Give Land Back

Nations

Who the Native nations behind these lands are, in their own words where we can.

Abenaki (Wôbanakiak), N'dakina

N'dakina, the Abenaki homeland, covers much of what is now Vermont, New Hampshire and western Maine, reaching into southern Quebec. Many Abenaki moved north during colonial wars, and the Abenaki nations of Odanak and Wôlinak in Quebec are recognized by Canada. Vermont recognizes four Abenaki tribes, a status that Odanak and Wôlinak publicly dispute. No Abenaki group is federally recognized in the United States.

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Ahantchuyuk (Kalapuya)

The Ahantchuyuk are a band of the Kalapuya whose homelands are along the Pudding River, an eastern branch of the Willamette River in Oregon's Willamette Valley. After the Willamette Valley Treaty of 1855, most Kalapuya people were removed to the Grand Ronde Reservation. Today Kalapuya descendants, including Ahantchuyuk families, are citizens of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.

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Alutiiq (Sugpiaq)

The Alutiiq, or Sugpiaq, are the first people of the Kodiak Archipelago and have lived on Alaska's south-central coast for more than 7,800 years. Their homelands also include Prince William Sound, the Alaska Peninsula and the outer Kenai Peninsula. Today Alutiiq people govern through village tribes such as the Sun'aq Tribe of Kodiak and own land through Native corporations like Koniag.

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Anishinaabe (Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi)

Anishinaabe is the name the Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi peoples use for themselves. Together they form the Council of Three Fires, and their homelands stretch around the Great Lakes. Today Anishinaabe people live in many self-governing nations in the U.S. and Canada, including White Earth and Red Lake in Minnesota and the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa in Michigan.

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Arapaho (Hinono'eino)

The Arapaho, or Hinono'eino, are a Plains people whose homelands include the plains and mountains of Colorado and Wyoming, reaching into Kansas and Nebraska. The 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty recognized a large Arapaho and Cheyenne territory that was later taken. Today the Northern Arapaho Tribe governs on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, and the Southern Arapaho govern with the Cheyenne in Oklahoma.

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Atakapa-Ishak/Chawasha

The Ishak, also called Atakapa, have lived in southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas since before colonization, and elders say Chawasha people from the east bank of the Mississippi joined them after a colonial-era attack. Today the Atakapa-Ishak/Chawasha community lives at Grand Bayou Village in Plaquemines Parish, reachable only by boat, where families fish, shrimp and trap. No Ishak group is federally recognized.

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Atfalati (Tualatin Kalapuya)

The Atfalati, also called the Tualatin, are the northernmost band of the Kalapuya. Their homelands are along the Tualatin River in what is now Washington County, Oregon, with Wapato Lake near Gaston at the center. They signed the Willamette Valley Treaty of 1855 and were removed to the Grand Ronde Reservation. Today their descendants are citizens of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.

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Awaswas

The Awaswas are the Ohlone peoples of the Santa Cruz coast in California. Spanish colonizers took their villages into Mission Santa Cruz. Today Awaswas descendants are part of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, which brings together surviving families from the Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista missions and works to care for its lands through the Amah Mutsun Land Trust.

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Cahuilla (Ɂívil̃uwenetem)

The Cahuilla are the original people of the mountains, passes and desert of inland Southern California, including the San Jacinto Mountains, San Gorgonio Pass and Coachella Valley. Today Cahuilla people govern several tribes on their own reservations, including the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians.

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Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla

The Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla peoples lived across what is now northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. In the Treaty of 1855 they ceded 6.4 million acres to the United States and kept the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Today they govern together as the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, with offices near Pendleton, Oregon.

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Chawasha (Atakapa-Ishak/Chawasha)

The Chawasha are a Native people of the lower Mississippi River and the coastal marshes of southeast Louisiana. Today the Atakapa-Ishak/Chawasha tribal community lives in Grand Bayou Indian Village in Plaquemines Parish, reached only by boat, where families fish, shrimp, crab and trap. The tribe is not federally recognized, and it is replanting marsh grass to protect the village from land loss.

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Chemehuevi (Nüwüwü)

The Chemehuevi, or Nüwüwü, are a Southern Paiute people whose homelands stretch across the Mojave Desert in California, Arizona, southern Nevada and Utah. Today Chemehuevi people govern the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe and the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians, whose reservation was set aside in 1895 near the Oasis of Mara in Twentynine Palms and later expanded to Coachella.

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Cherokee (Tsalaguwetiyi)

The Cherokee homelands cover parts of North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. In 1838 the United States forced most Cherokee people west on the Trail of Tears. Three federally recognized tribes carry the nation today: the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians on the Qualla Boundary in North Carolina, and the Cherokee Nation and United Keetoowah Band, both based in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

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Chetco (Chit-dee-ni)

The Chetco are a people of the far southern Oregon coast, whose villages ran from Whales Head to the Winchuck River. Like other peoples of southwest Oregon, they were forced from their homelands and moved north to the Siletz Reservation. Today Chetco descendants are citizens of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, a federally recognized confederation whose recognition was restored in 1977.

