Unceded territory

Encyclopedia : U : UN : UNC : Unceded territory

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Unceded territory refers to land in North America that was never ceded to a government entity by the Native peoples (the First peoples of Canada and Native American tribes or nations) who held the original title to the land, and that has never been set apart, legislated, founded, created or established as a reserve. Some of these land claims were recognized by treaty with the United States federal government although control was not actually handed over to the Native American peoples.

Native American and First peoples nations hold that such land rightly belongs to them under international treaties. Arguably, in some cases this could be true under U.S. law, since the U.S. Constitution in Article VI states that

"all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land".

For example, in 1980 the U.S. Supreme Court awarded the Lakota nation a settlement for the taking of the Black Hills, land considered sacred by Native Americans, in violation of the Treaty of Fort Laramie. The Lakota, however, refused to accept a monetary settlement and continue to demand that their ancestral land be returned to them.

See also

Aboriginal land claims

External links

• [Map showing some unceded Indian territories] (with reservations shown at their sizes as of the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie)
• [Newspaper article detailing court dispute]

 

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