Federally recognized tribes are those Native American tribes recognized by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs as holding a government-to-government relationship with the US federal government.[1] For Alaska Native tribes, see list of Alaska Native tribal entities. As of January 8, 2024[update], 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United States.[2][3] Of these, 227 are located in Alaska and 109 are located in California.
In the United States, the Native American tribe is a fundamental unit of sovereign tribal government. As the Department of the Interior explains, "federally recognized tribes are recognized as possessing certain inherent rights of self-government (i.e., tribal sovereignty)...."[1] The constitution grants to the U.S. Congress the right to interact with tribes. More specifically, the Supreme Court of the United StatesinUnited States v. Sandoval (231 US. 28 [1913]) warned, "it is not ... that Congress may bring a community or body of people within range of this power by arbitrarily calling them an Indian tribe, but only that in respect of distinctly Indian communities the questions whether, to what extent, and for what time they shall be recognized and dealt with as dependent tribes" (at 46).[4] Federal tribal recognition grants to tribes the right to self-government, as well as certain benefits. The recognition process is largely controlled by the United States federal agency the Bureau of Indian Affairs, in consultation with federally recognized tribes.
In January 2015, the United States' Federal Register issued an official list of 566 tribes that are Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs.[5] The number of tribes increased to 567 in July 2015 with the federal recognition of the Pamunkey tribe in Virginia.[6] USA.gov, the federal government's official web portal, maintains a list of tribal governments which is constantly updated. Ancillary information present in former versions of this list but no longer contained in the current listing have been included here in italics print.
In 2018, six more Virginia-based tribes were added to the list, then in 2020 the Little Shell Chippewa were recognized bringing the total to 574.[7] Of these, 231 are located in Alaska.
Except for Hawaii, states that have no federally recognized tribes today forcibly removed tribes from their region in the 19th century,[8] mainly to the west and especially to Indian Territory, now Oklahoma.[9]
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Prairie Band of Potawatomi Nation[11]
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