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Cheyenne (Tsitsistas)

The Cheyenne, the Tsitsistas and Suhtai, once farmed in present-day Minnesota and moved onto the Great Plains. The 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty recognized Cheyenne and Arapaho land across Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas and Nebraska before wars and removals divided the nation. Today the Northern Cheyenne Tribe governs a reservation at Lame Deer, Montana, and the Southern Cheyenne govern with the Arapaho as the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes in Oklahoma.

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Chickahominy

The Chickahominy, the People of the Coarse Pounded Corn, lived in villages along the Chickahominy River in Virginia. After the Treaty of 1646 pushed them off that land, families settled on the Chickahominy Ridge between Richmond and Williamsburg, where they live today. The Chickahominy Indian Tribe and the Chickahominy Indian Tribe Eastern Division were recognized by Virginia in 1983 and by the federal government in 2018.

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Chinook

The Chinook are the Chinookan-speaking peoples of the lower Columbia River. The Chinook Indian Nation brings together the five westernmost of these tribes at the river's mouth: the Lower Chinook, Clatsop, Kathlamet, Wahkiakum and Willapa. It won federal recognition in 2001, lost it about 18 months later, and is still working to restore it. Its office is in Bay Center, Washington.

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Chiricahua Apache

The Chiricahua and Warm Springs Apache lived in southwestern New Mexico, southeastern Arizona and northern Mexico. The U.S. held them as prisoners of war from 1886 to 1914. When they were freed, most moved to the Mescalero Reservation in New Mexico, and others stayed in Oklahoma as the Fort Sill Apache Tribe. The Chiricahua Apache Nation in New Mexico also carries this identity.

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Chitimacha

Chitimacha homelands once covered the Atchafalaya Basin, reaching west toward Lafayette, south to the Gulf of Mexico and east toward New Orleans. The Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana, federally recognized since 1916, has its reservation at Charenton in St. Mary Parish and is the only Louisiana tribe still living on part of its original homeland. Chitimacha ancestry also runs through state-recognized coastal tribes such as the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe.

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Chowanoke (Chowan)

The Chowanoke are an Algonquian people whose towns lined both sides of the Chowan River in northeastern North Carolina. In 1677 the colony set aside an 11,360-acre reservation for them in what is now Gates County, which was later lost. Descendants have bought back 146 acres of that land and are working toward state and federal recognition as the Chowanoke Indian Nation.

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Chumash

The Chumash are the original people of California's central and southern coast, from Malibu to Paso Robles and inland to the San Joaquin Valley, along with the Channel Islands. The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, whose reservation was set aside in 1901, is the only federally recognized Chumash tribe. Other Chumash bands, such as the ytt Northern Chumash Tribe, carry on without federal recognition.

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Clackamas

The Clackamas are an Upper Chinookan people whose homelands center on Willamette Falls and the lower Clackamas River in northwest Oregon. After the treaties of the 1850s, they were removed to the Grand Ronde Reservation. Today Clackamas descendants are citizens of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, which bought the former paper mill site at Willamette Falls in 2019.

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Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes

The Clatsop and Nehalem are peoples of the northern Oregon coast. The Clatsop lived at the mouth of the Columbia River, and the Nehalem are a band of the Tillamook people. Today the Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes, governed by an elected tribal council, is not federally recognized and is getting land back on the north coast. Clatsop people are also part of the Chinook Indian Nation.

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Coahuiltecan

Coahuiltecan is a name for the many peoples of South Texas and northeastern Mexico. Many were brought into the San Antonio missions. Today groups such as the Tāp Pīlam Coahuiltecan Nation and the Miakan-Garza Band carry this identity. Texas has no legal way to recognize tribes, and the Tāp Pīlam Nation's request for federal recognition, filed in 1997, has not been granted.

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Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde

The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde unite more than 30 tribes and bands, including the Umpqua, Molalla, Rogue River, Kalapuya, Chasta, Clackamas and Tillamook peoples of western Oregon, northern California and southwest Washington. Congress terminated the Tribe in 1954 and restored it in 1983. Today it governs a reservation in Yamhill County, Oregon, near the community of Grand Ronde.

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Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians

The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians is a federally recognized confederation of many tribes and bands from western Oregon, northern California and southwest Washington, including the Tututni, Chetco, Tolowa, Clatsop, Tillamook, Kalapuya and Takelma. Together their ancestors held more than 20 million acres. Congress restored the Tribe's recognition in 1977, and its government is based in Siletz, Oregon.

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Dakota, Nakota and Lakota (Očhéthi Šakówiŋ)

Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, the Seven Council Fires, is the alliance of Dakota, Nakota and Lakota peoples, often called the Sioux. Their homelands reach from the woodlands of Minnesota across the northern plains to the Black Hills. Today their nations govern reservations and communities in Minnesota, the Dakotas, Nebraska and Montana, including the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Rosebud Sioux Tribe and Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate.

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Duwamish (dxʷdəwʔabš)

The Duwamish are the original people of the Seattle area, including present-day Seattle, Burien, Tukwila, Renton and Redmond. Their leader Chief Si'ahl, for whom Seattle is named, signed the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott. The Duwamish Tribe won federal recognition in 2001, lost it in 2002, and is suing to restore it. It runs a longhouse and cultural center in Seattle.

