What are the most populated or urban communities on Indian Reservations/First Nations

[xzmattzx]

What are the biggest and/or most urban towns and communities on Indian Reservations in the US, and First Nations in Canada?

It seems like reservations tend to be very rural, preserving the land as their ancestors used to see it, but the reality is that modern life is visible in some places on these reservations as well. Even in rural areas, of course, residents live in regular houses, and utilize modern businesses like gas stations or grocery stores. So human nature would tell us that there has been bigger congregations of people here and there on these reservations, even if they get overlooked.

I'm not sure if there is some place to see the largest municipalities actually on reservations (as opposed to not on reservations but having large Native populations) in each country.

[iheartthed]

Has to be Tulsa, right?

[xzmattzx]

Off the top of my head, Salamanca, NY, stands out for having a pretty big population, and is as urban for its size as any other town. It doesn't look any different from other Upstate New York towns.

It's on the Allegany Indian Reservation, and has a population of around 5,900.

[xzmattzx]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Has to be Tulsa, right?

Is it really? Was this a recent thing, or has it always been that way? Growing up, I never saw it as reservation land, although maps and atlases did have Osage County marked as a reservation.

[Crawford]

Gallup, NM is a decent-sized city that is overwhelmingly Native American and sits on an Indian reservation. It's one of the classic Route 66 towns.

[badrunner]

About half of the urbanized area of Palm Springs is located on the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation. There are a bunch of other native reservations in Southern California but I don't think any of them are as populated.

[TWAK]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

Is it really? Was this a recent thing, or has it always been that way? Growing up, I never saw it as reservation land, although maps and atlases did have Osage County marked as a reservation.

I think it was through the SCOTUS, unless Tulsa was not part of gifting land back.
There's populated reservations & rancherias here, but they aren't reservations in the normal sense: it's actually their ancestral lands. Other Nations were permanently removed from their homelands.

[hipster duck]

Not sure if it counts, but if it does then I think it'll win by a country mile:

The Senakw lands at the foot of the Burrard bridge in Vancouver, on the opposite side from downtown, were ceded back to the Squamish nation in 2001. They're currently beginning construction of a massive highrise development that will have 6,000 housing units on 10.5 acres.




Since these are First Nations lands, the City has no input into the development process, and even say so on their city planning website. Local NIMBYs tried to stop the development but it got thrown out in court.

There's an even bigger First Nations-led development planned at another site further west, called the Jericho Lands, but that's much earlier in the planning stages.

[UrbanImpact]

Surprisingly, although not on a reservation, New York City is #1 with 111,749 (2010 census). https://ictnews.org/archive/top-5-ci...tive-americans

[WhipperSnapper]

Isn't all of Vancouver disputed indigenous lands?

[eschaton]

I believe the largest community on a reservation is Tuba City, AZ (Navajo, population 8,662).

[muertecaza]

Tuba City, AZ is the most populated city in the largest Native American reservation (Navajo Nation). It is 90+% Native American and has as of the 2020 census 8,662 people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuba_City,_Arizona

Window Rock, AZ as a daytime population of ~20,000, but the permanent population is only around 2,500.

With that said, there are more than 40,000 Native Americans that just live in the Phoenix area.

[TWAK]

The Yurok tribe is the largest in CA and they are one of the tribes that weren't shuffled around within CA or removed/returned, ect. It's also PRIME Nor Cal.
*that's membership and not people living on the reservation.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

Is it really? Was this a recent thing, or has it always been that way? Growing up, I never saw it as reservation land, although maps and atlases did have Osage County marked as a reservation.

It wasn't developed that way, but since 2020 the federal government has recognized the city as being on native territory. It doesn't really change much except that citizens of particular tribes are subject to a different legal system in certain areas of the city.

[Bonsai Tree]

Originally Posted by TWAK

I think it was through the SCOTUS, unless Tulsa was not part of gifting land back.
There's populated reservations & rancherias here, but they aren't reservations in the normal sense: it's actually their ancestral lands. Other Nations were permanently removed from their homelands.

This is incorrect. The "Five Civilized Tribes" were forcibly moved to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) from the southeast. The Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole. The 2020 ruling (McGirt v. Oklahoma) found that Creek (Muscogee) reservation had never been disestablished. In that sense it was not a "gift" since the reservation always existed.

In any case, the answer is Tulsa.

[dave8721]

The Hollywood Seminole Reservation is just a few miles from downtown Fort Lauderdale but it is mostly home to casinos and commercial developments. It only has 481 residents.

[phone]

Prince Albert Saskatchewan (pop ~45,000) isn't on reserve, but it might have the highest proportion of First Nations residents out of any city in Canada (~50%)

[JManc]

Verona, NY (Oneida Nation) about 15-20 miles east of Utica. Population around 6,000 or so.

[llamaorama]

I think it would be a shitty deal if you were non-native and lived in a city on a reservation. Would your taxes pay for services that you can actually use? Or pay taxes to a separate entity where the tax and voter base is split and impoverished by that? Would you have representation in local government? Are you living a "separate but equal world" where the natives get various benefits but you don't, etc, paid for legal entitlements giving native companies advantages to running things like casinos, lenders, etc where the revenues are socialized. But non-natives are permitted to have such things, we would never create state-owned companies that gave free money to anyone else.

Long term what is going to happen with jurisdiction over land use, water rights, taxation, etc in the tribal parts of Oklahoma? Right now the ruling only effects law enforcement but similar arguments could be made that expand the power of tribes in these areas which would negatively impact everyone else. Would you let a tribe have veto power or control over zoning or urban expansion? Would you rule in favor of a tribe's water rights over that of a major cities' utility supplying millions of people?

Also what will happen to state parks? Oklahoma already, about a decade ago during a budget crisis, sold off it's half of Lake Texoma State Park to a tribe. Instead of staying open to the public, it sat vacant for years and is going to become a Hard Rock Resort. The lake was a 20th century FDR project and the original parks were built by German POW labor anyways, it's not some sacred natural site. I could see leaders getting $$$ in their eyes and doing that to other notable attractions in the states.

Call me a racist but this stuff always offended me. I don't think the land back movement or black reparations are going to last long in American politics though, because there's vastly more immigrants than either group and the GOP already has been using that in ads targeting Hispanic voters.

Also the defendant in McGirt's original criminal charge was for molesting his step-daughter. The guy was always a subhuman piece of trash and would have lasted like a week in a Oklahoma prison before "accidentally hitting his head on the toilet" if not for the fact his lawyers discovered an unusual legal argument that ended up having major impacts. Just keep that in mind.