| Indian country | |
|---|---|
| |
 | |
| Category | Political divisions |
| Location | United States |
| Number | 574federally recognized tribes, 326Indian reservations, 229Alaska Native tribal entities (as of 2025) |
| Government | |
| Subdivisions | |
Indian country is any of the self-governingNative American or American Indian communities throughout theUnited States. Colloquially, this refers to lands governed byfederally recognized tribes andstate recognized tribes. The concept of tribal sovereignty legally recognizes tribes as distinct, independent nations within the United States. As a legal category, it includes "all land within the limits of anyIndian reservation", "alldependent Indian communities within the borders of the United States", and "all Indian allotments, the Indian titles to which have not been extinguished." Native Tribes which arenot recognized by the government can seek recognition. Multiple tribes that had their relationship with the federal governmentterminated have not regained federal recognition.
The American military has since applied the term to sovereign land outside its control, including land in Vietnam.
This legal classification defines American Indian tribal and individual land holdings as part of a reservation, dependent Indian community, an allotment, or a public domain allotment:[1][2]
Except as otherwise provided in sections 1154 and 1156 of this title, the term “Indian country”, as used in this chapter, means
(a) all land within the limits of anyIndian reservation under the jurisdiction of the United States Government, notwithstanding the issuance of any patent, and, including rights-of-way running through the reservation,
(b) alldependent Indian communities within the borders of the United States whether within the original or subsequently acquired territory thereof, and whether within or without the limits of a state, and
(c) allIndian allotments, the Indian titles to which have not been extinguished, including rights-of-way running through the same.
All federal trust lands held for Native American tribes are Indian country. Federal, state, and local governments use this category in their legal processes. Today, however, according to the U.S. Census of 2010, over 78% of all Native Americans live off reservations. Indian country now spans thousands of rural areas, towns and cities where Indian people live. This convention is followed generally in colloquial speech and is reflected in publications such as the Native American newspaperIndian Country Today.
Historically, Indian country was considered the areas, regions, territories or countries beyond thefrontier of settlement that were inhabited primarily by Native Americans. Colonists made treaties with Native Americans, agreeing to offer services and protection indefinitely in exchange for peaceful transfer of Native American land. Many of these treaties were arranged and signed through coercion, and many treaty agreements were violated or ignored.
As the original13 colonies grew and treaties were made, thede facto boundary between settled territory and Indian country during the 18th century was roughly the crest of theAppalachian Mountains, a boundary set into law by theRoyal Proclamation of 1763, theConfederation Congress Proclamation of 1783, and later by theNonintercourse Act.[3] The Indian Reserve was gradually settled by European Americans and divided into territories and states, starting withKentucky County (an extension of Virginia) and theNorthwest Territory.
Most Indians in the area of the former Reserve were either killed or relocated further west under policies ofIndian Removal. After theLouisiana Purchase, theIndian Intercourse Act of 1834 created theIndian Territory west of the Mississippi River as a destination. It too was gradually divided into territories and states for European American settlement, leaving only modernIndian Reservations inside the boundaries of U.S. states.
In 2020, theUnited States Supreme Court ruled inMcGirt v. Oklahoma that thetribal statistical area (andformer reservation) of theMuscogee (Creek) Nation remains under thetribal sovereignty of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation for the purposes of theMajor Crimes Act.[4][5]
During the Vietnam War circa 1968, the American military and pilots referred tofree-fire zones underSouth Vietnamese control as "Indian Country."[6][7][8] American military personnel also used the term "savage" and "uncivilized" to refer to its inhabitants.[8][6]
During a 1971 congressional hearing, American airborne ranger Robert Bowie Johnson Jr. defined the term to politicianJohn F. Seiberling:
...it means different things to different people. It is like there aresavages out there, there aregooks out there. In the same way weslaughtered the Indian's buffalo, we would slaughter thewater buffalo in Vietnam.[9][6]
In 1989,Tom Holm claimed Vietnam War usage of this term was "in obvious mimicry of the oldCavalry versus Indian films".[10]
The term is used by "soldiers, military strategists, reporters, and World Wide Web users to refer to hostile, unsecured, and dangerous territory in Iraq and Afghanistan."[6]
https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-10.pdf
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