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Eastern Shoshone (Newe)

The Eastern Shoshone, who call themselves Newe, have homelands across present-day Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Montana and Colorado. Under Chief Washakie, the Fort Bridger treaties of 1863 and 1868 set aside the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. Today the Eastern Shoshone Tribe governs from Fort Washakie and shares the reservation with the Northern Arapaho Tribe.

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Esselen

The Esselen are the original people of the Santa Lucia Mountains and the Big Sur coast in Monterey County, California. Spanish missions at Carmel, San Antonio and Soledad took in Esselen families, and their descendants were left without land for generations. Today the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County, which is not federally recognized, is getting land back, including a 1,199-acre ranch on the Little Sur River.

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Eyak

The Eyak homelands center on the Copper River Delta near Cordova, Alaska, where they have lived and fished for salmon for thousands of years. Colonization brought their numbers down to about sixty people by the early 1900s, and work to bring back the Eyak language continues. Today the Native Village of Eyak, a federally recognized tribe, governs from Cordova.

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Graton Rancheria (Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo)

The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria are Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo people whose homelands are in Marin and Sonoma counties, around Tomales Bay, Bodega Bay and Sebastopol. The tribe lost its federal trust status under the 1958 California Rancheria Act, and Congress restored its recognition in 2000. Today it is a federally recognized tribe based in Rohnert Park.

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Haudenosaunee (Six Nations Confederacy)

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy unites six nations: the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora. The Peacemaker founded the confederacy on the shores of Onondaga Lake in present-day central New York, and its council still decides by consensus, with the Onondaga as Firekeepers. Today Haudenosaunee nations govern territories across New York, several of them federally recognized, and at Six Nations of the Grand River in Ontario.

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Hopi (Hopitutskwa)

The Hopi call their homeland Hopitutskwa, and their villages in northeastern Arizona are among the oldest lived-in communities in the country. The Hopi Reservation covers more than 1.5 million acres and is made up of 12 villages on three mesas. Today the federally recognized Hopi Tribe governs through a chairman and a tribal council that represents the villages.

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Houma

The Houma were first recorded in 1682 along the Mississippi River near present-day West Feliciana Parish, and over time they moved south to the bayous of Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes. The United Houma Nation, recognized by Louisiana since 1977, has its tribal center in Golden Meadow and an elected Principal Chief and council. It continues to seek federal recognition, which was first denied in 1994.

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Ioway (Báxoje)

The Ioway, who call themselves Báxoje, are the people the state of Iowa is named for. Their villages stood in present-day Iowa and later northern Missouri before treaties pushed them west. Today two federally recognized nations carry this identity: the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, with a reservation on the Kansas-Nebraska line, and the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma, based in Perkins.

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Isle de Jean Charles Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw (Jean Charles Choctaw Nation)

The Isle de Jean Charles Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw descends from Native families who found refuge on Isle de Jean Charles in Terrebonne Parish after forced removals in the 1800s. Louisiana recognizes the tribe today as the Jean Charles Choctaw Nation. The island has lost most of its land since the 1950s, and in 2022 many residents began moving to The New Isle, a community on higher ground in Terrebonne Parish.

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Jumano

The Jumano were buffalo hunters and traders whose lands reached across central and West Texas, along the Rio Grande and the Pecos, and into northern Mexico and New Mexico. Their trade networks linked many peoples. Apache expansion, war and disease broke up their communities by the 1700s, and some Jumano families joined Apache and other nations. No nation today carries the Jumano name alone.

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Kalapuya

The Kalapuya are the original peoples of Oregon's Willamette Valley, made up of many bands such as the Tualatin (Atfalati), Yamhill, Santiam and Yoncalla. After the Willamette Valley Treaty of 1855, most Kalapuya people were removed to the Grand Ronde Reservation. Today Kalapuya descendants are citizens of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.

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Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians)

Kānaka Maoli, or Native Hawaiians, are the Indigenous people of the Hawaiian Islands. Income from land taken after the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom now funds the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, a semi-autonomous state agency created by voters in 1978 and led by nine elected trustees. Native Hawaiian groups such as the Hawaiian Council work for land, culture and families across the islands.

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Karuk

The Karuk are the people of the Klamath River in northwestern California, with about 1.38 million acres of ancestral homeland. The Karuk Tribe has 3,627 members and 6,222 descendants and runs its own government, courts, housing and natural resources programs. Its work includes salmon fishing, cultural burning, basketry and bringing back the Karuk language.

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Kaskaskia

The Kaskaskia are one of the main peoples of the Illinois Confederation, with homelands in the Mississippi River valley of present-day Illinois. After ceding their Illinois lands in the 1830s, they moved to Kansas and joined the Peoria, Piankashaw and Wea in 1854. Today Kaskaskia descendants are citizens of the federally recognized Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma.

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Kathlamet (Cathlamet)

The Kathlamet, also spelled Cathlamet, are one of the five westernmost Chinookan-speaking tribes at the mouth of the Columbia River. Today they are part of the Chinook Indian Nation, based in Bay Center, Washington, which won federal recognition in 2001, lost it about 18 months later, and is still working to restore it. Its people keep up chinuk wawa, their stories, songs and ceremonies.

