Indian Reservations in Continental U.S., courtesy National Park Service

When the U.S. negotiated treaties forcing Native Americans to move from their land, they obviously had to live somewhere else. Early treaties allowed tribes to keep a certain portion of ceded land to live on. This reserved portion was given as an “allotment.” After 1871, reservations were created by acts of Congress.

Reservations are concentrated in the western United States, but they exist in all parts of the country. Approximately 1.1 – 1.3 million (non-Alaskan) Native Americans live on or near 330 reservations.

Indians From Pine Ridge Reservation, S.D., 1909, courtesy Library of Congress

On the Indian Reservation, courtesy Library of Congress

Indian Homes, Moapa Reservation, Nevada, 1940, courtesy Library of Congress

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