine indian reservations in Connecticut. Today, there are two state recognized indian reservations. Corun Hill Reservation (1680 in Huntington) Eastern Pequot […]
Colorado Indian Reservations
20 ViewsThe land now known as the state of Colorado was once used by 15 different native American tribes. Today, there are two indian reservations in Colorado.
California Indian Reservations
21 ViewsThere are 86 Indian Reservations, Indian Colonies, and Rancherias within the state of California.
Arizona Indian Reservations
20 ViewsThere are 24 indian reservations in the state of Arizona.
Alaska Indian Reservations
23 ViewsThe Metlakatla Indian Community is the only Native Reservation in Alaska. There are many other indian tribes in Alaska, but most Alaskan natives have a different land system than the tribes in the continental US. There is only one Alaska Indian Reservation Alaska Natives were not given title to land under the Dawes Act but were instead treated […]
Alabama Indian Reservations
20 ViewsThere is one american indian reservation in the state of Alabama The Poarch Creek Indian Reservation is a Creek Indian reservation in the state of Alabama. It is the home of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, the only federally recognized Indian tribe in the state.
Salish Indian Reservations
20 ViewsBelow is a list of some of, but not all of the tribes and nations located in Washington and Oregon in the United States, and British Columbia in Canada, along with their respective reservations.
Pend d’Oreilles Indian Reservations
20 ViewsThe Pend d’Oreilles, also known as the Kalispel, are an Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau. Their traditional territory was around Lake Pend Oreille, as well as the Pend Oreille River, and Priest Lake. Today many of them live in Montana and eastern Washington. The primary tribal range from roughly Plains, Montana, westward along the Clark Fork River, Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho, and the Pend Oreille River in eastern Washington and into British Columbia (Canada) was given the name Kaniksu by the Kalispel peoples.
They are generally divided geographically and culturally in the Upper Kalispel (Upper Pend d’Oreilles) and the Lower Kalispel (Lower Pend d’Oreilles).
Gros Ventre Reservations
20 ViewsThe Gros Ventre people, also known as the A’ani, A’aninin, Haaninin, and Atsina, are a historically Algonquian-speaking Native American tribe located in north central Montana. Today the Gros Ventre people are enrolled in the Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana, a federally recognized tribe with 3,682 enrolled members, that also includes […]
Crow Reservation
21 ViewsapsaalookeCrow About 75 percent of the Crow tribe membership of approximately 10,000 or more enrolled members live on or near the Crow Reservation in Montana. Eighty-five percent speak Crow as their first language.
Cheyenne Indian Reservations
20 ViewstsetsehesestahaseNorthern Cheyenne Approximately 5,000 Northern Cheyenne, along with members of other tribes and with non-Native Americans, live on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana. Lame Deer is the tribal and government agency headquarters.
Chippewa Indian Reservations
20 ViewsThe Chippewa or Ojibway Indians are one of the largest groups of American Indians in North America. There are nearly 150 different bands of Chippewa in the northern part of the United States and in southern Canada (especially in Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan), living on many different reservations and reserves.
Blackfeet and Blackfoot Reservations
20 ViewsThe Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsítapi (meaning “original people”) is the collective name of three First Nations bands in Alberta, Canada and one Native American tribe in Montana, United States. The US – Canadian international border divided their territory.
Montana Indian Reservations
20 ViewsMontana has seven indian reservations.
Sioux Reservations
20 ViewsThe Great Sioux Nation is made up of many tribes. The Sioux peoples maintain many separate tribal governments scattered across several reservations in the Dakotas, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Montana in the United States; and in Manitoba, southern Saskatchewan and Alberta in Canada. The Great Sioux Nation is divided into three linguistically and regionally based groups […]
Devils Lake Sioux Indian Reservation
21 ViewsOn the Devil’s Lake Sioux Indian Reservation, the Indian population density of the service unit is approximately 1 person per square mile.
Acoma Indian Reservation
22 ViewsThe Acoma Indian Reservation is located in parts of Cibola, Socorro, and Catron counties in New Mexico, USA. This reservation covers 594.996 sq mi (1,541.033 km²). The Acoma Pueblo is the heart of the reservation and is the oldest continuously inhabited place in the United States.
Fort Peck Indian Reservation
22 ViewsThe Fort Peck Reservation, headquartered in Poplar, is the second largest reservation in Montana, covering over two million acres of land.
Fort Peck Reservation is home to two separate Indian nations, the Assiniboine, and Dakota Sioux, each composed of numerous bands. There are an estimated 11,786 enrolled tribal members, of whom approximately 6,000 reside on or near the reservation.
The Assiniboine refer to themselves as “Nakona” and the Sioux call themselves “Dakota.”
The Sioux divisions of Sisseton/Wahpetons, the Yantonais, and the Teton Hunkpapa are all represented. The Assiniboine bands of Canoe Paddler and Red Button are represented and practice their culture and religion.