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Kickapoo (Kiikaapoi)

The Kickapoo, or Kiikaapoi, are an Algonquian-speaking nation related to the Sauk and Meskwaki. Their homelands lie in the Great Lakes region, from southern Michigan into Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana, before treaties moved them west and south. Today they are federally recognized as the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas, the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma and the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas, with another band in Mexico.

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Klamath (Klamath Tribes)

The Klamath Tribes are the Klamath, Modoc and Yahooskin-Paiute peoples, who have lived in the Klamath Basin of Oregon since time beyond memory. Congress terminated the Tribes' federal recognition in 1954, and they won it back in 1986. Today they govern through an elected Tribal Council and keep ceremonies such as the Return of C'waam on the Sprague River.

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Kumeyaay (Kumiai)

The Kumeyaay are the original people of what is now San Diego and Imperial counties in California and northern Baja California, Mexico. Their homeland runs about 75 miles north and south of today's border. Kumeyaay people now govern twelve small reservations in the U.S. and four ejidos (shared community lands) in Mexico, and many live throughout their traditional territory.

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Lenape (Lenni-Lenape, Delaware)

The Lenape homelands cover what is now New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, southern New York and northern Delaware. After forced removals west, three federally recognized Lenape nations govern today: the Delaware Tribe of Indians and the Delaware Nation in Oklahoma, and the Stockbridge-Munsee Community in Wisconsin. Lenape communities that stayed east include state-recognized tribes in New Jersey and the Lenape Indian Tribe of Delaware.

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Lisjan Ohlone (Confederated Villages of Lisjan)

The Lisjan are Ohlone people whose territory covers parts of Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano, Napa and San Joaquin counties, including Oakland, Berkeley and Richmond. The Confederated Villages of Lisjan brings together seven nations, including the Karkin, and keeps the Chochenyo language alive. It is not federally recognized. Its spokesperson is Corrina Gould, and the Sogorea Te' Land Trust returns land in the East Bay.

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Lower Chinook

The Lower Chinook are one of the five westernmost Chinookan-speaking tribes at the mouth of the Columbia River. Today they are part of the Chinook Indian Nation, based in Bay Center, Washington, which won federal recognition in 2001, lost it about 18 months later, and is still working to restore it. Its people keep up chinuk wawa, their stories, songs and ceremonies.

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Lummi (Lhaq'temish)

The Lhaq'temish, or Lummi people, are the original inhabitants of Washington's northernmost coast and southern British Columbia, and have lived in the Salish Sea region for thousands of years, with salmon at the center of life. Today the Lummi Nation governs itself through the Lummi Indian Business Council and accepts a voluntary Honor Tax from people living on its homelands.

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Mattaponi

The Mattaponi are one of the original tribes of the Powhatan chiefdom in tidewater Virginia. They keep a reservation of about 150 acres on the Mattaponi River in King William County and still bring a yearly tribute to the governor under treaties from 1646 and 1677. The tribe is state recognized and led by a chief and council; the separate Upper Mattaponi Tribe is federally recognized.

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Mdewakanton Dakota (Bdewakantunwan)

The Mdewakanton are a Dakota people whose homelands center on Bdote, where the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers meet, and the lakes of Minnesota. After the 1862 U.S.-Dakota War, most Dakota were exiled, and some families later returned. Today the Shakopee Mdewakanton, Prairie Island, Lower Sioux and Upper Sioux communities govern in Minnesota, and the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota community is seeking federal recognition.

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Meskwaki (Fox)

The Meskwaki are an Algonquian people whose homelands reach across present-day Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa. The French called them Fox, and the U.S. later grouped them with the Sauk as the Sac and Fox. In 1857 they bought back land in Tama County, Iowa, and today the Meskwaki Nation (Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa) governs the Meskwaki Settlement there.

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Mi'kmaq (Mi'kma'ki)

Mi'kma'ki, the Mi'kmaq homeland, covers the lands south and east of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, including the Maritime Provinces, and reaches into northern Maine. Most Mi'kmaq communities are in Canada, including 13 in Nova Scotia. In the United States, the Mi'kmaq Nation in Presque Isle, Maine, has been federally recognized since 1991 and is one of the four Wabanaki Nations in Maine.

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Miami (Myaamia)

The Myaamia homelands, Myaamionki, cover parts of present-day Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, lower Michigan and lower Wisconsin. In 1846 the U.S. forced many Myaamia west to Kansas and later to Oklahoma. Today the federally recognized Miami Tribe of Oklahoma governs from Miami, Oklahoma, and the Miami Nation of Indiana, descended from families who stayed, is still working toward federal recognition.

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Mississauga (Anishinaabe)

The Mississauga are Anishinaabe people whose lands include the north shore of Lake Ontario, including present-day Toronto. Through treaties like the 1787 and 1805 Toronto Purchase, the British Crown took much of this land, a claim Canada settled with the nation in 2010. Today the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation lives and governs at its New Credit reserve near Hagersville, Ontario.

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Miwok (Plains Miwok)

The Plains Miwok are a Miwok people whose homelands lie along the Cosumnes River and the Sacramento River delta in what is now Sacramento County, California. Many of their descendants are citizens of Wilton Rancheria, based in Elk Grove, whose people trace their roots to Plains Miwok and Nisenan ancestors. Wilton Rancheria was terminated in 1964, and a federal court restored its recognition in 2009.

