h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Have a mufflewhump!

I'll admit I have an ulterior motive for wandering over this way I'd asked you a question, in a rather disconnected, rambling way, over in the Salon, but it got buried amidst the election talk and bonfire planning. It's not really an important question, but my curiosity is itching something *awful*... What is the difference between a reservation and a rancheria? I thought you might know, because I seem to remember that you've done some work on the Navaho reservation

My question was in post 2404, if you want the context (Or even if you don't...)

Hey! Sorry I missed your question. I have not had any experience with rancherias, so I had to go look it up! Both terms appear to refer to an area set aside for indigenous peoples, but rancherias seem to generally refer to native villages that were given protected status, primarily in California. I'm not clear from the limited research I've done whether rancherias have any sovereign status. The term "reservation" is generally used to refer to larger areas, though this is not always the case. A Reservation is also often located somewhere other than where the tribe in question had traditionally lived but again, this is not always the case. A Reservation nearly always (to my knowledge always, but I hesitate to be so certain) refers to an area set aside for a tribe that has some amount of sovereignty independent from the US State it exists in, and even from the US federal government. In this way you might think of a ranceria describing a village or town, but a reservation describing a state, nation, or province.

I guess the real answer is that I'm not sure, I'm just not familiar enough with rancherias, but maybe the answer I gave helped somewhat.

If you want more information on the Navajo Reservation specifically, you can email me at william dot soland at gmail dot com, and I'll try to get some links or information for you.

I'd started an answer last night, but the tab got closed while I was elsewhere Anyway, maybe I'll remember what I said later--it's only 6:45ish