Indian Territory - Indian country

Land set aside in the USA as a ‘permanent’ home for native Americans removed from the area E of the Mississippi R between 1825 and 1840. Originally it included most of Oklahoma and parts of Kansas and Arkansas, but by the end of the 19th-c most of it had been opened to whites.

Indian Territory, also known as Indian Country, Indian territory or the Indian territories, was the land set aside within the United States for the use of Native Americans. It was more properly "Indian territory" (lower-case T) than "Indian Territory" (capital T) because the name referred to the unorganized lands set aside for Native Americans, as opposed to an organized territory meant for settlement by Easterners.

The Indian Territory had its roots in the British Royal Proclamation of 1763, which limited white settlement to Crown lands east of the Appalachian Mountains. Indian Territory was reduced under British administration and again after the American Revolution, until it included only lands west of the Mississippi River.

At the time of the American Revolution, many Native American tribes had long-standing relationships with the British, but a less developed relationship with the American rebels.

The Indian Territory served as the destination for the policy of Indian Removal, a policy pursued intermittently by American presidents early in the nineteenth century, but aggressively pursued by President Andrew Jackson after the passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Other tribes, such as the Delaware, Cheyenne, and Apache were also forced to relocate to the Indian territory.

In time, the Indian Territory was gradually reduced to what is now Oklahoma; The citizens of Indian Territory tried, in 1905, to gain admission to the union as the State of Sequoyah, but were rebuffed by Congress and Administration who did not want two new Western states, Sequoyah and Oklahoma. With Oklahoma statehood in November 1907, Indian Territory was extinguished.

Many Native Americans continue to live in Oklahoma, especially in the eastern part.

Indian country

The terms "Indian country" and "Indian territory" are often used interchangeably, although Indian territory usually has the more specific meaning outlined above — that is, the region in the West where Native Americans were compelled to relocate in the nineteenth century.

Indian country is an expression generally used today to describe (collectively or individually) the many self-governing Native American communities throughout the United States.

In the United States legal system, Indian country is a legal term that describes Native American reservations and trust lands.