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Mnicoujou Lakota

The Mnicoujou, Planters by the Water, are one of the seven bands of the Lakota, part of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires). Their homelands lie in western South Dakota, from the Black Hills toward the Platte River. Today they are one of the four bands of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, which governs over three million acres in central South Dakota.

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Mohawk (Kanienʼkehá꞉ka)

The Kanienʼkehá꞉ka, or Mohawk, are the easternmost nation of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, known as the Keepers of the Eastern Door. Their homelands center on the Mohawk Valley in present-day New York and reach north to the St. Lawrence River. Today the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe at Akwesasne is federally recognized in New York, and Mohawk communities such as Akwesasne, Kahnawake and Kanesatake also govern themselves in Canada.

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Mountain Maidu

The Mountain Maidu are the original people of the mountains and valleys of northeastern California. Many are citizens of the Susanville Indian Rancheria, a federally recognized tribe of Mountain Maidu, Northern Paiute, Pit River and Washoe people organized in 1969. The Maidu Summit Consortium has won back ancestral lands, starting with Tásmam Koyóm in 2019, and cares for them as Maidu land.

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Munsee Lenape

The Munsee are a Lenape people whose homelands straddle the upper Delaware and lower Hudson River valleys, across parts of present-day New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. After being pushed west over many years, Munsee families joined the Stockbridge Mohicans and are part of the federally recognized Stockbridge-Munsee Community in Wisconsin. Munsee communities also live in Ontario, and other Lenape people belong to the Delaware Tribe of Indians in Oklahoma.

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Mutsun (Amah Mutsun)

The Mutsun are an Ohlone people whose homeland, Popeloutchom, lies in central California around present-day San Juan Bautista. Spanish missions took their villages, and the families who survived Mission San Juan Bautista carried the Mutsun forward. Today the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, which is not federally recognized, works to return to its lands through the Amah Mutsun Land Trust.

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Nansemond

The Nansemond are the Native people of the Nansemond River, with homelands across southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. The Nansemond Indian Nation is based in Suffolk, Virginia, and serves citizens across Hampton Roads. Virginia recognized the nation in 1985, and it became federally recognized in 2018. It works to protect sacred sites and care for the Nansemond River.

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Nanticoke (Nentego)

The Nanticoke are an Algonquian people of the Delmarva Peninsula, with homelands along the Nanticoke River on Maryland's Eastern Shore and in southern Delaware. Today the Nanticoke Indian Tribe, based near Millsboro, is recognized by the State of Delaware. The Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation in southern New Jersey, descended from Nanticoke and Lenape families, is recognized by New Jersey. Neither is federally recognized.

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Navajo (Diné)

The Diné homeland, Diné Bikéyah, lies within four sacred mountains in present-day Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. Today the Navajo Nation covers more than 27,000 square miles across Arizona, New Mexico and Utah and has more than 250,000 citizens. It governs from Window Rock, Arizona, through executive, legislative and judicial branches and 110 local chapters.

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Nehalem (Tillamook)

The Nehalem are a band of the Tillamook people of the northern Oregon coast. Today many Nehalem descendants belong to the Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes, which is governed by an elected tribal council, is not federally recognized and is getting land back on the north coast. Others are citizens of the federally recognized Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians or the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.

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Nipmuc (Nipmuck)

The Nipmuc, the People of the Fresh Water, have homelands in what is now central Massachusetts and northeastern Connecticut. The Hassanamisco Nipmuc are recognized by Massachusetts and keep a reservation and homestead there. Other Nipmuc communities, including the Chaubunagungamaug Band based in Leicester, also govern themselves today. No Nipmuc tribe currently holds federal recognition.

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Nisenan

The Nisenan are the original people of the Sierra Nevada foothills, from the crest of the Sierra and the Yuba River down to the Sacramento and Cosumnes rivers. The Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe was terminated by Congress in 1964 and is working to restore its federal recognition. Nisenan descendants are also citizens of federally recognized tribes such as the Ione Band of Miwok Indians and Wilton Rancheria.

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Northern Sierra Miwok (Me-Wuk)

The Northern Sierra Miwok, or Me-Wuk, have homelands in the Sierra Nevada foothills of California, from the Cosumnes River south to the Calaveras River, around the Mokelumne River. Today several federally recognized Miwok tribes govern in this area, including the Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians, the Ione Band of Miwok Indians and the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians.

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Obispeño (Northern Chumash)

The Obispeño are Northern Chumash people whose homelands are in what is now San Luis Obispo County, California. The yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini (ytt) Northern Chumash Tribe is acknowledged by the California Native American Heritage Commission but not federally recognized. It governs through a Tribal Council and is raising money to buy back the 350-acre Cayucos Abalone Farm.

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Occaneechi

The Occaneechi are a Siouan people who once traded from an island at the Roanoke River ford near Clarksville, Virginia, and later lived on the Eno River at present-day Hillsborough, North Carolina. Their descendants are the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, recognized by North Carolina in 2002. The tribe is based in the Little Texas community of Alamance County, where it owns 25 acres.

