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.
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.
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:US Indian Reservations by State | US 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
The Rosebud Sioux Reservation 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…
The Death Valley Indian Community is home to the federally recognized Timbasha Shoshone. This reservation was not formally recognized as an Indian reservation until 1982. It encompasses just under 10,000 acres. President Hoover took the tribe's ancestral lands to create the Death Valley National Monument in 1933.
The Agua Caliente Indian Reservation is home to the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. This tribe received federal recognition in 1957. The Agua Caliente Indian Reservation was founded in 1896. A period of forced cultural assimilation followed, including taking Indian children to boarding schools where they were forbidden to speak their language.
Of the 562 federally recognized tribes, the Navajo Nation is the largest tribe with a population of approximately 300,000+ with about 2/3 living on the reservation and most of the rest living in the urban areas of the United States.
Since a large amount of Alaskan tribes have smaller populations and percentages can change at a lower ratio, we focused on American Indian tribes in the lower 48 states that list their tribal enrollments above 1,000 and have at least 500 unemployed.
Battle Mountain Reservation is one of six reservations of the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone Indians of Nevada. It is home to the Battle Mountain Band of Te-Moak Shoshone Indians.