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
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The 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 has seven indian reservations.
The 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 […]
On the Devil’s Lake Sioux Indian Reservation, the Indian population density of the service unit is approximately 1 person per square mile.
The 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.
The 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 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.
The 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.
Many 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.
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.
In 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.
Over 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.
The 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.
The 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.