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Alaska has the most federally recognized indian tribes, but California is the state with the most individual native american people (413,382). These states are followed in order of population by New Mexico, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Montana, North Dakota, Arizona, Wyoming, and Washington.
Virginia has no federally recognized tribes, largely due to Walter Ashby Plecker. In 1912, Plecker became the first registrar of the state's Bureau of Vital Statistics, serving until 1946. Plecker believed that the state's Native Americans had been "mongrelized" with its African American population. A law passed by the state's General Assembly recognized only two races, "white" and "colored". Plecker pressured local governments into reclassifying all Native Americans in the state as "colored," leading to the destruction of records on the state's Native American community.
The state of Maryland also has no federally recognized indian tribes, but does have one unrecognized tribe. The states with the least federally recognized indian tribes, following the two states with no tribes, are West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Hampshire, and Kentucky.
As of 2000, the largest tribes in the U.S. by population were in this order: Navajo, Cherokee, Choctaw, Sioux, Chippewa, Apache, Lumbee, Blackfeet, Iroquois, and Pueblo.
In 2000, eight of ten Americans with Native American ancestry were of mixed blood. It is estimated that by 2100 that figure will rise to nine out of ten.
In addition, there are a number of tribes that are recognized by individual states, but not by the federal government. The rights and benefits associated with state recognition vary from state to state.
Tribes by State
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