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Ohlone

Ohlone, also called Costanoan, is a name for the many peoples whose homelands run from the San Francisco Bay through the Monterey Bay area to the Salinas Valley in California. Spanish missions took their lands. Today several Ohlone tribes, including the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, the Tamien Nation and the Confederated Villages of Lisjan, govern themselves, and some are seeking federal recognition.

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Oohenumpa (Two Kettle Lakota)

The Oohenumpa, or Two Kettle, are one of the seven bands of the Lakota, part of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires). In the 1800s they lived along the Cheyenne and Moreau rivers in present-day South Dakota. Today they are one of the four bands of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, which governs over three million acres from Eagle Butte, South Dakota.

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Osage

The Osage are a Plains and woodlands people whose ancestors held millions of acres in present-day Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma. Treaties from 1808 on took most of that land, and in the early 1870s the Osage bought land from the Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory. Today the federally recognized Osage Nation governs the Osage Reservation in northeastern Oklahoma.

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Otoe (Jiwere)

Jiwere is the Otoe people's name for themselves. The Otoe came from the Great Lakes region and settled in the lower Missouri River valley, with lands across parts of present-day Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas. They were moved to Oklahoma in 1881, and today they govern together with the Missouria as the federally recognized Otoe-Missouria Tribe, based in Red Rock, Oklahoma.

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Otoe-Missouria (Jiwere–Ñút’achi)

The Otoe-Missouria are two related peoples, the Otoe (Jiwere) and the Missouria (Nutachi), whose homelands lie along the lower Missouri River in parts of Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas. The Missouri River and the state of Missouri carry the Missouria name. Moved to Red Rock, Oklahoma, in 1881, the federally recognized tribe governs there today through its Tribal Council.

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Pamunkey

The Pamunkey are a Native nation of Virginia's coastal plain. Their people met the English at Jamestown in 1607, and their leaders included Powhatan and Pocahontas. Today the Pamunkey Indian Tribe governs its own affairs from its reservation on the northern bank of the Pamunkey River in King William County, Virginia, and it has been federally recognized since 2016.

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Passamaquoddy (Peskotomuhkati)

The Passamaquoddy (Peskotomuhkati) have lived in their homelands along today's Maine and New Brunswick border for thousands of years. They are one of the four federally recognized Wabanaki Nations in Maine. The Passamaquoddy Tribe governs from two communities in Maine, Sipayik (Pleasant Point) and Motahkomikuk (Indian Township), and a third self-governing community lives in New Brunswick.

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Patawomeck

The Patawomeck are a Native people of the Potomac River in Virginia, and Patawomeck is another spelling of Potomac. In the 1600s they were part of the Powhatan alliance. Today the Patawomeck Indian Tribe of Virginia is based in Stafford County, where most of its members live. Virginia recognized the tribe in 2010, and it is working toward federal recognition.

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Pawnee (Pâri)

The Pawnee are a Plains nation made up of four bands: the Čawi, Kitkahaki, Pitahawirata and Skidi. Their homelands span the central plains from the Missouri River west toward Colorado, and their villages stood along the Platte and Loup rivers in Nebraska. They moved to Oklahoma in the 1870s, and today the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma governs from Pawnee, Oklahoma.

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Pennacook (Pennacook-Abenaki)

The Pennacook are an Abenaki people whose homelands center on the Merrimack River valley in what is now New Hampshire, with villages at present-day Concord and Manchester. There is no federally recognized Pennacook nation today, and many descendants live within Abenaki and other Wabanaki communities. The Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook-Abenaki People, based in Alton, New Hampshire, is seeking federal acknowledgment.

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Penobscot

The Penobscot are a Wabanaki people whose homelands follow the Penobscot River and its many lakes and streams in what is now Maine. The Penobscot Nation is a federally recognized tribe with its seat of government on Indian Island, near Old Town. Its reservation includes more than 200 islands in the river, and the Nation is led by a chief and council.

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Piscataway

The Piscataway are an Algonquian people whose homelands lie along the western shore of the Chesapeake and the Potomac River, in what is now southern Maryland, Washington, DC and parts of northern Virginia. In 2012 Maryland formally recognized two Piscataway tribes, the Piscataway Indian Nation and the Piscataway Conoy Tribe. Neither is federally recognized. The Piscataway Conoy Tribe's land trust is working to regain land in its ancestral homelands.

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Pokanoket (Wampanoag)

The Pokanoket are a Wampanoag people whose homeland, Sowams, includes the Mount Hope area of present-day Bristol, Rhode Island, and Massasoit and Metacom were Pokanoket leaders. The federally recognized Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe states its people descend from the historical Pokanoket. Rhode Island groups using the Pokanoket name, such as the Pokanoket Nation, are not federally recognized, and some Wampanoag and Narragansett leaders dispute their claims.

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Potawatomi (Bodéwadmi)

The Potawatomi, or Bodéwadmi, are the keepers of the fire in the Council of Three Fires with the Ojibwe and Odawa. Their homelands lie around southern Lake Michigan, in present-day Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. After removals in the 1830s, Potawatomi people now govern through several federally recognized nations in Michigan, Wisconsin, Kansas and Oklahoma.

