American Indian Reservations
The land that is now the United States of America belonged to the Native American people thousands of years ago, and then as it was discovered by other countries, the settlers began pushing the native tribes out of their lands. After many years of wars with the Native American tribes the United States government gave many of the large American Indian tribes their own plots of land. These plots of land were spread throughout the country in the areas where the tribes had previously lived, at least for the most part.
Today many of these plots of land are American Indian reservations and these reservations have their own governments and laws. Many of these reservations have casinos or other entertainment facilities that help support the income of the reservation, and many of these American Indian reservations also have their own police forces and other places that employee a majority of the Native Americans that live there.
The Native Americans were given many other special rights by the American government and many of these took place in treaties that were set forth to create peace. By signing one of these treaties is how the Indians received their allotments of land that they built the American Indian reservations on. Some of the other things besides the American Indian reservations that were given to the Native Americans is the right to not have to pay taxes to the US government, and they are also entitled to many special grants. Giving the Native American Indians these things helped to appease many of them, and this was the right thing to do since we stole the land from them in the first place. There were also many important treaties that were not honored by the United States government as well and this has caused tension among many of the modern day American Indian tribes and the government, but now instead of starting wars there are court systems and lawyers to deal with all the legalities. The American Indians still have a strong presence in this country, and since this was their land originally the government should honor all of their treaties with the tribes. There are many other supporters of the Native American people besides the tribes themselves and all of the tribes have their own offices and deal with many Native American issues among themselves.
Other Resources:
American Indian Reservation Project
Indian Reservations