| Indian Reserve | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Territory of British America | |||||||||
| 1763–1783 | |||||||||
.svg) Flag | |||||||||
 Indian Reserve west of Alleghenies in 1775, after Quebec was extended to the Ohio River. Map does not reflect border as most recently adjusted by Treaty of Camp Charlotte (1774) andHenderson Purchase (1775) that opened West Virginia, most of Kentucky, and parts of Tennessee to white settlement. | |||||||||
| History | |||||||||
| 7 October 1763 | |||||||||
| 5 November 1768 | |||||||||
| 27 December 1769 | |||||||||
| 22 June 1774 | |||||||||
| 14 March 1775 | |||||||||
| 3 September 1783 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Canada United States | ||||||||
"Indian Reserve" is a historical term for the largelyuncolonized land inNorth America that was claimed byFrance, ceded toGreat Britain through theTreaty of Paris (1763) at the end of theSeven Years' War—also known as theFrench and Indian War—and set aside for theFirst Nations in theRoyal Proclamation of 1763.[1][2] TheBritish government had contemplated establishing anIndian barrier state in a portion of the reserve west of theAppalachian Mountains, bounded by theOhio andMississippi rivers and theGreat Lakes. British officials aspired to establish such astate even after the region was assigned to theUnited States in theTreaty of Paris (1783) ending theAmerican Revolutionary War, but abandoned their efforts in 1814 after losing military control of the region during theWar of 1812.[3]
In the present-day United States, it consisted of all the territory north of Florida and New Orleans that was east of theMississippi River and west of theEastern Continental Divide in the Appalachian Mountains that formerly comprised the eastern half ofLouisiana (New France). In modern Canada, it consisted of all the land immediately north of theGreat Lakes but south ofRupert's Land belonging to theHudson's Bay Company, as well as a buffer between theProvince of Quebec and Rupert's Land stretching fromLake Nipissing toNewfoundland.
TheRoyal Proclamation of 1763 organized on paper much of the new territorial gains in three colonies in North America—East Florida,West Florida, and Quebec. The rest of the expanded British territory was left to Native Americans. The delineation of the Eastern Divide, following the Allegheny Ridge of the Appalachians, confirmed the limit to British settlement established at the 1758Treaty of Easton, beforePontiac's War. Additionally, all European settlers in the territory (who were mostly French) were supposed to leave the territory or get official permission to stay. Many of the settlers moved to New Orleans and the French land on the west side of the Mississippi (particularlySt. Louis), which in turn had been ceded secretly to Spain to becomeLouisiana (New Spain). However, many of the settlers remained and the British did not actively attempt to evict them.[citation needed]
In 1768, lands west of the Alleghenies and south of the Ohio were ceded to the colonies by the Cherokee at theTreaty of Hard Labour and by the Six Nations at theTreaty of Fort Stanwix. However, several other aboriginal nations, particularly Shawnee and Mingo, continued to inhabit and claim their lands that had been sold to the British by other tribes. This conflict led toDunmore's War in 1774, ended by the Treaty of Camp Charlotte where these nations agreed to accept the Ohio River as the new boundary.
Restrictions on settlement were to become a flash point in theAmerican Revolutionary War, following theHenderson Purchase of much of Kentucky from the Cherokee in 1775. The renegade Cherokee chiefDragging Canoe did not agree to the sale, nor did the Royal Government in London, which forbade settlement in this region. As an act of revolution in defiance of the crown, white pioneer settlers began pouring into Kentucky in 1776, opposed by Dragging Canoe in theCherokee–American wars, which continued until 1794.
The area of the Indian Reserve in what is now the United States, after coming under firm control of the new country, was gradually settled by European Americans, and divided into territories and states, starting with theNorthwest Territory. Most (but not all) Indians in the area of the former Reserve were relocated further west under policies ofIndian Removal. After theLouisiana Purchase, theIndian Intercourse Act of 1834 created anIndian Territory west of the Mississippi River as a destination, until it too was divided into territories and states for European American settlement, leaving only modernIndian Reservations inside the boundaries of U.S. states.