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Pueblo nations

The Pueblo peoples live in long-settled farming villages along the Rio Grande and across New Mexico. There are 19 Pueblos in New Mexico and one, Ysleta del Sur, in El Paso, Texas, whose Tigua ancestors were forced south after the 1680 Pueblo Revolt. Each Pueblo is a self-governing nation, and the All Pueblo Council of Governors speaks together for the 20 Pueblos of New Mexico and Texas.

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Ramaytush Ohlone

The Ramaytush Ohlone are the original peoples of the San Francisco Peninsula, who lived in about ten small tribal groups before the Spanish arrived in 1769. Only one family line, from the Aramai village near present-day Pacifica, is known to have living members today. Those members make up the Ramaytush Tribe and run the Association of Ramaytush Ohlone.

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San Carlos Apache

The San Carlos Apache are Western Apache people whose reservation spans Gila, Graham and Pinal counties in southeastern Arizona. The U.S. created the reservation in the 1870s and forced separate Apache groups onto it, and they became one tribe. Today the San Carlos Apache Tribe governs about 1.8 million acres through an elected chairman, vice chairman and council.

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Saponi

The Saponi are a Siouan people of the Piedmont of North Carolina and Virginia. In the early 1700s they lived near Fort Christanna on the state line with the Occaneechi, Tutelo and Eno. Three state-recognized North Carolina tribes carry Saponi ties today: the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation in Alamance County, the Haliwa-Saponi in Halifax and Warren counties, and the Sappony at High Plains.

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Sauk and Meskwaki (Sac and Fox)

The Sauk and Meskwaki are two related Algonquian-speaking nations whose homelands reach from the Great Lakes through Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Missouri. After 1832 the United States treated them as one group and removed them west. Today they govern as the Sac and Fox Nation in Oklahoma, the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska, and the Meskwaki Nation in Tama County, Iowa.

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Shawnee

The Shawnee homelands center on the middle Ohio River valley, across present-day Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana and Pennsylvania. Over two centuries of war and removal, Shawnee communities moved through Missouri and Kansas to Oklahoma. Today there are three federally recognized Shawnee nations, all in Oklahoma: the Shawnee Tribe, the Absentee Shawnee Tribe and the Eastern Shawnee Tribe.

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Sinkyone

The Sinkyone are the original people of the Lost Coast of Northern California, a stretch of coastal redwood forest and shoreline. Today the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council, formed in 1986 by ten federally recognized tribal nations with ties to Sinkyone lands, including the Round Valley Indian Tribes and the Cahto Tribe, protects nearly 5,000 acres there and supports the return of cultural ways of life.

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Sisseton Dakota (Sisíthuŋwaŋ)

The Sisseton are one of the seven council fires of the Dakota, with homelands in the woodlands and prairies of Minnesota. After the 1862 U.S.-Dakota War they lost their Minnesota lands, and an 1867 treaty set aside reservations at Lake Traverse and Spirit Lake. Today they govern with Wahpeton relatives as the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate in the Dakotas and as part of the Spirit Lake Nation.

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Tamien Nation

The Tamien Nation is the Indigenous tribe of the Santa Clara Valley, around present-day San José, California. Its citizens come from several Tamien-speaking villages, and the Nation says plainly that it is Tamien, not Ohlone. In 2025 it took back 235 acres of its homeland in East San José, the first land in the South Bay returned to full tribal ownership in more than two centuries.

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Tolowa Dee-ni'

The Tolowa Dee-ni' are the original people of the Smith River area and the coast of far northern California and southern Oregon. The Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation, formerly the Smith River Rancheria, is a federally recognized tribe based at the mouth of the Smith River, on land first set aside in 1908. Tolowa people are also citizens of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and Elk Valley Rancheria.

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Tongva (Gabrielino)

The Tongva are the original people of the Los Angeles Basin. Their homeland, Tovaangar, takes in Los Angeles County and beyond, from Topanga Canyon to Laguna Beach and the San Gabriel Mountains to the sea, plus Santa Catalina, San Nicolas, San Clemente and Santa Barbara islands. The Gabrielino/Tongva Nation is recognized by the State of California and is seeking federal recognition.

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Tuscarora (Skaruhreh)

The Tuscarora are an Iroquoian-speaking people whose towns stood along the Neuse, Pamlico, Tar and Roanoke rivers in eastern North Carolina. After the Tuscarora War of 1711 to 1713, many moved north and joined the Six Nations; the Tuscarora Nation near Lewiston, New York, is federally recognized. Tuscarora communities in North Carolina, in Robeson County and near Windsor, are not state recognized and are seeking it.

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Tututni

The Tututni are the peoples of the lower Rogue River and the nearby southern Oregon coast, from Floras Creek down to Whales Head. Many were forcibly removed from the Rogue River country and marched north to Siletz. Today Tututni descendants are citizens of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, and Rogue River peoples are also part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.

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Ute

The Ute homelands cover the mountains and plateaus of Colorado and Utah, reaching into Wyoming, eastern Nevada, northern New Mexico and Arizona. The Ute were once seven bands. Today they govern as three federally recognized tribes: the Southern Ute Indian Tribe in Ignacio, Colorado, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe in Towaoc, Colorado, and the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in Utah.

