American Indian and Alaska Native Peoples [2 volumes] : A History of Reservations, Villages, and Communities

This indispensable resource for students investigates the nation's modern American Indian reservations, their economic history, and their peoples in order to understand how and why Indian lands and economies developed and what makes them important. Providing the historical context of the settlement of America from coast to coast and border to border from colonial to recent times, this two-volume set portrays how today's 574 American Indian reservations and Alaskan Native Villages were created, shedding light on how Indian people have surmounted political, economic, and social challenges they faced as a dispossessed people to a people with special legal status who live on their sovereign lands with modern governments and viable tribal economies. Readers will learn where Indian lands, reservations, villages, and communities are located, what the demographics are, and how Indian people live and work on reservations.

Highlighted tribal histories show the significant events and issues that have had a national economic impact on Indian lands, and essays explain the unique legal status of Indian lands from the treaty era to the 1971 Native Alaskan Land Settlement Act. Ten major topics are organized chronologically by time period.

A comprehensive chart provides demographic data on all 574 American Indian Reservations and Alaskan Native Villages, while a bibliography and an index provide additional information. Shows readers that Indian people are alive and well and live today in America as any other American, with more than 20 percent living on reservationsProvides comprehensive information and demographic data for the 574 modern American Indian tribes and Alaskan native villages located in 34 states Describes the critical role that Indian lands have played in the economic growth and development of America from colonial to recent timesProvides tribal economic histories for approximately 40 of the major reservations, with topics ranging from agriculture to forestry and from gaming to green energySheds light on the Alaskan Native Corporations and Native Villages as a unique modern model for economic development, which is generally excluded in standard written accounts of Native American economic histories