Map Showing Indian Reservations Within the Limits of the United States [with report]

Native American reservations across the U.S. in the early 20th century.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has been tasked with the management and administration of land granted to Native Americans since it’s official inception in 1824. Originally created to control the system of factories and trading posts on the frontier, the bureau evolved into a role overseeing the removal of Indians to lands west of the Mississippi. The tragic and steady loss of those lands is displayed on maps issued by the BIA in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

This 1903 edition was created under the supervision of William Arthur Jones, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and lithographed by the Norris-Peters Company of Washington, D.C. The map shows the organizational districts of the bureau and lists the locations of all reservations, military outposts, Indian agencies, and several types of schools.

Education was a critical component of the BIA’s mission of Native American assimilation. Native children were educated in separate boarding houses where they were prevented from using indigenous languages or learning their culture and heritage. These offsite boarding schools are shown as large red stars on the map, reflecting a point of pride for the BIA. Inset maps show Alaska (devoid of any indigenous reservations), the Mission Indian Reservations in Southern California, and the northeastern corner of the Indian Territory.

The map was published by the Government Printing Office to accompany the 1904 Annual Report of the Department of the Interior distributed to the House of Representatives of the 58th Congress. It includes a complete copy of Part I of the Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. See the photos for table of contents.

Source: Bureau of Indian Affairs;