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Ventureño Chumash (Mitsqanaqan)

The Ventureño are Chumash people of what is now Ventura County, California, and their language is known as Mitsqanaqan. Today Ventureño families carry on through groups such as the Barbareño/Ventureño Band of Mission Indians, made up of Chumash families from Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. The Native-led Wishtoyo Chumash Foundation runs a Chumash village site in Malibu.

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Wabanaki Confederacy (Dawnland)

The Wabanaki, the People of the Dawnland, are an alliance of five nations: the Abenaki, Mi'kmaq, Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet), Passamaquoddy and Penobscot. Their homelands cover what is now Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and much of Atlantic Canada. In Maine, four Wabanaki Nations are federally recognized: the Penobscot Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe, the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and the Mi'kmaq Nation.

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Waccamaw (Waccamaw Siouan)

The Waccamaw are a Siouan people who once lived about 100 miles northeast of Charleston, South Carolina, and moved into the swamps of North Carolina after a 1749 war. The Waccamaw Siouan Tribe, the People of the Falling Star, lives today in Bladen and Columbus counties near Lake Waccamaw and the Green Swamp. It is state recognized and led by an elected seven-member tribal council.

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Wahkiakum

The Wahkiakum are one of the five westernmost Chinookan-speaking tribes at the mouth of the Columbia River. Today they are part of the Chinook Indian Nation, based in Bay Center, Washington, which won federal recognition in 2001, lost it about 18 months later, and is still working to restore it. Its people keep up chinuk wawa, their stories, songs and ceremonies.

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Wahpekute Dakota

The Wahpekute are one of the seven council fires of the Dakota, with homelands in southern Minnesota, including the Cannon River valley around present-day Faribault. They signed the 1851 Treaty of Mendota, and after the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 most Dakota were forced out of Minnesota. Wahpekute descendants live today among several Dakota nations in Minnesota and the Dakotas.

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Wahpeton Dakota

The Wahpeton are one of the seven council fires of the Dakota, with homelands in the woodlands of Minnesota, where they hunted, gathered and farmed. After the 1862 U.S.-Dakota War they were forced from Minnesota, and an 1867 treaty set aside land at Lake Traverse and Spirit Lake. Today Wahpeton people govern as part of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate and the Spirit Lake Nation.

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Wampanoag (Wôpanâak)

The Wampanoag, the People of the First Light, have lived in what is now southeastern Massachusetts and eastern Rhode Island for more than 12,000 years. Two Wampanoag tribes are federally recognized: the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe on Cape Cod and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) on Martha's Vineyard. The Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe, based in Plymouth, gained Massachusetts state recognition in 2024.

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Western Apache (Ndee)

Western Apache, or Ndee, is a name for the White Mountain, San Carlos, Cibecue and Tonto Apache peoples of central and eastern Arizona, who share a language and clan ties. Today they govern through several federally recognized nations, including the White Mountain Apache Tribe on the Fort Apache Reservation, the San Carlos Apache Tribe, the Tonto Apache Tribe and the Yavapai-Apache Nation.

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Willapa

The Willapa are one of the five westernmost Chinookan-speaking tribes at the mouth of the Columbia River. Today they are part of the Chinook Indian Nation, based in Bay Center, Washington, which won federal recognition in 2001, lost it about 18 months later, and is still working to restore it. Its people keep up chinuk wawa, their stories, songs and ceremonies.

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Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet)

The Wolastoqiyik, also called Maliseet, are a Wabanaki people with homelands on both sides of today's Maine and New Brunswick border. In Maine, the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians has been recognized by the United States since 1980 and governs from Littleton and Houlton. Six Wolastoqey communities in New Brunswick work together through the Wolastoqey Nation.

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Wyandot (Wendat)

The Wyandot, or Wendat, are an Iroquoian people whose ancestral lands were in southern Ontario. After 1649 many moved into what is now Michigan and northern Ohio, around Detroit and Sandusky, before removal to Kansas in 1843. Today the federally recognized Wyandotte Nation governs from Wyandotte, Oklahoma, alongside the Wyandot of Anderdon Nation in Michigan and the Wyandot Nation of Kansas.

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Yuchi (Euchee)

The Yuchi, also spelled Euchee, have homelands in the Southeast, from the Tennessee River valley into present-day Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina. In the 1830s the U.S. removed them to Indian Territory along with the Muscogee (Creek). Today Yuchi communities live mainly in northeastern Oklahoma, many as citizens of the Muscogee Nation, and are seeking separate federal recognition.

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Yurok

The Yurok are the people of the lower Klamath River and the nearby Pacific coast in far Northern California, known as fishers, basket weavers and canoe makers. The Yurok Tribe is the largest tribe in California, with more than 5,000 enrolled members. It governs through an elected Tribal Council and leads work on dam removal, salmon and river protection, and buying back land.

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Zuni (A:shiwi)

The Zuni, or A:shiwi, have farmed along the Zuni River in western New Mexico for thousands of years and call their home Halona Idiwan'a, the Middle Place. Their wider homeland reaches into northeastern Arizona. Today the federally recognized Pueblo of Zuni governs from its main village south of Gallup, New Mexico, where most Zuni people live.

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