The Quinault Reservation
22 ViewsThe Quinault Reservation is located in Washington State on the Olympic Peninsula. It is home to the Quinault and Queets tribes and descendants of five other coastal tribes: Quileute, Hoh, Chehalis, Chinook, and Cowlitz. The Quinault constitute one of numerous Washington State native american tribes designated as Coastal Salish people.
Reservation poverty
24 ViewsThe quality of life on some reservations is comparable to that in many third world countries, with issues of infant mortality, life expectancy, nutrition and poverty, and alcohol and drug abuse. For example, Shannon County, South Dakota, home of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, is routinely described as one of the poorest counties in the nation.
Reservation programs administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service
22 ViewsMany Native Americans who live on reservations must deal with the federal government through two agencies: the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service.
Reservation Economics
With the establishment of reservations, tribal territories diminished to a fraction of original areas and indigenous customary practices of land tenure sustained only for a time, and not in every instance. Instead, the federal government established regulations that subordinated tribes to the authority, first, of the military, and then of the Bureau (Office) of Indian Affairs. Under federal law, the government patented reservations to tribes, which became legal entities that at later times have operated in a corporate manner.
Reservation beginnings
22 ViewsIn 1851, the United States Congress passed the Indian Appropriations Act which authorized the creation of Indian reservations in modern day Oklahoma. Relations between settlers and natives had grown increasingly worse as the settlers encroached on territory and natural resources in the West.
By the late 1860s,President Ulysses S. Grant pursued a stated “Peace Policy” as a possible solution to the conflict. The policy included a reorganization of the Indian Service, with the goal of relocating various tribes from their ancestral homes to parcels of lands established specifically for their inhabitation.
Crow Tribe Reservation
21 ViewsOver 10,000 tribal members are enrolled in the Crow Tribe and many live on the 2.5 million acres that make up the Crow Indian Reservation. This huge reservation, approximately 60 miles wide and 40 miles long, lies in south central Montana.
Flandreau Santee Sioux Reservation
20 ViewsThe Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe is a member of the Isanti division of the Great Dakota (Sioux) Nation. The Tribe is composed of descendants of the Isanti people. The Isanti is comprised of four bands (Mdewakanton, Wahpetowan, Wahpekute, and Sissetowan) that lived on the eastern side of the Great Sioux Nation.
Yankton Sioux Reservation
21 ViewsThe Yankton Sioux Reservation is located in the south central part of South Dakota, occupying the eastern half of Charles Mix County. The Yankton Sioux are the most populous tribe in the service unit. Although many of the Yankton refer to themselves as Dakota, they are actually a group of the Middle Sioux division also known as Nakota. There are also members of the Northern Ponca Tribe residing within the region as well as Santee Sioux.
Although the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation is known as home to the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, there are also members of the Pembina Band of Chippewa living there.
Lake Traverse Reservation
20 ViewsThe Lake Traverse Indian Reservation is the homeland of the Sisseton–Wahpeton Oyate, a branch of the Santee Dakota Sioux. The reservation is located in parts of five counties in extreme northeastern South Dakota and parts of two counties in southeastern North Dakota.
Santee Sioux of Nebraska Reservation
21 ViewsThe Santee Sioux of Nebraska Reservation is within Knox County located in the north central part of Nebraska. The service area includes the entire county, totaling 1,105 square miles. The community of Santee is in the north central portion of the reservation.
Rosebud Sioux Reservation
20 ViewsThe Rosebud Sioux Tribal members are descendants of the Sicangu Oyate of the Tetonwan Division of the Great Sioux Nation. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe includes the Sicangu or Brule Tribe of the Lakota Nation also known as the Heyata Wicasa or Upper Brule. The Lakota Nation includes Upper Brule, Lower Brule, Oglala, Hunkpapa, Blackfoot, Minnecoujou, Sans Arcs, and Two Kettle.
Although the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska does not have a reservation, the Ponca Restoration Act established a fifteen-county Service Delivery Area across Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota.
Lower Brule Sioux Reservation
21 ViewsThe Lower Brule Sioux Reservation is located in the central portion of South Dakota, 15 miles southeast of Pierre, SD and 16 miles north of Reliance, SD on Interstate 90.
The Crow Creek Sioux Tribe was relocated to the Crow Creek Sioux Reservation after Little Crow’s War in Minnesota. They were originally designated reservation lands along the Missouri River recognized in a treaty with the United States was signed in 1863.
Fort Belknap Indian Reservation
23 ViewsThe Fort Belknap Reservation in Montana is occupied by members of the Gros-Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes.
Annual Indian celebrations such as the Milk River Indian Days, Hays Powwow, and Chief Joseph Memorial Days feature traditional dancing and various cultural activities.
Standing Rock Sioux Reservation
20 ViewsThe lands of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe were reduced to a reservation by the Act of March 2, 1889. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribal members are descendants of the Teton and Yankton Bands of the Lakota/Dakota Nations.
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